Chirps from Center Ice

            vs.            

2                                                   1

–

They deserved a better fate tonight.

In what can best be described as their best game in weeks, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lose 2-1 in a shootout Friday night to the Hershey Bears. Both teams played high energy, tightly contested hockey and it was a joy to watch at times. Shane Gersich’s goal in the bottom of the sixth round of the shootout was the only goal scored in the shootout round.

A team that is battling right now needed a result like this and got one, they just came up empty on the winning end of it. If they continue to play like this, then the wins will eventually come around.

Dustin Tokarski opposed Pheonix Copley.

Lineup: 

Lineup Notes: The Penguins recalled Christopher Brown from Wheeling Friday, seemingly to end the disaster that is the Oula Palve experiment for the moment. Jamie Devane slotted back in the lineup for Jan Drozg. Michael Kim was in for Macoy Erkamps on defense.

First Period: Strong start for the Penguins. Matt Abt had a shot hit both posts that stayed out.  After a long review by referees Terry Koharski and Dan Kelly, Koharski’s initial call on the ice of no goal was confirmed.

They played a good period, limiting the Bears to just six shots in the period and giving up one power play.

Second Period: Sleepy open as Axel Jonsson-Fjallby sneaks past the defense off of a nice feed by Liam O’Brien and beat Tokarski for a 1-0 Hershey lead.

Jon Lizotte was injured on and did not return on this hit by Beck Malenstyn.

They teach you at a young age to keep an eye on the puck. Both players did there, and because they are built like professional athletes, had an accident where they ran into one another and Lizotte was the recipient of a hit that may cost him some time.

Penguins Head Coach Mike Vellucci told Tyler postgame that it’s a head injury and they will know more Saturday. Assume concussion protocol and all that. Will be interesting to see if Lizotte accompanies the team on the road trip next week.

Jamie Devane finished off an excellent feed from Niclas Almari to tie the game at one.

Penguins had two golden opportunities to go ahead when Hershey were called on back to back minors, but Wilkes-Barre failed to cash.

Third Period: Zipped by without many whistles and they just played. Hershey had a long stretch where they just had two shots in the entire period. The Penguins were peppering Copley but couldn’t score.

Overtime: Tokarski stopped a Jonsson-Fjallby breakaway and Copley stopped a DiPauli one. The Penguins had a power play they didn’t score on.

Shootout: No scoring for either team until the bottom of the sixth, where Shane Gersich goes five hole and wins it for the Bears.

Three Stars: 

Yo, Coal Street, that graphic is awesome and the tweet explaining is better too. Please keep it up!

The Good: They played an almost perfect game. They only took one penalty and only allowed one goal in regulation.

The Bad: Can’t go 0-for-5 on the power play.

Turning Point: The obvious answer here is the Gersich goal that ended the game.

Around the Division: Utica beats Lehigh Valley 5-2….Springield shuts out Bridgeport 4-0….Hartford doubles up Charlotte 6-3….Providence was off.

Standings: Hartford 53 — Hershey 49 — Springfield 44 — Providence 43 — Charlotte 41 — Penguins 40 — Lehigh Valley 31 — Bridgeport 31

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 5-2 in Reading. Graham Knott had a goal, Ryan Scarfo had two assists.

Video Highlights: 

Hartford is in Saturday for what should be a good measuring stick game. Wolf Pack have been the class of the division and the Penguins haven’t seen them yet this season. Gameday setup is here Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

            vs.            

6                                                        3

–

Wednesday night games mean hurried recaps. Mind any spelling errors. If you’re an email customer, head to the blog at some point for a the refined piece in the morning or whenever. The idea is to get this right on the first attempt. Here goes.

Here’s your box for this one. The Checkers win 6-3, their sixth win in row. The Penguins are struggling. Leading scorer in Pittsburgh, a game opponent on a good run of form and a defense that looks worse and worse by the day. You just have to fight out of it.

That’s three straight games where they have given up six goals against. Defense can’t stop a nose bleed.

Casey DeSmith opposed Alex Nedeljkovic.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Everything was shuffled from Saturday. Cole Cassels was the first line center with Andrew Agozzino on recall with Pittsburgh. Thomas DiPauli was back down and was on the third line. David Warsofsky returned from injury and was paired with Matt Abt. Michael Kim was out.

First Period: Charlotte wasted no time. First shift of the game, David Gust snaked in and scored at :40 to give the Checkers the lead.

The Penguins got it together and got a goal when Jordy Bellerive led a rush and centered to PO Joseph who dished off to Cole Cassels who tapped in an easy goal for his first as a Penguin that tied the game at one.

Good response by the Penguins there who got slapped cold at the open and got it back level. It could have got bad but didn’t.

Second Period: Charlotte found themselves on the wrong end of a four on three against after getting called for too many penalties at the open. Someone on the bench voiced their displeasure at referee Tim Mayer and Mayer issued a misconduct. It didn’t matter to Charlotte who scored a breakaway 3 vs. 4 goal against the Penguins when Clark Bishop scored to make it 2-1.

Anthony Angello, at least I think it was Anthony Angello, scored on a deflection of a David Warsofsky shot on the tail end of the two man advantage to tie the game yet again.

Anthony Angello forced a turnover and found Adam Johnson who scored to give the Pens a lead.

It was a lead that the Penguins could not protect, Charlotte would score twice to take a 4-3 lead into the second intermission.

