Chirps from Center Ice

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Spot the Penguins three goals a game and plan the parade, baby. Here are three things you know going into to a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins game on any given night:

1) Either Jeff Zatkoff or Brad Thiessen have a legitimate chance at a shutout.
2) The defense is going to shut the other teams top line down.
3) The penalty kill is going to be rock solid.

Notice above that I mentioned defense and goaltending as my main points. I did not mention offense. There isn’t any. The Pens are relying on the defense and goaltending to get them through and hoping for a good bounce here and a good bounce there to muster enough offense to hopefully win a game for them.

Going back to the start of 2013, that’s 24 games if my late Wednesday night math is correct, the Penguins are 8-0 in games where they score three or more goals.

Driving home, I thought that it had to be scouting that prevents the Penguins from having success against the teams in the East Division. It isn’t that. It’s a total lack of offense. Maybe a bad break here and there mixed in, but the bottom line at the end of the day is that you need offense and goals to win games and right now the Penguins don’t have that. The power play is poop, 26th in the league at 13.7%. The offense is ranked 28th in the 30 team league at 2.35 goals a game and dead last in the Eastern Conference.

The Pens lost tonight 2-1 by the way. Tom Kostopoulos scored a rebound goal on a power play in the second period. Jeff Zatkoff took the loss, stopping 31 of 33.

Norfolk tied the game late in the second on a power play goal from Brandon McMillan shot that Zatkoff was heavily screened on. Then at just past the midway point of the third period, Dan Sexton and Ryan Parent work a puck off a Penguins defenseman and throw it at the net from a ridiculous angle. Josh Brittain gets a stick on it on the way by to put the Ads up front 2-1. With the anemic offense that is the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, that’s all they would require to skate away with the two points.

Penguins lose out on a golden opportunity to put distance between them and Hershey in the division and teams around them in the conference. The Penguins have now played 55 games and have 61 points. Providence, ahead of them in the conference has 53 games played with 66 points. Binghamton at the four seed has 53 games played and 67 points. Hershey has 54 games played and 58 points. Worcester and Albany at the nine and ten seeds have 52 and 51 games played and 56 and 54 points respectively.

No one else in the division skated. Wheeling lost 5-1 in Elmira.

SendToNews highlights aren’t up yet, here they are. I’ll have to link up in the morning.

Hershey is in Friday for a game which is more important now because of points and divisional / conference jockeying. Oh, and the Bears are upset over the last two games played against Wilkes-Barre and how we celebrated each overtime win. It’s dollar beer night, too. Should be a wild ride.

If I think of anything for the blog, I’ll have my idea first on Twitter then if I remember Facebook. If not, Gameday for Hershey will be up Friday at 3.

Let’s Score Some Goals Go Pens!

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Coming into this weekend, I had some trepidation about how the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins would fare, having been shutout on Friday and Sunday of last weekend’s action. Then, at some point, I re-read this entry I ran this past week and figured that we would be fine.

My inhibitions would prove false, as the Penguins win Sunday in Bridgeport 2-1 in a shootout.

Three games won 2-1 three different ways. 2-1 Friday in Philly against Adirondack, 2-1 in overtime at home against Connecticut and 2-1 in a shootout over the Sound Tigers.

This current Penguins roster isn’t exactly the ideal lineup that staff, front office and fans had visions of dancing in with when the season started. Your fourth line is basically a Wheeling line. The top line is really a second or third line as Paul Thompson and Philippe Dupuis are still out with injury. The only steady thing has been in goal. Brad Thiessen and Jeff Zatkoff have been rocks all season long and the defense has been there. The majority of playoff games are normally one goal affairs. Not saying that I would bet the house on the Pens in playoffs with this lineup, but as bodies heal the best, may be, yet to come.

Really dull games this weekend if you are looking for thrill a minute, in your face hockey. At the tail end of a three-in-three as both clubs were in this afternoon it was more of the same.

Brad Thiessen got the start and was opposed by Kenny Reiter, who has spent much of his time down in the ECHL with the Fort Wayne Komets. The only lineup change for the Pens was Reid McNeill in for Philip Samuelsson on defense.

