Chirps from Center Ice

          vs.          

10                               2

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Ask yourself this question. Are the Hershey Bears any less of a Calder Cup threat because they lost to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 9-0 a few weeks ago?

Of course not.

A 10-2 throttling at the hands of the Providence Bruins and the Penguins are not any lesser of a playoff threat then they were at noon Friday.

Every team is allowed one or two clunkers. If you are the Bridgeport Islanders it happens once or twice a weekend.

Now, if this happens again Saturday when the Bears come to town? That’s an uneasy trend. If the Islanders drop seven on the Pens Sunday in Bridgeport, or the Pens lose 15-2 next Wednesday? Sure. Go on. Then it’s time to panic.

Just ball this one up and toss it away.

Boris Katchouk and Sam Poulin scored for the Pens, who put up 44 shots on Brandon Bussi and the Bruins Friday.

Providence was 3-for-5 on the power play. I mean they had everything going in their favor.

Fourteen Bruins had a point, Jeffrey Viel had four, two goals and two assists.

Georgii Merkulov scored for the Bruins because of course he does. He always scores against the Penguins. You better hope Hershey doesn’t sign him, ever.

Out of town, Hershey loses in Hartford 4-3 in regulation, Charlotte wins 2-1 in Rochester. The Penguins fall from second to fourth. The magic number stays at six.

Hershey leads the division with 82 points, Providence has 75, Charlotte and the Pens are tied at 74 and Lehigh Valley has 69 points but has three more games played then the Pens.

What sucks more is the fact I waste an excellent Severance related headline on this monstrosity. How many of the Four Tempers did you tame when you were watching tonight?

Let’s hope that the one sided affairs in favor of the Penguisn opponents sit with Kier for all eternity, or at least the end of this season.

Talk to you tomorrow. Off you go!

Let’s Go Pens!

          @         

5                            3

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Wilkes-Barre grits out a 5-3 win Sunday in Allentown against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a game where the vibe was the same like Wednesday against Hershey. Pens go up, Bears draw even. Rinse and repeat here, but this game didn’t go to a shootout.

Seems like a methodical, determined win for the Pens, whose magic number will drop to six. They can hypothetically sew up a berth next weekend to the Calder Cup Playoffs.

But let’s talk about Sunday.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Poolman and Hollowell (illness) were out for Chase Pietila (making his AHL debut) and Scooter Brickey on defense. Atley Calvert for Vasily Ponomarev (lower body, day to day) up front.

First Period: It was a blink and you missed it start, with Tristan Broz getting a power play goal at 2:57, Joona Koppanen following with a shorthanded goal :24 later and then Ehen Samson getting an even strength goal :02 after a Phantoms power plat that made it a blazing start just 5:05 in. Here’s all the goals.

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Things settled a bit after that with each team getting a few good looks but no further scoring.

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre couldn’t get out of second gear to start the period having to kill a left over penalty to start the period and then a period right after that. Givani Smith netted another even strength goal for the Phantoms right after the power play expired that tied the game at two.

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Things again settled from there and the Penguins found themselves on a late power play.

Well, make it 2/2 in the contest so far for the Penguins as Avery Hayes pumped in power play goal for Wilkes-Barre that re-established the lead for the away team.

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Phantoms made a little bit of a pushback but Sergei Murashov held steady in the net for the Penguins.

Third Period: Penguins found themselves in familiar territory that they had Friday in Allentown, a long 5-on-3 for, this time for 1:42, but the Phnatoms held the Penguins to zero shots I believe.

Lehigh Valley gets a power play and then Phantoms debutante Nikita Grebenkin scores to even it at three.

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Just a backbreaking turn of events that I think do them in last season or a few seasons back.

But not this team.

Undeterred, Valterri Puustinen tips in an Owen Pickering shot to push the Penguins ahead 4-3.

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Then with Alexei Kolosov out for an extra Phantom, Joona Koppanen scores an empty net goal.

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Three Stars: 3) 1) Nikita Grebenkin (goal) 2) Valterri Puustinen (goal) 1) Joona Koppanen (two goals)

The Good: Nice response, they bent but didn’t break, handled road business and took home two points.

The Bad: Lehigh Valley isn’t a team they are going to want to see in the playoffs. I like the way they matchup. against Hershey. I don’t like the way they matchup against the Phantoms. So there’s that.

The Bad 2: Failing to score on over three minutes of five on three advantage for over the course of back to back games is going to give a lot of teams a lot of film on how to replicate what the Phantoms did to the Penguins these past two games.

