Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Category Archives: The AHL

If You Want Charts, You Got ‘Em!

1 Comment Posted by on May 22, 2014

Back with the chart refreshes. So let’s get right to them.

First, the Penguins big board through two rounds. Please click to enlarge for texture….

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/469543940316594176]

Kostopoulos, Zlobin, Kobasew, Sheary and Dumoulin at the top of this list. No surprise here. There are still players that I’d like to see some improvement from, Mikkelson, Harrington, Payerl to name three.

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Here’s the point breakdown for Wilkes-Barre…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/469547877635600385]

Sheary, Zlobin, Kobasew and Andrew Ebbett are a point a game or higher. If Ebbett gets back from injury, that will certainly boost Wilkes-Barre’s chances.

edit: I am wrong, and the chart is wrong. I forgot to add to the “games played” column for the players, so just disregard and move on. I will try and do better the next time…..

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Alright. Now St. John’s through two rounds….

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/469579937616109568]

The most interesting thing here is that every player on this list has been on the ice for a pose relay goal scored against. It really spells out what Robin Short wrote for the St. John’s Telegram today, which is “success by committee.”

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St. John’s point breakdown….

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/469609604188368896]

Twenty players with at least a point or more. The Penguins have more players (23) with a point or more.

I’ll continue to update these and create a head-to-head one once the series starts.

It’s setting up as an interesting series. I am going to be interested to see what the pundits say on the series and what the predictions are.

Speaking of prediction, I make mine in the Series Preview which is scheduled to hit the blog tomorrow at noon. I just have to write it now. Heh.

The AHL, WBS

You Can’t Trademark That

Comments Off on You Can’t Trademark That Posted by on May 15, 2014

Remember the Brian Gibbons Breakaway of the Game™?

He’s back.

With Pittsburgh knocked out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the news was made official today that Brian Gibbons has been assigned to Wilkes-Barre. Gibbons should be available this weekend to play, from Jonathan’s Thursday update.

Zach Trotman for Providence is day-to-day with an injury. He was injured in Game 3, this news coming from Bruins beat writer Mark Divver.

Also, as soon as Derrick Pouliot is officially assigned and gets here and is acclimated to the Wilkes-Barre system, the Penguins will be at or near the best they’ve been all year. Could you remember a Penguins team more potent than this one? Think about it. No major injuries and we are running at full strength with both Pittsburgh and Wheeling out of the playoffs.

Speaking of Wheeling, Jonathan said that Tom Kuhnhackl, Peter Merth and Dustin Stevenson are on the way up as part of the Black Aces. There could be other guys, such as Cody Sylvester and Christian Minella are also eligible. Denver Manderson was hurt in the Nailers series with Greenville, so his status is doubtful to come here.

Oh, I started looking at last night’s numbers of who was on ice / off ice for the charts and Anton Zlobin is no longer perfect. He was on the ice for two of the Providence goals scored. On Simon Despres’ first goal, there were four forwards on the ice. (Zach Sill, Chuck Kobasew, Harry Zolnierczyk and Conor Sheary) I don’t think that’s right, but that’s what the scoresheet says. I’ll have a chart refresh this weekend, probably Sunday.

Game 4 goes tomorrow from Providence. The Gameday setup hits the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

Chart-Free Blog Post!

Comments Off on Chart-Free Blog Post! Posted by on May 13, 2014

There’s been way too many charts on the blog these past couple of days, so I present a blog post with no charts and just some news…

— The Wheeling Nailers season came to and end last night with a 4-0 loss to the Greenville Road Warriors. Goaltender Jason Missiaen posted a 31 save shutout and the Warriors are onto the Conference Finals. Wait. Missiaen….shutout….hmmmmm….where have I seen this before? Oh right.

— In the AHL, the Norfolk Admirals are on the brink of elimination after losing to the St. John’s IceCaps 5-1 last night. St. John’s can close it out tonight at Scope.

