Chirps from Center Ice

         vs.        

3                              2

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Hockey is 60 minutes.

For about 55 minutes of the contest on Saturday night, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were in control. Up 2-0.

Until they weren’t.

Two goals in the span of 34 seconds sees the Hamilton Hammers tie it, then Pierre Engvall’s goal at 1:19 of overtime wins it, stunning the Penguins and winning 3-2 in overtime. The Penguins only had two shots in the third period and didn’t possess the puck at all in the overtime frame.

Kirk MacDonald has his hands full. This team, all of a sudden, is fighting it.

Here’s how they lined up. Note that Hamilton, much like its predecessor Bridgeport, does not post lines.

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Lineup Notes: Ilya Solovyov was re-assigned from Pittsburgh earlier in the day, replacing David Breazeale. Up front, Max Graham was out for Jack Horbach.

First Period: Antonio Stranges scores at 3:42, but hold up, the play was challenged by Kirk MacDonald and the call overturned for offside. No goal. MacDonald is now 2 for 3 on these challenges this season, all at home.

Later, Hamilton ices the puck and there were six Hammers on the ice but no call for too many men. Rough first period for linesmen John Rey and Dominic Moore.

Bill Zonnon scores here at 10:36 when he snakes past Hamilton defenders and it makes it 1-0 Penguins….

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Harrison Brunicke scores on a laser of a shot at 11:39 or a minute and three seconds later and the Penguins were seemingly off to the races.

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Second Period: Teams trade a pair of power play opportunities but no one scores.

Third Period: Wilkes-Barre puts up just two shots in the period, a season low. But, the Penguins were keeping the Hammers at bay.

An Atley Calvert ticky tack hold at 14:47 puts him in the penalty box and at 15:15 Liam Foudy scores a power play goal.

(no GIF here)

No big deal. You are still up 2-1, at home, against a team that went over a hundred minutes between goals and were shutout the night before against Lehigh Valley.

But 34 seconds later, Pierre Engvall scores to tie the game.

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Stop me if you have seen this before, or even in the last 24 hours. The same thing happened the nighty before in Hershey.

The period would end with no further scoring.

Overtime: Penguins don’t possess the puck at all and Engvall scores again, for his second of the game and wins it in overtime.

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Joel Blomqvist, who was stopping seemingly everything for 55 minutes. all of a sudden started fighting the puck like mad and couldn’t see anything off the stick from Engvall.

Three Stars: 3) Kashawn Aitcheson (assist) 2) Liam Foudy (goal) 1) Pierre Engvall (two goals, overtime game winner)

The Good: Managed to get a point, but yada yada, same as last night, it’s a lost point they will be wishing they had in March.

The Bad: Can’t blow a two goal lead against a last place team in the North Division. You just can’t.

Turning Point: The Engvall overtime game winner gets it here. I thought about the iffy Calvert hold that led to the Foudy goal, but that’s too much mind dynamics.

The Good II: Nice to see the arena somewhat full, at least in the lower bowl, in stark contrast to Tuesday, but that’s a low bar. Anyway, it was good to see.

Around the Division: With the Pens starting an hour early there are teams still playing having started at the conventional 7 p.m. start time so Saturday’s boxes are here.

Standings: Penguins have 17 points. Things are tight. After the Atlantic Division boxes go final this page should update accurately.

Florida Update: The Everblades finish on time, beating the South Carolina Stingrays 3-1.

Video Highlights: 

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They finish off the three in three with a 6:05 Sunday start at home against Lehigh Valley. Yeah, I can’t wait either! 🙄

Let’s Go Pens!