Comments Off on Three for the Third — Pens WIN 3-2
Posted by nafsnep on March 8, 2024
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After a tumultuous couple of days for the Penguins organization, business had to continue with the issue still in doubt for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and their playoff seeding and chances.
They answer with a gritty, gutsy, third period comeback win in Allentown Friday night and win 3-2 and will stay ahead of the Hartford Wolf Pack for another night.
Rematch Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre with these two teams.
Jaxon Castor backs up for Blomma, Ty Smith stays in WBS, Laderoute joins the lineup, and Koppanen is back from Pitt pic.twitter.com/7bXE8ZCW7E
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 9, 2024
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Lineup Notes: More trades. Magnus Hellberg was traded to Florida for Ludovic Waeber. Waeber is a goalie who did time with the Charlotte Checkers. In a corresponding move, Coal Street signed Jaxon Castor to a PTO. The thought process here is twofold. 1) You may see Taylor Gauthier get recalled and stay with Wilkes-Barre. Gauthier has been tearing up the ECHL. Let him back up Blomqvist and if need be, call up Weaber or even Garret Sparks if you have to. 2) Just have Waeber back up Blomqvist.
I am leaning more towards number two, but you have to read on to see why.
I think it is apparent that Pittsburgh is fast tracking Blomqvist for the NHL next season. He’s earned it.
Other moves were paper transactions on Valtteri Puustinen and Jonathan Gruden, making them eligible for assignment to Wilkes-Barre when Pittsburgh’s season wraps up and Joona Koppanen being assigned and playing Friday in Allentown.
On ice, Lukas Svejkovsky and Jack Rathbone were back from their respective injuries. Matt Filipe and Dillon Hamaliuk were out for Svejkovsky and Laderoute. Jack Rathbone for Owen Headrick.
Ty Smith stays in Wilkes-Barre. How? He was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes and is Carolina property. The Hurricanes do not have an AHL affiliate. The Chicago Wolves are independent, opting to go without an NHL affiliate so, for now, Smith stays put.
Whew. That’s a lot. Onto the game.
First Period: I told you in the Weekend Preview that if the Penguins wanted to have success against the Phantoms they had to score a power play goal in each game. Well, it took them four seconds, but they did score a power play goal when Austin Rueschhoff cleaned up the loose change left by a shot from Vinnie Hinostroza from the point.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 9, 2024
Pace slowed down a bit from there as it usually does when these teams meet.
Second Period: Phantoms jump the Pens from the drop of the puck and Ty Smith and Vinnie Hinostroza get their wires crossed and Jack Rathbone tries to bail them out but the pass is picked off at center ice by Victor Mete who finds Brandon Furry who then finds a streaking Rhett Gardner who goes top corner on a post to post going Joel Blomqvist to tie the game at one.
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) March 9, 2024
Well past ten minutes and all the Pens had was a grip it and rip it shot from Jagger Joshua.
They picked it up a bit, but then Lehigh Valley was back on it quickly and Rhett Gardner bags his second of the period on a two man advantage for the Phantoms and it’s 2-1.
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) March 9, 2024
Penguins looked bad that period, out of sync and what have you.
Third Period: Needing a positive response, the Penguins get one in the form of Lukas Svejkovsky for his first of the season in the AHL on an absolute dart.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 9, 2024
Game started to devolve a bit after that, every whistle had fisticuffs. Pens miss on a 4:00 double minor but looked good on it, credit Lehigh Valley’s penalty kill I guess.
Things settled from there and it appeared as if that they were headed to overtime and we all know the Penguins success or lack thereof in that period.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 9, 2024
A most ridiculous tip or deflection of a pass from Ryan Shea for Andonovski who has had a mercurial year. If a guy like Andonovski starts warming up, there’s no telling the heights that this team can reach.
Lehigh Valley pulled Cal Petersen for an extra attacker but ere not able to find the equalizer.
Three Stars: 3) Cal Petersen (18 saves) 2) Rhett Gardner (two goals) 1) Corey Andonovski (game winning goal)
The Good: They battled. JD Forrest pushed the right buttons and it’s a huge two points that will help them down the stretch.
The Bad: Game too close for my liking and I didn’t like that second period at all against a non playoff team.
Turning Point: The Andonovski goal is the clear and obvious choice here.