Turning Point: Glaringly obvious, the Puustinen tip of the Pickering shot that gave Wilkes-Barre the lead for good gets it here.

Around the Division: Hershey is up big at the time this goes up in Chicago and will be the first team in the Calder Cup Playoffs if it holds. Box here. Charlotte is up on Toronto up in Canada, that box is here and Providence beats a suddenly ice cold Springfield Thunderbirds team 4-1.

Standings: Can’t really intelligently do this with the Bears and Checkers still competing in games when I hit “Publish” here – Penguins have 74 points and will stay in second place in the Division with a game in hand against Providence. Huge matchup between these two teams looms Friday in Wilkes-Barre.

Wheeling Update: Nailers in action with the Cincinnati Cyclones, that box is also here.

Video Highlights: At some point can be found here.

They will get the week off to rest recover and hopefully get some key guys back or close to back as the season hits its stretch run.

AHL Power Rankings will be up Monday at 2. Please do check those out.

Let’s Go Pens!

         @        

1                            3

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27 saves for Phantoms net minder Alexei Kolosov on Friday stymies the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and tighten things up in the Atlantic Division after a 3-1 Lehigh Valley win.

The Penguins are so close to being at the top of the Atlantic Division and so close to being the road team in the First Round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. A little consistency would be nice.

Anyway.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Colton Poolman replaced Scooter Brickey on defense.

ATO Szn: Penguins signed Chase Pietila to an ATO. Pittsburgh signed him to an entry level on Sunday. He’s with the team in Wilkes-Barre. Avery Hayes signed an entry level deal with Pittsburgh Thursday. Easy guy to root for, but needs to work on his consistency, in my opinion. Coal Street also signed Zach Gallant to a two year AHL contract and assigned him to Wheeling.

First Period: Pens came out flatter than soda leftover from their victory party over Hershey this past Wednesday and Garrett Wilson scored a goal just 1:10 in.

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Seemed like a blah period where they couldn’t get anything going. A power play late didn’t get them a goal.

Second Period: Sam Poulin’s dogged forecheck on Alexis Gendron while the Penguins were shorthanded, Poulin found a streaking Rutger McGroarty for a goal that tied the game at one.

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But the Penguins shorthanded magic would come to an end on a separate power play where when Ethan Samson scored a power play goal for the Phantoms that re-estabished the home team lead.

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Third Period: Penguins found themselves with 1:28 of a two man advantage, called time out to draw something up but again ran into Kolosov at every good opportunity.

They sweated through a late penalty kill and later with Larsson pulled, Zayde Wisdom scored with about a second left to score an empty net goal.

Three Stars: 3) Zayde Wisdom (gaol, assist) 2) Alexei Kolosov (27 saves) 1) Garrett Wilson (goal)

The Good: Really can’t think of anything, especially after the display of fortitude they showed against Herhsey on Wednesday.

The Bad: Seemed like the Phantoms dictated play the whole night and the off chances where they didn’t the Penguins ran into Kolosov making save after save.

Turning Point: Glaringly obvious here. Failing to score on nearly 90 seconds of a two man advantage will sink you on most nights.

Around the Division: Hartford is out in Rockford, Illinois Friday. That box is here…..Rochester beats Providence in a shootout 4-3…Belleville beats up Bridgeport 6-1….barnburner in Syracuse where the Crunch win 9-4 over the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Standings: Hershey 76 – Penguins 72 – Providence 71 – Charlotte 70 – Springfield 66 – Lehigh Valley 65 – Hartford 55 (for now) – Bridgeport 33

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 3-1 at home against Fort Wayne. Taylor Gauthier with 33 saves.

Video Highlights: Off to the AHL VideoCenter you go!

Enjoy the Saturday off and we will talk again Sunday after the rematch between these two teams Sunday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

         vs.        

4                             5

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Pretty fast. It’s a work night and the Penguins just beat the Hershey Bears in a five round shootout and won Wednesday night 5-4. This doesn’t pay my bills, so let’s move.

I don’t know who survived who in this game. Advantage Penguins I suppose but Hershey counterpunched at every opportunity, erasing a two goal deficit then coming back to tie it with each Penguins goal thereafter.

A pleasant out of town night on the scoreboard, deficit to Hershey’s lead is now four and the magic number to clinch a spot should be ten. Let’s dive right in.

