Chirps from Center Ice

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I hope that whatever fire that Coach John Hynes lit under the team tonight stays lit for a while.

Pens played like the better team and the better team won tonight, 5-3. 

Not before Worcester made it interesting late with power plays but the Pens, who tumbled from first overall on the penalty kill after letting in four power play goals by the Sharks on Wednesday, don’t let the Sharks score on the power play tonight.

Brad Thiessen vs. Harri Sateri — Chris Collins and Christiaan Minella were in for Dom Uher and Steve MacIntyre.

First Period: A determined Penguins team cycled the puck, kept their feet moving all night and the Sharks chased. The Pens get a power play. Bracken Kearns gets a shorthanded break but is denied by Thiessen. Later, the Pens get a five on three power play and Dylan Reese finishes putting the Pens on the board first. Thiessen had another big save on a 2-on-1 Sharks rush late.

Second Period: Floodgates opened for the Pens. When Chad Kolarik is on, he’s unstoppable. He scores on a power play to make it 2-0. Riley Holzapfel drove the slot, found Kolarik on the wing, pinching, and scored. Then, Joey Mormina drove one that Paul Thompson got a stick on with Warren Peters screening. 3-0 Pens. Right off the faceoff, Yanni Gourde gets one back for the Sharks streaking to the net when four Penguins were below the goal line. Thrill a minute action. Late, Chad Kolarik finds a wide open Riley Holzapfel on the left side who scores to break a 15 game goal-less streak for him to make it 4-1.

I said on the twitter call that the Pens could “coast” from here. They did, and it nearly cost them.

Third Period: James Livingston throws a puck on net just under the blue line that either surprises or handcuffs Thiessen. It’s 4-2. Another shorthanded break by Kearns, who must have had five quality chances tonight, but Thiessen stopped him. Worcester wins races. Pens coast, look flatfooted. Jon Matsumoto slides pne through bodies and its 4-3 now. Then referees Ryan Fraser and Trent Knorr, who by all accounts were quiet all game, decide to start calling penalties. Warren Peters rough with 2:15 to play. Sharks miss an open net. Sateri pulled, 6×4 for the Sharks. Thiessen dives over and stops another. Trevor Smith gets called for a slash. It’s a 6-on-4 for the Sharks now. Pens withstand the pressure. Thiessen a save through a crowd. Sharks take a penalty. Offensive zone faceoff for the Pens, Sateri was not in the net. Warren Peters wins the faceoff and shoots it into the empty net and that is your ballgame.

There are the six points that Penguins beat writer Jonathan Bombulie said the Penguins needed in this New England road trip. Still two more huge points on the line against old pal Nick Johnson and the rest of the Portland Pirates tomorrow.

Three Stars: 3) Travis Oleksuk (two assists, +2) 2) Riley Holzapfel (goal, assist, even) 1) Trevor Smith (two assists, even)

Around the Division: Norfolk beats Syracuse in a shootout, 4-3. The Admirals are coming and they are coming quick. Adirondack bests Binghamton in regulation, 3-2. The Hershey Bears were off tonight, and now have two games in hand on the Penguins.

Standings: Syracuse 80 — Binghamton 78 — Penguins 69 — Hershey 64 — Norfolk 63

Conference: 1) SYR (80) 2) SPR (77) 3) PRO (77) 4) BNG (78) 5) POR (73) 6) WBS (69) 7) ALB (65) 8) MCH (65)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost to the Toledo Walleye at home 5-3. Keven Veilleux had a goal.

SendToNews Highlights: Eventually they will go up. I will have them here when they do.

Pens now bus to Portland for a 7 p.m. game against the Pirates. Gameday for that will be here for you at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Well, that was unexpected.

