Comments Off on Keeping the Seat Warm? — Pens LOSE 4-1
Posted by nafsnep on February 23, 2016
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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are in free fall mode.
With top scorers on recall to Pittsburgh, a goaltending department rife with question marks about the immediate future of the status of Matt Murray in Wilkes-Barre and line juggling around the dynamic trio of Carter Rowney, Tom Kostopoulos and Sahir Gill, it seems like the Lenguiks can’t get out of their own way when it comes to things.
So the wrong team showed up as the opponent tonight in the second place Hershey Bears.
The Bears beat the Penguins 4-1 and draw dangerously close to dethroning the Penguins for tops in the Atlantic Division.
Tristan Jarry vs. Dan Ellis
Lines were…
Anton Zlobin – Kael Mouillierat – Dominik Simon
Sahir Gill – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Josh Archibald – J-S Dea – Ty Loney
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Matia Marcantuoni
Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Niclas Andersen – Dave Warsofsky
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Tristan Jarry – Brian Foster
Lineup Notes: Matt Murray was not seen tonight. He was re-assigned Monday and it was expected that he would start but that wasn’t the case. Obie tweeted pregame that he was ill…Matia Marcantuoni was back in the lineup after missing the last 8 games…Patrick McGrath took warmups but was scratched.
First Period: Bears jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Nathan Walker snapped a shot through the legs of Steve Oleksy and past the five hole of Jarry for a 1-0 Hershey lead. Penguins couldn’t capitalize on two power plays in the period and couldn’t cash on a nice penalty kill. Carter Rowney had a memorable dash up the ice with a dangle that didn’t pay off. Pens started to match the Bears chances.
Second Period: Pens had to kill a penalty to start the period and the Bears used nice passing to set up Travis Boyd in from to double their lead. Then Reid McNeill hauled down Jakub Vrana and referee Geno Binda awarded a penalty shot. It was a penalty, but a clear penalty shot? I’m not so sure. Regardless, Riley Barber took the penalty shot, snaked in, and well…
Pens continued to skate with purpose, continued to pressure, Ellis was forced into some saves but Liam O’Brien then took a puck 180′ down the ice, with David Warsofsky in close pursuit, but O’Brien managed to get a backhander off and score to make it 4-1.
Feeling at the time was that the air was let out of the tires a bit. Pressure and make it look like you are going to battle back from two goals down and you are back to three.
Third Period: Bears didn’t let the Penguins get any closer. Pens matches them chance for chance but were trailing three goals. Of note, Sahir Gill left the game with what appeared to be a lower body injury.
Three Stars: 3) Carter Rowney (goal, even) 2) Dan Ellis (26 saves on 27 shots) 1) Riley Barber (goal, assist, +2)
The turning point of this game was a long 5-on-3 power play that the Penguins were on in the third period for :31. After a time out, the Penguins owned a ton of offensive zone time but were held out of the net by the Americans penalty killers and the play of goaltender Nathan Lieuwen.
About that power play. It was a clean game for both teams with the referees arms staying down until the third period. The Penguins had all of the power plays in the third period and Rochester did not have a single one until overtime.
But instead of putting the cart before the horse, let me tell the whole story. Jump through if you didn’t link in direct to see the rest of the story because I bring the video highlights again in this blog recap.
Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth. — Mike Tyson
For the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, the plan was working in the first two periods.
But the Toronto Marlies largely kept their hands in their pockets.
A four goal barrage by the Marlies in a span of 15:28 in the third period sees the Toronto Marlies defeat the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins by a score of 4-2.
The Toronto Marlies are a complete team. Yeah, the Penguins have been hit severely by the injury bug, but so have the Marlies of recent. This was a heavyweight battle between the two best teams in the American Hockey League.
Toronto dominated a scoreless first period. Wilkes-Barre dominated the second period and scored two goals in a span of :47. Toronto took over in the third period and hooked in and ran away with things.
It was Matt Murray vs. Antoine Bibeau in goal.
I don’t run ads on my blog. I pay WordPress to keep it that way, so consider this a commercial break as you jump through if you didn’t link in direct because I am going again with the visual eye candy tonight in the post game recap with amateurish video highlights.
Comments Off on They Don’t Pay Overtime… — Pens LOSE 3-2 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on February 14, 2016
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I don’t know about your job, but a salaried guy like me would always tell my straggling co-workers at 5 o’c lock on a workday that they don’t pay us overtime. You could work for two more hours but you wouldn’t get paid for it by the employer.
