Chirps from Center Ice

       vs.       

2                                          3

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With about five minutes to play in 2-2 tie late in the third period, I thought to myself that this game that the Penguins were play ing was probably the most complete game that Wilkes-Barre has played in their sound season. You really can’t put your finger on a team until ten games into it I have always felt, but this game was a great overall game by Wilkes-Barre, who take down the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-2 in a shootout.

Casey DeSmith still has not allowed a goal at even strength. That streak is up to 117:45. The two goal scored on Casey tonight were on first period power play goals.

DeSmith opposed Alexandar Georgiev.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli
Dominik Simon – Jarrett Burton – Christian Thomas

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Kevin Czuczman – Kevin Spinozzi
Chris Summers – Frank Corrado

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Freddie Tiffels and Adam Johnson yielded to Zach Aston-Reese and Jarrett Burton up front. Dylan Zink was out for Kevin Spinozzi, making his AHL debut.

First Period: Hartford didn’t take long to kick off the scoring on a power play. Frank Corrado lost his stick, a shot by Adam Tambellini deflected off of Corrado to Scott Kosmachuk far side and he put it past DeSmith for a 1-0 Hartford lead…

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The Penguins got a power play but couldn’t kick start anything and then Andrey Pedan took a tripping call and Hartford capitalized again on the man advantage going up 2-0 on this shot by Vinni Lettieri that beat a screened Casey DeSmith….

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:34 later, Gage Quinney responds…

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As Taylor mentioned, that is the third straight game where Gage Quinney has scored in. He’s coming for Sprong!

Second Period: Both teams traded power plays then Jarrett Burton put one off the post and in the tied the game for the Penguins…

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Play was really setup by this save by DeSmith on Letteri prior to the Burton goal…

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Daniel Sprong did not score in the game tonight but did look to set up his teammates several times tonight. He led a three on one and passed to Garrett Wilson but Wilson missed high, which would have gave the Penguins the lead.

Wilkes-Barre showed more aggression in the period and fought back to tie it.

Third Period: Nothing really went down notable in the third for either side. Pens had a power play they couldn’t score on. DeSmith didn’t see much rubber in the period, but he stopped the late flurry that the Wolf Pack put on him.

Overtime: Felt like Sprong was due for his goal, but it was a better save by Georgiev, in the splits, that denied him. Late, at the buzzer, Gage Quinney missed wide on a breakaway.

Shootout: Dominik Simon and Scott Kosmachuk failed to score in round one.

J-S Dea scored in round two…

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Casey DeSmith stopped Joe Whitney in the bottom of the second…

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..Daniel Sprong had a puck poke checked away from him in the top of the third by Georgiev which would have won it, so DeSmith had to come up with a save to win it.

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Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Alexandar Georgiev (41 saves on 43 shots) 2) Jarrett Burton (goal, +1) and 1) J-S Dea (shootout game winning goal, even)

Around the Division: The Providence Bruins get two goals in the third period to takedown the Belleville Senators 3-2 in a shootout of their own tonight….Lehigh Valley beats Binghamton in New York 4-3….Syracuse beats Springfield 4-1, the Thunderbirds are still winless to start the season at 0-6….Laval beats Bridgeport 6-3…Charlotte is shutout in Toronto 4-0 and the Hershey Bears are in the win column with a 4-2 win against the defending Calder Cup Champion Grand Rapids Griffins.

Standings: Providence 8, Lehigh Valley 11 (percentage), Charlotte and Wilkes-Barre with 8, Hartford with 7, Hershey with 3, Bridgeport with 2 and Springfield with 0.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers held their home opener tonight and won 4-2 against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Derek Army had first star honors with a goal and an assist. Cam Brown, who was in camp with Wilkes-Barre in preseason, had a goal and two assists. Colin Stevens picked up the win for the Nailers.

Power Rankings Monday at 4. If the Penguins put out highlights, I will edit them in.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

5                                          6

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What a wild one this turned out to be.

The Laval Rocket came into tonight’s contest with the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins with the most goals in the American Hockey League with 18. The Penguins knew this all week. They knew that they needed to play a strong defensive game if they wanted to hold on and win the game.

But the Penguins are no slouches offensively, either. They won their last game 6-1 over the Syracuse Crunch. They know how to put the goals up when and if they need to.

