Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: WBS

Foegele Bout It — Pens LOSE 5-2

Comments Off on Foegele Bout It — Pens LOSE 5-2 Posted by on October 7, 2017

       vs.       

5                                          2

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If you have been coming to this blog for any number of years you will often read me write that there are great teams in the AHL, good teams and bad teams. Charlotte, a team that hasn’t been seen in the Eastern Conference since 2011, is a great team. They were a playoff team last year in the Central Division and were not intimidated by this new look, revamped Wilkes-Barre-Scranton Penguins team. The Checkers spoil the Penguins opener with a 5-2 win.

No, my lede did not include a diatribe against referees Evgenii Romasko and Terry Koharski. They called what they saw and they happened to call a lot of it. The Penguins got burned twice shorthanded by Warren Foegele, who by all accounts should be AHL Player of the Week this Tuesday. Koharski / Romasko called it down the middle, six penalties a side for each team, and the Penguins gave up a power play goal to Charlotte and also allowed Foegele to score twice shorthanded. You don’t win many hockey games that way no matter if its opening night or not.

The only reason it wasn’t a Checkers runaway was due to the play of Tristan Jarry, who stopped 31 of 35 shots.

Jarry opposed Jeremy Smith. Here’s a look at the lines…

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Sure beats me hammering out the lines like the old days no?

First Period: Pens nearly got on the scoresheet first with this nice setup and play by Tom Sestito. Yes, Tom Sestito.

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Real quick, want to thank Taylor for putting these GIFs out there on Twitter and being so nice to allow me to embed them on my blog for you all. I think it enhances the read.

Penguins struck first with a goal boy Daniel Sprong on the power play. Get used to seeing a lot of this this upcoming season…

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That release is sickening, by the way.

Checkers would get on the board after an intentional offside call from the Penguins put the draw down in the Penguins zone to Jarry’s right. After the face-off Valintin Zykov turned around and fired at Jarry and it went in….

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Second Period: All out Checkers blitzkrieg, 23 shots to the Penguins 9, put Charlotte ahead of Wilkes-Barre 3-2 after things ended in the second.

Penguins jumped out to a 2-1 lead when Thomas DiPauli follows his own shot while shorthanded and beat Smith to push the Penguins ahead.

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Ferocious forechecking by Teddy Blueger set up the whole thing. DiPauli takes advantage.

Undeterred, Phil Di Giuseppe cashed on a power play when he put a shot on Jarry then followed the rebound off of Tristan’s shoulder and put a backhand in to tie it at two for Charlotte.

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Penguins then found themselves on the power play looking to make something happen, but J-S Dea turned the puck over to Roland McKeown who found Foegele who scored his first shorthanded goal of the night….

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Again, shots 23-9 for Charlotte and nary a goal scored even strength for the Checkers.

Third Period: Foegele again, shorthanded again….

https://twitter.com/CheckersHockey/status/916835910033051649

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Shots were an even 6-6 this period including a not shown 175′ empty net goal by the Checkers with Jarry vacated from Di Giuseppe.

Charlotte, already leading coming into the period, get another shorty from Foegele to make it 4-2 then get an empty netter. Ballgame.

After the game, Tom tweeted this…

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Three Stars: 3) Thomas DiPauli (goal, even) 2) Lucas Wallmark (two assists, +1) and 1) and Warren Foegele (two shorthanded goals, +2)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley pounds Hershey 7-2 in Allentown….Bridgeport loses 2-1 in Binghamton….Providence beats Springfield 5-2. Hartford was off, they host Lehigh Valley Sunday afternoon.

Too soon for a Standings look. Lehigh Valley, Charlotte and Providence all won so they are on top of the division, the rest of us, Wilkes-Barre included, have 0 points. Still early days.

Wheeling Update: Nailers get ripping on their season next weekend.

I don’t think that the Penguins will post video highlights but if they do, I will edit them in.

Power Rankings debut Monday at 4. Check them out then. Let’s Go Pens!

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RAPID RECAP – Pens LOSE 5-2

Comments Off on RAPID RECAP – Pens LOSE 5-2 Posted by on October 7, 2017

Boatloads of penalties against, failure to score in penalties for and giving up two shorthanded penalties to Warren Foegele doom the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins on opening night. They lose 5-2. 