I don’t know exactly where I am going with this one so let’s get to the point. The Pens lost again to the Portland Pirates in overtime. 3-2 was the final. The Pens had a 2-1 lead with a power play until 18.2 seconds to play in regulation when Kyle Rau snuck one past goaltender Matt Murray to tie it then Dylan Olsen ended it in overtime when Tom Kostopoulos broke a stick.
The optimist tells you that the Penguins took four out of a possible six points out of a weekend and six out of a possible eight with the week with half their regular lineup either injured or in Pittsburgh.
I really don’t know what a pessimist will tell you when given those results. That person probably expects the Penguins to win every game by 20 goals.
The only question I would have if I got to talk with Clark Donatelli after the game is why did the Penguins go into prevent defense with a power play for the remainder of the third. They played not to lose the game and lost the game. After a rabid start to the third period when down 1-0, the Penguins rattled off two goals in the period to take the lead.
Matt Murray vs. Mike McKenna. A battle of all-star goaltenders. McKenna replaced Murray in Syracuse.
Lines were…
Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – Dominik Simon
Sahir Gill – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Derek Army
John McCarron – Jarrett Burton – Tyler Biggs
Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Niclas Andersen – Harrison Ruopp
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry
Lineup Notes: In were Harrison Ruopp, Tyler Biggs and Sahir Gill for Ryan Parent, Patrick McGrath and Anton Zlobin.
First Period: Penalty filled period with both teams going on the power play three times each. Neither team took advantage. Pirates were the better team even strength. Shots were 12-6 Portland after one. Penguins had most of those shots on the power play but weren’t able to convert.
Second Period: While the Penguins were on the power play, a linesman got crossed up with Will O’Neill and Wade Megan scored a shorthanded goal…
Inadvertent, unfortunate cross up by the official.
Period was pretty even otherwise with the shots a narrow 21-20 for the Pirates. Penguins were matching the Pirates and catching up but had nothing to show for it when you looked at the scoreboard.
Third Period: In the third, the Penguins not only caught up, they raced ahead.
A Tom Kostopoulos power play goal off this nice setup from Sahir Gill…
A Will O’Neill blast from the point tipped in by Sahir Gill screening at the doorstep of McKenna and the Penguins were ahead 2-1. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins looked angry. They looked hungry. They were mad as hell and weren’t going to take it anymore. They were forcing Mike McKenna into save after save, big time stops by McKenna to keep his team behind by just one.
Then Chase Balisy took a slashing penalty with 1:58 left. Portland Head Coach Scott Allen called a time out to draw something up. It had the look and feel that the Penguins were sitting back and playing prevent rather than trying to attack and force McKenna to stay in net and make saves.
It didn’t work. Wade Megan dug a puck out of the wall behind Murray’s net and found Rau at the doorstepped who tapped it past Murray for a tie game with 18.2 left and it was off to…
Overtime: Penguins had a few chances early on but they either all sailed wide of McKenna or the Pirates netmider stopped them. Then Dylan Olsen wheeled around Tom Kostopoulos who lost his stick in close and stuffed it past Murray to win the game for the Pirates.
The Penguins allowed two shorthanded goals in the game, up to nine on the season, and have been to overtime five times in their last eight games.
Pessimist will tell you that the Pens can’t complete and finish in overtime. Optimist will tell you these are points that the Hershey Bears, who are two games ahead of the Penguins in the games played department, can’t achieve.
Three Stars: 3) Will O’Neill (two assists, even) 2) Sahir Gill (goal, assist, -1) and 1) Dylan Olsen (overtime game winning goal,. +1)
I’ll have my chart refreshed later on tonight and tweet the link Tuesday at noon. You ca always check out the chart by clicking on the, “Charts!” link at the top of the page.
My Week 19 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog Monday at 4.
Comments Off on RAPID RECAP – Pens LOSE 3-2 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on February 14, 2016
Optimism tells you that to fee good that the Penguins took four out of a possible six points out of a weekend in an Atlantic Division title race with the Hershey Bears and the Portland Pirates.
Pessimism would be sitting on a lead late with the Penguins up 2-2 on a power play only to have Portland tie the game with 18.2 and then to win in overtime 3-2.
– The Penguins inability to score on an early 5:00 match major as a result of a Sena Acolatse / Patrick McGrath fight early in the first period. The Penguins were never able to find momentum to build on the long power play, took a holding penalty which allowed for four-on-four, Portland killed it and it propelled them onwards.