Standings: Hershey 86 – Providence 73 – Penguins 66 – Hartford 65 – Charlotte 62 – Springfield 55 – Lehigh Valley 53 – Bridgeport 45
A note, the Penguins finished last season with 66 points.
Wheeling Update: Nailers are out in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That game started late. Box here.
Back to Gauthier, he started in goal for Wheeling Friday, so the thought is Waeber may be headed to Wilkes-Barre. Who knows, though.
Video Highlights:
A late goal by Corey Andonovski was the difference, as the #WBSPenguins recorded a 3-2 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday night in Allentown.
Comments Off on Weekend Preview — Three Ghosts
Posted by nafsnep on March 8, 2024
The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have three straight games with their in state rival Lehigh Valley Phantoms this weekend and next Wednesday. Two, (Saturday and Wednesday) are in Wilkes-Barre. Gotta protect that home ice.
Music to Set the Mood
I don’t know what this is. I typed in “three ghosts” into YouTube and the came up, so let’s roll with it.
We Have a Trade to Announce…
Jake Guentzel was traded to Carolina with Ty Smith. In return, Pittsburgh got Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius and a bunch of draft picks. Out of that group, Ponomarev has spent time in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves and would have the most impact, as he has 29 points with the Wolves currently.
Pittsburgh has traded away its AHL clubs leading scorer now three times this season. Rem Pitlick in the Fall, Alex Nylander a few weeks ago and now Smith. Jonathan Gruden, you’re next!
One thing that’s worth considering is that Carolina doesn’t have a bonafide AHL team to stash its prospects and Chicago is independent. If Ty Smith isn’t earmarked for the NHL, where does he end up? Does he stay with Wilkes-Barre as a Carolina property (awkward) or go to the NHL with the Canes or the island of misfit toys out in Chicago? I guess we find out soon.
The Setup
Three straight with the Phantoms, starting this Friday in Allentown.
Last weekend, the Penguins split with the Charlotte Checkers with a 4-1 win Friday and a 4-2 loss Saturday, when on Saturday they were up 2-0. Sam Poulin returned from injury and had five assists across two games but that wasn’t enough to get him AHL Player of the Week honors.
Lehigh Valley were shutout in Utica 3-0, lost to last place Bridgeport 2-1 at home Saturday and then at the tail end of their three in three weekend grit out a 1-0 shootout win over the Category 5 superteam known as the reigning, defending, undisputed 12 time Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears. Go figure.
One thing to note, the Phantoms will travel to Bridgeport on Sunday, completing yet another three in three weekend, then head back to Wilkes-Barre Wednesday, which starts an hour earlier because on the drive up to Connecticut, the Phantoms (and everyone else) will lose an hour when everyone turns their clocks forward one hour this Sunday. Just brutal.
Records
The Penguins are in third place in the Atlantic Division with a 28-19-7-1 record, good for 64 points.
The Phantoms are in seventh place in the Atlantic Division, currently out of a playoff spot with a 23-22-5-2 record, good for 53 points.
The Penguins (55 games played) are chasing second place Providence Bruins, who have also played 55 games. Providence leads the Penguins by 9 points.
The Penguins are trying to ward off the Hartford Wolf Pack (52 games played) and the Charlotte Checkers (54 games played) – Hartford has 63 points and the Checkers have 60.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
Valtteri Puustinen and Jonathan Gruden are on NHL recall. Joona Koppanen joined them on Tuesday. They all will need to be “papered” back to the AHL by Friday in order to be eligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Justin Addamo, Dillon Hamaliuk, Raivis Ansons, Owen Headrick and Lukas Svejkovsky remain on recall from Wheeling.
Max Cajkovic was returned to the Nailers on Monday. Tanner Laderoute was signed to a PTO Thursday morning. He has 20 goals and 41 points.
Injured are Svejkovsky above along with Peter Abbandonato, Sam Houde, Marc Johnstone and Jack Rathbone. I think it’s Rathbone, Abbandonato, and then you’re guess is as good as mine after that as to who returns from injury first.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
I think they should beat the Phantoms handily. If they want to remain in the faint discussion for a first round bye, they need at least 5 out of a possible 6 points out of this three game set with the Phantoms. How do they do this?
– Get good goaltending from their backup Magnus Hellberg, who should start Friday or Saturday.
– Limit turnovers. Radim Zohorna had his pocket picked behind his own net Saturday which led to the Michael Benning go ahead goal for the Checkers late in the game Saturday.
