Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Category Archives: WBS

GAMEDAY: @ Rockford 3/3

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Rockford 3/3 Posted by on March 3, 2018

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Who: Rockford IceHogs

Where: BMO Harris Bank Center

When: 7:00 p.m.

Last Game: Last night against Grand Rapids, the Pens won 4-2. Garrett Wilson scored a power play goal in the third period to tie it, then added an empty net goal to seal it. For Rockford, the IceHogs were up in Milwaukee and lost 4-1. Cody Franson scored the goal for Rockford in the loss.

Last Meeting: Last Friday in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins beat the IceHogs 6-3. Tom Kostopoulos returned and had two assists. Daniel Sprong had a goal and an assist. IceHoggs rallied late with two goals but ran out of time.

Record: For WBS: 33-16-4-1 (71 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division) // For RFD: 28-24-3-3 (62 pts., 5th place Central Division)

Referee(s): Shaun Davis / Jesse Gour

Linesmen: Jameson Gronert / Ian McCambridge

Why You Should Care: Penguins look to keep the momentum rolling with another strong outing against Rockford. More of the same will be needed against a Rockford team which is looking to get back into the mix in the Central Division playoff race.

Other Game to Watch: Rochester and Toronto has been a North Division matchup which has been fun to watch. They meet again  this afternoon in Toronto.

Next Five Games: @ MIL 3/4, @ BNG 3/9, vs. GR 3/10, @ CHA 3/13, @ CHA 3/14

Gameday

Hey, Wilson! — Pens WIN 4-2

Comments Off on Hey, Wilson! — Pens WIN 4-2 Posted by on March 2, 2018

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Garrett Wilson scored a power play goal to tie the game in the third period in a close, hotly contested affair against the Grand Rapids Griffins in Michigan Friday night. He later added an empty net goal to ice the game away as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins defeat the defending Calder Cup Champion Grand Rapids Griffins by a 4-2 score.

Great game to watch. Penguins trailed for the most part in the first and second but kept it close and pulled away in the third period and pick up an impressive win against the Griffins and get the weekend trips through the Central Division started off on the right foot.

Anthony Peters opposed Thomas McCollum.

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Josh Jooris – Joseph Cramarossa
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Chris Summers – Ethan Prow
Kevin Schulze – Kevin Czuczman
Jeff Taylor – Jarred Tinordi

Anthony Peters – Etienne Marcoux

Lineup Notes: Penguins signed Etienne Marcoux to a PTO for the trip. He’s from the Indy Fuel. Wheeling had injury problems and the Penguins don’t have another eligible contracted goaltender available, so Marcoux was it. Other lineup included Josh Jooris making his debut, Olympian Christian Thomas returning from the games in South Korea and Chris Summers returning to there lineup after missing five games with injury.

First Period: Griffins got on the board early when ex-Penguin Ben Street found Matt Puempel in the slot that put the defending Calder Cup Champions up 1-0. Penguins were getting run around a bit, saw what would have been another Grand Rapids goal get waved off on account of Eric Tangradi interfering with Peters in the crease.

Wilkes-Barre had one power play in the period and it looked improved with Thomas and Kostopolous out there on it.

Shots after one were 11-7 Penguins but Griffins carried large amounts of play during the period.

Second Period: Take of two halves really. Penguins came out with aplomb to open the period, scored here when they caught Grand Rapids with their pants down on a bad line change. Adam Johnson wheeled around the net and scored here to tie the game at one…

Four goals in five games for Johnson.

Period turned in favor of the Griffins when Wilkes-Barre had a power play, didn’t score then gave away a power play to Grand Rapids. To this point, the Griffins power play looked good.

They cashed. Eric Tangradi tipped in a Matt Puempel shot and it was 2-1 Griffins. Way too easy. Tangradi has carved out a niche in this league setting up in front of the goaltender and tipping pucks. No one was near him and he did what he had to do.

Shots were 17-12 Penguins after two periods. Penguins to this point did a terrific job of bottling up the Griffins but their top line of Puempel, Tangradi and Street were carrying the mail.

Third Period: Penguins had a power play to open the period, but failed to cash then the Griffins took a puck over glass delay of game penalty and the Penguins were headed right back to the power play. Angle on the story here was easy, if they Penguins don’t score and lose, you point back to this sequence here as to be of the reasons why.

We didn’t have to go there.

Kevin Czuczman puts it on net, Garrett Wilson gets the tip in. Power play goal, Wilkes-Barre.

Griffins didn’t counter this time, instead it was a big defensive gaffe that cost them.

Teddy Blueger takes advantage.

Follow your shot.