Firepower never came alive because there was no flow because of the penalties. Jeremy Smith and Tristan Jarry were great in goal for their respective teams, but the Checkers and Foegele finally got to Jarry. 

Full story in a bit.

Rapid Recap

GAMEDAY: vs. Charlotte 10/7

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Charlotte 10/7 Posted by on October 7, 2017

vs.     

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Who: Charlotte Checkers

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Last Game: This is the first game of the season for the Penguins. For Charlotte, they kicked their season off in Hartford last night and erased a third period 4-2 deficit and won 5-4 against the Wolf Pack. Where have you seen that before? Patrick Brown had three assists. Warren Foegele had two goals.

Record: For WBS: this is their first game — For CHA: 1-0-0-0

Referee(s): Evgenii Romasko / Terry Koharski

Linesmen: Bob Goodman / Scott Pomento

Why You Should Care: It’s the first game of the season for the new and improved Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Deep at all positions and ready to roll, this is the Penguins best shot it would seem to seriously contend for the trophy which has eluded them the most, the Calder Cup. It all gets started in a few hours.

Promotion(s): Opening Night / Geisinger Magnetic Schedule

Other Game to Watch: Hershey and Lehigh Valley renew old rivalries tonight in Allentown.

Next Five Games: LV 10/13, @ LV 10/4, SYR 10/15, LAV 10/20, HFD 10/21

Gameday

Day Before-ish News and Notes

Comments Off on Day Before-ish News and Notes Posted by on October 6, 2017

Penguins get ripping on their 19th season of hockey with a home game Saturday against the Charlotte Checkers. Here’s some news and notes.

Here is a look at the Penguins roster submitted to the AHL yesterday. 18 forwards, 11 defensemen, 2 goalies. No Sam Miletic, the Penguins sent him back to the London Knights, his junior team on Thursday. I wonder if they will regret this move in January.

On alternate captains…

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On the new defenseman acquired this week, Andrey Pedan…

Pedan was ninth overall last season with the Comets in shot attempts with 107. Those same shot attempts would have put him ninth on the Penguins last year. Interestingly enough, the player that filed in ninth in shot attempts last season was the same player traded for Pedan, Derrick Pouliot.

Injury updates…

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(something, something complaint about the non-disclosure of injuries in hockey still sucks and is archaic in every way imaginable)

Alumni Watch: Ex-Penguin Tim Erixon snagged himself a PTO with the Binghamton Devils and Reid McNeill will serve as one of seven alternate captains for the Syracuse Crunch this season.

Tomorrow’s opponent Charlotte is in Hartford tonight taking on the Wolf Pack. Here is their gameday tee-up. Look for whoever backs up goal tonight to start Saturday in Wilkes-Barre.

I do believe I saw that tomorrow’s game will be televised locally. Check your local listing if you are not able to attend in person.

Few more things out the door, as you know I am looking for help this upcoming season. I have gotten some feedback but am looking for more. If you would like to help out, do not hesitate to contact me about it.

Blog schedule for tomorrow will be the 3 p.m. Gameday setup here on the blog, the live twitter feed will go up at 6:10 and Rapid Recap right after the game goes final then the recap Saturday night. This process will repeat itself 75 more times this season.

I’m ready to go, hope you are too.

The AHL, WBS

Spinozzi Signed, Maguire to Wheeling 10/4

Comments Off on Spinozzi Signed, Maguire to Wheeling 10/4 Posted by on October 4, 2017

News dujour out of Coal Street Wednesday was news that the Penguins signed Kevin Spinozzi to a professional tryout agreement and then later in the day sent Sean Maguire to the Wheeling Nailers.

Spinozzi certainly earned the extended tryout agreement. While I don’t see him as a regular contributor to the Penguins defensive corps in the immediate future, he may play a factor when the injuries start piling up and bodies are pulled from all over the place. Obviously, Clark Donatelli and his staff saw enough of Spinozzi to offer him the tryout agreement.

Sean Maguire was sent to the Wheeling Nailers. It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when for Maguire with the tandem of Tristan Jarry / Casey DeSmith already set in goal for the Penguins. Maguire should see the majority of starts for the Nailers and be ready should his services be needed by the Penguins in the near future. 

