Chirps from Center Ice

Penguins defeated the Hershey Bears tonight by a score of 2-1. The Bears didn’t feature player names on the back of the jerseys, so there was no way of me knowing what kind of lineup they brought with them to Wilkes-Barre. Brandon Anderson and Riley Gill split time in goal. I know that it’s a safe bet that those two will be in the net for the ECHL Reading Royals when their season gets going soon.

The Penguins dressed a lineup which is going to be really close to the one that they will debut in Connecticut Saturday. Mike O’Brien after the game said that there will be cuts made. Here were the lines:

Tom Kuhnhackl-Nick Drazenovic-Adam Payerl
Paul Thompson-Brian Gibbons-Jayson Megna
Harry Zolnierczyk-Zach Sill-Tom Kostopoulos
Pierre Leblond-Mike Carman-Dom Uher

Philip Samuelsson-Brendan Mikkleson
Scott Harrington-Barry Goers
Reid McNeill-Nick D’Agostino

Jeff Deslauriers backed up Eric Hartzell, who played the whole game. Christiaan Minella took warmups and was scratched.

Nick Drazenovic scored a nice goal on a cross ice pass from Brian Gibbons when the Pens were on a 5-on-3 in the first period.

Paul Thompson took a skate to the face, went to the room and had work done and came back.

Although they didn’t score, I liked the chemistry between Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons tonight, especially on the penalty kill.

Ryan Stoa scored on a tip in from off a Julien Brouillette blast from the point in the second period.

Eric Hartzell had some really nice saves all night. Saves in close, saves getting over stopping one timers and saves in the final seconds with an extra Bears attacker. I know it’s only a preseason game, but he won some points off of me by tonights performance.

Philip Samuelsson scored a goal when he crashed the net and backhanded one past Gill in the third period. He did that once in the ECHL too. 

Penguins really clamped the Bears from there. All game really. There isn’t much you can do on a deflection in front on the Stoa goal. So it was a nice dress rehearsal for Saturday.

That’s about all. I could write more, but it’s a meaningless preseason game for a blogger like myself.

A move was made during the game that will have implications on Hershey. They got John Mitchell from Norfolk in a trade with Anaheim for Mathieu Perreault. Mitchell is a Mike Haviland disciple.

Here’s a piece from Bob Howard on Binghamton’s top six.

The Chirps from Center Ice AHL Previews get going at midnight. If you want to stick around, the West Division debuts in a few hours. Then the Midwest as I do the “wedge two divisions in one day” thing. The regular division a day starts Tuesday with the North Division and run till Friday concluding with the East Division.

Will probably drop a line in between tomorrows previews with who cleared waivers and who was cut from Coal Street.

Let’s Go Pens!

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton dressed a young lineup. The Hershey Bears dressed a more experienced lineup. The results were predictable, a 6-1 Bears rout.

Again, with this being preseason, not much analysis is going to go into this offering.

Andy Chiodo vs. Philipp Grubauer

Mike O’Brien offered lines:

Sylvester – Megna – Thompson
Thompson – Carman – Payerl
Severyn – Manderson – Johnson
Minella – Rowney – Zurevinski

McNeill – D’Agostino
Seymour – Merth
Ratchuk – Goers

Jeff Deslauriers backed up Chiodo. Wilkes-Barre native Patrick McGrath took warmups but was scratched. Three players wore the “A” for the Pens tonight. They were Jayson Megna, Paul Thompson and Peter Merth.

Bears came out and jumped on the Penguins in the first five minutes. Tyler Ruegsegger set up Patrick Wellar and screened Chiodo to get the Bears on the board first.

Off the next faceoff, Mike Carman picks off a Hershey D-man and sets up Adam Payerl who gets a breakaway on Grubauer and scores on a deke to answer :23 later.

Jayson Megna had a quick start for his first preseason game for Wilkes-Barre. He stepped around a Bear and put a tough shot on netminder Grubauer.

Bears scored late when Casey Wellman pounced on a puck during a miscommunication by the Penguins. The puck dribbled through Chiodo and just over the line. Then, nearly right after that, Jeff Taffe scored on a blast from the top of the left circle to extend the Bears lead to 3-1.

Shots were 10-10 after the first. At one point, with six minutes and change to go in a 1-1 game, the shots were 9-4 Penguins. Same story from last night. Final five minutes of the period, Bears get two quick goals, and it’s a 3-1 game and the Pens stop playing and get outshot 6-1.

I mean it’s preseason and all and I am overanalyzing, but you just cannot let off against a team, any team, especially a dynamite offense that lies in Hershey.

