Chirps from Center Ice

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Blogger Note: Special to Bob Howard and the Power Play Post Show.

The Manchester Monarchs had never played a game at the Utica Memorial Auditorium in their history. Prior to Game 3 tonight, all the Monarchs knew about the arena known as, “The Aud” was that it was a historical building that sat in downtown Utica, located in central New York.

Once the puck dropped though, it was the equivalent of walking into a beehive full of angry bees.

There will be no Manchester Monarchs sweep. The Utica Comets take Game 3 by a score of 3-2 and trail the best of seven series two games to one.

In front of a sellout crowd of 3,835, most of which stood in line for hours for tickets to Game 3, the home crowd was deafening to start, whetting their appetite with the taste of Calder Cup Finals hockey for the first time.

Cal O’Reilly opened the scoring for the home team just after a Utica’s first power play. He created a turnover from the high slot and fired it home at 5:45 of the first period for his first goal of the playoffs, he had 16 straight assists prior to. That goal by Utica snapped a streak of eight straight games in which the Monarchs had scored first.

There was a bit of collateral damage for the Monarchs on the sequence as starting goaltender J-F Berube needed assistance off of the ice with an apparent injury. He was replaced in net by backup Patrik Bartosak, making his first appearance in the playoffs.

Utica continued the relentless pressure and made it 2-0 after the Comets won a defensive zone draw. Bobby Sanguinetti found Alexandre Grenier up the ice and Grenier streaked in and scored to double the lead for the home team at 18:58.

But Manchester got one back :37 later after a lazy defensive zone exit by the Comets that was tracked down at the blue line. Adrian Kempe collected his fifth goal of the playoffs on a rebound of a Derek Forbort shot.

The question coming into the second was whether or not the late Manchester goal from the first would carry any momentum over. The Monarchs opened in waves and Markstrom was forced into making a tough save 1:30 in on Colin Miller. They were slowly rounding into the form of the team that came in with a 2-0 series lead and was the regular season champion.

Utica slowed the pace back to their comfort level, won a face-off and Niklas Jensen scored his second of the game off of a shot from the slot to make it 3-1 Comets at 6:18 and the two goal lead was restored.

It nearly became a three goal lead, but the Monarchs made it 3-2 as they transitioned to a two on one 1:04 later when Adrian Kempe scored his second of the game. Manchester was meeting adversity with a goal, but still trailed by one.

The second period broke with the Monarchs still trailing by one, but the pressure they were building intensified.

Despite an 11-7 shot advantage by the Monarchs in the third period, the Comets were able to stymie Manchester from finding the equalizer, including killing a late Manchester power play with under five minutes to play.

Three stars were Manchester’s Adrian Kempe with two goals, Alexandre Grenier with a goal, assist and a +2 and Cal O’Reilly with a goal, an assist and a +3.

Notes… Utica’s Brandon DeFazio and Manchester’s Brian O’Neill both left the game with injuries and didn’t return.

Game 4 will be Friday from Utica followed by Game 5 Saturday night.

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  1                                        2

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Blogger note: Special to Bob Howard and the Power Play Post Show.

Heading into Game 2 of the Calder Cup Finals, the Manchester Monarchs were 8-0 at home while the Utica Comets were 7-0 coming off of a playoff loss.

Something had to give.

Nic Dowd from the Manchester Monarchs continued the trend for the home team as the Manchester Monarchs take Game 2 by a 2-1 score and lead the best of seven series two games to none.

There were lineup changes for both sides. Kevin Raine drew in for the injured Jeff Schultz on defense for the Monarchs and Nicklas Jensen drew in the lineup for Wacey Hamilton at forward.

No change in goal for either side, as it was Jacob Markstrom for the Comets and J-F Berube for the Monarchs in net.

A much tighter first period defensively for the Comets ultimately saw Zach O’Brien break though on a power play goal in the final minute of the first period at 19:05.

