Chirps from Center Ice

Another day, another afternoon left scoreboard watching in the AHL’s Eastern Conference. There were five teams playing all close to the Penguins in the standings of the Eastern Confernence Sunday afternoon. The Penguins were in the 8th and final spot of playoffs coming into Sunday morning…

…Sunday evening, the Penguins are back on the outside looking in but a point.

Here’s the scores and some blurbs on the games….

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It was a perfect six point weekend for the Albany Devils who downed the Utica Comets, seeking their own perfect weekend themselves by a score of 2-1.

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Sound Tigers do a favor for the teams in the Eastern Conference chase with a 2-1 win at home. But, Bridgeport draws within eight points of the ninth place Penguins.

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Ol’ buddy Brad Thiessen stops 28 of 30 and the Norfolk Admirals are back in the playoff hunt with a 3-2 win in Springfield. The win for the Ads stops a two game slide.

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St. John’s explode for five goals in the third period and win in Portland 6-5 for their fourth win in a row.

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Well, the Crunch certainly wish they saw more of the Bears on the schedule. They defeat Hershey in the home of the Capitals 5-2 in a “home” game for the Crunch in the AHL Showcase.

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So here is what the Conference looks like: 1) MCH (80) 2) SPR (71) 3) BNG (70) 4) STJ (68) 5) ALB (66) 6) PRO (65) 7) HER (64) 8) NOR (64) 9) WBS (63)

The Penguins have games in hand on St. John’s and Providence now and Norfolk and Hershey have a game in hand on the Penguins.

The Pens have a big week this week. A game Tuesday against Hershey, then on the road again with Syracuse Friday and in Atlantic City with Albany Saturday.

Week 21 AHL Power Rankings will be up Monday at 4 p.m.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins entered last weekend a point out of first place in the East Division.

Fast forward a week, and those same Penguins who have lost five straight games, are now on the outside looking in when it comes to playoffs.

There were three teams relevant to the Penguins in action Friday night. Here are the recaps of all of the affairs…

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The reason the Penguins are currently out of the playoffs? The Albany Devils, two points out of the 8th spot in ninth at the start of the night, were in Glens Falls tonight and beat a Phantoms team decimated by League suspensions 4-1. Mike Sislo netted two goals for the Devils.

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St. John’s, one of the two teams tied with the Penguins in points (62, Providence being the other) coming into Friday, leapfrog their way into fifth place in the conference with a 5-1 win in Worcester tonight. The two teams rematch tomorrow.

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The B Machine continues to roll. The East Division leading Binghamton Senators were in Montreal tonight at the Bell Centre taking on the Hamilton Bulldogs and won 4-1. G Andrew Hammond has won four straight, for a .953 SV% and a 1.50 GAA. Oh, Binghamton has the most goals scored (199) in the East Division.

So the Eastern Conference Standings look like this three weeks into February:

1) MCH (76) 2) SPR (71) 3) BNG (70) 4) HER (64) 5) STJ (64) 6) PRO (63) 7) NOR (62) 8) ALB (62) 9) WBS (62)

Games in hand situation look like this: Pens have 53. Albany and Binghamton have a game in hand, Hershey and Norfolk have two.

In case you were wondering, Hershey, Norfolk and Providence were all off tonight as well. All 30 clubs are dancing Saturday. Norfolk is in Albany, Hershey hosts Syracuse, St. John’s rematches with Worcester and Binghamton hosts Utica.

The Penguins play the Providence Bruins Saturday night at home. It probably goes without saying that tomorrow is the biggest game of the season for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Gameday for this affair will hit the blog at 3 p.m.

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I have to say, I was a little worried when I first heard that the AHL would switch up the format for the All-Star Classic festivities this year. Gone was the “East vs. West” format and in was the concept of a group of AHL All-Stars vs. an actual hockey club. That hockey club was Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League.

Known as “The Green Machine,” Färjestad has 18 Swedish League Championships playing in the highest hockey league in Sweden. It’s a team that has a history of winning versus a team put together from across a 30-team minor league hockey circuit known as the American Hockey League.

Well, on this night, the American Hockey League reigned supreme.

Anchored by three point performances by Rockford’s Brandon Pirri and Binghamton’s Mike Hoffman, the AHL All-Stars crushed Färjestad BK by a score of 7-2.

Chicago’s Jake Allen vs. Frederik Pettersson-Wentzel

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins All-Star Brian Gibbons skated on a line with Bridgeport’s Ryan Strome and Syracuse’s Brett Connolly.

First Period: Couple of early chances for Färjestad. Allen was tested early by Tomas Hyka but squeezes the pads and makes the save. Next shift, ex-Penguin and current Abbotsford Heat Ben Street hit the post. It was really a nice pace to start by both teams without any actual hitting.

Then, the avalanche started on “The Rock”

Albany’s Joe Whitney centers to Binghamton’s Mike Hoffman to the left of Pettersson-Wentzel and Hoffman tapped it into a wide open net for a 1-0 AHL lead.

Later, Ryan Strome scores to put the AHL up 2-0 when Brian Gibbons forechecked Färjestad’s exit out of their own zone twice, setting up Stome’s goal.

