Chirps from Center Ice

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A Pikkujoulut is a Finnish term for “Little Christmas” and goes hand in hand with Finnish Independence Day, which also happens to fall on December 6 every season. December 6 is the first time that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Texas Stars met up in a competitive ice hockey game for the first time ever.

Joel Kiviranta is Finnish. His two goals in the second period propel the Texas Stars to a 4-3 win over the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Friday night.

It’s a bad loss for the Penguins for a number of reasons. First, the Texas Stars had one road win all season coming into tonights game. Second, the Stars are in last place in the Central Division. Third, that Central Division is in the Western Conference, a Conference which the Penguins do not play in. Fourth, with Friday’s results, the Penguins drop to third in the Atlantic Division in a race which is as tight as ever here in December.

Casey DeSmith opposed Jake Oettinger.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Lucchini slotted in the top line replacing Noesen, Martinsen replaced Noesen as the veteran and David Warsofsky returned. Matt Abt took the warmup.

First Period: The Penguins came out extremely flat and the Stars were really to play.

Riley Tufte led a charge up ice, put a shot on and Michael Mersch was there to collect the rebound and put it in to give the Stars an early 1-0 lead.

Andreas Martinsen took a puck off of Oettinger and wrapped around and tucked him his first as a Penguin that tied the game at one.

There was calamity in front of DeSmith’s net. David Warsofsky blew a tire, gifting a puck to the Stars who, in three attempts by my count, don’t score on a prone DeSmith on his belly.

Shots were 12-7 Stars, with a  majority of them coming early on in the first.

Second Period: Stars jumped out of the gate with another goal when Joe Cecconi drove to the net and dished to Kiviranta who was boxing out Niclas Almari for an early tap in that made it 2-1.

Penguins had about a minute of two man advantage, but it was a block party by Texas who easily killed the penalty. I don’t think the Penguins had a shot on the power play.

Stars would tack on a third goal. Kiviranta again on his country’s Independence Day, with a quick move through a few defenders and it was 3-1 Texas.

Wilkes-Barre would score two goals in a span of :38 to get even again.

Andrew Agozzino finished off a one timer with David Warsofsky on a power play.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph’s first professional goal tied it at three.

Quite the turn of events. Penguins go from rattled to tied in a span of about a minute.

Third Period: Nicholas Caamano’s goal in the opening minutes of the period made it 4-3 Stars. Five hole on DeSmith.

This was right as a penalty expired.

The Stars got 14 saves from Oettinger in the period and rode it out for just their second win on the road this season.

Three Stars: 3) Pierre-Olivier Joseph (goal, assist) 2) Joel Kiviranta (two goals) 1) Nicholas Caamano (game winning goal)

Off ice guys got it wrong in my opinion. Michael Mersch had a goal and two assists.

The Good: The Penguins picked themselves off the mat in the second period and erased a two goal deficit.

The Bad: Continuing with the fight card analogy, they lost on points when they weren’t able to get another goal to tie it.

Turning Point: That sequence where the Penguins were on a five on three in the second period and didn’t negotiate anything resembling a threat against a team coming in with just one road win sticks out.

Expect a better response tomorrow for the Penguins. The Stars didn’t score quickly despite the hot start in the first, but got goals in the first two minutes of the second and third, where the third period goal stood up for the remainder of crunch time.

Around the Division: Bridgeport takes down Utica in a shootout 5-4….Hershey beats Lehigh Valley in a contentious game in Allentown 2-1. Those teams rematch Saturday in Hershey….Providence crushes Binghamton 6-2….Rochester shuts out Charlotte 4-0….Hartford beats Springfield 5-2.

Standings: Providence 33 — Hartford 31 — Penguins 29 — Springfield 28 — Hershey and Lehigh Valley 25 — Bridgeport 22 — Charlotte 21

Wheeling Update: Nailers beat Kalamazoo 6-2. Brandon Hawkins had a had trick.