Utica brought the affair level with a goal by Nicklas Jensen unassisted at 1:12 of the second period on a Monarchs turnover. Jensen had been a scratch for the past three games for the Comets but made his appearance in Game 2 count in scoring the tying goal. Neither team was able to capitalize during long stretches of power play time awarded by the referees.

Machester outshot the visitors 8-3 in the third period, but were unable to solve Jacob Markstrom. Utica controlled pace in the first half of the third period, but the Monarchs wrested away the momentum and managed everything they had to re-gain the lead.

The Monarchs were gift wrapped a power play to open overtime when Peter Andersson cleared the puck over the glass in his own end with one second left in regulation. However, the Monarchs did not score.

Finally, Nic Dowd tracked down a David Van der Gulick clearing attempt and was in a foot race with Utica’s Cory Conacher in the corner, to the right of Markstom. Dowd out hustled Conacher, spun towards the net, threw a shot on goal the Markstrom stopped, but no one picked him up in front, Markstrom never corralled the rebound and Dowd poked the game winner home falling down.

Three stars were Zach O’Brien with a goal, J-F Berube with 24 saves on 25 shots and Nic Dowd with an assist and the game winning goal.

Now the Comets face an unenviable task of trying to beat the Manchester Monarchs four times with five tries remaining. For a Manchester team that has only lost back to back games in the Calder Cup Playoffs just once (Portland in the Conference Quarterfinals) the Cup is almost theirs.

But the Monarchs face a sellout crowd and a Utica fan base which will have the Utica Memorial Auditorium packed to the gills on Wednesday night when this series resumes in Utica, NY for Game 3.

Notes: This was Utica’s 8th overtime game, they were 3-4 in the previous seven contests…. Manchester was a perfect 2-0 in overtime coming into overtime tonight… Attendance for Game 2 was 6,078.

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  2                                        3

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Blogger Note: I was asked by Bob Howard of the Power Play Post Show to throw together a few paragraphs on the Calder Cup Finals between Utica and Manchester. I obliged.

The two best teams in the AHL all season long locked horns for the first time all season up in Manchester, NH for Game 1 of the Calder Cup Finals in front of 8,155 fans at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

The home crowd went home happy, as they have every game they have witnessed this postseason. Michael Mersch’s game winning goal at 4:10 of the first overtime ensured that the Monarchs extend their record to 8-0 at home in the Calder Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 1 of the 2015 Calder Cup Finals.

For the visiting Comets, who vanquished the Chicago Wolves in five, Oklahoma City in seven and Grand Rapids in six, they may have had a bit of tired legs coming into Game 1. They were outshot 37-17 for the game and were run all over the rink tonight.

First Period: Monarchs opened with some early pressure but Utica accomplished what so few before them couldn’t, and that was keep the Monarchs out of their nets in the very early goings. Utica settled and then had some chances in close on Berube, but he was up to task.

Manchester defenseman Jeff Schultz was injured in the opening sequences of the game and did not return.

The first period of a game where two teams who have not seen each other usually features lots of hits and lots of scrums. This game was no different, with both teams playing playoff hockey for nearly two months and reaching the pinnacle, neither wanted to be knocked off early.

As they have done to so many teams before, the Michael Mersch, Jordan Weal and Brian O’Neill line struck again. A shot from Jordan Weal was slammed home by Brian O’Neill at 16:00 of the first period.

But 1:01 later, Utica responded with a Sven Baertschti power play goal to bring the Comets back even.

Second Period: First ten minutes in there were no goals, but the Monarchs held a 7-1 shot advantage and the game had a feel like Manchester was on an extended power play. That shot advantaged crept to a 10-1 advantage and the Monarchs headed to an actual power play but did not register a shot. Manchester really took over and dominated the pace of the game. They play fast and if you can’t keep up then it’s usually to your peril.

The goaltenders were becoming the story of the game. Jacob Markstrom of Utica, denied the virtual firing squad of rubber sent his way from Manchester shooters and then J-F Berube, who didn’t see much action, was called into action with a dazzling glove save as Alexandre Grenier walked in a ripped one but Berube snared it with the glove.

