Chirps from Center Ice

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Hey, it was an off night for me too in the catchy headline writing department.

Pens lose this game to Manchester 3-1. It was by all accounts one of the more duller games of recent that the Pens played. They didn’t look sloppy or disinterested more so than they looked careless. Manchester scores early in the third period when Bobby Farnham has a puck skip on him to David Kolomatis who scores. Then Andy Andreoff scored on the power play about half way through the period. Paul Thompson scored a power play goal on a hack and whack job late then the Monarchs score on an empty net when Tanner Pearson scores from center ice that sealed it.

That’s pretty much it there. There’s no way I can dress up this game more for you.

The Pens end the 2012-2013 regular season with a 42-30-2-2 record good for 88 points and third in the division. They start the “second season” on the road.

The fate of seeding is still in the air however, here’s what the scenario looks like:

– The Penguins are the five seed and Portland is the six as of Saturday night.

– Portland plays Bridgeport tomorrow. A win by the Pirates and they leapfrog the Pens for fifth. A loss by the Pirates, and it’s a Round 1 playoff matchup with the Binghamton Senators next Saturday night.

– Syracuse is the East Division Champion. But they could still get to the second seed with a regulation or overtime win of their own tomorrow vs. the B-Sens. They would then be seeded second, dropping Springfield back to the three seed. Again, this matters only if the Pirates win tomorrow and drop the Pens to sixth.

Manchester clinched a playoff berth tonight. Meanwhile, there are three teams for the eight seed. They are Hershey, Norfolk and Connecticut. Here’s how each qualify:

Hershey: Win Sunday vs. Manchester.

Norfolk: Finish with a point more than Hershey. The Admirals play the Providence Bruins tomorrow.

Connecticut: Idle tomorrow, could still get in if Hershey and Norfolk both lose in regulation.

There you have it. I will have it all tomorrow for you on the blog Sunday afternoon along with who we play Round 1. If you don’t want to wait for me to type it all up, follow me on Twitter, @nafsnep.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Penguins are going to the postseason.

The Worcester Sharks are not.

You couldn’t tell by watching the game tonight.

The Penguins got complacent tonight and let a nothing-to-play-for Worcester Sharks team hang around and desperation paid off for the visitors as they skated away with a 4-2 win tonight in Wilkes-Barre, snapping the Penguins eight game win streak.

By all accounts, this game had the feel of a playoff game. Intensity, hitting, drama. All the things that had the fans in it from the drop of the puck.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Alex Stalock. Derek Nesbitt made his WBS debut.

First Period: Adam Payerl scores a rebound of his own shot to put the Penguins out ahead 1-0. To this point, it was all Penguins. After the Payerl goal, they stopped skating. Worcester had the look and feel of a hockey team that was going to score a goal and sure enough they did on a Rylan Schwartz rebound goal.

A resilient Worcester team with nothing left to play for was hanging with one of the best teams in the AHL? Say it ain’t so!

Second Period: Sharks have had two shorthanded goals all season. They had two quality chances in one kill early in the period. That was pretty much all that really happened in this period. I felt that a good majority was spent in the Worcester end in the period. Trevor Smith hit a crossbar with five seconds left in the period. It was onto the….

Third Period: Had the intensity of a playoff game. Started when Brian Gibbons ran over Alex Stalock for a textbook interference on the goaltender call. I really don’t know why the Wilkes-Barre faithful were angry with referee Jean Hebert for calling that. Adam Comrie scored a power play goal to push the Sharks ahead 2-1. Then Warren Peters appeared to be cross checked. No call by Hebert. Fans irate at this point.

Then, Bobby Farnham trucks a Worcester player into the boards. He ahd gotten into it with the Sharks beforehand. Two Sharks players jumped Farnham. A line brawl ensued. Alex Grant fought Nick Pietrecki. Taylor Doherty and Jimmy Bonneau were the ones that jumped Farnham. Pandemonium.