– Get a power play goal in each game. I know it’s a heavy lift, but before that Benning goal Saturday they had a power play they squandered in a tie game. If they score there, it’s probably a different outcome.
I mean I think that’s it. What do you think? Everything else should take care of itself. Joel Blomqvist will get two of the three starts here. The defense should take care of itself also. How hurt is Jack Rathbone, who is good on the power play and blocks a boatload of shots?
Force the Phantoms into mistakes, press the issue cautiously and there’s no reason why they can’t beat this team clean for a full six points.
Check Your Surroundings
New feature this week till the end of the season or as I see fit will look at the teams ahead of and behind the Pens in the standings.
Providence has Hartford Friday and Springfield Sunday. You just don’t want overtime Friday and want a Springfield win of some type.
Hartford has the Bruins Friday and Bridgeport Saturday, so no eating into the games in hand.
Charlotte hosts Hershey Friday and Saturday.
So it’s a positive schedule week for the Penguins I think, and important that they handle business against a Lehigh Valley team which is a consistent model of inconsistency.
Who’s in Goal?
Blomqvist Friday, Hellberg Saturday, Blomqvist Wednesday is what I would do if I were running things.
Parker Gahagen and Cal Petersen are the Phantoms current goaltending duo. Figure you see each this weekend and the better of the two Wednesday. It was Petersen who shutout the Bears on Sunday.
Who’s Running the Show?
Mike Sullivan (no, not that one) and Austin O’Rourke are scheduled to be in Allentown Friday with Brandon Grillo and Bill Lyons on the lines.
Saturday, Sully (do they call him that?) and O’Rourke make the drive up the Turnpike and are with us again live and in person Saturday with Grillo in tow and Chandler Yakimowicz on the lines.
Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre sees Jake Kamrass and Jordan Watt as the assigned referees and Yakimowicz again on the lines joined by J.P. Waleski.
Looking ahead…
No games Friday or Saturday for the Penguins. A Sunday game which starts at 3:00 p.m. in Cleveland followed by a Monday game at 7.
I haven’t decided when I put the Weekend Preview out yet. To be determined…
Give us a bold prediction…
Blomqvist finally gets a shutout, or I drop the notion of same in this spot altogether.
Comments Off on Sam’s Three Apples — Pens WIN 4-1
Posted by nafsnep on March 1, 2024
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There’s no flies on Sam Poulin.
Coming back from injury, Poulin assists three times and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins defeat the Charlotte Checkers 4-1 on Friday night in an important game for both teams.
Poulin had been playing well leading up to his recent injury, and he now has 21 points in 27 games.
Vinnie Hinostroza had a pailr of goals, including one on a power play that put the Penguins up 3-1 at the time.
Radim Zohorna had an empty net goal, also on a power play which iced the game away for the Penguins.
Joel Blomqvist stopped 21 shots.
Charlotte’s seven game point streak comes to an end.
These two teams rematch in Wilkes-Barre Saturday at 6.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 1, 2024
Lineup Notes: Coal Street really buried the lede with missing that Sam Poulin also made his lineup return. Other lineup notes were Radim Zohorna and Avery Hayes (also returning from injury) for Jonathan Gruden (recalled to Pittsburgh) Max Cajkovic and Taylor Fedun.
First Period: They looked flat, Joel Blomqvist bailed them out a bunch of times and got beat by Wilmer Skoog for a goal that put Charlotte on the board first and gave the Checkers a 1-0 lead.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 2, 2024
The latter of which was a power play goal.
With Valtteri Puustinen in Pittsburgh and Alex Nylander traded, Wilkes-Barre will be leaning heavily on Hinostroza for offensive outputs. So, essentially carbon copies of games such as this going forward.
Third Period: Thing of beauty as Ryan Shea connects with Corey Andonovski who connects with Austin Rueschhoff who slams it home for a 3-1 Penguins lead and some breathing room.
Standings: Hershey 85 – Providence 73 – Penguins 64 – Hartford 61 – Charlotte 58 – Springfield 53 – Lehigh Valley 51 – Bridgeport 39
Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 2-1 in Cincinnati. Justin Lee with the goal for the Nailers. Taylor Gauthier stops 22.