Time started to become the enemy of the Griffin, and with McCollum pulled, the Penguins defense held the Tangradi’s and Street’s at bay and then Gage Quinney connected with Garrett Wilson on the empty net to put a bow on this one.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Puempel (goal, assist, even) 2) Eric Tangradi (goal, assist, even) and 1) Teddy Blueger (goal, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Nutso results. Hershey was up 5-1 then lost 7-6 in Allentown. That, is not good…Providence beats Charlotte 6-3…Springfield clips Hartford 5-4 in overtime and Bridgeport beats Laval 4-2.

Standings: Lehigh  Valley (.681 percentage points) — Penguins (.651) — Providence (.627) — Charlotte (.570) — Bridgeport (.530) — Hartford (.509) — Springfield (.473) — Hershey (.466)

Wheeling Update: Nailers were shutout 5-0 up in Worcester.

If the Griffins put up video highlights I can find I will run them in this spot. I think the fact they didn’t GIF any goals means that probably won’t happen.

Pens are bussing four hours to the Central time zone to Rockford, Illinois for a 7 pm Wilkes-Barre time start with the IceHogs. Gameday setup hits the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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GAMEDAY: @ Grand Rapids 3/2

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Grand Rapids 3/2 Posted by on March 2, 2018

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Who: Grand Rapids Griffins

Where: Van Andel Arena

When: 7:00 p.m.

Last Game: Sunday at home against Hershey, the Penguins won 3-2. Adam Johnson’s goal at 10:06 of the third period was enough to hold up against the Bears. Casey DeSmith stopped 22 of 24 shots. For Grand Rapids, the Griffins hosted the Tucson Roadrunners on Wednesday and also won 3-2. Ex-Penguins led the way for the Griffins against the Roadrunners. Ben Street had a goal and an assist and Eric Tangradi led the way with a pair of goals.

Record: For WBS: 32-16-4-1 (69 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division) // For GR: 31-19-1-6 (69 pts., 2nd place Central Division)

Referee(s): Jesse Gour / Stephen Thomson

Linesmen: Justin Cornell / Pat Richardson

Why You Should Care: Big test for both teams unfamiliar with the other on similar tracks. Both teams have identical points and are chasing down a division leader heading into the weekend are out of touch at this point in time. A win tonight keeps pace. Should be a good, competitive hockey game against two very good teams.

Other Game to Watch: Charlotte and Providence meet up in a battle between the three and four seeds in the Atlantic Division.

Next Five Games: @ RFD 3/3, @ MIL 3/4, @ BNG 3/9, vs. GR 3/10, @ CHA 3/13

Gameday

Greg McKegg Traded at the NHL Deadline 2/26

Comments Off on Greg McKegg Traded at the NHL Deadline 2/26 Posted by on February 26, 2018

Probably not the biggest ripple effecting the parent team, but Penguins Jim Rutherford made a move on the NHL trade deadline that had a direct result on his AHL team in Wilkes-Barre.

The Penguins acquired Josh Jooris for Greg McKegg in essentially a swap of AHL eligible players on NHL contracts. Jooris will report to Wilkes-Barre and McKegg goes to Charlotte to be with the Checkers.

Nick Hart with the scouting report…

Jooris was with the Carolina Hurricanes and has played in 37 games for them. He has over 200 games of NHL experience. I’ll consider this an upgrade for Wilkes-Barre. McKegg started in the NHL and was waived down, then sort of just got lost in the shuffle. Jooris steps down from the NHL and hopefully brings the right attitude for the Penguins and contributes.

As of 4 pm Monday. it doesn’t look like there were any more trades made effecting the organization. I didn’t see anything on the AHL Transactions page about players being assigned to Wilkes-Barre for the purposes of being eligible to play in the AHL after today.

UPDATE: As I was getting ready to close up shop for the night, Pittsburgh assigned Tristan Jarry and Dominik Simon to Wilkes-Barre and recalled Casey DeSmith. Zach Aston-Reese was not part of the news. Aston-Reese is the only other player on the NHL Penguins roster to be eligible for assignment to the AHL. Unless he shows up on a paper move, he’s up for good. EDIT: Aston-Reese was papered down per the AHL Transactions page. Dominik Simon is a huge add for Wilkes-Barre and DeSmith is indeed eligible for re-assignment since he was on the AHL roster at the 3 p.m. deadline.

Other news of the day…

Word out of practice was that Murray took a shot off of the head from an Olli Maatta stick.

If any other moves are made, I will either update this post or add another. This is a long way of saying keep checking back.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Johnson’s Workshop — Pens WIN 3-2

2 Comments Posted by on February 25, 2018

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Adam Johnson chipped in a pair of goals, Daniel Sprong also helped with two assists and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins take 4 of 6 points out of the weekend and defeat the Hershey Bears 3-2 Sunday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre.

These two players played on the fourth line for the Penguins. When you have your parent team acquiring throw ins in a blockbuster trade to help the NHL team and essentially decline or are in no need of the players that Pittsburgh acquired in Tobias Lindberg and Vincent Dunn, your Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are stacked.