Late, Riley Holzapfel scores on a rebound to tie the game at two. The Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza erupted. Then, with under three minutes left to play, the Penguins were headed to a power play. They were unable to gain entry into the offensive zone. Freddie Hamilton has two shorthanded rushes. He doesn’t score the first time but does the second time two on one and the Sharks would go up 3-2. With Zatkoff pulled, Hamilton would score again to make it 4-2.

Remember what I said about the Sharks and the shorthanded goals? Two in one kill? After having four all season? Surely, you can’t be serious.

Oh, I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.

Tom Grace said on radio that Coach John Hynes was planning on playing newer guys tomorrow. We will see if that plan changes with the five seed not decided yet with Portland clinching tonight.

Three Stars: 3) Riley Holzapfel (goal, -1) 2) Adam Comrie (goal, two assists, +3) and 1) Freddie Hamilton (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Binghamton lost to Manchester 2-1. Possible collateral damage in that one as starting goaltender Nathan Lawson left the game with an apparent injury and was relieved by Marc Chevrie. Syracuse drop kicked Norfolk 6-1. Newly crowned AHL MVP Tyler Johnson had a hat trick. Hershey keeps its playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 in in Glens Falls.

Standings: Syracuse 95 — Binghamton 93 — Penguins 88 — Hershey 79 — Norfolk 79

Conference: 1) PRO (101) 2) SPR (97) 3) SYR (95) 4) BNG (92) 5) WBS (88) 6) POR (85) 7) MCH (79) 8) HER (79)

Manchester, Hershey, Norfolk and Connecticut all have 79 points. Oh, the drama!

I may throw a SendToNews highlight link up in the morning. I am past deadline as you read this, heh.

Gameday for tomorrows tilt with a desperate Manchester team will be up tomorrow at 3. We will have Bears and Admirals fans cheering for us tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Try and find a weakness on this team right now.

Go ahead. I have all night. Try and find one.

Right now, you can’t.

The Penguins come back from one goal deficits twice in this game and win 5-4 off of a Chad Kolarik hat trick game winning goal where Kolarik snaked through three St. John’s IceCaps defenders to zip a shot past goaltender Eddie Pasquale to win it for the Penguins.

Defense? Check. Good goaltending? Check. Penalty kill? Check. Power play? Coming around, but check. Consistent offense at the right times? Check.

The Penguins have something special going on right now. They are 8-0-1 in their last nine and are without a shadow of a doubt one of the best teams playing in the American Hockey League right now.

Brad Thiessen vs. Eddie Pasquale — Reid McNeill was in for Cody Wild and Christiaan Minella was in for Chris Collins.

First Period: Penguins came out and attacked the IceCaps to start the period, they caught St. John’s flatfooted which led to two straight power plays for the Penguins. Chad Kolarik would score when Dylan Reese shot the puck wide to a pinching Alex Grant on the half wall. Grant passed to Kolarik, who was all alone in the slot and picked a corner on Pasquale. Late, the Penguins would get another power play but Jason Jaffray and Josh Lunden came in 2-on-1 and Lunden slid it under Thiessen with 1.8 seconds left in the period.

Second Period: Dominik Uher may never want to leave Newfoundland. He scored his third goal of the weekend when Warren Peters fights off two IceCaps defenders in the half corner, Adam Payerl comes near to sweep the puck around the cage and passes to Uher who backhands it home to make it 2-1. The IceCaps would immediately answer, Dean Arsene from the point where Ray Sawada was in front and tipped it in.

IceCaps really forced the issue on the Penguins, hemming them in their own zone and hitting them every chance they got. It pays off as Julian Melchiori receives a drop pass from Ben Maxwell and rips it past Thiessen. But, the Penguins would answer right back. Off the faceoff, Trevor Smith forechecks like a madman and gets the puck and skates in and slides it under Pasquale to tie things again at 3-3.

Whew. What a period. The Brian Gibbons Breakaway of the Game™ was seen later but Gibbons made a few too many moves to score and I just like saying Brian Gibbons Breakaway of the Game ™ – ha.

Third Period: Really went back and forth, back and forth. Then the IceCaps score on what looked like to the broadcast booth an offsides play. You be the judge…

The puck is on the bottom there, where it was passed to the player in the middle. That player was Will O’Neill.