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Lineup Notes: Joona Koppanen and Scooter Brickey for Matt Nieto and Sebastian Aho, who are recalled. The right call to go with Murashov against the Bears.

First Period: Wilkes-Barre jumps out to a 2-0 lead on a Ville Koivunen tip in front and a Rutger McGraorty power play goal and the Penguins were off to the races.

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I liked the start. Hershey came with jump but the Penguins responded with goals.

Dalton Smith was centered a pass by Matt Strome and the Bears responded for a late goal.

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Second Period: Owen Pickering with a dead giveaway and Hershey ties the game on an Ivan Miroshnichenko goal that ties the game just :57 in.

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They do some hard skating up and down the ice for a bit with each team getting a good chance on the other but it’s Mathias Laferriere snapping one past Stevenson for a 3-2 Penguins lead which was then matched about two and a half minutes later by Chase Priskie through a screen on Murashov.

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Third Period: In keeping with the theme of getting a goal in the first minute of the period, Avery Hayes dekes Stevenson for a goal that puts the Penguins ahead again 4-3.

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Bears bench was hot that the play should have been adjudged offside. St. Ivany’s body was definitely outside the blue line but it’s the puck that matters. Hard to tell there and it’s too late to analyze it frame by frame. Linesmen at this level rarely miss.

Penguins could not extend the lead on a power play. I thought the teams made for an easy night for refs Andrew Bell and Rob Hennessey. I didn’t see anything egregious, with the teams deciding things on their own at even strength.

Penguins sweated through a boneheaded Joona Koppanen post whistle scrum rough penalty but then a Andrew Perrott shot was tipped in by Alex Limoges that again tied the game for Hershey.

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A series of late stops by the man they call Mud (his name is Clay Stevenson) and it was off to…

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…(mud is a hell of a nickname by the way)….

Overtime: Penguins had a power play they brought with them here but couldn’t score on it. No one did and it was off to a….

Shootout: No one scored until Sam Poulin in the top of the fifth….

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And Sergei Murashov stopped Ethan Bear in the bottom of the fifth to win it.

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Three Stars: 3) Rutger McGroarty (goal, assist) 2) Ville Koivunen (goal, assist) 1) Sam Poulin (shootout winning goal)

The Good: They beat the best team in the division, hung in there, counterpunched and came out with a win.

The Bad: At times it seemed like they lacked an extra gear and were slow, especially in sequences where the Bears scored to tie.

Turning Point: In a game that chased it to the end, Poulin’s goal and Murashov’s save on Bear get it here.

Around the Division: Grand Rapids beats Hartford 2-1 in regulation. That, coupled with the Penguins getting two points should drop the magic number to clinch a playoff spot to 10….Bridgeport beats Laval 5-2…..Toronto beats Providence 4-2 and Charlotte wins 4-3 in Rochester.

Standings: Hershey 76 – Penguins 72 – Charlotte and Providence 70 – Springfield 66 – Lehigh Valley 65 – Hartford 55 – Bridgeport 33

Wheeling Update: Nailers played a kids day game against Trois-Rivières earlier in the day and were shutout 2-0.

Video Highlights:

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Onto to Allentown Friday. More then.

Let’s Go To Bed Go Pens!

I said last night that the explosion of offense was great, but I wanted to see them win a close game.

Sunday was just that. Heading into the third period down 2-1 to the Crunch, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins run out of gas and lose 5-1.

The Penguins are playing their third game in the nights while Syracuse was off the night before. It almost doesn’t seem fair, but such is life at this level.

Here’s how they lined up:

Our projected lines for this afternoon!

We're backstopped by Halvy. pic.twitter.com/F3jaPNYsgI

— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) March 9, 2025

How we’re rolling this afternoon ⬇️

Catch all the action on AHLTV on FloHockey here:https://t.co/CrNDVVHuPj pic.twitter.com/OXNKr8z579

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 9, 2025

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Lineup Notes: Laferriere for Calvert, Boris Katchouk for Joona Koppanen up front, Aho and St. Ivany for Poolman and Knyzhov.

First Period: Pens figured to need a dirty goal to beat Brandon Halverson and they get just that here when Mathias Laferriere maximizes his minutes, netting a goal.

LAFFY pic.twitter.com/8Te6bBjk9L

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 9, 2025

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No power plays in the period awarded by Kurtis Pare and Riley Brace, so the Crunch needed to find another way.

They kind of lulled the Penguins to sleep and got a goal from Tristan Allard to tie the game with under five minutes to play.