Steven Lorentz on a most ridiculous backhander with a scramble in front tied the game again.

Then PO Joseph tangled up with Casey DeSmith taking out his goaltender and Charlotte capatilized with a power play goal that gave them the lead again.

I mean our goaltenter was taken out on the play, but you do you, Checkers social media guy or girl.

Game had a track meet feel. Set up for an interesting third.

Third Period: Hardly the same story of the first two periods offense wise in the third. Julien Gauthier found himself alone in front, made a move and stuck it past DeSmith to give the Checkers a two goal lead.

Penguins tried for an extra attacker with DeSmith off but Joseph bobbled a puck in the neutral zone, and the Checkers scored on the empty net to ice the game away. Steven Lorentz with his second. Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) David Gust 2) Julien Gauthier 1) Steven Lorentz

The Good: They stayed step for step with a game Checkers team for 40 minutes. But…

The Bad: They waited for something to develop in the third and got developed. Leading scorer in Pittsburgh, down one in the third and a team on a positive run of form gets a goal from their all-star and wins the game.

Turning Point: Gauthier’s goal in the third was pretty much it. WBS wasn’t coming back, that goal made sure of it.

Around the Division: The only other game on this Wednesday night was Hershey and Hartford. That box is here. Hartford gets a goal with under a minute to play in the third and win 2-1.

Standings: Hartford 51 — Hershey 47 — Providence 43 — Springfield 42 — Charlotte 41 — Penguins 39 — Lehigh Valley 31 — Bridgeport 31

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off and don’t play until Friday.

Video Highlights: I will look later and work them in as a morning update likely.

Mid-January AHL Power Rankings here Thursday at 11. Check them out then.

Pens are back in action again Friday at 7 against Hershey.

Let’s Go Pens!

          vs.          

6                                                     3

–

Well, a nightmare scenario late in the third period of a tie hockey game is what dooms the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Saturday night. Three goals in the span of about two minutes and thirty seconds from the Thunderbirds and it’s Springfield who wins 6-3.

The Thunderbirds are on the upswing and the Penguins are trending down. With Providence, Hartford and Hershey essentially the class of the division currently, the four and five ranked teams are what’s the buzz and right now the Thunderbirds are playing maximal effort games and the Penguins not so much. Lax in some areas, it’s costing them.

Casey DeSmith opposed Philippe Desrosiers.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Wait, Cassels? Who’s he? Cole Cassels. Wilkes-Barre acquired him in the afternoon from Belleville where he was on a PTO with the Senators. They signed him to an AHL SPC for the rest of the season. Get used to him, his ECHL rights are where he initially came from in Utah, so he can’t go down to Wheeling if he’s ever reassigned.

First Period: Kind of like the third period Friday against Hershey if you stuck around for it. They were flying around, limited chances against and took a 1-0 lead into intermission after Sam Miletic’s offering was kicked in by Desrosiers.

Shots after one were 11-6 Penguins. They seemed to let off in the final five and the Thunderbirds got a few cheap shots in before the bell.

Second Period: They went back and forth, with Springfield having more of the advantage. The Thunderbirds outshot the Penguins 17-10 in the period and led 3-2 after the period.

Thomas Schemitsch followed his own shot and put his rebound past DeSmith which tied the game at one.

Adam Johnson wired a shot past Desrosiers to give the Penguins a lead again and it was 2-1.

Then the Thunderbirds scored within a few minutes of one another when Dryden Hunt connected with a power play goal and Jake Massie followed with a man marking issue and gave the Thunderbirds a 3-2 lead heading into the third.

Really, the same things that bit Wilkes-Barre Friday against Hershey were starting to nip again here.

Third Period: They came out with great pop and Jordy Bellerive finished off a great individual effort with a goal which tied the game at three.

But the Thunderbirds are well coached and kept punching. Leading goal scorer Owen Tippett found himself wide open when Adam Johnson went for a poke check, missed leaving Tippett open to beat DeSmith five hole to give the Thunderbirds a 4-3 lead.

Less than two minutes later, a shot from the point by Brady Keeper broke his stick. The force of the shot wasn’t as great and Rodrigo Abols put in his first of the season that gave Springfield a 5-3 lead.

About two minutes after that, a Dryden Hunt redirect beat DeSmith for Springfields sixth goal.

Three Stars: 3) Sam Miletic (goal, assist) 2) Dryden Hunt (two goals, assist) 1) Owen Tippett (goal, three assists)

The Good: First period was good. Second was lax, third was OK but devolved from there.

The Bad: They are in a funk they have to punch out of themselves, cause it’s a bare bones roster with guys hurt or on recall.

Turning Point: Springfields three unanswered goals had the Penguins spiraling out of control quickly.

Around the Division: Charlotte shuts out Providence  4-0….Hershey goes ahead with 40 seconds to play in the third to beat Bridgeport 2-1….Hartford beats Utica 3-1….Belleville beats Lehigh Valley 5-3.

Standings: Hartford 49 — Hershey 45 — Providence 43 — Springfield 42 — Penguins 39 — Charlotte 37 — Bridgeport 31 — Lehigh Valley 29

Wheeling Update: Nailers were shutout 4-0 in Cincinnati.

Video Highlights: Doubt they will have them, if they do I will run an edit here if I see it.

Charlotte is in Wednesday. I’ll update the charts sometime Sunday. If anything breaks between now and then, I’ll have an update here.

Let’s Go Pens!