— Derrick Pouliot’s Portland Winterhawks lost last night to Tristan Jarry’s Edmonton Oil Kings in Game 7 of the WHL Finals 4-2. Both Jarry and Pouliot are Penguins prospects. Pouliot is pegged to come to Wilkes-Barre at some point. Pouliot has some serious, serious pedigree and should be inserted into the lineup for the Penguins almost automatically. Pouliot appeared in the Game 5 loss to the Syracuse Crunch last season in the Eastern Conference Finals.

— Here’s Jonathan’s updates from practice Monday and Tuesday. Monday’s practice was optional, but heavily attended. Tuesday’s focused on special teams. Andrew Ebbett didn’t participate in either practice. Philip Samuelsson’s status is still iffy.

— Bobby Robins was suspended three games today by the AHL for leaving the penalty box in the third period of Game 2. Jared Knight’s ten minute misconduct was upgraded to a game misconduct for leaving the bench to join an altercation. Knight should be available for Game 3.

Jonathan doesn’t write it, but he equvilates the loss of Robins to that of the loss of a Bobby Farnham. He’s not going to score many points, but he’ll hit everything that moves.

Finally, news out of Chocolatetown today finds that the Bears and Capitals have renewed their affiliation agreement for another year and Washington re-signed Garrett Mitchell for next year. The announcement that head coach Mike Haviland chose to take a head coaching job at Colorado College was made last week, for those who missed it.

The Gameday Setup for Game 3 vs. Providence will be here tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Not AHL, The AHL, WBS

Deeper Into the Numbers

Comments Off on Deeper Into the Numbers Posted by on May 12, 2014

Here are the promised head-to-head stats for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and the Providence Bruins in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

First the Penguins “big” stat board. Again, please click to enlarge for texture…

Andrew Ebbett’s presence is missed, but not that badly, where Spencer Machacek has filled in as the sixth veteran and hasn’t been on the ice for a goal against along with Chuck Kobasew, rookie Conor Sheary and Anton Zlobin. Zlobin’s impact was immediate because he missed Game 1 and was on the ice when four goals were scored for the Penguins in Game 2.

Brian Dumoulin’s name at the top of this board is just a microcosm of his overall impact in these playoffs. And how about Zlobin?

Here is Providence’s “big” stat board…

Joe Morrow is having a hell of a playoffs against his old team two games in, isn’t he?

Khokhlachev had a big Game 1 and the Penguins kept him in check in Game 2 and won handily. If that continues, they advance easily.

Easier said than done.

I’ll continue to update these and will probably run another blog of this on the weekend.

The AHL, WBS

Pens / Bruins Chart Refresh

Comments Off on Pens / Bruins Chart Refresh Posted by on May 11, 2014

I am getting the hang of this whole building and maintaining a chart thing. I think I may use this concept next year for the Penguins but spill this onto a page instead offing a blog post every time. Hell, I have a whole summer to play with the idea.

But let’s not start thinking about the summer, shall we? Here’s the updated charts for the Penguins and Providence Bruins through Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Calder Cup Semifinals.

First, the Penguins “big” chart. Please click to enlarge…

My tweet kind of spells it out. Anton Zlobin’s has yet to be on the ice for a single goal against for these playoffs. Also, Brendan Mikkelson was on the ice for five of the six Penguin goals scored last night. I have been waiting for him to make an impact, and he did just that, Saturday night. He also had two assists last night, his first points of the series.

Brian Dumoulin has been a beast in these playoffs.

Now Providence. The GF% numbers for the Bruins took a dive last night…

Once again my tweet spells it out. No one on the Providence team has a 90% or higher GF%. Now, I’ll sound smarter next year when I see what the average is for a team throughout a 76 game slog.

Here’s Providence’s point totals.

Keep Khokhlachev, Spooner and Griffith in check like the Penguins did last night and you will win, like the Penguins did last night.

I still want to break down the head to head between these teams and will probably put those numbers up tomorrow or Tuesday. Check me out then.

The AHL, WBS

Penguins / P-Bruins Series Preview

1 Comment Posted by on May 8, 2014

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They say that revenge is a dish best served cold.

