Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins return from the All-Star break tomorrow when they host the Syracuse Crunch and the Cleveland Monsters on Sunday. They are in second place in the Atlantic Division, three points off of the equally hot Providence Bruins and overall the third best team in the league.

Music to Set the Mood…

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This track has been getting a lot of play on my iPod after hearing it on SiriusXMU and it runs at least once a day on my walks. No rhyme or reason with this one, just a good catchy tune. Also a fun fact about the music video, legend has it was shot in one take.

A Quote…

We don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges.
— Anonymous

The Setup…

Home with Syracuse Saturday, home with Cleveland on Sunday.

Last week the Penguins swept through Pennsylvania with two wins against Hershey and Lehigh Valley, beating the Bears in regulation on Friday and in overtime on Saturday and beating the Phantoms in regulation on Friday.

Syracuse beat Belleville twice in a home-and-home series.

Cleveland was up in Laval, QC last weekend and lost both games. They are in Allentown on Saturday.

Records

Wilkes-Barre is second in the Atlantic Division with a 32-12-2-2 record good for 68 points.

Syracuse is second in the North Division with a 26-16-3-1 record good for 56 points.

Cleveland is fourth in the North with a 23-15-6-1 record and 53 points.

The Rest of Those Rascals…

Providence is on a 10-game winning streak. They are 35-8-1 and have 71 points and lead the Atlantic Division. They swept Hartford in a home-and-home series last weekend and beat Bridgeport that prior Wednesday. They have a home-and-home with the Islanders this weekend.

Charlotte is third in the division and split a home series with the number one team in the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins, this past weekend. They host Hartford this weekend looking to build on their 26-15-3 record and 55 points.

Hershey is fourth in the division with a 20-16-6-2 record and 48 points. They start the second half of their season in Canada and are in Laval Friday and then Belleville Saturday and Monday. The Bears only had the Penguins on their schedule last week and lost both.

Lehigh Valley is 2-8 in their last ten games thanks in large part to failing to beat the Penguins a bunch of times, losing Friday (and the Sunday before that) and losing to Bridgeport last Saturday. The Phantoms will swap opponents with the Penguins, hosting Cleveland Saturday and Syracuse Sunday. Lehigh Valley has a 21-20-2-2 record and 46 points.

Bridgeport is sixth in the division with a 20-20-2-3 record and 45 points. They lost to Providence Wednesday, Utica in a shootout on Friday, and beat Lehigh Valley at home on Saturday. They have Providence for a home-and-home this weekend.

Springfield is next with a 16-24-4-2 record and 38 points. They lost in Syracuse last Wednesday, Rochester on Friday, and Toronto on Saturday. They host the Iowa Wild this weekend for a pair of games.

I’d like to host the Iowa Wild one day. Make it happen, Coal Street!

Hartford is last in the division with 38 points and a 16-23-4-2 record. They lost both games (Saturday was in a shootout) to the Providence Bruins. They are in Charlotte this weekend.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Up: No one as the NHL is on an Olympic break.

Down: Daniel Laatsch, Zach Urdahl, and Brayden Edwards were sent to Wheeling last week.

Out: Ryan McAllister, signed to an AHL contract for the remainder of the season, was injured in his debut by Garrett Mitchell of Lehigh Valley, who also caught Zach Gallant in the same transaction. Both have upper body injuries (concussions), and because they are different for everyone, we will have to see when either gets back into the lineup again. Tristan Broz and Alex Alexeyev finally came off, and Raivis Ansons (week to week, upper body) and Joona Koppanen (lower, week to week) remain on the injured list.

Two Hats

Matt Dumba had a hat trick for the Penguins Friday in Allentown, and Avery Hayes had a hat trick Saturday in Hershey. It was the first hat trick in both players’ professional careers.

Two Players of the Week Awards

Avery Hayes was named AHL Player of the Week on Monday after a dream week where he make his NHL debut, scored two goals and then returned to the AHL and had a hat trick, where he scored his third goal in overtime on a power play.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

I don’t know about you, but I get the sense that this team is different from any team I have seen in the last ten years. Deep everywhere, extremely well coached, and all pulling in the same direction. I think they can go deep, but we have been in this situation before where it all comes easy when we are wearing coats, boots, and shoveling snow, but the second the allergies hit and you start thinking about cutting the grass again, they are down 4-2 in Game 2 against Lehigh Valley, already down 1-0 in the best-of-three series, and it’s an early exit.

Syracuse kicked the snot out of them in the beginning of January, but the very next time they met, it was a methodical takedown. Cleveland has never beaten the Penguins in Wilkes-Barre, so it is certainly shaping up to be another weekend where you can expect four points.

But tread carefully. The NHL trade deadline is looming, and that piece I ran a few weeks ago could hit home.

Who’s in Goal?

Since Sergei Murashov was in Rockford being an All-Star and participating in the games, I think he will get Saturday off, and you see Joel Blomqvist with Murashov starting Sunday against Cleveland.

Brandon Halverson for Syracuse and Ivan Fedotov for Cleveland is my educated guess.

Who’s Running the Show?

Bobby Jo Love and Koletrane Wilson have the assignment on Saturday with Davids Rozitis and Bill Lyons on the lines.

Sunday sees Riley Brace and Jarrett Burton in the orange armbands with John Rey and All-Star linesman Jud Ritter on the lines. Ritter was a linesman in Rockford this week at the All-Star Classic.

Looking Ahead…

Midweek matchup against Springfield in Springfield on Wednesday, another Friday off home with Bridgeport on Saturday, and they will race back to Bridgeport for a Sunday afternoon game. A 5 o’clock Sunday start? Yuck!

Give us a bold prediction…

No reason he can’t go back-to-back, William Byron wins the Daytona 500 – wait, sorry, the Penguins win both games and will NOT have a player that records a hat trick in either game.