Chirps from Center Ice

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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.

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Eleven times walking up to the window, eleven times walking away from the window empty handed. Such has been the case for the past eleven postseasons for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

You can debate for days on what matters more, winning the championship of your league and becoming an obscure afterthought or being a constant in the postseason year after year after year.

For the Penguins and Binghamton Senators, neither is a stranger to the postseason. The B-Sens won it all in 2011 were a playoff team last year, facing these same Penguins. Binghamton was swept last year by the Penguins. Will it happen again? Read on.

The Penguins went 3-3-1-1 against the Senators this past season and winless at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena up in Southern New York. The B-Sens have home ice in this series so if the Penguins want to have success and get past their closest East Division rival, they must win at least one game on the Southern Tier.

The B-Sens were led in points this year by Mike Hoffman. Hoffman paced the B-Sens with 30 goals this season. However, Hoffman was recalled to Ottawa and hasn’t been seen since. Good news for the Penguins, right? Wrong. Binghamton isn’t led by just one, but by a pack. That pack mentality dooms opponents because if you make a mistake against this team, usually you are fishing that mistake out of the back of your net.

The Binghamton Senators led the AHL in scoring with 3.63 goals per game. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins led the AHL in defense, limiting opponents to 2.43 goals per game.

It’s the unstoppable force vs. the immovable object.

Time to break it all down.

Schedule

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “C” (best-of-5)
3-Binghamton Senators vs. 6-W-B/Scranton Penguins
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – W-B/Scranton at Binghamton, 7:05
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – W-B/Scranton at Binghamton, 7:05
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 30 – Binghamton at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Binghamton at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 5 – Mon., May 5 – W-B/Scranton at Binghamton, 7:05

* – if necessary

Forwards

Penguins captain Tom Kostopoulos leads Wilkes-Barre with 47 points. The B-Sens have six players that have more points than Kostopoulos. This should tell the tale as to who has the advantage. Wilkes-Barre’s “X-Factor” is a one-two punch of playmaking center Andrew Ebbett and NHL veteran Chuck Kobasew. Kobasew set the AHL on fire by scoring 11 goals in 12 games after being outcast by Pittsburgh late in the year. Ebbett had a 12 game point streak at the end of the year. You get this duo rolling in the right direction and you are going to win a lot of playoff games.

Advantage: Binghamton. Relying on Kobasew and Ebbett to get hot as a game plan is a recipe for failure. There’s just too much firepower up front for the B-Sens.

Defense

The Penguins have again led the American Hockey League in defense, giving up the fewest goals allowed (185) in the 30 team league. The B-Sens gave up 232 goals and seemed to win games by way of firefights. That doesn’t happen often in the playoffs.

Advantage: Penguins

Goaltending

For the Penguins, it started out with Jeff Deslauriers and Eric Hartzell and ended with Peter Mannino. Hartzell won AHL Goaltender of the Month honors in January. Mannino was named in March. For Binghamton, it started with Nathan Lawson and Andrew Hammond and ended with Hammond playing 48 games. You think that with Hammond, in his first year in the League that he would be over matched, wide and starry eyed. Hammond won 25 games. He also lost 19 of them, probably due in large part to the fact that Binghamton was, again, involved in a 8 or 9 goals scored game. How Hammond holds up in his first postseason run could define this series.

Advantage: Penguins. Mannino hadn’t let in more than two goals since November but was torched by Binghamton this past Saturday. That’s probably not going to happen consistently in this series.

Intangibles

John Hynes and Luke Richardson are going to be behind NHL benches some day. No one gets more out of his players than Richardson. Hynes prepares his group for this moment from the first meetings in September. Advantage Penguins, slightly here. Binghamton was top five in the AHL in power play this year. The Penguins power play has been a joke all season. Wilkes-Barre has slightly better success on the penalty kill than the B-Sens, but Binghamton led the league with 16 shorthanded goals. The Penguins were second with 14. Playoffs are a different animal though, so it’s a push, for now. Special teams is an ever evolving beast so the first team to take advantage will probably have it for this brief five game series.

Social Media Coverage

For the Penguins…

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

For the B-Sens…

Twitter: @BSens_Hockey
Radio: @BSensRadio
Beat: @PSBSens
Facebook: /binghamtonsenators
Instagram: bsens_hockey

Prediction

Penguins in five. In order for this to come to fruition, the Penguins must get at least a split this weekend on the Southern Tier. Limiting mistakes and what chances the opposition throws at you with steady defense and goaltending, something that the Penguins have had all season long, and the Penguins are on to the next round.

But they don’t play these games on cyberspace. They play then in brick and mortar buildings filled with rabid fans. Game 1 is tomorrow. The Gameday Setup hits the blog Friday at 3 p.m.

Welcome back to the Calder Cup Playoff Previews. Yesterday we looked at the Western Conference. If you missed that, you can click here to go there direct.

Anyway, we are here in familiar territory with teams that the Penguins see on a pretty regular basis. In keeping with what I gave yesterday, I provide capsules on each team that made it this year.

Here we go…

Albany Devils

Record: 40-23-5-8 // 93 pts., 2^nd place Northeast Division (5 seed)

Power Play: 21^st // 16.2%

Penalty Kill: 14^th // 82.7%

Top 3 Scorers: Joe Whitney 22-31-53 / Kelly Zajac 12-32-44 / Mike Sislo 23-18-41

Overview: Devils hung around and were relevant all season. Defense is what got them here. Defense is what they are going to need in stopping St. John’s, who was the third highest scoring team in the AHL at 3.39 goals per game.