Video Highlights: 

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Rematch Saturday. Gameday setup here Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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First goals of the season for Mat Abt, Oula Palve and Anthony Angello including Chase Berger’s first multi point game and first fight, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins throttle the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 5-2 Saturday night at home, ending the Sound Tigers four game winning streak coming into tonight.

For Abt and Palve, it was their first AHL goals of their respective careers.

Casey DeSmith opposed Jakub Škarek.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Michael Kim jumped in for Kevin Czuczman. I don’t know what’s up with that. Jordy Bellerive and Chase Berger flipped lines. Graham Knott took the warmup as the healthy scratch.

First Period: A shot from the point by Stefan Noesen was bobbled by Škarek and put in by Sam Miletic to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead early.

Parker Wotherspoon tied it a few minutes later when Matt Lorito wheeled around the net and found Wotherspoon in front for a shot and a goal while DeSmith was being screened in front.

(Taylor didn’t GIF any away goals and Bridgeport didn’t care to put them up either)

Second Period: Matt Abt finally got the monkey off his back.

Long time coming for Abt, the bench was thrilled for him. He’s had an enormous weekend, potting that goal to go with two assists Friday in Lehigh Valley.

Wilkes-Barre hit two posts before dialing in and Adam Johnson connecting for a goal through a crowd that made it 3-1.

Matt Lorito would pull one back for the Sound Tigers, digging a Seth Helgeson shot which was stopped by Casey DeSmith off of his pads and into the net to cut the deficit to one heading into the….

Third Period: Had the sense coming in that the next goal would have won it for either side. I know it sounds crazy when you are up one but if Bridgport bags a third and ties it, then it becomes a whole different game and then a survival game. With an opponent like Bridgeport, riding a four game winning streak coming in, not a game you want to play.

Thankfully, the contest didn’t go in that direction.

Adam Johnson connected with Anthony Angello for his first goal of the season that made it 4-2.

Second assist to Matt Abt. That’s a four point weekend and AHL Player of the Week territory if you ask me.

Oula Palve notched his first AHL goal when he deflected a Thomas DiPauli shot off of his knee and into the net that made it 5-2 and blew it open.

For good measure, Chase Berger and Parker Wotherspoon fought to rile up the crowd.

Pens hung on from there, Bridgeport didn’t get any closer and Wilkes-Barre kept firing, hitting two posts in the final minute.

Three Stars: 3) Oula Palve (goal, assist) 2) Matt Abt (goal, assist) and 1) Adam Johnson (goal, assist)

The Good: Bridgeport could have been a pesky team, but the Penguins were simply the better team in all areas Saturday and it was an elementary win.

The Bad: Can’t really think of anything that stuck out. That’s good, right? Bad for this segment though.

Turning Point: Anthony Angello’s goal setup by Adam Johnson’s speed that made it a two goal contest again early in the third opened up the floodgates for the Penguins as Palve scored 1:11 later and the rout was on.

Around the Division: Providence beats Charlotte 4-1 to stay tied in point with the Penguins for tops overall in the Atlantic….Hartford loses 2-1 in overtime to Lehigh Valley to fall out of first place for the first time all season….Hershey finds themselves in penalty trouble and get beat at home by the Belleville Senators 3-1….Springfield gets back in the win column with a 6-3 win over the Laval Rocket.

Standings: Penguins (on percentage of .659 to Providence’s .630, we aren’t doing percentages anymore though) and the Bruins 29 — Hartford 28 — Springfield 26 — Lehigh Valley 25 — Hershey 21 — Bridgeport 20 — Charlotte 19

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 4-1 to Kalamazoo. Ryan Scarfo had the lone goal for the Nailers in the loss.

Wilkes-Barre goes 9-2-1-1 in the month of November. Casey DeSmith goes 7-1 in November also. December is usually when they get hot, the car is already warm.

Video Highlights:

Pens have a week in between games, next on ice Friday at home against Texas. But for anything breaking, talk to you then. If you are wondering about Mailbag, interest wasn’t there enough for me to generate doing it bi-weekly. Maybe I will do it once a month. If there’s anything you want to ask, drop a line in the comments or send me an e-mail. That always works.

Let’s Go Pens!