Chirps from Center Ice

          vs.          

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Not much to this one, a 5-0 Syracuse Crunch throttling of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins on Saturday night where the Penguins put up a tepid 16 shots on goal the entire game. Light and easy work for Syracuse goaltender Brandon Halverson, who wasn’t tested at all and wasn’t named one of the three stars.

No, that honor went to Cooper Flinton, who had a pair of goals and was named first star of the game.

Just an absolute, lifeless, tepid effort out of the Penguins who do not match up well against Syracuse and Charlotte, two teams I do not give them any shot at getting past if they meet in a Calder Cup Playoffs matchup.

Nothing went right, every line sucked, and Sergei Murashov is the only reason the game wasn’t 15-0.

Here’s how they lined up, I’ll give the Syracuse goals and then let’s toss this one in the bin where it belongs and get ready for Cleveland on Sunday.

https://twittter.com/SyracuseCrunch/status/2022805552238145687

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Lineup Notes: Tanner Howe and Joona Koppanen (back from injury) for Aaron Huglen and Nolan Renwick up front, Emil Pieniniemi for Alex Alexeyev on defense. Renwick and Scooter Brickey were sent back to Wheeling earlier in the day. Alex Alexeyev was listed again as injured.

Okay Blog Boy, show me the Syracuse Goals: Flinton got the scoring started for the Crunch at 8:10

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And then Matteo Pietroniro scores with 8.3 seconds left in the first off of a puck that ricochets off of Murashov which made it 2-0.

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In the second, :15 into a Pieniniemi offensive zone penalty, Dylan Duke nets his league leading 14th power play goal (he’s tied with other players) that made it 3-0.

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They put up more of a defensive pushback in the period, but received no offense.

They score two goals four minutes apart in the third period on a back end of a two man advantage as Mitchell Chaffee scored and then Cooper Flinton scored his brace that made it 5-0.

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Ay, Carumba!

Three stars were Conor Geekie with three assists, Jakob Pelletier with three assists and Cooper Flinton with his two goals in that order.

The Good: Sergei Murashov kept it semi-manageable late.

The Bad: They seemed disjointed top to bottom. Missing passes, overskating, just not into it. A crowd of almost 6,000 tonight? Way to make fans, guys.

Turning Point: The Pietroniro goal that made it 2-0 killed any momentum they were building or tried to build.

Around the Division: Providence erases an 0-2 deficit in Bridgeport to win their 11th straight game 4-2 to put more daylight between first place which they occupy and the Penguins….Charlotte loses at home 3-2 to Hartford. Cleveland (here Sunday) beats Lehigh Valley 5-2 and Hershey beats Belleville in Ontario 6-3. Springfield beats the Iowa Wild 8-6.

Standings: Providence 73 – Penguins 68 – Charlotte 55 – Hershey 50 – Lehigh Valley 46 – Bridgeport 45 – Springfield 42 and Hartford 40

Wheeling Update: Box for the Nailers / Royals game is here as this is still in action as this blog goes up around 9:45 p.m. on Saturday night.

Video Highlights:

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Back at it for a hopeful better result against Cleveland Sunday. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!