The Penguins apparently weren’t phased by the 50/50 call and methodically plugged along and eventually would even things at four again when Chad Kolarik dispossesses a St. John’s player, skates to the slot and scores. Late icings and timeouts by both sides happened but no goals scored so it was onto….

Overtime: Kolarik magic again. Snakes through three IceCap defenders and snipes from just below the blueline to cap off a perfect weekend for the Penguins and keep the wheels rolling in the right direction.

Three Stars: 3) Ray Sawada (goal, even) 2) Josh Lunden (goal, even) and 1) Jason Jaffray (three assists, +1)

Around the Division: Binghamton loses to Adirondack 2-1 in a 15 round shootout in a game that featured everything. A waved off goal for Binghamton for a video review screen malfunction, the Phantoms tying the game with .3 left in the third. So yeah, everything. The Hershey Bears win 6-3 in a gotta have it game up in Portland vs. the Pirates. Joey Crabb had a hat trick and the Bears scored five power play goals. The Providence Bruins drop kicked the Norfolk Admirals 4-1.

Standings: Syracuse 93 — Binghamton 92 — Penguins 88 — Norfolk 79 — Hershey 77

Conference: 1) PRO (99) 2) SPR (95) 3) SYR (93) 4) BNG (92) 5) WBS (88) 6) POR (81) 7) NOR (79) 8) CT (79)

Penguins can’t get higher than the five seed. They could get caught by Portland, but I was actually cheering for Hershey to beat Portland tonight because it will be next to impossible for the Pirates now to catch and pass the Penguins at the five. Now, it boils down to who wins the East Division between the Crunch and B-Sens. The Penguins get the loser of that battle, where a point sit between the two teams heading into the final week of the regular season. Oh, Binghamton and Syracuse play their final game against each other next weekend.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Radio made mention that Derek Nesbitt may actually see a game for the Penguins in the final two games this weekend. Should be something worth keeping an eye on.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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We’re in.

Gotta be honest, after this showing from earlier in the season, didn’t think the Pens had it in them.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have made the playoffs for the 11th consecutive year.

Could this be the year?

Penguins won tonight 3-0. Jeff Zatkoff another shutout. That’s 126:44 of shutout hockey for Zatkoff. Stink can be made for Zatkoff not making first or second team in the AHL. Defense is rock solid. Penalty kill has been the best in the AHL all season long and oh, by the way, there’s a new toy waiting back at Coal Street when the Penguins return from The Rock named Derek Nesbitt.

Penguins clinch playoffs where theirs ended last season. Talk about full circle.

Never ever take for granted this feeling of playoffs in the American Hockey League. This is unprecedented, what the Penguins have done. Eleven straight seasons.

Getting to this point is something that, for me at least, starts in July and free agency. Goes on from there. Who did the competition sign? Oh, they got that guy. How will they matchup against the Pens? Then the season starts. Constantly monitoring other teams feeds, scoreboards, NHL counterparts. Call-ups. Send downs. Watching Pittsburgh play praying no one gets hurt. Getting here is half the battle. The other half is the Calder Cup. That, is the ultimate goal.

Could this be the year?

Time, always tells.

IceCaps were 7-2-1-0 in their last ten and playing much better than their divisional and conference standings would indicate.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Mark Dekanich — no lineup changes for the Penguins for this game. Steve MacIntyre was among the “names you know” scratches.

First Period: IceCaps come out in the first minute or so and hit a post after a Wilkes-Barre turnover at the blue line. Pens get two separate chances at a power play, but the IceCaps completely shut down any efforts. It seemed, in jest, like the power play was left at the border and didn’t clear customs. Shots at one point were 6-1 IceCaps. It seemed like the Pens were sleepwalking through this period. The IceCaps, having played back-to-back home games this week, looked sharper. Then, the line of Bobby Farnham, Zach Sill and Dominik Uher start hitting guys and forechecking like beasts. Sill digs a puck out of the corner to Farnham who throws it at the net where Uher is parked and the Penguins rookie tips one in.