First Round Opponent: St. John’s IceCaps

Record vs. the IceCaps: Did not play.

Odds to win the Calder Cup: 20:1

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Binghamton Senators

Record: 44-24-3-5 // 96 pts., 1^st place East Division (3 seed)

Power Play: 5^th // 20.7%

Penalty Kill: 23^rd // 80.6%

Top 3 Scorers: Mike Hoffman 30-37-67* / Stephane Da Costa 18-40-58 / Cole Schneider 20-34-54

Overview: Binghamton has been the best overall team in the East Division all season. This is a team that has excellent coaching, superb penalty killing (16 SHGF led the AHL) and is the highest scoring team in the AHL. You cannot make a mistake against this team.

First Round Opponent: Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Record vs. the Penguins: 5-3-0-0

Odds to win the Calder Cup: 8:1

* – Hoffman is on NHL recall

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Manchester Monarchs

Record: 48-19-3-6 // 105 pts., 1^st place Atlantic Division (1 seed)

Power Play: 19^th // 16.3%

Penalty Kill: 19^th // 81.5%

Top 3 Scorers: Jordan Weal 23-47-70 / Linden Vey 14-34-48* / Brian O’Neill 26-21-47

Overview: Monarchs dominated the Atlantic and the Eastern Conference for months. Not an overly flashy team, but consistent on all levels and the results of a 1 seed show. Despite this, some have Manchester as a longshot Cup favorite.

First Round Opponent: Norfolk Admirals

Record vs. the Admirals: 2-2-0-0

Odds to win the Calder Cup: 10:1

* – Vey is on NHL recall

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Norfolk Admirals

Record: 40-26-3-7 // 90 pts., 3^rd place East Division (8 seed)

Power Play: 22^nd // 16%

Penalty Kill: 1^st // 88.1%

Top 3 Scorers: Emerson Etem 24-30-54 / Andre Petersson 23-31-54 / Devante Smith-Pelly 27-16-43*

Overview: Admirals were up and down all season but never were a serious threat to the division title. Norfolk is here thanks to superb goaltending by John Gibson and in his absence, Brad Thiessen. Best penalty kill in the AHL too.

First Round Opponent: Manchester Monarchs

Record vs. the Monarchs: 2-2-0-0

Odds to win the Calder Cup: 25:1

* – Smith-Pelly is on NHL recall

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Providence Bruins

Record: 40-25-2-9 // 91 pts., 3^rd place Atlantic Division (7 seed)

Power Play: 6^th // 20.5%

Penalty Kill: 21^st // 80.9%

Top 3 Scorers: Alexander Khokhlachev 21-36-57 / Seth Griffith 20-30-50 / Craig Cunningham 25-22-47

Overview: P-Bruins were led by rookies in Khokhlachev and Griffith all season long. Rookie G Malcolm Subban was in the top five amongst AHL goaltending leaders. Bruins are a dark horse whom are looking to atone the 0-3 blown series lead against Wilkes-Barre last year.

First Round Opponent: Springfield Falcons

Record vs. the Falcons: 4-5-0-1

Odds to win the Calder Cup: 20:1

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Springfield Falcons

Record: 47-23-1-5 // 100 pts., 1^st place Northeast Division (2 seed)

Power Play: 12^th // 18.8%

Penalty Kill: 2^nd // 86.9%

Top 3 Scorers: Carter Camper 12-39-51 / Michael Chaput 19-26-45 / Sean Collins 16-25-41

Overview: Springfield couldn’t catch Manchester all season for tops in the East. Goalies Mike McKenna and Jeremy Smith split time in goal for the Falcons. Springfield is the fourth highest scoring team in the league, scoring 3.25 goals per game.

First Round Opponent: Providence Bruins

Record vs. the Bruins: 2-1-1-0

Odds to win the Calder Cup: 12:1

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St. John’s IceCaps

Record: 46-23-2-5 // 99 pts., 2^nd place Atlantic Division (4 seed)

Power Play: 13^th // 18.1%

Penalty Kill: 9^th // 83.5%

Top 3 Scorers: Jason Jaffray 18-41-59 / Jerome Samson 27-29-56 / Andrew Gordon 23-33-56

Overview: St. John’s is led by future hall of famers in Jaffray, Samson and Gordon. Third highest scoring team in the AHL. Goaltending has been a bit of a carousel for the IceCaps, with four goaltenders appearing in 10 or more games.

First Round Opponent: Albany Devils

Record vs. the Devils: Did not play.

Odds to win the Calder Cup: 14:1

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Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Record: 42-26-3-5 // 92 pts., 2^nd place East Division (6 seed)

Power Play: 28^th // 13.7%

Penalty Kill: 13^th // 83.1%

Top 3 Scorers: Tom Kostopoulos 22-25-47 / Nick Drazenovic 13-29-42 / Andrew Ebbett 13-27-40

Overview: Top defensive team in the League is back for the twelfth time in a row looking to ascend to the ultimate summit of a Calder Cup Championship. With things as wide open in the East with no clear cut number one team, Wilkes-Barre is as good as any other team if not better. Tepid power play needs to come alive. Team plays well with a lead vs. trailing.

First Round Opponent: Binghamton Senators

Record vs. the Senators: 3-3-1-1

Odds to win the Calder Cup: 12:1

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So there you have it. I return tomorrow with my Series Preview for the Penguins and Senators and break it all down for you as well as offer my prediction.