Third Period: Manchester cashed on a power play as Michael Mersch scored his twelfth goal of the playoffs at 2:23. But the resiliency of the Utica Comets was on full display as Cory Conacher unleashed a slick wrist shot that Berube had no chance on 3:01 later at 5:24.

Just like the second period, time was in fast forward mode. Neither team wanted to make an error to cost their team. Both goaltenders were up to the challenge with Markstrom seeing more rubber than his counterpart Berube.

In the final minute of the period, the Monarchs took a delay of game penalty when Colin Miller cleared a puck over the glass from his own zone. Utica didn’t have any time to draw anything up in regulation so it was off to…

Overtime: Manchester continued to push the pace, and it paid off. A Weal shot at the net was pushed in by Mersch for the game winner. After a video review for possible net dislodgment, it was ruled a good goal.

Three Stars: 3) Jacob Markstrom (34 saves on 37 shots) 2) Brian O’Neill (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Micheal Mersch (two goals, one a game winner, assist, +2)

Game 2 goes Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m. in Manchester.

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They made it look easy.

For the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in the Calder Cup Playoffs, it was a 3-0 sweep of the Syracuse Crunch by a combined 14-3, utterly dominating the Crunch in all facets.

For the Manchester Monarchs, they dominated the AHL all season from the jump back in October and ran away with the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL regular season champions. The Monarchs were the first team to qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs this season.

Coach of the Year in Mike Stothers? Check.

MVP and scoring leader in Brian O’Neill? Check.

They made it look easy.

But playoffs are a different animal. Especially when you are dealing with one team standing in your way in a seven game series vs. a litany of other teams on any given three-in-three weekend.

For the AHL’s best team, it’s the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Let’s break it down.

Schedule

Eastern Conference Semifinals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
1-Manchester Monarchs vs. 4-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 
Game 1 – Wed., May 6 – W-B/Scranton at Manchester, 7:00
Game 2 – Thu., May 7 – W-B/Scranton at Manchester, 7:00
Game 3 – Sat., May 9 – Manchester at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 4 – Mon., May 11 – Manchester at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 5 – Tue., May 12 – Manchester at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 6 – Fri., May 15 – W-B/Scranton at Manchester, 7:00
*Game 7 – Sat., May 16 – W-B/Scranton at Manchester, 7:00

*if necessary

Forwards 

Brian O’Neill ran away with the scoring title by ten points over the second place finisher and Jordan Weal finished third in overall scoring. The Penguins, obviously, must come up with a game plan to contain or shut down this duo. Wilkes-Barre is paced by Conor Sheary’s 45 points with Andrew Ebbett and Tom Kostopoulous a point behind. In the series against Portland, the Monarchs got the majority of their scoring from Michael Mersch (5-3-8) and Weal (5-2-7) and got scoring from 17 different players. It’s a deep and dangerous Manchester team that can have any line from one through four attack offensively. Wilkes-Barre’s postseason scorers are Conor Sheary (2-3-5) and Carter Rowney and Kasperi Kapanen (2-2-4 and 3-1-4 respectively) it’s a smaller sample size from that of Manchester’s based solely on the fact that the Penguins swept the Crunch in convincing fashion in three games.

Advantage: Manchester for now. The battle of who wins the series will probably be decided on which forward line produces the most. The Penguins have a potent scoring line which is their third line of Tom Kuhnhackl, Carter Rowney and Dominik Uher and have potential with a possible Oskar Sundqvist, Jayson Megna, Kasperi Kapanen pairing for the series and have long had the top line production of Sheary, Ebbett and Kostopoulos. But you are talking about two players on a line that scored a combined 149 points in the regular season against your top line of three players in Wilkes-Barre that scored a combined 133.