For the Providence Bruins, what the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins did to them last May was nothing short of historical. The Bruins, at the time the Eastern Conference Champions and regular season champions, were the first team in AHL history to lose a 3-0 series lead and lose Game 7 at home. The Penguins stormed back from being down 3-0 to the Bruins and outscored them 14-2 in Games 4 through 7 including a 5-0 whitewash in the decisive Game 7.

The Bruins did all they could to close out the Penguins in six games, but backstopped by the heroic 46 save performance by then goaltender Brad Thiessen and done in by Trevor Smith’s wraparound overtime game winning goal at 3:36 in overtime, it was not to be.

The Bruins are out for revenge.

There are only eight players on that doomed Providence squad that will return to the scene where their season ended, the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Bruins didn’t come close to their 105 point season they put up a year ago, Providence finished with a record of 40-25-2-9 good for 91 points and third place in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins needed the last weekend of the AHL season to make it into the Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Bruins dispatched the Northeast Division Champion Springfield Falcons in five games. The Bruins were down 2-1 in the series with the Falcons, and used a pair of 6-3 victories in Games 4 and 5 to complete the comeback and pull of the upset against Springfield.

The Penguins played the Bruins four times this season. They split a weekend series with the Bruins by identical 5-1 scores in January and lost in a 4-3 shootout in February and 2-1 regulation loss in March at home in Wilkes-Barre.

Providence is led by rookies Seth Griffith and Alexander Khokhlachev, who paced the Bruins with a combined 107 points. Griffith has 6 points in the Calder Cup Playoffs and is joined by fellow teammates Matt Fraser and Ryan Spooner in the Top 10 in postseason scoring.

The Penguins, on the other hand, are paced by veterans Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ebbett in scoring in the postseason.

The Bruins used youth to their advantage to rally and dispatch a 100 point Springfield team in five games. The Penguins, on the other hand, used experience to oust a young Binghamton Senators team that beat the Penguins in all facets during the regular season and won the East Division Championship by four points over the Penguins.

It is your prototypical “old lion vs. new lion” matchup. Will the new lion continue to outpace the old lion or will the old lion use its experience to oust the new kids in town? Read on.

Schedule

Eastern Conference Semifinals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
6-W-B/Scranton Penguins vs. 7-Providence Bruins 
Game 1 – Fri., May 9 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 
Game 3 – Wed., May 14 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05 
Game 4 – Fri., May 16 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05 
*Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05 
*Game 6 – Mon., May 19 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 
*Game 7 – Wed., May 21 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05

* – if necessary

Forwards

Outside of the aforementioned Griffith and Khokhlachev, the Bruins top point getters are LW Craig Cunningham, C Ryan Spooner and RW Nick Johnson. Cunningham (47 points) Spooner (46) and ex-Penguin Johnson (42) are a nice combination to supplement the pace set by rookies Griffith and Khokhlachev. The Penguins are led by their captain, Tom Kostopoulos, with Nick Drazenovic, Andrew Ebbett and Harry Zolnierczyk part of the supporting cast. The Ace in the Hole is Chuck Kobasew, who scored at over a point a game pace since clearing waivers and being assigned to Wilkes-Barre late in the season.

Playoffs has seen the same familiar names at the top of both clubs lists.

Advantage: Push. Two arguments can be made here, the youth of the Bruins and the experience of the Penguins, but in this type of comparison they both cancel each other out. Who takes hold of the advantage in the early stages of the series will define the outcome in all likelihood.

Defense

The Bruins are led by offensive defensemen David Warsofsky and ex-Penguin Joe Morrow. The names Scott Harrington, Simon Despres, Philip Samuelsson and Scott Harrington need no introduction to fans of the Penguins.

The Penguins led the AHL in defense, limiting opponents to 2.43 goals per game. The Bruins were balanced this season and were 11th in defense and 11th in offense.

When it comes to blueline depth, the Penguins are the ones that tip the advantage in this category their way. The collective team effort of being the stingiest team in the AHL throughout a 76 game grind coupled with dependable names such as Reid McNeill and Barry Goers and you have a defense corps that you can feel good about going into a seven game series.