No, I am not talking about the Penguins losing this game 5-1 tonight. Wilkes-Barre has a Jekyll and Hyde side to it where you don’t know what team you are getting. The Pens look like world beaters this past weekend, battling the Portland Pirates and toppling them in overtime on Saturday then clawing back from an 0-3 hole Sunday vs. Manchester to win in a shootout. Battle. Pressure. Fight? That motto must have been left in New Hampshire.

The Worcester Sharks, one of the more one dimensional teams in the AHL, score FOUR CONSECUTIVE power play goals tonight against the top unit in the AHL and make the Pens look like pancakes, because that’s how flat the visiting team was tonight.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Harri Sateri – Chris Collins was out for the returning Steve MacIntyre.

First Period: A very herky jerky start to the period, as there were many whistles. Period will best be remembered for 1:47 5-on-3 power play time for the Penguins about halfway through the period. They say the definition of insanity is repeating something over and over and expecting the same result. Alex Grant attempts to gain entry into the offensive zone, dumps it, Sharks retreat, get it and fire it down the ice. Grant tries again, is dispossessed five feet in. Yet again. Same thing. By the time the Pens had a chance in the zone, the Sharks got a man back then another man.

Second Period: Sharks get two power play goals. Pens looked and played flat in the period. Very uncharacteristic period for the Penguins, who by all accounts, did nothing to generate chances at all towards Sateri.

Third Period: Pens get a power play but can’t establish anything. Couldn’t even gain entry into the offensive zone properly. Then the Sharks get a power play. Adam Comrie gets a power play goal. 3-0 Sharks. Then Warren Peters gets a tip in off of a Joe Morrow point shot. Cardiac Penguins right? Bracken Kearns plays the role of 10,000 cigarettes and scores a nifty backhanded goal not a minute later to make it 4-1 Sharks. Just when you though things couldn’t get any worse than they presently stood, Kearns scored a power play goal to put things out of reach at 5-1.

The two teams rematch Friday in Worcester.

I don’t know what it will mean if the Pens do exact revenge and win Friday against the Sharks. They can very well travel to Portland the following night and lose 6-1 for all I know. That’s one thing that is the huge uncertainty. One weekend you can look like world beaters and sweep the weekend. The next you can look as inept as a team playing for the first time ever and look like tonight.

Three Stars: 3) Marek Viedensky (goal, even) 2) Adam Comrie (goal, three assists, +1) and 1) Bracken Kearns (two goals, one assist, +1)

Around the Division: Binghamton was in Rochester and lost 3-1. Norfolk traveled to Charlotte and won 3-2.

Standings: Syracuse 79 — Binghamton 78 — Penguins 67 — Hershey 64 — Norfolk 61

Admirals are getting closer. I think they make playoffs giving the East Division all five teams in. Although they could get in and Hershey or Wilkes-Barre could miss. But right now, the Admirals are playing like a playoff team.

Conference: 1) SYR (79) 2) SPR (76) 3) PRO (75) 4) BNG (78) 5) POR (73) 6) WBS (67) 7) HER (64) 8) CT (64)

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Not much to look at as a Penguins fan.

Wheeling Update: Nailers fared no better tonight, getting housed by the Reading Royals 7-1. Keven Veilleux scored the only goal for the Nailers tonight.

Pens look to regroup Friday at 7:30 in Worcester. Gameday for that affair will be up on the blog at 3 p.m. Friday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Pesky Ads.

Pesky Sens.

Pesky this.

Pesky that.

You see it all over the AHL, a resilient team that comes back from or battles through adversity labels itself “pesky.”

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are beyond that. Ask any season ticket holder that’s been with this team since the beginning and they will tell you about the “Cardiac Penguins.”

I’d rather be cardiac than pesky.

The Penguins found themselves down 3-0 before they knew it against a Manchester team that has seven guys on PTOs and their best player scratched on a recall to Los Angeles, have won four straight games and six of their last seven. Monarchs scored a five on three goal and two goals shorthanded before the Pens even knew what hit them. The Monarchs didn’t play last night. The Penguins were in Portland last night and Providence the night before. Things were not going the Penguins way at all. Manchester was running all over on them. It did not look like the Penguins team that we have all come to admire.

