Chirps from Center Ice

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This headline is probably the easiest one I will write all season.

Penguins sign Matt Jurusik out of Idaho from the ECHL to a PTO Friday evening because Alex D’Orio has COVID, Louis Domingue has a lower body injury and so does Filip Lindberg.

So it’s essentially Tommy Nappier and Matt Jurusik tending nets for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

If I would have told you that it would be a PTO on a call up from Idaho of all places that would have gotten the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins their first team shutout since January 11, 2020, you wouldn’t have believed me.

Hell, I wouldn’t have even believed myself.

28 saves for Jurusik, 14 different Penguins players record a point and it’s the biggest, easiest win of the season by far for the Penguins who crush the Springfield Thunderbirds 6-0.

Jurusik opposed Colten Ellis.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: 500th professional game fro Taylor Fedun….Sam Poulin, Juuso Riikola, Jan Drozg, and Alex D’Orio remain in COVID protocol. Jordy Bellerive and Justin Almeida returned to the lineup from their COVID protocol taking the place of Nick Hutchinson and Will Reilly.

First Period: Matt Jurusik had a bit of a baptism by fire stopping all 13 shots faced in the first period. He had a good stop on Hugh McGing where the shot popped out of his glove and into the air. He tracked it and made another save with Nathan Moon buzzing close by.

Anthony Angello scored a shorthanded goal.

Anthony Angello scored a shorthanded goal.

Yes, I typed it twice and yes I did it deliberately because I still don’t believe it.

Good period overall.

Second Period: To quote an ex-Penguin radio voice, OK if you like perfect.

Felix Robert on a rebound and it’s 2-0.

Then the Penguins score :26 apart and make it 4-0. P-O Joseph from a ridiculous angle that makes it 3-0 and then Matt Bartkowski from the blue line with no one in front of him that beats Ellis on a howitzer for a 4-0 lead.

Joel Hofer came in on relief for Colten Ellis, but Ellis would return for the start of the third.

Hofer fared no better, as a Bartkowski shot deflects off of Kyle Olson’s chest and in to the net to make it 5-0.

Third Period: Basically in runaway games like this it’s all about preserving the good and trying to minimize or eradicate the bad or anything that can be construed as bad. Springfield didn’t make Jurusik work because the Penguins didn’t let them, and the Penguins got another goal for good measure when Justin Almeida put home his first of the season in the AHL off a nice feed by Nathan Legare.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Bartkowski (goal, assist) 2) P-O Joseph (goal, two assists) and 1) Matt Jurusik (28 saves)

The Good: Nice to have that monkey off the back and pick up a shutout, first in nearly two years. Way overdue.

The Bad: Nothing to see here. The Penguins played an almost perfect game. They didn’t allow their opponent to score and picked up a clean sheet for their try out guy from the ECHL. What more can you ask for?

Turning Point: Go back to that save that was highlighted above where Jurusik plays it out of the air after making the initial save. He was dialed in from the get go. Good to see the kid pick up the first shutout in nearly two years for the Penguins.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Hartford 4-3 in a shootout. Providence roughs up Toronto 5-1. Hershey is playing Laval when this goes up. Box here.

Standings: Can’t given them fully because the Bears are still playing when this goes up but the Pens are above .500 and on .525 percentage points good for fifth place as things stand now.

If Coal Street tosses together a highlight package and I can work in an edit it will go here.

Last Wednesday’s postponed game against Hershey will be played this Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre at 7:05. More then. Power Rankings maybe Tuesday will be back before.

Let’s Go Pens!!

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Full disclosure, I didn’t type up a weekend preview for this weekends games because I wasn’t totally sure they were playing the games this weekend.

Also, I’ll be back at the games in person on December 27. COVID caused my Thanksgiving to be spent alone, I don’t want the same for Christmas.

Both the Penguins and Bears returned from about a two week hiatus from COVID and met Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.

You could tell. Game was scrambly at times, really even between the two COVID ravaged sides and it rightly was decided in overtime. Hershey wins 3-2.

Both teams are back at it Sunday afternoon, but against different opponents. The Bears head home to host Laval and the Pens stay in town and host Springfield, who is also dealing with COVID and call-ups.