Pittsburgh finalized its roster. Here it is:

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That does not include Andrey Pedan, who we can only assume has been assigned to Wilkes-Barre.

AHL Previews are rolling along with the Pacific, Central and North done and the Atlantic rounding things out Thursday at noon.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

Derrick Pouliot Traded for Andrey Pedan; Other Stuff

Comments Off on Derrick Pouliot Traded for Andrey Pedan; Other Stuff Posted by on October 3, 2017

The Pittsburgh Penguins traded Derrick Pouliot to the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday for Andrey Pedan in a defenseman for defenseman swap. The Penguins also get a 4th round pick from the Canucks in 2018.

The Penguins weren’t going to keep experimenting with Pouliot any longer. This article from Pensblog last week explains it all and the writing was on the wall for Pouliot regarding his future with the Penguins.

Andrey Pedan heads the other way and he’s a depth defender who has already cleared waivers from Vancouver. Here is what some had to say about the Penguins newest acquisition:


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Tom weighed in on the size of the WBS blueline should Pedan make it down to Coal Street:

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Pittsburgh already has eight defensemen on the roster currently. They would need to put Patric Hornqvist on injured reserve which I think they may have already to get to the 23 man roster limit. So seemingly as soon as Hornqvist comes off IR, Pedan gets sent down, doesn’t have to clear because he cleared already, and we are ready to roll.

That is, provided there aren’t any injuries to anyone on the NHL roster in the coming days / weeks / months.

Pensblog also had a WBS Preview of sorts you can check out here. tl;dr version, Wilkes-Barre is stacked deep at all positions and is a strong Calder Cup contender.

Here are some updates from practice at Coal Street today…

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My AHL Previews have started if you haven’t seen already. I checked off the Pacific and Central Divisions so far with the North and Atlantic to come tomorrow and Wednesday. Please do check them out.

Pittsburgh, WBS

Preseason Game #4 — Penguins 1, Binghamton 3

Comments Off on Preseason Game #4 — Penguins 1, Binghamton 3 Posted by on October 1, 2017

The Penguins were in Binghamton taking on the Devils in their final preseason game. They lost 3-1. They will end up in the preseason going 2-2, splitting each with Hershey and Binghamton in the four games played.

Lots of tough decisions coming for Clark Donatelli and his crew this week as the Penguins prepare for their 19th season of hockey in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Here is a look at the lines….

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Tristan Jarry opposed Mackenzie Blackwood.

One lineup change from what you see above, swap Cam Brown for Gage Quinney.

No change in the status of Jarred Tinordi, he’s still to be evaluated. That usually means that it’s probably more than just day-to-day. Jeff Taylor was held out of the lineup for precautionary reasons on the hit delivered by Connor Hobbs Saturday night in Hershey.

In the first, there was only one power play awarded and the Devils made the most of it with Nathan Bastian tipping in a Brandon Gignac shot from the point past Jarry to put the Devils on the board at 12:44. Shots were an even 8-8 heading into the second.

In the second, J-S Dea scored on a power play to bring the Penguins level with the Devils again at 4:32 for the only scoring in a hotly contested period. The Penguins had a slight edge in shots in the period; 11-9.

In the third and looking to break the tie, the Devils would inch ahead when Blake Pietila pounced on a turnover and scored to give Binghamton a 2-1 lead at 9:25.

About four minutes later, Craig Skudalski couldn’t control a bouncing puck and turned it over resulting in another goal for Binghamton when Chris Calnan scored to make it 3-1.

With the extra man on for the Penguins, they were not able to get a goal.

One note, ex-Penguin Tim Erixon figured in on all three Binghamton goals tonight, with three assists.

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So that wraps up preseason. The Penguins will have a full week of work to prepare for the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday night in their season opener.

Blog wise, where’s what I have on tap for you.

My AHL Previews start at noon Monday with the Pacific Division, with the Central Division on Tuesday, the North on Wednesday and wrapping up with the Atlantic on Thursday.

Any news out of Coal Street or up top in Pittsburgh will be met with its own separate blog post. The Gameday setup will hit the blog for the Pens opener against the Checkers on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

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