Advantage: Penguins

Goaltending

The P-Bruins used both Nik Svedberg and Malcom Subban this season pretty regularly and that spilled over into playoffs with both appearing in multiple games in their first round matchup against Springfield. Both carry the pedigree that would tell you that someday, both will be manning an NHL crease in the future. The Penguins have Peter Mannino, whose NHL ship may have sailed, but still remains a solid AHL netminder winning Goaltender of the Month in March. Wilkes-Barre cannot turn to Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, who was ruled out for the remainder of the season and won’t turn to Eric Hartzell, whose confidence was shaken after winning the Goaltender of the Month Award in January and 19 year old Matt Murray would be a last resort for Hynes & Company.

You don’t even have to look at past numbers or anything like that. The advantage in this category is Providence’s based on depth at backup alone.

Advantage: Providence

Intangibles

Starting with coaching, there is no way that John Hynes gets outcoached by Bruce Cassidy. Hynes’ group conducted the masterful comeback last year by at one point breaking down every single shift in one of the games. The Penguins have the advantage in coaching….Neither team has been spectacular on special teams this postseason, although the Penguins penalty killing unit did a masterful job in Games 3 and 4 of the Binghamton series in shutting down the dangerous Senators power play. Providence was slightly better on the power play in the regular season but average on the penalty kill. Depending on scenarios, whoever takes hold of this category could be ahead early as the series wears on. Push.

Social Media Coverage

For the Penguins…

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

For the P-Bruins…

Twitter: @AHLBruins
Radio: @nickgagalis
Beat: @MarkDivver
Facebook: /providencebruins
Instagram: ahlbruins

Prediction

Penguins in six. Experience wins out. This isn’t a five game series, this is seven. Coaching, defense and veteran savvy from the likes of Kobasew, Kostopoulos and Ebbett win this series for the Penguins and they advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

But again, they don’t play these games in cyberspace or on paper. The Gameday Setup for Game 1 vs. Providence will hit the blog Friday at 3 p.m.

The AHL

Tuesday Notebook

Comments Off on Tuesday Notebook Posted by on May 6, 2014

With a whole week between games, there’s not much to blog about. One post down is an in depth look at some numbers between Providence and Wilkes-Barre that’s been up since Sunday. I probably won’t blog again until the Series Preview between the Pens and P-Bruins. But I managed to scrape together the following….

— Wilkes-Barre got help today in the form of Jayson Megna. He wasn’t seeing any playoff ice time with Pittsburgh, so they sent him to Wilkes-Barre where he will undoubtedly be inserted into the lineup for the Penguins.

Megna is an interesting case this year. I’ve sort of carried the schtick that he’s not my favorite player in spite of the fact that he has seen more NHL games (36) than AHL (25) this year. So with only 61 games played this season, you can bet that he’s going to be chomping at the bit to get into a game and knock some bodies around and hopefully score some goals in the process.

— Glens Falls will have a team again next season, in the form of Calgary prospects. The AHL’s Board of Governors approved the move Monday. Good that the League maintains a 30 team marriage with the 30 clubs in the NHL.

I thought about this and it’s been debated on Twitter, Facebook and beyond, where do you put the new Glens Falls team? The Eastern Conference? The Western Conference? Do you go 16 East teams and 14 West teams? Realignment is usually announced in July. I think that the AHL goes back to the four division format and adapts the same concept in the NHL presently.

— The Norfolk Admirals are becoming the unscratchable itch. They steal home ice away from the St. John’s IceCaps with a 3-1 win Tuesday. Goaltender John Gibson was stellar again for the Admirals, stopping 42 shots. Seemed like to me, if I was following the game the right way on Twitter, that Norfolk used, “bend but not break” and ground out a huge road victory. Gibson was beat on a deflection on the tail end of a power play and the Admirals answered right back minutes later. Game 2 is Wednesday.

Anaheim is in a battle with Los Angeles, currently down 2-0 in that series. If the Ducks do get bounced, they could get Emerson Etem, Devante Smith-Pelly and Rickard Rackell back from recall. That’s quite a calvary.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves in Wilkes-Barre, shall we?

The Pens / P-Bruins Series Preview will be up Thursday at noon.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

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