Chirps from Center Ice

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins played their first home game 19 years ago Tuesday. Coal Street had a nice feature on their website which you can check out complete with an eight minute highlight package.

For 20 seasons though, a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins goaltender has never scored a goal.

Until today.

Fourteen seconds after losing a shutout bid, goaltender Tristan Jarry scored an empty net goal.

No, really, if you don’t believe me, here it is.

And it wasn’t like it was anything like a luck chance or a deflection or own goal from the other team. It was a dart. Tristan Jarry stepped into it and let it rip. And absolute howler.

First ever in Penguins history.

Wilkes-Barre likes making history in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Penguins won the game 5-1. Springfield has now lost four straight. I don’t want to call anything, “must win” in November, but this game felt as close to a must win as humanly possible for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Jarry opposed Michael Hutchinson.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Head Coach Clark Donatelli shuffled up things at the center position. Lafferty to 1C, Blueger to 2C, Grant from 1C down to 3C. No change to fourth line. On defense: Taylor for Matt Abt.

First Period: Was a herky jerky start for it being a 10:30 a.m. start, lots of icings and offsides. Some scary moments for the Penguins when Ethan Prow lost an edge three time skating backwards but Jarry was able to make the save and then Teddy Blueger makes the stop on the goal line in a scramble in front of the Penguins net.

Penguins get on the board late with goals by Jarrett Burton and Linus Olund. Burton’s goal came off of a deflection of a Stefan Elliott shot:

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…and then Olund, on an extended shift, scores on this dump in play by Wilkes-Barre that made it 2-0.

Penguins killed a later power play in the only special teams action in the period for both sides.

Second Period: Teams traded power plays but couldn’t get anything set up. Anthony Angello added a third Penguin goal when Hutchinson tried to play a puck but couldn’t because it was out of his reach in the restricted zone. Linus Olund collected the puck from behind the net and fed Angello for the goal.

Paul Thompson had a breakaway but missed late, his shot ringing off of the goal post behind Tristan Jarry.

Third Period: The Penguins took three straight puck over glass delay of game penalties before taking a hooking call with under three minutes to play. It was at that point that Thunderbirds Head Coach Geordie Kinnear pulled Hutchinson for the extra two attackers on a 6-on-4 power play.

Joel Lowry scored to break up the Jarry shutout bid.

:14 later, Jarry scored. Again, for emphasis…

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He is the 14th goalie in AHL history to be credited with a goal.

Jarry led the fist bump line too, because that is what goal scorers do.

Anyway, the game was not over at that point and Jimmy Hayes got in behind the Thunderbirds defense and scored a breakaway goal to make it 5-1.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Bridgeport and Hartford also played in a school day game. Hartford wins 4-3 in overtime. Charlotte and Lehigh Valley played at the more conventional 7:05 start time and the Phantoms beat the Checkers 3-2 in overtime.

Standings: Charlotte 23 — Bridgeport 20 — Lehigh Valley 20 — Penguins 20 — Springfield 16 — Hershey 15 — Hartford 15 — Providence 12

Wheeling Update: Nailers do not play today, are in action again this Friday in Jacksonville, Florida.

Video Highlights: 

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Pens bus home for a pair of games against the Charlotte Checkers Friday and Saturday. In the meantime though, the Week 6 AHL Power Rankings will be here on the blog likely sometime Thursday morning. Check back then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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As I was stewing over a bad loss this afternoon by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins at the tail end of a three in three, a tweet by Penguins beat writer Tyler Picotti shed some light on the current situation that the Penguins are in.

Now while I agree that back to back three in three weekends is bad scheduling, as you will see in a minute, the Penguins didn’t make any lineup changes and but for a swap on the fourth line Saturday, only one change all weekend to your forward corps.

Yes, Providence did play the same amount of three in three games (they were in Bridgeport last night) and yes, both teams didn’t have to travel far Saturday (Bridgeport and Hartford are not that far from Providence) so maybe the same 11 forwards that played all weekend just didn’t have it today.

The scoreline and shot board would indicate, Penguins fall 5-2.

Tristan Jarry opposed Zane McIntyre.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: There were none. The Penguins used the same lineup that they did Saturday night in Hartford.

First Period: Terrible start by the Penguins who were outshot 17-3 in the period and had two goal scored on them in the process.

Ryan Donato on this wraparound attempt on the Bruins third power play of the game resulting from a puck over the glass penalty…

Donato beat Chris Summers there, but the Penguins were just overall watching.

Then Martin Bakos scored in a scramble play in front of Jarry where the puck got past the Penguins net minder a few times and off the post but not in the net…

Shots were 17-3 Bruins after the first period. It was a scatterbrain start for the Pens and it put them in a hole early heading into the…

Second Period: Bad to worse for the Penguins, who see the Bruins double their lead in the period.

Zach Senyshyn scored on a busted line change that made it 3-0.

Just walked in behind the D and scored.

Bruins connect on yet another power play goal as Joel Messner scored his first goal of the season that made it 4-0.

Shots at some point were 27-4 Providence. The Penguins were getting shellacked. No gap control, just letting the Bruins forwards walk all alone on them. Tristan Jarry could not be to blame for the scoreline.

Third Period: Penguins started on a carryover 5-on-3 power play from the second period but Providence’s penalty kill is tops in the AHL and the Bruins have yet to rear a power play goal against at home this season. Pens had some good looks, but the Bruins killed it all off.