The Penguins battled. They fought for loose pucks. They battled some more. They won races. They pressured the Monarchs. They rode the wave of pressure that the Monarchs brought.

Finally, a Riley Holzapfel shot from just off the wall was deflected in by Chad Kolarik. 3-1. :28 later, it was 3-2 after Zach Sill crashed the net and the puck squeaked by.

More batting. More pressuring. More fighting.

Andy Andreoff scores a goal when he danced through Pens trying to defend but instead, running into each other. 4-2.

Things looked bleak. Teams around us in the conference were winning or on their ways to winning. The pressure both on and off the ice mounted.

Zach Sill steals an outlet pass, cuts in shoots it, whacks at a rebound and it goes in. 4-3.

Battle. Pressure. Fight. Battle. Pressure. Fight.

Chad Kolarik finds a streaking Dylan Reese in the slot. Reese has space, and roofs it. Tie game.

Overtime. Manchester came out gunning. Penguins sustained the pressure, then built some of their own. Nothing would be decided.

Goaltender Jeff Zatkoff stops Jordan Weal, Andry Andreoff, Brandon Kozun and Colton Yellow Horn. Martin Jones stops Chad Kolarik, Jayson Megna but does not stop Riley Holzapfel and Trevor Smith and the Pens skate away the victors, 5-4 in the shootout.

They battled. They pressured. They fought. Cardiac Penguins forever.

Three Stars: 3) Zach Sill (goal, assist, +2) 2) Linden Vey (three assists, even) and 1) Riley Holzapfel (shootout goal, assist, -2)

Around the Division: Binghamton stuns Hershey with two late goals including the go ahead with 2.3 seconds left in regulation and beat the Bears 3-2. The Bears went 0-3 on the weekend. The Admirals and Crunch were off tonight.

Standings: Syracuse 79 — Binghamton 78 — Penguins 67 — Hershey 64 — Norfolk 59

Conference: 1) SYR (79) 2) SPR (75) 3) PRO (75) 4) BNG (78) 5) POR (71) 6) WBS (67) 7) HER (64) 8) CT (64)

Wheeling was off tonight.

SendToNews Highlights: A fantastic package put together by the Monarchs here. Ken Cail is the voice of the Monarchs. I’d love to see him on Twitter one day.

Pens remain in Manchester until Tuesday when they bus to Worcester. I have no idea what blog content I will have between now and Wednesday, but I usually get a crazy idea that hops into my head sometimes.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Wow. Haven’t seen that in a while.

No, not a Pens win, there have been plenty those.

Four goals scored by the Penguins. Two in the first period. First time since January 19 in a 3-0 win vs. St. John’s. But another one goal game, one that the Pens win in overtime 4-3 off of a Chad Kolarik overtime game winner.

Or else it seemed that way. Tom Grace on radio called it to Paul Thompson. Earlier, on the second WBS goal, Kolarik looked to have scored the goal cleanly but the goal was credited to Jayson Megna. Regardless, an ironic night for Kolarik.

Tale of two teams for the Pens. They jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first, play relaxed in the second and Portland ties it in a span of 1:27. Both teams trade goals in the third then Thompson Kolarik scores the game winner.

Brad Thiessen vs. Mike Lee

First Period: Pens jump out to a 2-0 lead after pretty much dominating the Pirates in all facets of play. Penalty kill was solid. A Joe Morrow power play goal put them on the board first. Chad Kolarik Jayson Megna scores five on five, which was masterful. The Pens played like they were going to come out of the period with the lead and they did.

Second Period: The scouting report against the Penguins must be, “at some time they let off. when they do, you must capitalize.” Chris Conner scores four on four. I noted on the Twitter call that the Pens let off. Sure enough, Chris Brown scores from the right dot on a power play and it’s a tie game. Pens respond with a great late shift, Pirates looked gassed.