Tommy Nappier opposed Pheonix Copley.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Penguins made a bunch of transactions this week trying to construct a healthy lineup. Jan Drozg, Justin Almeida, Jordy Bellerive, Kasper Bjorkqvist, Sam Poulin, Chris Bigras, Juuso Riikola were out of the lineup. Louis Domingue was hurt in practice, lower body and is day to day. Bjorkqvist’s injury is a bad laceration.

First Period: Teddy bear toss night at the arena, so Valtteri Puustinen didn’t waste time to get the fur flying.

Bobby Nardella would even the game just north of halfway for the visitors.

With both teams playing their first game in the month of December on the 11th day of December, it was a pretty even period otherwise.

Second Period: Goals :28 apart by both sides opened the action in the middle frame.

Cody Franson scores off a face-off play that gives the Bears a 2-1 lead.

But like the tweet above said, it was a lead that didn’t last long because Felix Robert was left alone in the slot and scored to make it 2-2.

Tommy Nappier is really good at handling the puck. He started a rush up the ice with a pass that ended up on Nathan Lagare’s tape that the Penguins rookie nearly scored on.

Pens took three penalties in the period, back-to-back-to-back, but were able to negotiate out of them without any damage.

Third Period: Pens had the only power play of the period and failed to score on it. The teams picked things up in the final five minutes with furious rushes, but it was off to…

Overtime: Flubbed outlet pass pounced on by Hershey and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby called game.

Three Stars: 3) Valtteri Puustinen (goal) 2) Felix Robert (goal, assist) 1) Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (game winning OT goal)

The Good: Good to see the Penguins (and Bears for that matter) returning to health after COVID derailed the start of their December and delayed their (Wilkes-Barre’s) first four games.

The Bad: 0/5 on the power play.

Turning Point: OT winners usually get these.

These Saturday at 6:05 starts are great because they get people home sooner but with the rest of the division starting at 7 it really throws a monkey wrench into the blog and the out of town recaps.

Springfield is in here Sunday at 3. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It’s 686 miles to and from Hershey, PA to Providence RI.

It’s 121 miles to Bridgeport CT from Providence, RI

It’s 186 miles to Wilkes-Barre, PA from Bridgeport, CT.

Let’s see:

686
121
+ 186
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993 miles the Providence Bruins travelled by bus this week. 686 over the course of a Wednesday game in Hershey, 121 down to Bridgeport for a Friday game and then 186 through the night from Connecticut to Wilkes-Barre for a Saturday night game. A game where the Bruins explode for FOUR goals in the third period to beat the Penguins 5-1 Saturday night.

Four goals. In the third period. After close to 1000 miles in a bus in the span of about 72 hours.

After their Wednesday game the Penguins flew back from Charlotte Thursday after spending an extra night in North Carolina and didn’t play Friday. They were the fresher, more rested team playing on home ice and they laid an absolute egg.

The team has no talent because all of that would be talent was cast away in the span of winning two Stanley Cups in two years and then mishandled by a GM here in Wilkes-Barre (Bill Guerin) who was in over his head and later by a GM in Pittsburgh (Jim Rutherford) who rage quit and just left town.

Tonight isn’t about talent. Tonight is about coaching. J.D. Forrest gets a long leash from me because you can’t turn water into wine unless your first name is Jesus and you were a carpenter and your last initial starts with C. How Forrest lets his team get outworked by a team which has lived on a bus for the last three days come in on home ice and run circles around them in the third period and show more life and juice is beyond me.

Maybe the coaching, like the players, are just average and it is what it is.

Pens took three penalties in the third, including back to back. Providence’s Zach Senyshyn cashed on his first of three in the period on a power play. Pens up to this point were 0/4. In hindsight I wish I could make an argument that an overall close game to this point was decided on special teams.

Senyshyn scores again when a rush up ice started by Samuel Asselin is broken up but Asselin has enough time and space to dish a puck over to Senyshyn who scores to put the game out of reach and make it 3-1.

Pens scrambling, pull starter Louis Domingue and Jack Studnicka scores an empty netter to really insult you and it’s 4-1.