– A relentless barrage by the Portland Pirates after that which led into the second period. The Penguins were held without a shot until the 12:31 mark of the period.
– With no goals becoming apparent and the Pirates dominating offensive zone time, Tristan Jarry was becoming the story. He had stopped 25 shots through two periods but can’t play defense nor offense, so he was left sort of on an island by his team as the only thing keeping them in the game. I normally ask around to other fans at the game what they think of the nights action and one guy I respect a ton told me that the Penguins were simply hanging on. It felt like it.
Jarry was beat by a Rob Flick shot in the third period when Flick pounced on a Penguins clearing attempt and put his team ahead 1-0. Penguins respond with Dominik Simon, back from injury, scoring on a low tight corner on Pirates goaltender Sam Brittain to make it a 1-1 game.
Jarry remained on point, gloving a Corban Knight shot while Knight was left all alone in the slot as the Penguins defenders were chasing.
Another turning point if you will would be a Carter Rowney penalty shot as he was tugged down by Mike Matheson with 59.5 to play in the third period. Rowney skated in slowly, lost control of the puck briefly for a second and tried a weak backhander that Brittain tracked all the way.
In overtime, the near goat in Matheson was minted a hero as he would break in from center ice unabated as the teams were three-on-three and scored at 1:29 to give the Pirates the win.
So you have the inability to score on the power play in the first, the inability to score at all when your goaltender is stopping everything then the inability to score on a penalty shot in a big moment that ultimately cost you two points in the standings.
Oh, on the incident that led to Acolatse’s dismissal, McGrath was cut by Acolatse who had tape on his hands and cut McGrath in the fight. Rule 46.15 of the AHL Rulebook does not allow for that. Acolatse is suspended pending review of that incident, but it should only be a game.
If you want to see that fight in it’s entirety, here it is, courtesy of me:
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The lines were as follows:
Dominik Simon – Kael Mouillierat – Derek Army
Anton Zlobin – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
John McCarron – Jarrett Burton – Patrick McGrath
Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Ryan Parent – Niclas Andersen
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Tristan Jarry – Matt Murray
Lineup Notes: Dea, Simon, McGrath and Parent replaced Sahir Gill, Tyler Biggs, Ty Loney and Harrison Ruopp respectively.
Three Stars: 3) Sam Brittain (23 saves on 24 shots) 2) Tristan Jarry (34 saves on 36 shots) and 1) Mike Matheson (overtime game winning goal, +1)
Comments Off on Rat Pack – Pens WIN 3-1
Posted by nafsnep on February 12, 2016
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This was a road game, so in these instances, I like to write the game story for the blog as the game goes on to make it easier on me sitting in front of a computer for two and a half hours. So I wrote this in the first period recap that I am bringing up here in the lede.
The thing about Kael Mouillierat as a Penguin is that it’s a love / hate relationship. You love the fact that he has ten points in his last eight games with leading scorers Conor Sheary and Scott Wilson up in Pittsburgh, but you hate watching a skilled player like him take a penalty nearly every game.
Mouillierat had a goal and an assist in this contest, giving the Penguins forward ten points in his last eight games and his sixth multi point game as a Penguin. He takes a ton of penalties but evens it out with getting his name on the point sheet.
Oh, by the way, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins won the game 3-1 and have won two of their last three with an ECHL heavy lineup against quality opponents.
It was Matt Murray vs. Magnus Hellberg.
Lines were…
Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – Derek Army
Anton Zlobin – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Ty Loney – Sahir Gill – John McCarron
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Tyler Biggs
Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Niclas Andersen – Harrison Ruopp
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry
Lineup Notes: The Penguins sent goaltender Brian Foster to Wheeling earlier today. Tyler Biggs was back in the lineup after missing the last 25 games. Harrison Ruopp was back in the lineup since January 24, he replaced Clark Seymour. Tyler Biggs replaced Patrick McGrath on the fourth line and Sahir Gill replaced J-S Dea as Dea missed the game with an illness. Dea was the lone Penguin to have skated in every single game this season.
I decided to do somethings different here with this recap. If you linked in direct, you are good, read on. If you didn’t hit the jump to see the rest of the story. The reason for this change is that I added and embedded a lot of video highlights in the recap to make it visually appealing to you, the reader, even though the videos produced from my mother’s basement are amateurish in nature…
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