Good teams find ways to win?

Second Period: Had more action in the opening five minutes then all of the first twenty minutes. Trevor Smith and Chad Kolarik on a two on one. Wide open net for the IceCaps followed by a wide open net for the IceCaps all in a twenty second span. Then, Dominik Uher gets another tip-in goal, this time off of a Brian Dumoulin shot from the blue line. 2-0 Penguins. IceCaps come out and nearly get a goal on a Jason Jaffray backdoor offering but Zatkoff got over. Then Trevor Smith finds Paul Thompson on a long outlet pass from the Pens defensive blue line. Thompson accepts the pass and scores on Dekanich. Penguins really looked out for blood this period, shots were 11-4 for the Pens in this span of twenty minutes.

Third Period: Completely uneventful for the fan that enjoys offense. Really eventful for the fan that enjoys fisticuffs. Zach Sill and Matthew Tousignant fight early. Then Kael Mouillierat elbows Brian Gibbons and hell breaks loose. Cody Sol and Joey Mormina get thrown out of the game. Then Jeff Zatkoff steals the show with the IceCaps, knowing they are going to lose the game throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Zatkoff but the Penguins goaltender keeps them out and preserves the clean sheet.

From the AHL Communications Department, this is the fourteenth time the Penguins have held an opponent to under 20 shots on goal.

The motto this year is all in….

Three Stars: 3) Adam Lowry (no idea) 2) Bobby Farnham (two assists, +2) and 1) Dominik Uher (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Syracuse wraps up home ice for at least the first round by thumping the Rochester Americans 5-1. Nathan Lawson and the Binghamton Senators shutout the Albany Devils 5-0. The Norfolk Admirals beat the Worcester Sharks 4-3 in overtime. The defending champions are making a strong push and are getting hot at the right time, tied for seventh in the conference now. Then there is the Hershey Bears, who are going completely in the wrong direction, losers 4-3 in regulation to the Manchester Monarchs. The Bears have lost four in a row in regulation and are out of playoff contention as things break Saturday night.

Standings: Syracuse 93 — Binghamton 91 — Penguins 86 — Norfolk 79 — Hershey 75

Conference: 1) PRO (93) 2) SPR (93) 3) SYR (93) 4) BNG (91) 5) WBS (86) 6) POR (81) 7) NOR 79) 8) CT (79)

SendToNews Highlights: Are packaged here.

Rematch tomorrow on The Rock vs. the IceCaps. Gameday for the 2:30 Wilkes-Barre start will be here on the blog at 10:30 a.m.

All in.

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Penguins close out East Division play today with a hold-onto-your-butts 4-3 win against the Hershey Bears.

Penguins were up 4-1 with about ten minutes left in the third, the Bears get two goals and almost a third, which would have made a lot of people in Norfolk mad. Just look at some of the tweets I got today from some Norfolk fans:

So this is basically a lesson in what I like to call, “co-opetition” a mash between competition and cooperation. The Admirals fans were happy that the Pens beat the Bears, because they are tied in points with one another. I am happy that the Springfield Falcons beat the Portland Pirates today, keeping the Pirates back of the Pens by three points.

Brad Thiessen vs. Philipp Grubauer – no lineup changes for the Penguins today.

First Period: Dmitry Orlov opens up the scoring by peeling off a Penguin, spinning and firing at the net. The puck hit something on the way in and the Bears were on the board. Then, with just under ten minutes to play, Jayson Megna backhands a pass through a Hershey defenseman’s legs to Paul Thompson, who had a wide open cage to shoot into to tie the game. Then the Penguins, with the benefits of the referee’s whistles, score again on the power play when Brian Dumoulin scored from the point on a screen to put the Pens ahead 2-1.

Second Period: Chad Kolarik is a goal scorer. Goal scorers know how to score goals. Goal scorers go to areas where goals are scored. Kolarik cut to the net where Trevor Smith found him for the score to push the Pens ahead 3-1. Then the Bears had an extended power play of 5 on 3 time.