Ally with the moves!! pic.twitter.com/2Vyb0NNgJL

— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) March 9, 2025

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Second Period: First half of the period flew by and I think that flew by, second half slowed the pace and I think that benefitted the Crunch. Ex-Penguin Anthony Angello, acquired in a trade with Nashville / Milwaukee, scored his first with the Crunch to push the lead to 2-1.

We’re happy to have ya here, Anthony!! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/IXlrYqmDEI

— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) March 9, 2025

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Larsson left a big rebound in the slot. That’s a problem for him because there have been times he has been beat when he makes the initial save and gives up a goal on a rebound.

Third Period: The juice was out of the squeeze and the bottom fell out.

Wilkes-Barre gets the first power play chance of the game but does not register a shot on Halverson, the Crunch kill it easy and then Morgan Geekie puts the moves on Mac Hollowell and suddenly the hole is deeper.

THE Conor Geekie! pic.twitter.com/kUu9aVzV5Q

— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) March 9, 2025

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Oof.

It was all the Crunch needed because Max Crozier scores into the empty net to make it four, then Joel Teasdale scores the conventional way on Larsson to make it five.

Three Stars: 3) Mathias Laferriere (goal) 2) Tristan Allard (goal) 1) Anthony Angello (goal, assist)

The Good: I liked the connection between Laferriere and Chase Stillman, who nearly connected for a goal in the second.

The Bad: Kinda sucks losing like this, but in playoffs (provided they get there) you aren’t playing three straight.

Turning Point: The Geekie goal gets it here.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Charlotte 3-2. Springfield beats Bridgeport 5-2. I am not sticking around for the Hartford / Belleville result that started at 5. Box here.

Standings: Hershey 75 – Penguins and Providence 70 – Charlotte 68 – Springfield 66 – Lehigh Valley 65. Hartford has 53, pending their result with the Senators and Bridgeport has 31.

Wheeling Update: Naielrs fare no better, losing 2-0 in Glen Falls.

Video Highlights:

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Power Rankings sometime Monday, Weekend Preview here Wednesday setting up an important one against Hershey.

Let’s Go Pens!

          vs.          

3                               8

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So if you are counting last night, where they scored seven in Hartford, eight more Saturday for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins after an 8-3 throttling of the Belleville Senators at home, that is fifteen goals in the last two games with yet another game to be played Sunday against Syracuse.

I think they are back. And getting Sam Poulin who had a third period natural hat trick to go with an assist and Joona Koppanen, who had three assists strengthens that argument. It looks like a different team at present, a team that is playing with swagger getting goals from every corner of the lineup. Twelve skaters put points on the board for the Penguins Saturday.

No, I am not going to go through every goal here, but, working backwards, here are the the video highlights:

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Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Stillman made his WBS debut for Mathias Laferriere up front and Sebastian Aho had a planned day off and was replaced by Colton Poolman on defense. Jack St. Ivany was sent back to Wilkes-Barre and Gabe Klassen and Matty De St. Phalle went back to Wheeling.

First Period: Penguins on the board first with a power play goal from Rutger McGroarty and Wilkes-Barre was off and running.

I know I said I wasn’t going to post every goal, but I have to post this one here where Avery Hayes sauced a loooooooong pass to Vasily Ponomarev for a goal and a 2-0 lead.

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But then Angus Crookshank beat Sergei Murashov for a goal and the B-Sens were on the board.

It would become a trend for a bit.

Second Period: Here’s Avery Hayes feeding Ville Koivunen for a goal and the entire arena drowning in the sauce on the pass from Hayes.

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But then Zack MacEwen bled a shot through Murashov that made it a one goal affair again for the visitors.

Tristan Broz answers for a goal, his first in a bit, and that was the end of Leevi Meriläinen, enter Malcom Subban…

…who gives up a goal on the first shot he sees off the stick of Nikolai Knyzhov, and it’s 5-2 Penguins.

It was here that the thought of the team being back hit me. Getting a goal from a defensive defenseman like Knyzhov? Getting goals from all over the place, too? Yeah. I think we need to get the word out there, we are back up.

Third Period: MacEwen gets Murashov again to give the B-Sens a faint hope and it’s a two goal lead again. We aren’t doing this again, are we?

Sam Poulin said nope.

A natural hat trick for Poulin, with him capping it off with 6.3 seconds left and it’s fifteen goals scored for the Penguins.