Third Period: Chris Brown again. Comes in on a breakaway after Joey Mormina gambles on a pinch and scores. First regulation lead by the Pirates in the season series. At this point I wouldn’t have blamed you if you thought things were bleak with the way goals have been so scarce for the Pens. But Joey Mormina fires a shot from the blue line, Bobby Farnham corrals it and Zach Sill bangs one home for a 3-3 game. Pens woke up after this, started moving their legs, got a power play they weren’t able to score on and it was on to….

Overtime: … but not before there were carry over penalties from the end of the third. Pens would come away with a power play. An Alex Grant point shot from the blueline is sent in and Paul Thompson Chad Kolarik scores the game winner.

Three Stars: 3) Zach Sill (goal, +1) 2) Chris Brown (two goals, even) and 1) Chad Kolarik (goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Syracuse scores four unanswered in Newfoundland and wins 4-2 over the IceCaps. Binghamton wins in overtime vs. the Rochester Americans 4-3 and Hershey is swept by Norfolk this weekend, losers tonight 4-1 to the Admirals.

Standings: Syracuse 79 — Binghamton — 76 — Penguins 65 — Hershey 64 — Norfolk 59

Admirals making noise now on the Pens and Bears, who I think will play a game of leapfrog all the way to April. If either one slips, Norfolk will be right there ready to step in.

Conference: 1) SYR (79) 2) SPR (75) 3) PRO (75) 4) BNG (76) 5) POR (71) 6) WBS (65) 7) HER (64) 8) MCH (62)

SendToNews Highlights: I don’t think Portland has them either.

Wheeling Update: Wheeling wins 3-1 vs. the Reading Royals. Scott Zurevinski was 1-2-3.

Pens bus to Manchester tonight for a 5 p.m. tilt with the Monarchs Sunday afternoon. Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead an hour. Gameday will be here on the blog at 1.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The offensive woes continue.

The Penguins kicked off their seven game road trip in Providence and were shutout 2-0. Michael Hutchinson makes 20 saves for the clean sheet.

Cody Wild, Steve MacIntyre and Jasyon Megna were the scratches. Tom Grace said on radio pregame that Megna was driven up today by a WBS front office staffer and didn’t make the bus trip yesterday so as not to infect the bus with the stomach bug he had.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. the aforementioned Michael Hutchinson

First Period: Could best be described as a feeling out period for the two teams. The Pens had the better of the power plays but only took three shots on goal and only allowed the P-Bruins the same amount. It would be the lowest amount of shots taken by both teams all season.

Second Period: For two teams that only play each other twice in a year, there were five fights, including four in 7:34 and 79 PIMs. Zach Sill fought Tyler Randell. Randell clipped Sill with a punch that dropped him. Colby Cohen and Paul Thompson fought after a scrum in front of Hutchinson’s net. Then Bobby Farnham fought David Warsofsky, Christiaan Minella / Kevan Miller. Pens had to penalty kill halfway through the period but dispensed of the Providence power plays. Then, Bobby Robins, the AHL’s penalty minutes leader, charges Philip Samuelsson then fights him. Robins would get a five minute major for charging. The Pens, during the extended power play, only manage a single shot on goal and the P-Bruins played “bend but not break” and killed it.

Third Period: The P-Bruins looked out for blood. Zatkoff made save after save. Alex Grant takes an interference call. Jamie Tardif feeds Craig Cunningham on the back door. Power play goal. Pens get a power play. Puck flutters just past the cage of Hutchinson. No goal. Then the Bruins continue to pressure, come in three on two and score. That would be all the offense that the P-Bruins would need. Zatkoff was pulled but the Penguins did not score a goal.