Important, because the Penguins burned off a game in hand on Lehigh Valley, and also won with Providence also victor Sunday afternoon against Hartford.

It’s that time of year where every point counts.

Casey DeSmith opposed Pheonix Copley

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Joseph Cramarossa
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Kevin Spinozzi – Ethan Prow
Kevin Schulze – Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi – Jeff Taylor

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Greg McKegg was a scratch. He picked up a knock in the Syracuse game and is day to day. The Tom’s, Sestito and Kostopoulos, were back in after having Saturday off in Syracuse.

First Period: A no look pass from Travis Boyd to Riley Barber put the Bears on the board early on.

Immediately thereafter, Tom Kostopolous scored a one time from the mid-slot that tied the game.

It was one of those periods that everything notable happened in the first five minutes.

Second Period: Casey DeSmith made a ten bell save on a Hershey power play that kept the game tied at one.

Penguins scored on their first power play of the game when Adam Johnson deflected in an Ethan Prow shot from the point that put the Penguins ahead 2-1.

But then Tyler Graovac responded quickly thereafter on a tic tac toe play that DeSmith and the Penguins had zero chance on.

That angle didn’t give that play any justice, Graovac was wide, wide open.

Shots after two period was 16-14 in favor of the Bears. I don’t know if both teams were gassed at the tail end of their three in three weekends or if it was something else, but it was an even match heading into the…

Third Period: Daniel Spring was tripped entering the zone, on a delayed call he slid a pass to Teddy Blueger who put a shot on Copley and the rebound kicked straight to Johnson for the slam dunk for his second goal of the game and a Wilkes-Barre lead.

Hershey shot themselves in the foot with a late penalty that they were able to kill off, not before they had two great opportunities shorthanded.

With Copley pulled, the Bears were never able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, +1) 2) Daniel Sprong (two assists, +1) and 1) Adam Johnson (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Providence shutout Hartford 2-0 and Bridgeport did the same to Charlotte, 1-0. All other teams in the Atlantic were off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.675 percentage points) — Penguins (.651) — Providence (.627) — Charlotte (.570) — Bridgeport (.527) — Hartford (.509) — Hershey (.474) — Springfield (.473)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers received Cody Wydo, Troy Josephs and Freddie Tiffels and the impact was immediate, Freddie Tiffels scored twice but the Nailers fell 3-2 to the Adirondack Thunder.

https://www.echl.com/stats/game-center/15656

Injury updates: 

Pens have a light week practice wise…

AHL Power Rankings hit the blog Monday at 4. Trade deadline is Monday also. If anything affects Coal Street, then I will have a blog update Monday sometime.

Let’s Go Pens!

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RAPID RECAP – Pens WIN 3-2

Comments Off on RAPID RECAP – Pens WIN 3-2 Posted by on February 25, 2018

Full game piece will be on a bit later. Errands on Sunday.

Pens beat rival Hershey 3-2 in a knockdown drag out affair on home Ice. Adam Johnson had a pair of goals, Daniel Sprong had a pair of assists and Casey DeSmith was again stellar in goal, stopping 20 of 22 Hershey shots.

More in a little bit.

Rapid Recap

GAMEDAY: vs. Hershey 2/25

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Hershey 2/25 Posted by on February 25, 2018

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Who: Hershey Bears

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 3:05 p.m.

Last Game: Last night in Syracuse the Pens lost 3-1. Freddie Tiffels scored on the first shot of the game for Wilkes-Barre but the Pens couldn’t get anything else pasty Connor Ingram. For Hershey, the Bears scrapped with the Rockford IceHogs to a 4-3 overtime loss.

Last Meeting: February 2 in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins won 4-1. Tristan Jarry stopped 25 of 26, Andrey pecan scored two goals and Daniel Sprong added two assists.

Record: For WBS: 31-16-4-1 (67 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division) // For HER: 23-25-4-4 (54 pts., 6th place Atlantic Division)

Referee(s): Sean MacFarlane / Troy Murray

Linesmen: Ryan Knapp / Luke Murray

Why You Should Care: Hershey comes in this afternoon winners of 5 of their last 6 games with that setback coming in overtime against Rockford last night. Bears are a lot better than they have been the last time you saw them and the Penguins are shucking along letting the division get away from them. About that, this will be the first of five games in hand that the Pens have on teh Phantoms that will get burned off today. Games in hand only matter if you win them.

Promotion(s): Tux’s Birthday! – Kids 14 and Under Free (with paid adult ticket),  & Postgame Kids Skate

Other Game to Watch: Charlotte and Bridgeport rematch from last night where the Checkers beat the Sound Tigers 2-1.

Next Five Games: @ GR 3/2, @ RFD 3/3, @ MIL 3/4, @ BNG 3/9, vs. GR 3/10

Gameday

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