Two goals a minute apart brought the Penguins to within two.

Derek Grant here on a nice setup by Tobias Lindberg…

…and Anthony Angello off of a gaffe by McIntyre to make it 4-2.

McIntyre stopped Jarrett Burton off of the next face-off, otherwise things could have gotten really weird in Providence.

Ryan Donato scores on his own rebound to put the Penguins hopes of a comeback on ice and makes it 5-2.

Yuck.

Final shots were 39-22 Bruins, who dominated from the drop of the puck, got cute at the half way point of the third period and nearly let it slip on them, but found the gas and got a put away goal by Donato to cap off a five point weekend.

Three Stars: 3) Ryan Donato (two goals) 2) Zach Senyshyn (goal, assist) and 1) Colby Cave (two assists)

Around the Division: Hershey got smashed in Syracuse Sunday evening and lost 7-2. The Crunch scored four power play goals. The only other teams in action in the Atlantic were Charlotte and Bridgeport who played each other today in Connecticut. The Sound Tigers won that game 4-2 for a perfect five game home stand.

Standings: Charlotte 22 — Bridgeport 19 — Springfield 16 — Lehigh Valley 16 — Penguins 16 — Hershey 15 — Hartford 13 — Providence 12

Wheeling Update: The Nailers play a kids day game on Tuesday against Toledo.

Highlights: Bruins didn’t have them Friday, so unless the Penguins tweet one like they did Saturday after the Hartford game, don’t expect them but if you check back later for the finals and standings look, check here anyway.

Wilkes-Barre is staying in Providence for a few more days until heading to Springfield for a Wednesday morning game against the Thunderbirds at 10:30. That means that the Gameday setup hits the blog here bright and early at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I am sure you have seen your fair share of hockey games where the team jumps out to a three or four goal lead early on in the first period only to have the other team methodically claw their way back and maybe even win the game.

The setup was there Saturday night in Hartford, but it never came to fruition and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins score Three goals in the first 4:31 of the game and coast to an easy 4-1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The Penguins simply needed to score the first goal of the game tonight, whether it was three in the first five minutes of the game or with three seconds left in regulation, they just had to get the first goal first. Playing from behind has been a bit you a challenge.

Thomas DiPauli made sure of that. DiPauli scored his first goal of the season and added two assists in a fine game from the Penguins winger. Anthony Peters also needed a strong game after getting shellacked in his last outing last Sunday in Bridgeport where he was pulled after the first period.

Anthony Peters opposed Dustin Tokarski.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Patrick McGrath for Ryan Horvat on the fourth line. That was it. Defense pairings and line pairings were the same as they were Friday in Providence.

First Period: Three goals in the first 4:31. A hot start for the Penguins and a needed one at that, given the playing from behind that the Penguins have been doing in the past five games.

1:50 in, Thomas DiPauli scored when Will O’Neill held a puck onside, put a shot on net that was redirected away by Tokarski, but recovered by Anthony Angello who centered to DiPauli for the goal.

Less than two minutes later, Derek Grant scored to double the Penguins lead. He won a race to a puck and threw a puck on net that was redirected in inadvertently by Hartford defenseman Rob O’Gara and in.

Penguins add a third when Teddy Blueger threw a puck into a scrum and it got by Tokarski to make it 3-0 Wilkes-Barre.

What a start indeed, Taylor.

Anyway, Hartford head coach Keith McCambridge called timeout which settled his club a bit as the Wolf Pack didn’t allow another Penguin goal for the remainder of the period.

Wilkes-Barre had a pair of cracks on the power play but could not convert.

Second Period: Wolf Pack connect on a power play at the half way point of the period when Tim Gettinger put home a rebound of a John Gilmour shot from the point that got Hartford on the board and back to within two goals.

Just a little over a minute later, Teddy Blueger was behind the Hartford net when he pulled off a spin-o-rama pass to a cutting Jimmy Hayes who scored to re-establish the Penguins three goal lead.

Penguins had a power play late and set up a firing squad at Tokarski, but the Wolf Pack goaltender was able to turn away all of the would be chances.

Third Period: Anthony Peters stopped all 13 Hartford shots in the period. Some big stops on Tim Gettinger, on his stomach flopping in the crease to preserve the three goal lead for the Penguins. Derek Grant had two breakaways in the period but were not able to score on either.

Three Stars:

Thought that Anthony Peters deserved a star, stopping 31 of 32 shots. He did collect an assist on Derek Grant’s goal though, his first point in the AHL.

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Providence 5-4 in overtime. Chris Bourque surpassed 700 points in the AHL….Hershey beats a suddenly slumping Springfield Thunderbirds team 3-2….Charlotte beats Lehigh Valley 7-4.

Standings: Charlotte 22 — Bridgeport 17 — Springfield 16 — Lehigh Valley 16 — Penguins 16 — Hershey 13 — Hartford 13 — Providence 10

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lose in overtime 3-2 to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. Troy Josephs had a goal for the Nailers in the loss.

Highlights: Coal Street quick on them tonight.

Penguins head back to Providence tonight for a 3 p.m. start with the Bruins Sunday. Gameday setup will hit the blog at 11 a.m. Sunday morning.

Let’s Go Pens!