They needed to in this one. Thanks in large part to Daniel Sprong’s hat trick and Teddy Blueger’s overtime game winner, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win a thriller at home against the Laval Rocket 6-5 in overtime.

Not the best game from Tristan Jarry, but it’s awful hard to look as good as he has been and as we remember him when his defense constantly spills the puck to the other team and create turnovers which lead to goals for the other team. I don’t think that half of the goals were his fault by any stretch of the imagination. Feel free to disagree with me in the comment section, if you would.

He opposed Charlie Lindgren, who was good tonight, but will be having nightmares of Daniel Sprong for sometime and may even need a therapy cat. Inside joke on that one, if you followed me on Twitter, you got it.

Anyway. Here were the Penguins lines…

Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Freddie Tiffels – J-S Dea – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Kevin Czuczman – Dylan Zink
Chris Summers – Frank  Corrado

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: No changes up from for the Penguins. Zach Trotman was recalled to Pittsburgh and was swapped out for the returning from Pittsburgh Chris Summers. Dylan Zink drew in for Ethan Prow also.

First Period: Didn’t take long for Daniel Sprong to make his impact…

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Face-off win to Sprong who lets one go like a firecracker on the Fourth of July. What a release.

Sprong’s scoring streak of scoring in the first five games matches Tomas Surovy from the 2003-04 season.

Didn’t take long for the Rocket to answer, which was the theme for most of the night. Chris Terry far dot, after a failed clear by Wilkes-Barre….

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Rocket edge ahead with a shot by Tom Parisi that Jarry maybe should have had. I thought he was screened when the shot went in live. You be the judge….

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Penguins went to a power play and three seconds in, Daniel Sprong did this…

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Lethal. Face-off win back to Sprong high slot who has time, waits, calibrates and scores to make it 2-2.

Here is one that Jarry should have had in my opinion. David Broll goes by the nickname, “Broll-dozer” which is a play on “bulldozer.” Bulldozers are slow. Broll is slow. Half clapper beats Jarry after Broll sneaks past the Penguin defense…

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3-2 Rocket late first. Heading into the second down one, right?

Wrong.

Tom Kostopoulos with his first of the season, ties the game at three a side…

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Pedan with a pass to Dea who put a knee drop one timer on Lindgren who spilled the rebound to Kostopoulos who backhanded it in.

Second Period: Rocket score on a rocket from the far dot by Eric Gelinas that made it 4-3…

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Penguins respond :14 later with a goal by Gage Quinney. Kevin Czuczman with the shot and Quinney with the tip in front….

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Game settled for a bit. Then Andrey Pedan lost his man, that man being Mike McCarron who had an easy tap in goal to give the Rocket a 5-4 lead….

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That goal was not Jarry’s fault. Fight me.

Third Period: Penguins opened with massive pressure to open, lots of zone time, and were forcing the Rocket into mistakes.

Those mistakes came rapid fire as Wilkes-Barre found itself on 1:25 of 5-on-3 power play time. Unlike last week in Allentown, they scored. Daniel Sprong made the hats rain…

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Seven goals and ten points in five games for Sprong. He is embarrassing the American Hockey League right now.

Last hat trick for the Penguins was Jake Guentzel against the Springfield Thunderbirds on December 27, 2016 at home. Sprong may be better than Guentzel, if that is even imaginable.

Jarry sucked tonight, right? WRONG!

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Penguins held off the Rocket and it was onto…

Overtime: Sprong started, had some looks, but couldn’t get anything serious at Lindgren. Line change and Teddy Blueger steps on. At the end the shift, Kevin Czuczman runs a puck down to Teddy Blueger who put a shot on Lindgren and followed it and knocked in his rebound to send the fans home happy….

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Celly game on point….

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Three Stars: 3) Tom Sestito (500th professional game, really deserved a goal in this game) 2) Teddy Blueger (game winning goal) 1) Daniel Sprong (hat trick, assist, even)

As far as Sprong’s trajectory to the NHL, he is ready offensively but needs to round out his defensive game. He was on the ice for two of the Rocket’s goals scored. Splitting hairs, but that may be what the brass is looking for, which is why he is here.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Bridgeport at home and continue their good pace winning 5-2 at home…Charlotte beats Rochester in their first ever matchup against the Americans by the same 5-2 score….Providence beats Springfield again by, you guessed it, a 5-2 score….Belleville beats Hartford 5-1. The Wolf Pack couldn’t get one more goal? Crumb bums….Milwaukee beats Hershey in Wisconsin 4-1.