Remember a few years ago when the Bears would get a power play it wasn’t a matter of if they would score, it was when? That didn’t happen today for the Bears, whose power play in this sequence looked like a shell of itself in days of old. It frustrated the Bears. You could see it on their faces and hear it in your ears with all the bench doors slamming. A timeout by head coach Mark French proved futile. The Penguins were able to kill it all off.

Third Period: Penguins opened the period on the power play. Who scored it you ask? Chad Kolarik. Goal scorers score goals that bury the opposition. Turns out, this goal would be a huge one. Bears roar back in the final ten minutes on a power play goal by Ryan Potulny. Head Coach John Hynes called timeout, seemingly upset with the Pens efforts. It did seem to me that the Pens were in la-la land, up 4-1 on a Sunday afternoon to the Bears who are fighting for their playoff lives. Peter LeBlanc scores with just over six minutes left to play to make it 4-3.

Penguins clamped down after that and hung on to win, with Grubauer pulled.

The Penguins almost lost this game today. But they didn’t. They are getting hot at the right time. Goal scorers are scoring goals. Power play is all of a sudden hot, defense is always a rock. The penalty kill is the tops in the American Hockey League. We have arguably the two best goaltenders in the League. Getting hot at the right time?

What was it that Bombulie said a few weeks ago? Buy the ticket. Take the ride.

Buckle up.

Oh, by the way, Saturday and Sunday were played without Beau Bennett, who was recalled to Pittsburgh today.

The magic number is four. I don’t see that diminishing any with the lack of games this week.

No one else played in the division. Your Penguins have 84 points. They are five back of the Crunch, three back of the B-Sens, nine ahead of Hershey and Norfolk.

The conference looks like this: 1) PRO (93) 2) SPR (91) 3) SYR (89) 4) BNG (87) 5) WBS (84) 6) POR (81) 7) CT (78) 8) HER (75)

Wilkes-Barre has 72 games played, by far the most in the Eastern Conference. Portland has three games in hand. Binghamton and Syracuse have two. Maybe I will do a “strength of schedule” blog post this week to help on content. Stay tuned.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Penguins utterly dominate the Albany Devils tonight in all facets and roll to a 4-0 victory this evening. Jeff Zatkoff was in goal and netted an 11 save shutout. Probably the most unimpressive shutout in the history of 11 save shutouts.

Shout out to Jason Chaimovitch at the League headquarters for finding the last time there was an 11 save shutout. It was back in 2008.

Penguins now sit in fifth place in the conference, one point ahead of the Portland Pirates, who were off tonight. The Pirates have three games in hand on the Pens. They are five behind the Binghamton Senators for home ice in round one. If playoffs started tomorrow, Round 1 would be Wilkes-Barre at Binghamton. How exciting would that first round bloodbath matchup be?

Divisionally, the Pens sit five back of Binghamton tonight who lost 3-0 in Norfolk tonight and seven back of Syracuse, who won 2-1 in Hershey tonight. The Crunch and B-Sens have one game in hand each.

I know I conceded the division to the Crunch and B-Sens, but I may be taking that back, depending on how the next week or so goes. There is still an, albeit slim chance, that the Penguins can still be at the top of this division when it is all said and done. Who would have even imagined this a month ago?

Speaking of imagining things, that’s what I thought I was doing tonight when I saw the Penguins score the first three goals on the power play this evening. Chad Kolarik scored on a rebound of a Trevor Smith shot in the opening minute of the first period and Trevor Smith scored on a long outlet pass from Alex Grant, fighting off defenders in the final minute of the first period.

Alex Grant scored on a Riley Holzapfel screen in the third then Paul Thompson got a tip on a Jayson Megna backhand even strength to seal it, as if it hadn’t already been sealed.

Albany had just one shot on goal in the first period. They responded with a flurry to open the second period, then tailed off and only managed two shots in the third period. So yeah, a pretty dominating game from wire-to-wire for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Magic number to clinch playoffs was eight at the start of the day. The win puts things at six. With help, I think that number could get to five, but I need help in the math department in order to explain to you what that help is.

