Chirps from Center Ice

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This was a fun game to watch Saturday night.

An offensive explosion in the first period by both teams quickly turned into a defensive and special teams battle. Overtime doesn’t solve anything and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins score in all three rounds of the shootout and defeat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 3-2 in a shootout.

Casey DeSmith opposed Christopher Gibson.

Lines were…

Lineup: Matt Abt for Michael Kim. I saw a tweet from the Pens practice the other day that didn’t show Thomas DiPauli in a red no contact and Tyler reported after the game Wednesday that DiPauli is not seriously injured and they don’t want to rush him back. Better safe than sorry, I suppose, but it’s Beau Bennett redux, the guy just cannot stay healthy.

First Period: Felt like a slow rock fight. Pens jumped to a 2-1 after falling into a 1-0 hole, but the pair of goals that bookended the start and finish of the period saw the sides skate to the locker room at 2-2. Each team scored a power play goal in the period also.

The Sound Tigers jumped to a 1-0 lead when Ryan Bourque tipped in a Ryan MacKinnon shot that gave Bridgeport a 1-0 lead.

The Penguins responded quickly, in bang bang fashion in a span of :57 when Andrew Agozzino scored his first Penguin goal when Jake Lucchini came screaming down the far wall and intended pass for Kevin Czuczman that nutmegged the Pens defender but the trailing Agozzino was there to bring the Penguins even.

(no GIFs of the Bridgeport goals tonight if you were wondering)

With Travis St. Denis in the box for a high stick, :16 later Sam Miletic scored to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead on the power play.

Joseph Cramarossa had a shorthanded breakaway but was denied by Gibson. Late, an Andrew Agozzino sucker punch to Arnaud Durandeau saw the Sound Tigers on a late power play. A Sebastian Aho shot hit the post, died in the crease and was swept in by Nick Schilkey to even the score at two. It’s the sixth straight games where the Penguins allowed two goals in the first period.

Second Period: Less of a rock fight in comparison from the first, teams traded a couple of power plays, but DeSmith and Gibson kept the second period scoreless.

Third Period: Penguins had a 1:50ish of two man advantage and were not able to score. Less so of a lack of offense as there were a lot of shots and more so a hell of a job by Christopher Gibson in goal, blocking all the shots and making the saves necessary to keep his team level with the Penguins.

Overtime: Periscoped here for you.

Highlights:

– Matt Lorito and Kieffer Bellows had a rush up ice, made contact with DeSmith and the puck went in but the referee (I didn’t catch who as I was Periscoping) washed out the goal immediately for contact with DeSmith.

– Joseph Cramarossa led P-O Joseph and fed him a pass that Joseph sailed wide. Why that combination was out there on a three-on-three overtime baffles me, but then I’m reminded that DiPauli is hurt and a trio of players are in Pittsburgh.

Shootout: It’s in the Periscope above. Noesen, Cramarossa and Haggerty all scored. Matt Lorito scored in the bottom of the first and DeSmith stopped Keiffer Bellows in the bottom of the second. Here’s all three Penguins goals…

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The Good: Looks like we have a good shootout lineup.

The Bad: The two man advantage power play unit needs work, but credit Gibson for standing tall.

Turning Point: That :57 sequence in the first was good to get the Penguins the goals needed to get it to the shootout round, where all three players scored quite easily on Gibson, who looked like an impenetrable wall in regulation.

Three Stars: 3) Joseph Cramarossa (game winning shootout goal) 2) Casey DeSmith (23 saves on 25 shots) 1) Andrew Agozzino (goal, assist)

Around the Division: Charlotte, who I think is this seasons Lehigh Valley with how inconsistent they are from night to night, throttle the Syracuse Crunch 7-3….Springfield beats Lehigh Valley in an eight round shootout 4-3…Providence scores a touchdown in Belleville 7-4….Hershey doubles up Laval 4-2 and Hartford stays unbeaten in regulation with a 4-3 overtime win in Binghamton.

Standings: Hartford 11 – Providence and Hershey 9 – Penguins 7 – Lehigh Valley, Springfield and Charlotte 6 – Bridgeport 4

Wheeling Update: Alec Butcher scores twice, Jordan Ruby stops 26 shots and the Nailers take down the Indy Fuel 4-3. Blake Siebenhaler scored with 23.7 seconds left in regulation.

Video Highlights:

Pens will bus home and get ready for their Wednesday road game in Binghamton. I’ll have the first look at the expanded stats charts for you Monday. Look for that then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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You can’t win a game in the first period but you can give it away.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were outshot 20-10 in the first period and were down 2-1 and at one point went down 3-1 but then rattled off four straight and win 5-3 behind a solid effort in goal by Emil Larmi and a late game winner by Stefan Noesen. Noesen ended with two goals (an empty netter at the end of the game) he also leads the AHL in goals scored.

Binghamton was a quick team in the first and came at Wilkes-Barre from all angles and the Penguins looked shellshocked. Credit to Mike Vellucci for righting the ship as the Penguins locked it down from there. I wonder what the message was in the room.

Emil Larmi opposed Evan Cormier.

Lineup: Essentially Michael Kim for Matt Abt and Justin Almeida for Thomas DiPauli.

And for Binghamton…

First Period: Binghamton connected on a tic tac toe power play goal started by all ex-Penguin players consisting of Joe Morrow, Ben Street and Chris Conner. Conner connected off a nice tic tac toe play that gave the Devils a very early lead.

Conner’s 200th AHL goal.

32 seconds later, Jake Lucchini walked through a defenseman like grass through a goose and scored this pretty goal that brought the sides level at one.

The Devils would continue to bombard the Penguins with speed and shots, twenty in total in the first period and took a lead with 1:38 to play when Ben Street came in hot off the bench on a delayed Penguins penalty and connected for a goal through a screened Larmi which made it 2-1.

Second Period: The Pens outshot the Devils 16-4 in the middle frame but made a terrible mistake when Michael Kim misplayed a puck by Larmi’s net that ended up inside of it for a 3-1 Devils lead.

Yikes.

The Penguins did manage to break through for a goal when Justin Almeida sniped home his first pro goal with this effort in the final minute of the period that got the Penguins to within one.

That was confidence boost / builder for Almeida, playing in just his second game of the season.

Third Period: Jake Lucchini had a hell of a game. He had a chance early in the third but was denied. Later, Kasper Bjorkqvist scores his first pro goal that tied to game at three.

Wilkes-Barre kept coming and coming and finally broke through with 2:14 left in regulation.

Devils called time out and eventually pulled Cormier, but Noesen scored from about Public Square to ice the game away and give the Penguins the win.

The Good: The smothering defense from Wilkes-Barre after the first period and the no nonsense goaltending from Emil Larmi to lock down the Devils and deny any more goals.

The Bad: That Michael Kim giveaway was bad, bad, bad. If you’re in between him and Matt Abt, you’ve got a problem. It’s just one game though.

Turning Point: This happened in the second period with the Penguins down 3-1:

Around the Division: Providence was in Laval and came back from four goals only to lose in a shootout 5-4…. Hershey was in Toronto and lost 4-3.

Standings: Hartford and Providence with 7, Hershey and Wilkes-Barre with 5, Charlotte and Springfield with 4, Lehigh Valley and Bridgeport with 3.

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off. They are in Fort Wayne on Friday.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are off Friday, the only Friday off all season (that mid-December meeting with Cleveland got bumped from that Sunday to Friday) so enjoy the night off. I know I will. Power Rankings will be here Thursday morning at 11. Gameday setup for Bridgeport will be here Saturday afternoon at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!