Standings: Charlotte 8, Providence 6, Phantoms 9 (percentage) Penguins 6, Hartford 6, Bridgeport 2, Hershey 1 and Springfield 0.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off, they open at home tomorrow against the Cincinnati Cyclones.

If (when) Coal Street puts out video highlights, I will edit them in. Check back sometime Saturday.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

1                                          6

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When it was announced during warmups that Zach Aston-Reese was going to be a healthy scratch tonight and that Gage Quinney was going to slot run and make his AHL professional debut, it raised some eyebrows.

Not because of Quinney, mind you, but because Aston-Reese is the higher listed prospect. That he sits in the fourth game of the season for a guy making his AHL debut that has been a professional in the ECHL previously certainly piqued my interest.

Quinney made his presence felt in a big way. A goal and two assists and first star honors, Pens beat Syracuse 6-1 in a laugher.

How about they weekend Casey DeSmith had? Shutout the Phantoms on Friday and only allowed one goal on a five on three power play for Syracuse off the stick of AHL sniper Cory Conacher in the second period. DeSmith has turned away 57 of 58 shots so far and hasn’t given up a goal yet at even strength.

DeSmith opposed Connor Ingram.

Lines were…

Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Freddie Tiffels – J-S Dea – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Ethan Prow
Zach Trotman – Kevin Czuczman
Lukas Bengtsson – Frank Corrado

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Ethan Prow for Dylan Zink on defense, Jarrett Burton and Zach Aston-Reese for Freddie Tiffels, making his pro debut and Gage Quinney, making his AHL debut. Zach Trotman, originally a question mark last Monday heading into the week, played all three games.

First Period: :34 in, J-S Dea cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Lukas Bengtsson…

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Pens looked like they were going to open the floodgates, but after giving up the first goal to Dea, Ingram settled in and kept his team in the game, denying a shorthanded breakaway by Andrey Pedan and multiple odd-man rushes. Penguins ended the period with 12 shots to Syracuse’s 4.

Second Period: Pens double up on a shot by Daniel Sprong that went in off the skate of Garrett Wilson in slow motion…

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And as Taylor mentioned, Sprong’s first professional assist and Gage Quinney’s first pro point in his Penguin debut.

Penguins score a third goal as a power play expired. Thomas DiPauli scored on this deflection of a shot by Blueger….

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Wilkes-Barre found itself in a bit of penalty trouble with two penalties that put Syracuse on a 5-on-3. After a time out, Cory Conacher scored from the far dot to ruin Casey DeSmith’s shutout bid….

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Penguins kill off the other minor or else things would have really gotten interesting, then Christian Thomas defects in a shot by Zach Trotman to make it 4-1 Penguins and the runaway was on…

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Call initially announced as Trotman’s goal then reversed in second intermission.

Mike O’Brien set this next play up on radio. He was mentioning at the time that Daniel Sprong had yet to score in the game to extend his goal scoring streak. Sprong must have heard him because seconds later, he did this…

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First even strength goal for Sprong. Neat little thing I picked up after was when Sprong went to the bench for congratulations, the entire team ignored him. He must score too much.

All that was left for was to have Gage Qunney score.

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Nice pass from behind the net to the guy in front Blueger who either missed intentionally or knew Quinney was trailing. Either way, nice play.

Video highlights….

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Three Stars: 3) Christian Thomas (goal, even) 2) Daniel Sprong (goal, two assists, +3) and 1) Gage Quinney (goal, two assists, +3)

Around the Division: Springfield is still looking or their first win, losers 2-1 to the Toronto Marlies…the Hershey Bears and Lehigh Valley Phantoms needed extra time to decide a winner with the Phantoms taking home the two points in a shootout, 4-3 the score there.

Standings: Phantoms with 7, Charlotte and Hartford with 6, Providence and Wilkes-Barre with 4, Bridgeport with 2, Hershey with 1 and Springfield still has 0.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off, they are on their way home from Greenville, SC after winning both games against the Swamp Rabbits.

Power Rankings for Week 2 are due Monday at 4. Check me out then.

Let’s Go Pens!