Ballg–wait.

Senyshyn again, this time with Domingue in net to make it a hat trick.

They played “Hard Days Night” by the Beatles on the way out of the building tonight. So apropos.

Here’s all three Senyshyn goals because I hate myself.

Unless Senyshyn has his own pilot, he’s on the same bus as the rest of his team traversing I-81 and I-84 up and down the Atlantic Division, all 993 miles in the span of 72 hours.

Completely unacceptable.

Here’s the Penguins goal, a Radim Zohorna goal that opened up the scoring in the second period.

Here’s how they lined up. Kyle Keyser opposed Domingue.

Nathan Legare for the injured Kasper Bjorkqvist was the only lineup change.

Pens are sixth in the division, a .500 team, and will likely play at this level for the remainder of the season. It’s a division full of mediocrity. You have Springfield and Hartford playing as the class of the field, Bridgeport and Lehigh Valley playing as the class clowns and a bunch of C students thrown in between. If one of those C students meets a pretty girl who starts assisting them with their Algebra homework, watch out.

They go again next Friday in Syracuse, then back home for Charlotte and then the first of six in the month of December with Hershey. All winnable. You have to have a coach that gets the team rightfully prepared and a group that wants to be better every shift. Until then, the mediocrity continues.

Power Rankings Tuesday. Pens will be in the bottom third.

Phooey.

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Overall, a positive road trip for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. They see their five game point streak come to an end, but I think they have figured a few things out and they will travel home Thursday for a Saturday home date with the Providence Bruins.

Checkers use a two goal third period to eke by the Penguins and win 4-3.

Tommy Nappier opposed Christopher Gibson.

Here is how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Nathan Legare was a healthy scratch. Jan Drozg took his spot in the lineup up front. Mitch Reinke came out for Chris Bigras on defense.

First Period: Checkers has 18 shots in the first period Tuesday and had 18 shots in the first on Wednesday.

Charlotte opened the scoring on what appeared to be an own goal by Sam Poulin. The video below doesn’t show it because the angle wasn’t the greatest but credit went to Aleksi Heponiemi.

:58 later, P.O. Joseph hauled a puck down below a face-off dot and slid a low shot at Gibson that went in that tied the game at one.

Checkers late regained the lead when ex-Pittsburgh Penguin Riley Sheahan scored a goal when  left unmarked on the far side.

Four Penguins overloaded on one side is a recipe for disaster.

The Penguins then had a chance on a power play and  much like last night failed to capitalize. In fact, Henry Bowlby had a small breakaway that Nappier was forced to make a save on.

Second Period: Kasper Bjorkqvist deflected in a Juuso Riikola shot from the point which drew the Penguins even at two with the Checkers.

But then Bjorkqvist left the game about halfway through the period with an apparent injury and didn’t return for the balance of the period.

Third Period: Zac Dalpe and Max McCormick score goals about a minute and a half from one another to edge them ahead 4-2.

Jordy Bellerive takes on the whole Checkers team on his own and scores to cut the lead to one.

Penguins get the only power play of the period late with 3:45 left in regulation but fail to score. Then with Nappier pulled for the extra attacker, the Penguins get close but Gibson makes the requisite saves to win the game for his side.

Three Stars: 3) Riley Sheahan (goal, assist) 2) Aleksi Heponiemi (goal, assist) 1) Max McCormick

The Good: Good fight tonight. Sweeping a team like Charlotte on their home ice was always going to be a tough task.

The Bad: Roles reversed a bit tonight, with Charlotte going 1/4 on the power play and the Penguins 0/2, but I don’t think the game was won on special teams. I still think its just two average teams who if they play 100 times in a row, split the wins and losses. It is what it is.

Turning Point: Mix in a couple of late saves by Gibson, but it’s McCormick’s goal which pushed the lead to 4-2 where you got the sense that the lead was insurmountable for the Penguins.

Around the Division: Springfield thumps Bridgeport 4-1… Providence and Hershey went to OT with Hershey winning 4-3 on a goal reviewed on replay. Mason Morelli with the goal there. Hershey had nine penalties called against them.

