Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have a chance to clinch a playoff berth this weekend and continue to make hay on a first round playoff bye. It’s another three in three weekend!

Music to Set the Mood…

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A Quote…

Like any sport, if you can clinch it sooner, clinch it sooner. It just makes the celebration that much sweeter.
Kasey Keller

The Setup…

Home with Hershey on Friday, home with Lehigh Valley on Saturday, trip to Lehigh Valley on Sunday.

The Pens gritted a point out of the Syracuse Crunch last Friday in their only action of the weekend.

The Bears dropped both games last weekend in Hartford and in Providence. Hershey has a three in three also, with the Belleville Senators waiting for the Bears in Hershey Saturday and Sunday.

Lehigh Valley had a three in three last weekend, getting swept. They took an OT loser point out of a series at home against Charlotte and then got on a bus and lost in Bridgeport Sunday. The hits keep coming for the Phantoms as they are in Syracuse Friday before the home and home with the Penguins.

Records

Wilkes-Barre is 36-14-5-2 and have 79 points in second in the Atlantic Division.

Hershey is 26-23-6-2 with 60 points and in fourth.

Lehigh Valley is 24-26-3-3 with 54 points and in sixth.

The Rest of those Rascals…

Providence is making the best out of the games in hand on the Penguins. The Bruins clinched a playoff berth last weekend. They lost in Bridgeport (the first time all season the Islanders beat the Bruins) then beat Hershey Sunday and beat Springfield in OT on Wednesday. They host Hartford and Springfield this weekend and have a 44-11-1 record with 89 points, 10 clear of the Penguins now with just a game in hand.

Charlotte has a 33-18-5 record with 71 points, a game in hand on the Penguins. The Checkers swept the Phantoms last weekend and now have a six game home stand that starts with Bridgeport this weekend.

Gave you fourth place Hershey above.

Bridgeport is fifth with a 24-25-3-5 record and 56 points. Bridgeport was shutout in Hartford last Friday, respond with a win over Providence Saturday and then a 5-4 win over Lehigh Valley Sunday. They head to Charlotte this weekend.

Gave you sixth place Lehigh Valley above.

Springfield has no luck. They were swept by the last place overall in the AHL Iowa Wild at home this past weekend, saw their captain traded to Syracuse and then lost to Providence in OT on Wednesday. They are 22-27-6-2 in seventh place and have 52 points. They host Utica Saturday and travel to Providence on Sunday.

Hartford has a 22-28-2-4 record with 50 points in last place in the division after beating Bridgeport and Hershey last weekend but losing to Cleveland on Wednesday clean at home. They host the Monsters again Friday before heading to Providence on Saturday.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Up: Avery Hayes and Ville Koivunen are on recall to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Alex Alexeyev joined them on Thursday.

Down: Emil Pieniniemi was sent to Wheeling on Monday. Jack St. Ivany is back down from Pittsburgh on a two week conditioning stint. Ryan Graves was assigned on conditioning with the Alexeyev transaction on Thursday.

Out: Tristan Broz is out with an upper body injury.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

On paper and likely in every facet, they are head and shoulders better than Lehigh Valley and Hershey combined. But they don’t play on paper. So that means they need to be careful.

What’s it mean? I think they can work on the deficient areas. The power play and penalty kill for one. 25th overall on the power play and 20th on the penalty kill. Those aren’t great numbers and no where near championship caliber.

You want to see the penalty kill stay perfect this weekend and see them pop in a couple power play goals that propel them to victory.

Also I’d love to see the offense pick back up and score four or more goals and win each game.

Who’s in Goal? 

I’d go Murashov / Blomqvist / Murashov. Is the jury still out on who the number one goaltender is?

Hershey is dealing with injuries in goal. They lost Clay Stevenson to injury Sunday. If he can’t go, expect Garin Bjorklund Friday.

Carson Bjarnason Saturday assuming Aleksei Kolosov goes Friday. Flip it if it’s the opposite. The backup Saturday will start Sunday.

Who’s Running the Show?

Adam Tobias and Mason Riley have the assignment on Friday with John Rey and Richard Jondo on the lines.

Will Kelly and David Elford have the Saturday assignment with John Rey again and Jud Ritter on the lines.

Mike Sullivan and Alex Lepkowski have the Sunday assignment with Jeremy Faucher and Josh Cleary on the lines.

Wow. No repeat refs and five different lines persons. Someone in Springfield (AHL HQ) reads the blog apparently! I’ll take it and appreciate the variety!

Looking Ahead…

Canada trip. They head to Laval, QC Wednesday for a date with the Rocket, Friday in Belleville and Saturday in Toronto. The Saturday game starts at 4.

NASCAR Pick

Kyle Larson is due and the Hendrick parade steps off with a win in Vegas.

Come on, City!

The Eastern Conference leading New York City Football Club continue their winning form with a 3-1 win over the visiting Colorado Rapids this Saturday from the Boogie Down Bronx.

Give us a bold prediction…

Their ticket is punched Saturday night to the post season.