Chirps from Center Ice

Let’s see how far this goes here in the postseason. With a little luck, you will be reading Weekend Previews all the way to June.

The Setup

The Hershey Bears are the opponent of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in the Best of Five, Atlantic Division Semifinals.

How They Got Here…

The Bears dispatched the Bridgeport Islanders in two games, sweeping them. They won Game 1 2-0 and then Game 2 5-2.

The Schedule…

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Give Me Three Keys…

Goes without saying but here are my three keys.

1) Start on Time. The longer it’s a 0-0 game, the more that favors a mistake. Get on the Bears early, get a few goals in the first period, adjust from there, don’t go into a defensive shell and bomb away.

2) Keep your nose clean. Stay out of the box. Don’t engage if you are leading. Don’t play down to shenanigans. They cannot touch you five-on-five.

3) You can’t win or lose the series in the first game, but you can set the tone. If the Penguins win, they are in the catbird seat Saturday looking to go up 2-0. If they lose, then Saturday basically becomes must win. Using #1 and #2, above, what does #3 become?

X Factor

Penguins: Aidan McDonough – The Penguins owe their season to this guy. Where would they be without the guy? Let Sergei Murashov, Avery Hayes and Phil Kemp get the glory, let McDonough continue to cook and carry the freight and hopefully the Penguins to the Division Finals.

Bears: Clay Stevenson – He already has a shutout against Bridgeport and the last thing the Penguins need is to run into a hot goaltender. Stevenson is 2-1-1 against the Pens in the regular season with a 1.86 GAA and a .934 SV%. If the Penguins play with jitters and the Bears get one or two goals Stevenson, who has Calder Cup experience, will likely shut the door.

Who’s in Goal?

Sergei Murashov for the Penguins, Clay Stevenson for the Bears. I think those are no brainers.

Suspensions

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But nothing for Rochester’s Olivier Nadeau, whose high hit to the head area of Avery Hayes resulted in no penalty, knocked Hayes out of the game and started the nonsense.

Beau Halkidis shouldn’t see a playoff game as a result of this ineptitude.

What about the other guys?

The great Tim Leone once told me to worry about your own series first. What the other teams are doing in the other series is irrelevant to your own matters because if you aren’t successful in your series, what you are worrying about or interested in is irrelevant.

But since you asked nicely…

Springfield, as you know if you are a regular reader here, upset the #3 seed Charlotte Checkers. They will now play the Providence Bruins beginning Friday with Game 2 on Sunday, then Games 3, 4, if necessary and 5 if necessary are the same days as the Penguins / Bears series.

Who’s Running the Show?

Morgan MacPhee and Nik Isaacson have the Game 1 assignment with Dylan Blujus and John Rey on the lines. Nothing for Game 2 on Saturday yet. With our luck it’ll be some combination of Rob Hennessey, Beau Halkidis or Mike Sullivan.

Give me the real reason you’re doing this!

My soccer and NASCAR picks, duh!

NYCFC has hit the skids. Winless in six straight, up two goals in stoppage time last Wednesday only for FC Cincinnati to score two goals for the draw then a 1-0 loss in Montreal this past Saturday, it’s not been fun for me. DC United is on the up and up, so I predict a 2-2 draw this weekend.

On the NASCAR circuit, they head to Texas, where I think it’s Tyler Reddick’s race to lose. He already has five wins this season and it’s a track he’s won at. I’m starting him in my fantasy team this weekend and you should too.

Talk to you after Game 1.