Chirps from Center Ice

Just checking on how many of these Weekend Previews I have rolled out so far this season and this one is the nineteenth!

Music to Set the Mood…

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This one comes on SiriusXM First Wave every now and then.

Also, listen to that synth. This is April of 1985! Hardcastle was ahead of his time!

A Quote…

Perseverance is falling 19 times and succeeding the 20th.
— Julie Andrews

The Setup…

Weekday trip to Springfield and then another Friday off then a home and home with the Bridgeport Islanders.

Winnable games, sure.

The Penguins played their worst game of the season on Friday when they had their heads handed to them by the Syracuse Crunch and lost 5-0. They had just 16 shots on goal all game! They returned on Sunday for an afternoon home game with the Cleveland Monsters and lost in overtime 4-3.

Springfield was in Iowa this past weekend and won both games 6-3 and 8-6. After hosting the Penguins on Wednesday, Bridgeport comes in Friday, Providence comes in Saturday.

Bridgeport lost both games to the Providence Bruins this past weekend 4-2 and then 3-2 in overtime. They hosted the Utica Comets on Tuesday and won 2-1. They will be in Springfield on Friday night before heading to Wilkes-Barre for Saturday.

Records

The Penguins are second in the Atlantic Division with a 32-13-3-2 record and 69 points. Springfield has a 18-24-4-2 record in seventh good for 42 points and Bridgeport sits fifth with a 21-21-3-3 record good for 48 points.

Bridgeport can’t beat Providence at all and play the Bruins a lot, imagine where the Islanders would be if they won, say, half of the games that they played against the Bruins.

The Rest of those Rascals….

You want to see Providence run away from you if they win their games in hand on the Penguins. The Bruins have four games in hand on the Penguins coming into the week. You do not want to see the Bruins slip away from you when you embarrass yourself in front of a big crowd Saturday when they win and then lose in overtime when they win in overtime, which is exactly what happened for the Bruins against the Islanders this week. Providence is an eye popping 37-8-1 with 75 points and lead the division and are tied for the league’s best. They have a very Providence three in three where they host Belleville on Friday, then travel 90 minutes to Springfield Saturday and then host Hartford on Sunday.

Charlotte lost to the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-2 on Saturday then the roof leaked at Bojangles Coliseum and the Sunday game was pushed to Monday and the Checkers hung nine goals in a 9-0 win against the Wolf Pack where Hartford had just 20 shots on goal. Woof. The Checkers are 27-16-3 and have 57 points in third. They, too, have four games in hand on the Penguins. The Checkers are in Rochester Wednesday then in Syracuse for a pair Friday and Saturday. They are not home again until the middle of March.

Hershey had a semi-OK weekend where they lost 6-1 in Laval Friday, won 6-3 in Belleville on Saturday and lost in Belleville on Monday. The Bears are 21-18-6-2 good for 50 points and fourth in the division and have a trip to Toronto on Wednesday before returning home for a pair against Lehigh Valley on Friday and Saturday.

Lehigh Valley lost both games they played to Cleveland and Syracuse this past weekend and are 21-22-2-2 in sixth in the division with 46 points and have a pair in Hershey this weekend.

Hartford, I gave you above with the Charlotte mention. How do you lose 9-0? The Wolf Pack host Utica Friday, Belleville Saturday and finish off their three in three weekend with a trip to Providence. The Wolf Pack have a 17-24-4-2 record and 40 points.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Up: No one as the NHL is on Olympic break for a few more days.

Down: Scooter Brickey and Nolan Renwick went to Wheeling last weekend.

Out: Ryan McAllister, Zach Gallant are out with upper body injuries Alex Alexeyev went back to on the injury list, Raivis Ansons (week to week, upper) is also there too. I forgot about Sebastian Aho, he’s there as well.

Conditioning: Filip Hallander was assigned five minutes before the preview went up at 11 a.m. to Wilkes-Barre for a two week conditioning stint.

Joona Koppanen came off the injured list and played in both games for the Penguins.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

Cleveland and Syracuse are stiff North Division competition as any team in that Division has to be because one bad weekend and you fall a few spots. Springfield can be beat and Bridgeport may give you a stiffer fight but the Northeast corner of the Atlantic Division is full of really bad teams (Hartford, Springfield) and when you have a really good team like Providence that can feast on three teams they just pummel that explains why the Bruins are head and shoulders above everyone in the division, the Penguins included.

The Penguins will likely have a tough week of practice and video review this week and should, hypothetically, be re-dialed in to feast on some average to below average competition that is on their schedule this week.

You can start to worry if they only take two out of a possible six points, while Charlotte pursues from behind and Providence gets smaller and smaller in the windshield.

I Looked Up a Stat…

The Providence Bruins are 17-3 against Springfield (4-2) Hartford (5-1) and Bridgeport (8-0) this season.

Hey Ma, We are on TV!

Wednesday’s game will be on NHL Network, Saturday’s game will air across the AHL’s socials.

Who’s in Goal?

I would let Joel Blomqvist wash off the stink that was Sunday where he was pulled after giving up the third goal, but I think Sergei Murashov is the bonafide number one so you let him take Wednesday and Saturday and then let Blomqvist start Sunday.

Vadim Zherenko, Marcus Högberg and Henrik Tikkanen is my guess for the competition this week.

Who’s Running the Show?

Jim Curtin and Johnny Daniels have the job Wednesday in Springfield with Jack McQuesten and Trevor Disbennett on the lines. You’ll never get a bad word out of the work that Curtin puts in, he’s a fine AHL referee.

Jack Young and Patrick Hanrahan have Saturday’s duties with John Rey and Bill Lyons on the lines. Sunday sees Young in tow to Bridgeport where he meets up with Ben Betker. Jake Herzog and Kevin Briganti work the lines.

Looking Ahead…

A trip to Cleveland, next Friday at 7, next Saturday at 4.

Automobile Race Choice…

I joked about it with last weekends Preview but had a few people come up to me last weekend and said they liked me throwing a Daytona 500 pick in here in the blog so what the hell, let’s run with it.

They are going to ringing the sigh-reen in Dawsonville, Georgia when Chase Elliott wins at Atlanta this weekend.

Any Soccer Heads?

NYCFC kicks off their MLS season with a big 2-1 win out in Los Angeles against the Galaxy on Sunday.

Okay, blog boy, give me your bold prediction for the Penguins!

They win all three and in one they score a power play goal in overtime.