Video Highlights:
Vinnie Hinostroza netted a pair of second period goals to lead the #WBSPens to a 4-1 win over the Charlotte Checkers on Friday night at the @MoSunArenaPA. Sam Poulin recorded three assists in the victory.
Comments Off on Weekend Preview – Checkmate?
Posted by nafsnep on March 1, 2024
So let’s talk about it.
At the beginning of last week I said that they were primed to make a run in March. Then last week happened. Let’s review.
– Alex Nylander given away for Matthew Phillips’ replacement, Emil Bemstrom.
– Colin White was lost on waivers to the Montreal Canadiens.
– Lukas Svejkovsky (good on the power play), Peter Addandonato (good overall) and Radim Zohorna were added to the injured list. Abbandonato was a late scratch in the last two games.
– Sam Houde (lower, week to week), Marc Johnstone (upper, week to week) and Sam Poulin (upper, day to day) remain on the perpetual injured list.
– They lose in overtime because they suck in overtime to Lehigh Valley on Wednesday. They are 1-7 in overtime.
– They lose a squeaker in a penalty marred affair in Hershey on Friday.
– They obliterate a game Bridgeport team on Saturday and end the week with 3 of 6 points.
Meanwhile, the gap to second place Providence is nine points with equal games played and three points from fourth place Hartford with three more games played then the Wolf Pack.
How bad are the Wolf Pack that they are given a head start and still can’t catch up to the Penguins? Hartford is 3-5-1-1 in their last ten and the Penguins are 4-3-2-1.
Don’t look now, but Charlotte is nipping at the heels (paws? webbed feet?) of the Checkers and Penguins.
Can the Penguins catch Providence? Not without help. No more regular season matchups with the Bruins this season. Providence has one game with Hershey left in the season. They have Springfield, Hartford, Springfield, Lehigh Valley, in the first half of the month of March. I think if they take 8 out of a possible 12 points between now and the Ides of March, barring a collapse it’s probably ballgame on the second seed for the Penguins.
Music to Set the Mood…
I don’t have one for you this week. When I YouTubed “Checkmate” I got a rap video and a bunch of chess stuff. Beyond my comprehension so let’s move on.
The Setup
Two with Charlotte this weekend, at home.
I gave you what the Penguins did last week above.
The Checkers lost in overtime Friday at home against Lehigh Valley, then beat the Phantoms clean Saturday. This past Wednesday in Hartford, the Checkers beat the Wolf Pack 2-1 in overtime.
Records
The Penguins are in third in the Atlantic with a 27-18-7-1 record, good for 62 points and third place in the Atlantic.
Charlotte is 26-20-6-0 and fifth in the Atlantic with 58 points. They are a point off Hartford for third and for back of the Penguins. The Penguins have 53 games played, the Wolf Pack have 50 and the Checkers have 52.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
The only guy up is Valtteri Puustinen. Pittsburgh is in Western Canada so he isn’t walking through any doors around here this week or next likely.
Justin Addamo, Dillon Hamaliuk, Raivis Ansons and Lukas Svejkovsky are the recalls from Wheeling.
I gave you the injured list in the opening monologue.
Bit of good news is that Avery Hayes was sent to Wheeling on Wednesday, apparently healed from his upper body injury and good to go.
Max Cajkovic and Owen Headrick joined Hayes on the bus to Wheeling on Wednesday. They all retuned from their 20 minute car ride (Facebook special) and were back with the Pens Thursday.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
This very well could be a playoff preview here with Charlotte. If the Penguins stay in third, or even drop to fourth, it’s a good possibility that it’s the Checkers as their first round opponent.
The season series is 3-3. The Penguins would win one, then the Checkers would win the other or vice versa. The Checkers always stack games when they play the Penguins so it is very hard to beat them in back to back games. Is it impossible? Of course not, but in recent seasons the Penguins just can’t solve the Checkers by beating them in back to back games.
So, expect a three game series when these two teams inevitably meet in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs in late April.
Who is the better team? I think it’s the Penguins. I’d favor Wilkes-Barre over Charlotte in a three game playoff series. Defense and goaltending is what wins playoff games and I think the Penguins have that advantage. Both teams are good on the penalty kill but suck on the power play. The Penguins are 30th out of 32 teams on the man advantage. Where have you gone Rem Pitlick?
But we aren’t there yet, still having to play a month and a half more of regular season hockey.
If the Penguins want to stay ahead of Hartford, Charlotte, et. al and pursue Providence, they need to win both of these games.