Three Stars: 3) Jamie Tardif (assist, even) 2) Michael Hutchinson (20 save shutout) 1) Craig Cunningham (goal)

Around the Division: Binghamton shuts out Connecticut at home, 3-0. Syracuse takes down St. John’s in a shootout 3-2. Hershey was dropkicked by the Norfolk Admirals in Virginia 5-1.

Standings: Syracuse 77 — Binghamton 74 — Hershey 64 — Penguins 63 — Norfolk 57

Conference: 1) SYR (77) 2) SPR (75) 3) PRO (73) 4) BNG (74) 5) POR (70) 6) HER (64) 7) WBS (63) 8) MCH (62)

SendToNews Highlights: I don’t think Providence has them.

Wheeling Update: Wheeling wins 5-2 in Trenton.

Pens travel to Portland for a 7 p.m. game against the Pirates. I will have the Gameday setup here for you at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Penguins win 2-1 in a shootout in thrilling fashion. A game that had pretty much everything:

1) A close to sell-out crowd.
2) A team desperate to get back on track and win again.
3) An Albany team that beat the league best Syracuse Crunch last night.
4) An untested goaltender in Max Clermont making his AHL debut for the Devils.
5) Action back and forth all night by two tight checking hockey clubs.

Adam Payerl got the better of Clermont in the shootout in the sixth round. Jeff Zatkoff stops Steve Zalewski to secure the win for the Penguins.

I couldn’t put my finger on what the bigger storyline was in the game. Whether it was Clermont, an untested goaltender coming in with a 3+ GAA with Elmira this season who didn’t know any better or the Penguins lack of puck luck.

Trevor Smith scored a power play goal in the slot in the first period which by all accounts was pretty even. I don’t know if Albany matched the same intensity that was seen by the Penguins last night or if the Pens were 100% invested in the game like they were not the first ten minutes of the game last night vs. Hershey.

Clermont established himself early on. All pucks hit him and stuck to him it seemed. He game up little rebounds. He looked relaxed.

In the second, Darcy Zajac slips away from the defense overloaded on the left side, and scores a goal to bring things even. Penguins had the better of the chances but Clermont was more than up to the challenge.

Overtime solved nothing. Devils had the better of the chances. There was a sequence where the Penguins thought they had scored but referee Ryan Fraser reviews it on replay and determines that the puck does not go in.

Shootout time. Mike Sislo in round one, Jayson Megna in round four, Tom Kostopoulos and Joe Whitney in round five and Adam Payerl in round six with Zatkoff stopping Steve Zalewski.

It was Albany’s tenth shootout loss, tops in the AHL.

Three stars were 3) Trevor Smith (goal, even) 2) Jeff Zatkoff (26 saves on 27 shots) and 1) Adam Payerl (shootout game winner)

Another night where I thought that the opposing goaltender deserved a star of the game. Clermont was spectacular when he needed to be, which was often.

Around the Division: Binghamton was in Toronto and won 4-2. Norfolk traveled to Hershey in an important game for both teams and coughed up a 2-1 lead with 2:33 left in regulation and lost 3-2. Rochester edged Syracuse in overtime 2-1.

Standings: Syracuse 75 — Binghamton 71 — Penguins 63 — Hershey 62 — Norfolk 54

Conference: 1) SYR (75) 2) SPR (73) 3) PRO (69) 4) BNG (71) 5) POR (67) 6) WBS (63) 7) HER (62) 8) CT (59)

Bears host the Crunch tomorrow and can leap frog the Penguins if they win. It is their game in hand against the Pens.

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 3-0 at home, shutting out the Trenton Titans. Chris Barton was 1-1-2, Paul Crowder was 1-2-3. Keven Veilleux had an assist.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Cut up are both regulation goals and the shootout goals.

Pens hit the road for seven straight games, hitting a ton of New England stops along the way.

Third Quarter Grades are due! 19 games left! The playoff push is on! Stick with me on Twitter for when to expect the grades. Probably some time early on in the week.

Let’s Go Pens!

