Chirps from Center Ice

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Tristan Jarry and Vitek Vanecek turned in a goaltenders clinic Tuesday night in Hershey.

Scoreless after three periods, the 39th shot off of a Bears shooter beats Tristan Jarry in overtime off of the stick of Garrett Pilon and Hershey wins 1-0.

A point gained on idle Providence. It’s a four point deficit to the fourth place Bruins. Each team has a dozen games left.

Wilkes-Barre had only 17 shots. Hershey did the same thing to Bridgeport last Saturday, holding the Sound Tigers to just 19 shots on goal and scoring five of their own.

Lines were…

Adam Johnson – Jarrett Burton – Jimmy Hayes
Sam Lafferty – Ryan Haggerty – Sam Miletic
Anthony Angello – Jake Lucchini – Joseph Cramarossa
Trevor Yates – Cam Brown – Linus Ölund

Ethan Prow – Kevin Czuczman
Jeff Taylor – Chris Summers
Matt Abt – Tim Erixon

Tristan Jarry – John Muse

Lineup Notes: The Cramarossa – Lucchini – Hayes line was broken up. Forward lines shuffled up off of that with Hayes up with Burton and Johnson and Angello with Lucchini and Cramarossa. Jeff Taylor went in for Macoy Erkamps on defense.

First Period: Largely uneventful but for an 11-4 Hershey shot advantage thanks to the only power play awarded in the period which Hershey was on the man advantage. Tristan Jarry looked great and any ills that you thought were bugging him after Sunday’s performance against the Marlies were a distant memory.

Second Period: Two more power plays for the Bears, two more fine kills by the Penguins. Tristan Jarry continued to excel. Pens had a good chance when a Bears defender fell down springing Ryan Haggerty but Vitek Vanecek made the stop.

Third Period: Both teams traded power play chances. The Penguins looked great on their first and only power play of the game but couldn’t get anything past Vanecek.

Overtime: Periscoped here. Mind the high angle, Hershey didn’t bother to activate the lower angle camera.

Here is the goal GIFed for you.

The Good: Penguins bottled up the high powered Bears offense up for 60 full minutes and the play of Tristan Jarry. If Wilkes-Barre does manage to make it into the playoffs, it will be on the back of Jarry who will virtually carry them there.

The Bad: Lack of a scorer in regulation. Pens were perfect defensively (didn’t allow a goal) perfect on special teams and their goaltender plays out of his mind. All the Penguins needed was one goal in regulation and the game, barring anything funny, was theirs.

Turning Point: Garrett Pilon’s seemingly harmless shot at 1:14 in overtime is the easy, obvious choice.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Syracuse beat Charlotte in overtime 2-1 on this otherwise busy for a Tuesday night.

Standings: Charlotte 90 — Bridgeport 81 — Hershey 77 — Providence 74 — Penguins 70 — Lehigh Valley 68 — Springfield 66 — Hartford 65

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Setting Up Wednesday: Providence is in Laval Wednesday against the Rocket. Laval doesn’t really have anything left to play for. You would like a Rocket win. Pens will get that game in hand back Sunday when they host Springfield. Ideally, the deficit at the end of this weekends action should be where it is currently or lower. Time will tell.

Video Highlights:

But for anything else breaking, check out the Power Rankings on Thursday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Tyler had a tweet right after a 4-2 Penguins loss to the Toronto Marlies on Sunday afternoon which summed up the game perfectly I thought.

Now, it was a bit of a different game in stark comparison to a few weeks ago against Syracuse. The Crunch were tops in the AHL in just about every category, but the Penguins bottled up the Crunch (after an awful first period) and were able to beat the Crunch. Use the boiling a frog technique.

But Sunday against Toronto, it was an avalanche that the Penguins got buried in and never dug out of.

Toronto scored at the expiry of a five on three power play when Chris Mueller finally banged home a back door pass in the first period that gave the Marlies a 1-0 lead.