Who’s in Goal?
Split the weekend with Joel Blomqvist going Friday and Magnus Hellberg going Saturday. Or flip it, it doesn’t matter.
Same thing applies with Spencer Knight and Evan Cormier. You’ll see both this weekend, I don’t think it matters when.
Who’s Running the Show?
Liam Maaskant and Casey Terreri have the honors on Friday with Chandler Yakimowicz and Dylan Lewis on the lines.
On Saturday, Jared Cummins and Chris Rumble will be ensuring things remain on the straight and narrow. Linesman Yakimowicz returns with J.P. Waleski.
Looking ahead…
Another Friday – Saturday set against one opponent, a home and home against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms; Friday in Allentown, Saturday in Wilkes-Barre and then Wednesday at home against the Phantoms. I am including that Wednesday game in next weeks Weekend Preview because the following weekend they are in Cleveland Sunday and Monday. That means no Friday and Saturday games. I won’t know what to do!
Give us a bold prediction…
Another series split between the Penguins and Checkers.
Comments Off on Special Disaster — Pens LOSE 4-1
Posted by nafsnep on February 23, 2024
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Wednesday it was face-offs that sunk the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.
Friday in Hershey, it was penalties.
Chase Priskie’s power play goal late in the third period was the game winner in this one, a 4-1 Bears win over the Penguins. Hershey had seven power plays in the game and Priskie scores on the last one. Hershey turned it into a runaway as the Penguins, who went 0/5 on the power play Friday, were trying to get the game even and pulled starting goaltender Joel Blomqvist when Hershey hit two shorthanded empty nets from over 100 feet away.
Jordan Deckard and Adam Tobias were in charge Friday. Those two make the trek up I-81 and will be with you live again running amok when the Pens host the Bridgeport Islanders Saturday night.
Here’s how they lined up:
Tonight's projected lineup against the Penguins📝
Kevin O'Neil is making his season debut for the Bears tonight!
Lineup Notes: The Pittsburgh Penguins traded Alex Nylander to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday for Emil Bemstrom. Bemstrom is a right wing. Matthew Phillips, who Washington tried to send to Hershey but the Penguins claimed on waivers plays right wing. Phillips was the Calgary Wranglers leading scorer last season. Calgary was the AHL’s best team last season. It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when Pittsburgh waives Phillips, Washington reclaims him and Hershey obliterates everything in their path like they have in all season. The Bears don’t need the help, but they are going to get it.
That’s the second time this season Pittsburgh has traded Wilkes-Barre’s leading scorer. Rem Pitlick to Chicago for 2026 considerations, now Alex Nylander. Ty Smith, you’re probably next.
Magnus Hellberg was sent back to Coal Street Thursday but it was Taylor Gauthier who backed up.
Matt Filipe and Taylor Fedun were back from injury. They went 11/7 again. Dillon Hamaliuk was assigned to Wheeling in the morning and reassigned back to the AHL in the afternoon. Radim Zohorna was out, with Peter Abbandonato. Seven players injured right now for the Penguins.
First Period: Jonathan Gruden scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway on this nice setup by Raivis Ansons.
🚨GRUDS SHORTY ALERT🚨
For every shorthanded goal we score this year, Borland and Borland will donate $250 to the Penguins Goals Foundation. pic.twitter.com/AwOICQMuSd
Second Period: Not a lot of action because the period was marred by penalties. Five total. Adam Tobias and Jordan Deckard were getting their monies worth. Foreshadowing in case you missed the lede, the Penguins will see these two whistle blowers Saturday when they host Bridgeport.
Third Period: I mean the penalties continued. It felt like a preseason game. Tensions were running high and it felt like Deckard / Tobias were losing control. When you call 900 penalties in game and become too controlling, you tend to lose control at some point.
Chase Priskie nets a power play goal for the Bears on their seventh opportunity on the night.
Priskie breaks the deadlock with his seventh of the season!
Wilkes-Barre would get a chance at a late power play (Deckard and Tobias didn’t discriminate) so J.D. Forrest called time out. A fumbled pass by Vinnie Hinostroza was picked off by Ryan Strome who scored from about 180 feet away. Later Bogdan Trineyev scored another shorthanded, empty net goal.