Three Stars: 3) Joona Koppanen (three assists) 2) Ville Koivunen (goal, two assists) 1) Sam Poulin (hat trick, assist)

The Good: They are drubbing opponents right now at an opportune part of the season.

The Bad: I want to see them win a tight game. I know it isn’t related to the category, but I want to see. them win a nailbiter.

Turning Point: The Knyzhov goal gets it here because that is when the epiphany of, “we are back” hit me.

Around the Division: Hershey and Charlotte win their respective games over Cleveland and Lehigh Valley. Springfield beats Providence 2-1 clean and Toronto beats Bridgeport in OT 3-2.

Standings: Hershey 75 – Penguins 70 – Providence 70 – Charlotte 68 – Springfield 64 – Lehigh Valley 63 – Hartford 53 – Bridgeport 31

Wheeling Update: Nailers get revenge on Adirondack beating them 6-4. Instant impact for Matty De St. Phalle, who had a goal and two assists.

I gave you the video highlights above.

Don’t forget to turn the clocks forward.

More tomorrow with Syracuse.

Let’s Go Pens!

         vs.          

4                                1

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The idea of the headline is that when I got back into the car to head home after watching the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lose 4-1 to the Belleville Senators on Tuesday, America’s “Tin Man” was playing on SiriusXM Radio. It’s a song I commonly hear out by the pool on a lazy summer afternoon listening to Yacht Rock Radio.

So I looked up the idea of a Tin Man Argument and I think I am onto something here. You are defending a position or an argument that doesn’t hold in the end.

Tuesday, the Penguins blitzed the Belleville Senators to a 7-2 shot count which included an Atley Calvert tip in of of a Matt Nieto shot. Belleville’s Leevi Meriläinen was under siege while the Penguins Filip Larsson was in his crease knitting a sweater. It looked like the Penguins were on cruise control.

But then Valterri Puustinen was slashed, or wasn’t, which led to a rush up the ice and Hayden Hodgson scoring a goal that tied the game and changed the complexity of the game entirely.

That’s because the Senators would get called for a penalty and go on to score a shorthanded goal from Zack Ostapchuk which afforded them a lead and Meriläinen to settle and dial in. Belleville never looked back from there. In the second Xavier Bourgault pounded on a juicy rebound of a shot saved by Larsson from Jorian Donovan and it was. then 3-1.

Wilkes-Barre continued to pepper Meriläinen to the tune of 15 shots in the third, but could not get another one past him. With Larsson pulled, Maxence Guenette scored a 190 foot empty net goal.

I looked up Meriläinen’s stats. 11-5-3 with 3 shutouts coming in on 23 games played. He’s good. The Senators would be in a much better position in the North Division standings if he played more. He may have been hurt because I believe this is the first time the Pens saw him all season.

Wilkes-Barre is missing straw stirrers such as Joona Koppanen and Jonathan Gruden who I heard from someone who was slightly later than I to the game are day to day. Good, because this little slide here started when Gruden went out of the lineup. The sooner this pair is back, the better.

Wilkes-Barre went 0/2 on the power play, giving up a shorthanded goal in the first and failing much offense late in the third down a pair. Belleville didn’t have a power play all game. A rare good game from ref Rob Hennessey, depending on who you ask and how much of a slash / no slash there was on Puustinen in the first.

Here’s how they lined up…

Notes: Laferriere for De St. Phalle up front and Aho returning from injury for Brickey, who was put on the injured list. Sergei Murashov backed up tonight, being recalled earlier in the day. Tristan Jarry went up, Joel Blomqvist came down.

Here’s the goals in the order they were scored.

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Three Stars: 3) Atley Calvert (goal) 2) Jorian Donovan (two assists) 1) Zack Ostapchuk (goal)

The Good: I think they stunk top to bottom.

The Bad: 0/2 on the power play and giving up a shorthanded goal in an otherwise tight affair.

Turning Point: Ostapchuk’s shorthanded goal sucked all the air out of the balloon in one fell swoop. Leevi Meriläinen locked it down from there.

Around the Division: Springfield does the Pens a solid, shutting out Charlotte 3-0.

Standings: Hershey 71 – Providence 68 – Penguins 66 – Charlotte 64 – Lehigh Valley 63 – Springfield 62 – Hartford 51 – Bridgeport 30

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

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Back at it Friday in Hartford. I’ll probably run the Weekend Preview in the morning to stay out of the noise which is the NHL Trade Deadline.

Let’s Go Pens!