That pretty much covers things. Alex Grant was your third star with a goal and an assist. Jeff Zatkoff was the second star with his 11 save shutout and Chad Kolarik was your first star with a goal and an assist. Kolarik is two points away from the overall AHL scoring lead.

Have to enjoy when the Penguins staffers put up the highlights on YouTube. YouTube plays nicer with the blog then a link to the SendToNews package. anyway, here are the highlights:

Penguins get back at it tomorrow afternoon at three o’clock vs. the Hershey Bears for the final time this season. Gameday for that will be up at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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In a few years when the Lehigh Valley Phantoms bud to life, this will be a heck of a rivalry.

The Penguins sweep the season series against the Phantoms and win 3-2 in overtime cutting the magic number to clinch playoffs to at least 9 points. Basic mathematics are not my strong suit (automotive care and women the others) so it could be 10 points, 9 points or 8 points. I don’t honestly know.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Brian Boucher. Chris Collins was out for Steve MacIntyre

First Period: Had the look and feel of a pickup game, with the long stretch passes and the back and forth swapping in and out of each teams offensive zones. Teams would trade power plays, but the Phantoms obviously wanted to get the jump on the Pens and led shots at one point 7-1. The Penguins only had one shot at even strength.

Second Period: Period transitioned to a wide open first, to a second filled with defensive zone turnovers by the Penguins and penalties. I noted the following:

• First 25 minutes of the game, as noted by Michael Cignoli up in Glens Falls, it surprises no one that the two teams on the ice are the two lowest scoring teams in the AHL.
• Almost as soon as Cignoli tweets that, the Penguins fail to clear the defensive zone, Jason Akeson feeds Garrett Roe who scores.
• Pens get the goal back when Joey Mormina sends one in from the blue line that Jayson Megna gets a stick on on the way in for a tie game.
• Continual defensive zone turnovers. More than usual. How many times this year have you seen the other team score when the Penguins fail to clear? Happens a lot.
• Bobby Farnham fights Jeff Dimmen after Dimmen throws a legal center ice check on him. The Pens were steaming up ice on a two on one. That was wiped away when Farnham and Dimmen started engaging. Farnham took and extra 2:00 for unsportsmanlike. Wouldn’t you rather a guy like Keven Veilleux out there in lieu of Farnham? I know Veilleux is right handed, but it seems that most nights Farnham is a bit of a liability more often than not.
• Defensive stalemate, see point number one.

Third Period: Penguins played this period almost like they were not going to allow the Phantoms to beat them. Seemed that the Phantoms tried to rile up the Penguins, going after Steve MacIntyre and Zach Sill, but the Pens looked past that. Riley Holzapfel would lead a rush, drop a pass to Brian Gibbons, peel off and Gibbons would find him and Holzapfel smoked one home to make it 2-1. Adirondack would eventually get one back when ATO Kyle Flanagan sets up Shane Harper on the power play. Brian Dumoulin would get a good look late but it was on to…

Overtime: Pens opened up on a power play. They do not score on it, but seconds later Alex Grant shoots from the blue line and wins it for the Pens.

Three Stars: 3) Brian Boucher (22 saves on 25 shots) 2) Jeff Zatkoff (27 saves on 29 shots) and 1) Alex Grant (game winning overtime goal, +1)

Around the Division: Two teams in the Division make playoffs tonight, both being defeated by other teams in the division not currently in, but looking to get in. Norfolk beats Binghamton 2-1 and Hershey subdues Syracuse 4-1.

Standings: Syracuse 87 — Binghamton 87 — Penguins 80 — Hershey 75 — Norfolk 73

Conference: 1) PRO (89) 2) SPR (87) 3) SYR (87) 4) SYR (87) 5) POR (81) 6) WBS (80) 7) CT (76) 8) HER (75)

SendToNews Highlights: I don’t know that Adirondack has them. I will check again in the morning though.

Albany comes in tomorrow for a 7:05 start. Gameday for that will be up at 3, if some Black Aces from Wheeling get assigned, look for all that on Twitter tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!