Three Stars: 3) Matt Strome (goal, assist) 2) Ryan Hofer (goal) 1) Chase Priskie (goal)
The Good: Despite all of the penalties, they stayed step for step with the Bears. Again, you need to play a perfect game if you want to beat Hershey. Giving the Bears seven power play opportunities is hardly a perfect game plan.
The Bad: The captain had six PIMs. Taylor Fedun has to be the most ineffective captains in the history of the franchise.
Turning Point: It’s Priskie’s power play goal. No sense in overthinking it.
Comments Off on Marody the Marauder — Pens LOSE 3-2 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on February 21, 2024
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So here’s the thing, if it’s anyone else other than Joel Blomqvist in the net for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Wednesday night, this is a blowout loss of epic proportions.
Wilkes-Barre carried a 2-1 lead into the third period but it was in this period that Lehigh Valley’s Cooper Marody started to cook. He scored the game tying goal and then in overtime the Penguins won the face-off, turned it over then never got it back and it was Marody at 1:04 of overtime that sent them packing.
Lineup Notes: I completely forgot about Matt Filipe’s injury in the segment earlier today for the Weekend Preview. Other than that add Taylor Fedun and Lukas Svejkovsky to the injured list. They returned to the 12/6 format and Jonathan Gruden and Vinnie Hinostroza were back from Pittsburgh, Joona Koppanne was back from his weekend hiatus. Justin Addamo was out, the only lineup change from last game, but took warmups. 200th AHL game for Jonathan Gruden.
Magnus Hellberg was recalled to Pittsburgh earlier in the week. I didn’t mention it in the Weekend Preview because there’s no injury to any goalie (one of team were sick) so I would have thought he would have been back in time. He wasn’t and Taylor Gauthier was recalled from Wheeling.
First Period: Penguins came out flatter than two day old soda. That was foreshadowing on the night. But then Jonathan Gruden rang the post, and Jagger Joshua cleaned up the loose change and scored to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
Only blemish of the night from referees Mason Riley and Jim Curtain was when Austin Rueschhoff had the puck but was called for hooking near the Phantoms net. Baffling decision, but these two were stellar tonight I thought and let the players dictate play. I really like Curtain, I think he’s one of the better refs in the AHL.
Second Period: Phantoms had a goal taken away when replay shows it bat off the glove of the player who redirected it in (I didn’t catch a number) and more great stuff from Curtain and Riley, the review on video took all of about ten seconds.
Then the Penguins could not win a face-off. At all. This time, they lose the face-off (again) and Lehigh Valley fumbles it at the blue line and Alex Nylander is set up for a breakaway and scores to make it 2-0 Wilkes-Barre.
But then Lehigh Valley got a legal goal to go when Bobby Brink scored in tight to make it a 2-1 game.
(Lehigh Valley didn’t GIF goals, check video highlights below)
Third Period: Cooper Marody with a slam dunk on the near side left unmarked for a goal at 11:24. No penalties for either side, Curtain and Riley must have work in the morning like I do and kept it moving.
Overtime: Penguins win face-off, I think Ryan Shea turns it over and Lehigh valley takes it, doesn’t relent and Cooper Marody scores his second for the game winning goal that wins it for the Phantoms.
Three Stars: 3) Bobby Brink 2) Alex Nylander (goal) 1) Cooper Marody (two goals)
The Good: They scratched out a point and have 60 on the season. If I didn’t have work in the morning I’d check to see when it was they got 60 last season. Likely late in the season, because they finished with just 66 last year.
I think they will be fine. This loss stinks though.
The Bad: They could have and very well should have won the game, but not for Blomqvist, would have lost badly. Ryan Shea wasn’t good at all either I thought.
Turning Point: Marody’s overtime game winner gets it here as the event of a goal in overtime always does. Pens are 1-7 in overtime this season. That alone may cost them a shot at a bye come playoffs.
Standings: Hershey 81 – Providence 65 – Penguins 60 – Hartford 57 – Charlotte 53 – Springfield 51 – Lehigh Valley 49 – Bridgeport 47
Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.
Video Highlights:
Cooper Marody tallied his second goal of the game 1:06 into overtime, as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-2, on Wednesday night at the @MoSunArenaPA.
They have a loaded March schedule. They play Lehigh Valley five times, the most out of any of the teams, in March. Utica is in there. Syracuse too. They have Cleveland’s number and are out there twice. Charlotte starts them off for a pair next weekend.