Second period had the games first penalty and the first power play for Wilkes-Barre. Jayson Megna had a breakaway attempt denied by Tomas Kundratek. The Bears would kill off the remainder of the Penguins power play, then shortly score again to make it 4-1. This time David Marshall would be the recipient of a Tyler Ruegsegger steal and centering pass from behind the Penguin net to extend the lead to three for the Bears.

Jeff Deslauriers replaced Andy Chiodo at the halfway point of the game. Right before the Bears went on the power play but the Penguins killed it somewhat easily.

Christiaan Minella and David Marshall fought. Marshall already had an assist and a goal, so he completed his Gordie Howe hat trick.

Bears with a late power play, Nathan Walker for the Bears appears to score, referee TJ Luxmore signals goal, then takes a look at it on replay and overturns his call.

Shots were 23-16 Bears through two.

Couple of almost goals for both teams to start the third. Chay Genoway sweeps a puck away from the crease of Philipp Grubauer from a shot by Jayson Megna. Back the other way, Jeff Deslauriers stops Jeff Taffe on a 2-on-1 for the Bears.

Garrett Mitchell and Cody Sylvester had a memorable fight. Lots of punches. Hoping the Bears put together a SendToNews highlight package so I could link over.

David Marshall had quite a game. Scored a back hand goal and made it 5-1 Bears. That was four points for Marshall.

If the Bears can get scoring from secondary and tertiary players, while still getting points from regular scorers, there may be something brewing in Chocolatetwon and it may not be good for the rest of the League.

Rowdy third period really. Patrick Wellar and Scott Zurevinski fought.

Derek Whitmore scored a late power play goal for the Bears for good measure on the power play and made it 6-1. The first power play goal given up by the Penguins in the preseason.

That was that. The two teams rematch in Wilkes-Barre Sunday at 5:05.

Rosters are due for the NHL tomorrow. That means that there will players put on waivers. They need to hit waivers by noon tomorrow. We will see who Pittsburgh puts on there. Stick with me @nafsnep on Twitter tomorrow and we’ll find out together.

Let’s Go Pens!

Exciting parts of this second exhibition game between the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and the Rochester Americans, a 2-1 Pens win in OT. Just some observations:

— Penguins manhandled the Amerks in the games opening fifteen minutes. Not allowing the Amerks a single shot on goal.

— Power play looked sharp. Passes were on point. Pucks kept in. Everyone was in position.

— Penalty kill looked even sharper. A perfect 7-for-7.

— When the Penguins let off, even the slightest, Rochester was right there to take advantage. The final five minutes of the first were a great example. Pens were outshooting the Amerks 7-0 and at the end of the period the shots were something like 8-7.

— Jeff Deslauriers started for the Pens and looked sharp. Then again, Rochester didn’t exactly dress a lineup that will debut opening night. A lot of youth in the lineup for the Amerks this evening.

— Matt Hackett started for Rochester and had laser like focus all night. Deflections? Saw em. Shots? No rebounds. Out of position? He gets over. Really nice showing from him.

— Eric Hartzell played the final 30 minutes for the Pens, replacing Deslauriers at the 10:00 mark of the second. He left a rebound on a shot that Colton Gillies pounced on and stuffed home but otherwise was solid in goal for the Penguins.

— Hackett looked destined for the shutout but the Penguins, on the power play and with the goaltender pulled, score a goal with 2.7 left when Brian Gibbons finds Mike Ratchuk cross ice for a backdoor goal.

— Cody Sylvester scored in overtime on a goal which was initially washed out by referee TJ Luxmore who ruled interference on Hackett after Sylvester bowled into him. Luxmore conferred with his linesmen and after review, overturned his call. The goal was before the interference, so the right call was made.

— Local product Patrick McGrath was in the starting lineup and had himself a memorable game. First, it’s with pride that I look at the lineup and see a player from Wilkes-Barre, PA listed as his hometown. Second, the kid is fearless. Take a look:

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The guy he fought is no slouch either. It was Frederick Roy, or Patrick’s son. McGrath eats three uppercuts then pops Roy’s helmet off. McGrath would go on to fight Johnny McGuire, who also fought Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. Nothing was as memorable as that fight above though.

Not really much else to analyze here. Systems wise, Pens looked in midseason form. Penalty kill was spotless. Power play looked vastly improved. We’ll see as the season gets going.

Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures of the inside of the arena that I will run later tonight / Saturday morning in a photoblog of sorts. Keep a lookout for that, if you are a night owl.

Penguins travel down I-81 for a meeting with the Hershey Bears tomorrow at 7 then close out the preseason slate with a rematch with the Bears Sunday at 5.