Playing captain and St. John’s IceCap Jason Jaffray sets up Ben Street from behind the net to push the AHL lead to 3-0.

Texas’ Travis Morin, who leads the AHL in scoring, scored to put the AHL All-Stars up 4-0 with a ridiculous deflection from a Cody Goloubef shot from the point. Morin had Linus Fröberg draped on him, reached behind him, and deflected the goal in.

Each player from each of the four lines scored in the period.

Second Period: Färjestad settled down and became more accustomed to the narrower ice.

But Mike Hoffman accelerates past the Färjestad D and passes to Albany’s Joe Whitney but Pettersson-Wentzel made the pad save.

At right about halfway, Rockford’s Brandon Pirri welcomes backup Färjestad goaltender Pekka Tuokkola to the game with a goal :34 after both teams switched goaltenders.

Legit hooking penalty called on Mike Hoffman late and Färjestad had the game’s only power play. But it was the AHL that had the better of the chances shorthanded. Jason Jaffray blocked a shot and led a charge up ice and passed to Ben Street but Tuokkola made the save on Street’s backhand.

Third Period: A Magnus Nygren shot from the point through bodies finally put Färjestad on the board beating relief goaltender Dustin Tokarski. Nygren and Tokarski have a connection, with Nygren skating with Tokarski’s Hamilton Bulldogs earlier this year.

Later, Hoffman and Pirri lead a charge up ice and Pirri finishes off the Hoffman feed to re-gain the five goal lead for the AHL.

Färjestad responds with a Ludwig Byström shot from the point and Rickard Wallin with a Travis Morin-esque deflection and it was 6-2 AHL All-Stars.

Brian Gibbons continued to dog Färjestad on the forecheck, forced another turnover and fed Ryan Strome who scored to re-establish the AHL’s five goal lead.

Unfair that Färjestad travels more than 8,000 kilometers over to St. John’s to play a game against a team of all-stars? The AHL beats a currently mid-pack Swedish team with no NHL prospects? I don’t want to hear it. It took the AHL guts to break the format and put something like this together against a team from overseas. It’s the first time ever that something like this has happened. Bravo for the AHL to stepping up to the challenge against a good Swedish elite team.

Player of the Game for the AHL was Mike Hoffman (1-2-3, +2) and Christian Berglund for Färjestad (-1, 5 shots) Rockford’s Brandon Pirri was named MVP with two goals, an assist and +3.

Pirri is an interesting story. The SportsNet broadcast pretty much wrote off his future with the Chicago Blackhawks. It will be interesting to see if Pirri gets moved at the trade deadline and where he goes. I would not be surprised if he ends up in the AHL’s East Division. Pirri led the AHL last year in points.

One interesting note before I wrap this up, it’ll probably stand to be some kind of AHL All-Star Classic record for Jake Allen. Customarily the goaltenders in these events get lit up like Christmas trees. Allen didn’t allow a single goal. There was one shutout in 1956.

Here is the SendToNews highlight package.

Back to the AHL regular season grind Friday for the Penguins as they travel to Binghamton to face off against Mike Hoffman and the rest of the Senators. Gameday for that will be here on the blog Friday at 3 p.m.

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So it’s the first All-Star Classic that I have not been to since Binghamton, but I was able to watch on TV.

If by chance you were planning on watching on tape delay, come back and read this after.

The last competition of the night was the “Breakaway Relay” which is basically a shootout. One skater on one goalie.

St. John’s Captain and AHL All-Stars Captain Jason Jaffray was the final shooter for his team needing a goal to tie it. He did. It was 17-17 after regulation.

The shootout required, a shootout!

Jaffray scored in Round Three of Sudden Death, and the AHL All-Stars defeated Färjestad BK tonight by a score of 18-17.

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins All-Star Brian Gibbons was featured in two events, fastest skater and in Breakaway Relay. Gibbons recorded the second quickest time for the AHL All-Stars with a time of 14.350 seconds. Binghamton’s Mike Hoffman won the Event with a time of 13.990. Hoffman slid at the line which caused a clock malfunction.

I’m always a fan of hardest shot. Well, Magnus Nygren from Färjestad BK recorded a shot of 104.6 mph, an AHL All-Star Skills Competition record. Best for the AHL was Rochester’s Brayden McNabb with a shot of 102.6 mph.

A couple takeaways. I’m glad Colton Sceviour plays in the Western Conference for the Texas Stars. Sceviour had some absolute snipes in the Rapid Fire Event…..Färjestad has a kid on their team. No really. A kid. He is 16 years old and his name is Oliver Kylington. He was very impressive for someone who would be a sophomore in high school playing with men, some twice his age or more…..Goal of the Night belongs to Charles Bertrand from Färjestad in the Breakaway Relay; a between the legs, back out and backhander top shelf goal on Chicago’s Jake Allen.

Here’s the SendToNews highlight package. Some other highlights and such. Bertrand’s sickening goal comes circa 1:06 of the package.

Let’s see if I am doing this right:

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Translated, if Google Translate did it right is, “Bring it On!”

Probably not, but, it’s the sprit of the Competition I suppose.

I’ll have an update tomorrow night after the All-Star Classic.

Let’s Go AHL!!!