But then Adam Brooks cleaned up a rebound of a Jeremy Bracco shot that gave the Marlies a 2-0 lead in the second period.

Jimmy Hayes finished off a loooooong pass by Tristan Jarry that made it a 2-1 game. The Penguins had the Marlies right where they wanted them, a goal away and a new period to play in the third.

Only Toronto scored two goals in :19 in the periods final minute to extend the lead to 4-1. A Jarrett Burton shot off of a long rebound left by Marlies starter Michael Hutchinson made it 4-2, but the Penguins would get no closer.

That’s basically it. There weren’t any GIFs of the Penguins goals and while Toronto did GIF theirs, I doubt there are many Marlies fans living in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Tristan Jarry opposed the aforementioned Hutchinson. Jarry started his tenth straight. I don’t think he was the reason the Pens lost the game today. It’s his job to stop the puck yes, but when your team takes a two man disadvantage and then falls asleep in the final minute of the second period, no goaltender, I don’t care if he is as fresh as a daisy, is going to be successful.

Wasted opportunity for the Penguins who burn a game in hand on the Bruins and stay five off of the fourth place and idle Bruins. They will burn off that game in hand on Providence Tuesday when they head to Hershey.

Gameday setup hits the blog for that matchup against the Bears, last of the regular season, Tuesday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I don’t know if this game tonight, a 2-1 Penguins overtime win over the Providence Bruins, classifies as an instant classic, but if it didn’t it would awfully be close.

Playoff like intensity on the ice with neither team giving the other an inch and the Penguins scrap and claw two points away from the Bruins who get the loser point. Wilkes-Barre stays five back of the Bruins with two games in hand on Providence. They don’t control their own destiny yet, but if they keep on this winning way, they will soon.

Tristan Jarry opposed Zane McIntyre.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Ryan Scarfo returned from injury and replaced Anthony Angello on the second line, who bumped to the fourth line. Trevor Yates took warmups but was the scratch. No changes on defense.

First Period: Penguins and Bruins played a careful period of hockey I thought. Both teams traded power play chances but neither team scored.

Second Period: Jimmy Hayes picked off a Bruin at center ice, skated in and put a shot on McIntyre which was stopped but Jake Lucchini was there to put the rebound in for his first goal as a professional.

Penguins outshot the Bruins 14-5 in the second period.

Third Period: The Bruins would flip the script on the Penguins, outshooting Wilkes-Barre 21-7. Tristan Jarry stopped 20 of t hem, getting beat on this shot for a goal by Ryan Fitzgerald. Karson Kuhlman put the shot on initially, Fitzgerald was there to sweep in the wreckage.

Tristan Jarry made some goo saves, none better than this windmill save…

Penguins killed two Providence power plays rather easily, but were on their heels the entire period and weren’t able to muster much in the way of offense.

So it was off to…

Overtime: Had the feeling that if the Bruins didn’t score another goal in the third, they weren’t scoring one in overtime. Adam Johnson saw to it that it didn’t happen.

Nice backhander in a tight area for the goal.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Hershey throttled Bridgeport 5-1…Lehigh Valley gets a Chris Conner goal with 0.5 seconds left in regulation to stun Toronto 4-3….Charlotte sweeps Rochester with a 3-1 win in North Carolina…Hartford beats Utica 5-3. Springfield was off.

Standings: Charlotte 89 — Bridgeport 79 — Hershey 77 — Providence 74 — Penguins 69 — Lehigh Valley 68 — Springfield 66 — Hartford 65

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost to Toledo 3-2. Renars Krastenbergs scored for Wheeling.

Setting up Sunday: Pens will burn off one of their two games in hand on Providence, Hershey and Lehigh Valley who are all off Sunday. Expect a pissed off Marlies club here Sunday at 3.

Video Highlights: 

Gameday setup vs. Toronto hits the blog here Sunday at 11 am.

Let’s Go Pens!