Standings: Springfield .824 percentage points / Hartford .750 / Hershey .594 / Providence .533 / Charlotte and Penguins .529 / Bridgeport .361 / Lehigh Valley .344

Wheeling Update: The Nailers handled the Indy Fuel 5-1 at home. Will Reilly had three assists. Alex D/Orio stopped 34 shots.

Video Highlights: If I can work an edit in between now and the next time I am in front of the blog I will edit them in here.

Pens are back on the ice Saturday at home at 6:05 against the Providence Bruins.

Let’s Go Pens!

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So they had a bad first, a better second, then a bad start to the third and a better finish of the third and win 3-2 in overtime in Charlotte Tuesday.

Amazing.

Amazing because this is a game they probably lose two weeks ago. Or do they? Seems like the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have only played the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Charlotte Checkers, so the sample size isn’t as broad as it could be.

In reality, I think it’s two average teams that are just are what they are at this point. And that can be a good thing.

They rematch Wednesday.

Louis Domingue opposed Joey Daccord.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: From Saturday in Providence, no changes to the lineup. Jordy Bellerive skated in his 100th WBS Penguins game. The Penguins sent Justin Almeida and Will Reilly to Wheeling Tuesday.

First Period: Pens got an early power play just 64 seconds into the game but didn’t register a shot on goal. Charlotte then possessed the hell out of the puck and outshot the Penguins 12-2 in the games first 11:07. Finally Henry Bowlby plays a puck off of one of the linemen and starts a rush and finds Gregori Denisenko for a goal that puts the Checkers on the board.

Penguins turned it on from there. In one sequence, Nathan Legare missed an open net off a perfect setup by Felix Robert then Robert was denied by Daccord on a great save.

Shots were 18-9 Checkers after the first. The 18 shots were the most allowed by the Penguins in one period all season.

Second Period: So whatever the message was at the first intermission by the coaching staff, it was received loud and clear because the Penguins came out blazing, tied up the shots at the end of the period at 25 and had a strong period.

Michael Chaput scored a power play goal on a breakaway after a blocked shot.

The Penguins continued to buzz, had a few more chances but weren’t able to get another goal.

But then Chase Priskie slammed home a drop pass left for him and the Checkers went back on top.

Penguins outshot the Checkers 16-7 in the period. Wilkes-Barre was gifted power play after power play, year only converted once with Chaput marker earlier in the period.

Third Period: Louis Domingue with a save of the year candidate stop on Alex True.

The Penguins had a blitzkrieg of shots and chances in the second period but had one paltry shot on goal thirteen plus minutes into the third period.

It didn’t matter really, because on their second shot in the third, they scored a goal.

Kyle Olson’s goal there on a nice pass into the slot by Michael Chaput.

Pens had a bevy of odd man rushes at Daccord, one was Valtteri Puustinen setting up Filip Hallander, but Hallander wasn’t able to connect for a goal.

Yet.

Overtime: Three breakaways for the Penguins, a couple chances were P.O. Joseph could finish the game but it wasn’t until Filip Hallander scored to end the game and win it for the Penguins.

Three Stars: 3) Chase Priskie (goal) 2) Louis Domingue (33 saves) 1) Filip Hallander (game winning goal)

The Good: They won a game where, maybe two weeks ago, they lose. I think there’s progress being made.

The Bad: They had six power play opportunities and scored on one of them. Close game where if they lose, you point right to this deficiency.

Turning Point: They didn’t lead until the very end, on Filip Hallander’s goal which got them the win.

Around the Division: Only game in the AHL tonight. Seems like it should carry more of a dubious distinction, but it doesn’t.

Standings: Springfield .813 percentage points / Hartford .750 / Hershey .567 / Penguins .563 / Providence .536 / Charlotte .500 / Bridgeport .382 / Lehigh Valley .344

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off. They went out Monday and got themselves a goalie. I don’t know what this means, but if I were to read the tea leaves, it means that the injury to Filip Lindberg means that Tommy Nappier is going to be living out of an apartment vs. a hotel room, meaning more longer term, then it is what it is.

Video Highlights: 

These two teams rematch Wednesday. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!