Defensemen

Both teams were 1-2 in the AHL in defense, with the Penguins allowing just 2.14 goals per game vs. Manchester’s 2.32 goals / game. Colin Miller was near the top of the AHL in defenseman scoring, coming in third place in points and second place in goals to Binghamton’s Chris Wideman, who won AHL defenseman of the year. The Penguins have more of a pack mentality when it comes to defense. For what it is worth these days, Taylor Chorney and Brian Dumoulin finished fourth and fifth in +/- rating and missed the final weeks of the regular season due to NHL recall duty in Pittsburgh.

Advantage: Penguins. Wilkes-Barre is deeper on the blue line than the Monarchs are. When you have to scratch AHL veterans Ryan Parent and Danny Syvret as your seventh and eighth defenseman, you are very deep on the defensive end.

Goaltending

It’s Matt Murray’s show and will remain as such. Murray won the AHL’s Rookie of the Year award, led the AHL in shutouts, save percentage and goals against. A case could be made for honorable mention for Manchester’s Jean-Francois Berube, who led goaltenders in wins, but some of the luster is knocked off of that shine because Berube needed five games and essentially the third period in the final game to advance past the eighth seeded Portland Pirates.

Advantage: Penguins

Intangibles

Mike Stothers won the AHL’s Coach of the Year fair and square, but that may have been a cop out on behalf of the media, voting for the coach who coached the league’s best team. AHL bloggers like myself don’t get votes, but my candidates would have included Travis Green in Utica, Tom Rowe in San Antonio or Troy Mann in Hershey. Taking nothing away from the job Stothers has done in Manchester and coupling that with the defensive minded assassin in John Hynes here in Wilkes-Barre, where his clubs have led the AHL in defense for four out of the last five years, I see a push.

Manchester had the AHL’s top overall power play in the regular season, edging Binghamton out by a percentage point at 20.7%. The Penguins were a modest 14th overall (17.2%) Manchester was 16th in penalty kill followed closely behind by the Penguins at 17th (83.6% to 83.2%) So far in the postseason, the Penguins have not allowed a power play goal and lead the Calder Cup Playoffs in power play with 42.9% conversion rate while Manchester is 13th (14.3%) on the power play and 12th (71.4%) on the penalty kill. I see a push initially. You can’t take anything away from what Manchester did in the regular season on the power play and must know that the Penguins numbers on special teams in the postseason are a bit inflated for the simple fact that Syracuse was near the bottom in power play and penalty kill at the end of the regular season. While I don’t see this series being won and lost on special teams, whichever team which gets the edge on the other in this seven game series will most likely advance.

Social Media Coverage

For the Penguins…

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @WBSGameDay
Radio: @MikeOBrienWBS
Beat: @CVBombulie and @TLTomVenesky
Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins
Instagram: wbspenguins

For the Monarchs…

Twitter: @MonarchsHockey
Radio: @kenmonarchs
Beat: None that I know of.
Facebook: /MonarchsHockey
Instagram: monarchshockey

Prediction

Penguins in six. Again, may be a bit generous here, but there are doubts on both sides. For one, Syracuse didn’t really put up much of a fight against Wilkes-Barre and anyone that followed the final month of the season that saw the Crunch lose 9 of their last 10 games would know that likely any team would have swept them out of the playoffs. For Manchester, they needed five games to dismiss the eight seed Portland Pirates and were in a 3-3 deadlock against the Pirates in Game 5 heading into the third period after coughing up a 3-0 lead in the game and getting blown out and shutout in Game 4. If Manchester allows the Penguins that space, Wilkes-Barre can and will capitalize. Both teams have firepower up front, but the Penguins are the deeper and better team on defense and Matt Murray didn’t seem to miss a beat against Syracuse and there is no reason to believe that he cannot win the Penguins a game or two in this series. Ultimately defense and goaltending will win the day. I see a split coming out of Manchester this week then the Penguins winning at home Saturday and Monday, Manchester winning Game 5 to force it back to New Hampshire and the Penguins closing the series out next Friday to advance, for the third time in as many seasons, to the Conference Championship to face the winner of the Hartford / Hershey series.

The Gameday setup for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals hits the blog Wednesday at 3 p.m.