Chirps from Center Ice

         vs.        

4                               3

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In what seemed like a 12 round prize fight where you had two really good teams exchanging blows all fight, it was Cleveland Monsters Captain Brendan Gaunce’s overtime game winning goal that puts the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins down for the 10 count as they lose 4-3 in overtime Sunday afternoon.

There was a lot to like in comparison to Saturday’s fiasco, but that is clearing a low bar. The Providence Bruins keep winning, and they did again today in overtime against Bridgeport and extend their lead on the Penguins even more now.

I heard someone say that the Penguins are happy with being in second and I think that’s a lie. Why would you be content with second? They want to win the division, but with the games in hand Providence has and the points lead, coupled with the fact they can’t seem to lose, it’s an uphill battle. Maybe in mid-April with a handful of games left, sure I may agree with you but not when you have a whole half of the season to go yet.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Aaron Huglen for Atley Calvert was the only lineup change.

First Period: Shades of the night before, the visitors get an early goal, this time with Max McCue scoring his first of the season that gave the Monsters an early 1-0 lead…

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But in comes Rutger McGroarty who scored at the expiration of a Penguins power play to even things at one a side.

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In contrast to the night before, I thought McGroarty had a fine game. Again, low bar in comparison.

:22 into a Monsters power play Owen Sillinger scored to edge Cleveland ahead 2-1…

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However a cross up defensively by Cleveland sees Ville Koivunen score into an empty net that tied things at two…

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Punch, counterpunch type of period.

Second Period: Low shot at 9:56 from Mikael Pyyhtiä beats Joel Blomqvist and that was all for him, enter Sergei Murashov.

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I think that something needed to be done as a culmination of how the weekend and this game in particular had gone. Not so much an indictment on the play of Blomqvist as much as an indictment of the team in whole.

It seemed to work because the Monsters didn’t get another shot in the period but the Penguins didn’t score either.

The punching and counterpunching continued but the Pens were down on all the cards heading into the…

Third Period: The Penguins lost Matt Dumba in the second period after Dumba took a puck straight in the mouth that cast some of his teeth onto the ice. That means that they had to go five defensemen.

Emil Pieniniemi stepped up and scored his first goal of the season that tied the game at three.

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Full disclosure with this next one, I didn’t know that Avery Hayes had this in his repertoire….

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Wow.

Anyway, about as even as you can get type of a game that went into…

Overtime: Monsters win a defensive zone draw, skate it up the ice and well…

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Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Mikael Pyyhtiä (goal) 2) Ville Koivunen (goal, assist) 1) Brendan Gaunce (goal, two assists)

The Good: In spite of the weekend, they got a point that they probably didn’t deserve.

The Bad: How much time to I have? The power play is a disaster despite scoring on one today and now the penalty kill is slipping into a bad area as well. Despite having a goal and and assist, I thought Ville Koivunen had a frustrating weekend and was selfish in overtime when he could have passed to Hayes for a good opportunity.

Turning Point: Gaunce’s goal gets it here, as they normally do.

Around the Division: Gave you the Providence result at the top. It was 2-0 Providence, Bridgeport made a goalie change, scored the next two, but the Bruins win 3-2 in overtime….Hartford and Charlotte got postponed to tomorrow on account of a leaky roof in Charlotte and Lehigh Valley loses 3-1 to Syracuse.

Standings: Providence 75 – Penguins 69 – Charlotte 55 – Hershey 50 – Bridgeport and Lehigh Valley 46 – Springfield 42 – Hartford 40

Wheeling Update: Nailers and Reading Royals are tied late as this goes up at 7 p.m. Sunday. Box here.

Video Highlights: 

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Back at it Wednesday in Springfield. Weekend Preview here around lunchtime Wednesday. Talk to you then.

Let’s Go Pens!