I think Pittsburgh’s goose is unfortunately cooked. I don’t see them making playoffs. Unless Kyle Dubas can make a trade with Father Time, they are only going to get older. Sidney Crosby is a Hall of Famer, Evgeni Malkin is too and so is Kris Letting, but they can’t do it all. Does Dubas get cute and trade assets now for one last ditch run now or does he sit tight and do nothing? It’s a fine line. I think that Wilkes-Barre should get through this relatively unscathed and should, if anything, get stronger as the season reaches its conclusion.
Music to Set the Mood…
Keep marching. Keep pushing.
The Setup…
A Wednesday game against Lehigh Valley, a road trip to Hershey Friday night and then home against Bridgeport for the first time this season.
The Penguins went to Toronto and pounded the Marlies on a Wednesday afternoon game in Ontario. Jack St. Ivany had a pair of goals. They bottled up Toronto and had their way with them.
Then they went to Rochester on Friday and ran into a hot goalie who does this all the time it appears and lost. It stunk, because Magnus Hellberg struggled again in goal.
They hosted the Laval Rocket and battled and won. 4 of 6 points from the week. You can take that.
Lehigh Valley had one game this past week and lost at home against Syracuse 2-1.
Hershey beat Toronto in overtime on Saturday then beat Belleville clean on Monday. They close out their Canada trip in Laval on Wednesday.
Bridgeport upset Providence 3-2 on Friday, lost to Hartford in overtime on Saturday and beat Laval in overtime on Saturday. In the last three games, they have only allowed five goals. The Islanders will be in Hartford on Wednesday.
Records
The Penguins are 26-17-6-1, good for 59 points in third in the Atlantic Division.
The Phantoms are 20-19-5-2, 27 points and seventh in the Atlantic.
Hershey is 39-9-0-2, 80 points and first place overall in the AHL.
Bridgeport is 15-26-6-1, 37 points and last in the Atlantic.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
I think I am going to consider Jansen Harkins up for good. He’s only played 11 AHL games and hasn’t been here since November.
Colin White and Valtteri Puustinen are up also. Puustinen went up with Vinnie Hinostroza and Jonathan Gruden, but those two (Hinostroza and Gruden) were sent back Sunday.
Wilkes-Barre has Justin Addamo, Max Cajkovic, Owen Headrick, Dillon Hamaliuk, Raivis Ansons and Lukas Svejkovsky up from Wheeling.
Garrett Sparks is down in Wheeling, having been assigned last week.
Jack St. Ivany is back off the injured list.
Remaining injured are Sam Houde, Avery Hayes, Sam Poulin and Marc Johnstone. Out of those, I am hoping that Hayes and Poulin are closest to returning.
What can we learn from the Penguins this week?
How good is their backup goaltending and when exactly do we see Magnus Hellberg in goal for the Penguins? Does he go Wednesday and Saturday? Do you save Joel Blomqvist for the Hershey Bears?
Hellberg hasn’t been good. He’s been adequate, but this is a good league. You can’t win when good to great teams run out at you every night with average goaltending.
Interesting setup this week. Do you go Hellberg against the two non playoff teams and give Blomqvist the whole week to prepare straight up against Hershey, the one team the Penguins will have to go through if they want to make it out of the Division? I don’t know. You need to get the points to keep pace with Providence and stay ahead of the Hartford Wolf Pack. If you want to make that march, like I said at the top, every point matters.
Who’s in Goal?
Ha! I love how this is flowing this week. I’ll go Blomqvist, Hellberg and whoever has played better to get the net Saturday against Bridgeport.
Parker Gahagen, Hunter Shepard and Henrik Tikkanen for the Phantoms, Bears and Islanders respectively. With my recent trend of misses with these predictions, expect the opposite.
Who’s Running the Show?
Jim Curtain and Mason Riley are the refs on Wednesday with Patrick Dapuzzo and J.P. Waleski on the lines.
Nothing on the Friday or Saturday crews yet. This is the last Wednesday game until the middle of March, hopefully we have the full crews when we do this next week.
Looking ahead…
You could just go back to the top of this piece to get that but since you are nice enough to read this far I will remind you that they host the Charlotte Checkers for a pair of games next weekend for Friday and Saturday.
Give us a bold prediction…
Beating this drum, but Blomqvist gets his first shutout of the season Saturday against Bridgeport.
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Chirps from Center Ice 