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J’ever show up late to something and ask, “what’d I miss?” and be told, “everything!” That’s how the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins felt when tonights game started. The Pens do nothing for 9:30, look flat as a pancake, allow the Bears to score three goals on them and before you knew it, starter Brad Thiessen was chased and Jeff Zatkoff was in.

Pens mounted a comeback the rest of the way, locking the Bears down and only allowing the Bears 9 more shots on goal, but the end result was a 3-2 loss on home ice to yet another divisional foe.

Bears goals in the first went like this: Boyd Kane spin-o-rama roof job on Thiessen to make it 1-0. Then Jeff Taffe in similar fashion and it’s 2-0. Later. Ryan Potulny under the bar and in. Referee Trevor Hanson reviewed it on replay and it stood and it was 3-0. Enter Zatkoff. Penguins settle, get a power play, no shots. Uh oh. Casey Wellman then boards Tom Kostopoulos. Another power play.

J’ever see something happen before it happens? That’s what this Penguin power play looked like. You could see the ferocious tenacity in the eyes of the Penguins. They were going to score. They just were. Sure enough, they did. Tom Kostopoulos scored his 100th goal as a WBS Penguin, his third straight and second on the power play. Penguins caught up in shots at nine a piece heading into the second.

The second period could best be described as a textbook way that you control the puck, pressure the opponent and back and fore check like madmen. That’s exactly what the Penguins did the entire period. The Bears only manage two shots on Zatkoff this period. Joey Mormina brings things to within one when the puck hits everything but the kitchen sink and clangs off the post and in. Wave after wave of pressure. All lines rolling.

Then three things happened the rest of the way home that didn’t really happen. Trevor Smith finds a cutting Riley Holzapfel towards the net. Holzapfel could not corral the puck on the back hand and it hops over his stick. Then, in the third period, Bobby Farnham shoots, Jayson Megna pounces on a rebound and Sabourin dives over to block it. Finally, in the dying minutes of the third Warren Peters has the game on his stick but is unable to control the puck and it skitters off his stick and out of his reach. Ballgame.

I thought Sabourin won the game for Hershey tonight. He was spectactular when he had to be.

Three stars were 3) Jeff Taffe (goal, even) 2) Joey Mormina (goal, -1) and 1) Ryan Potulny (game winning goal, +1)

How Sabourin didn’t earn a star was beyond me.

It is too late in the season to count this game as a “moral” victory. There are no more moral victories. The Penguins took 34 shots and allowed the Bears only 14. But the first 7 of those shots resulted in 3 goals. You have to be better than that. You just have to. Your biggest rival comes into your building with a game in hand on you and you let it be 3-0 before the game is 10 minutes old then fight like dogs just to get back even.

Anyway, here’s what happened outside of Wilkes-Barre:

Albany wins it’s third in a row by beating Syracuse 3-1 in Syracuse. The Devils are in town tomorrow night. The B-Sens beat Hamilton in the Steel CIty 3-2 and the Admirals beat the Charlotte Checkers (remember those guys?) 6-2 at home.

Standings: Syracuse 74 — Binghamton 69 — Penguins 61 — Hershey 60 — Norfolk 54

Conference: 1) SYR (74) 2) SPR (71) 3) PRO (68) 4) BNG (69) 5) POR (66) 6) WBS (61) 7) HER (60) 8) CT (59)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose at home to the Trenton Titans 3-2 in a shootout. Keven Veilleux had a goal and an assist and did not convert his shootout attempt.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Include Kostopoulos’ 100th goal as a Penguin.

Albany is in tomorrow on “Eric Tangradi Bobblehead” night. The good thing I guess that can be said here in this situation is that the Pens play seven non-divisional foes starting tomorrow and six of those seven on the road after tomorrow.

Gameday for tomorrows game vs. Albany will be here at 3. Check it out then then come back later for the “live tweet” feed.

Let’s Go Pens!