First Period: Defensive gaffe by the Pens leads to a goal for Bridgeport. Aaron Ness picks a corner and the Sound Tigers were on the board. More shaky defense on the backend by the Penguins but Thiessen was there to make the saves. I got the sense early that the Sound Tigers wanted to get the early jump on the Penguins, much like the Pens wanted to do to the Crunch last Sunday. Pens had about a minute of 5-on-3 but weren’t able to materialize anything.

Second Period: A puck is dumped in the offensive zone. Brian Gibbons keeps it in along the back wall, he ultimately feeds Joe Morrow back at the point who walks in and fires it and Tom Kostopoulos tips it in to even the score at one. It was Kostopoulos’ 98th all time goal for the Penguins and first in over nine years.

Third Period: Really choppy period. Penguins had a scare late when Bridgeport had a late offensive push but again Thiessen was more than up to the challenge to keep the Penguins square at one. It was on to…

Overtime: Nothing to see here.

Shootout: Chad Kolarik and Riley Holzapfel. Thiessen stops four of five and the Pens hang on to win to complete the perfect weekend.

Three Stars: 3) Riley Holzapfel (shootout game winner ) 2) Kenny Reiter (26 saves on 27 shots) and 1) Brad Thiessen 34 saves on 35 shots)

Jonathan had this gem of a tweet:

Around the Division: Adirondack beats Binghamton at home 2-1. Syracuse blanks Connecticut 4-0 in Central New York and Hershey loses to Albany in Atlantic City 6-4.

Standings: Syracuse 72 — Binghamton 67 — Penguins 61 — Hershey 58 — Norfolk 50

Conference: 1) SYR (72) 2) SPR (67) 3) PRO (66) 4) BNG (67) 5) POR (64) 6) WBS (61) 7) HER (58) 8) CT (57)

SendToNews Highlights: Not up yet. I will check later.

Wheeling Update: Nailers shutout the Fort Wayne Komets in Indiana 1-0. Paul Crowder scored the lone goal of the contest.

Three other things to note which you may or may not find interest in. First, ex-WBS defenseman Carl Sneep is on his way up to the NHL, he earned a callup this afternoon. Second, it looks like the Calgary Flames could be pulling out of Abbotsford and heading to Utica, New York according to this report. Should be interesting to see how this develops. Finally, remember Hershey Bears goaltender Freddy Cassivi? He played in the Alumni Game in Hershey this past January. He also played today for the Reading Royals and made 21 saves in a 5-3 Royals loss to the Trenton Titans. Reason for this is because last night in Hershey backup goaltender Dany Sabourin was struck with an errant puck and needed stitches. The Bears recalled Brandon Anderson from Reading this morning.

Pens take to the ice again Wednesday at home vs. Norfolk. Hoping that the Penguins can keep this thing rolling.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Not a whole heck of a lot happened in the first forty minutes of this game tonight in front of a sold out crowd. The action happened early in the third, tension mounted the rest of the way and then Joe Morrow ended the game in overtime with just under a minute to play and the Penguins win 2-1 on a Saturday night.

No, really. That was it. OK, you want more? Fine.

You really could see the crescendo building from the drop of the puck. Chad Kolarik especially. He told Bombulie earlier this week that there were some hard feelings over the way he was traded here and who he was traded for (Benn Ferriero) and how Ferriero was called right up to the parent New York Rangers. Kolarik had a team high six shots on goal.

Both Jeff Zatkoff and Cam Talbot were on point for much of the first forty minutes of the game. Zatkoff dove over to stop a Blake Parlett shot and Talbot was turning away shot after shot after shot that the Penguins put on him.

Early in the third the Penguins were dealt a power play when Brandon Segal was sent to the penalty box for closing his hand on the puck. Kolarik gets a cross ice pass from Brian Dumoulin and smokes it home to put the Penguins on the board, snapping 180:41 of scoreless home ice hockey for Wilkes-Barre. You could tell also that he was really jubilant in his feat, too.

The very next shift, seemingly before you sat down, the Penguins were down two men. Tom Kostopoulos was sent to the box for roughing and then Zach Sill was nabbed for high-stiicking that drew blood. The Whale were on a 1:26 of 5-on-3. They scored soon after when Kris Newbury found Brandon Segal on the back door to even things at a goal a piece.

Here’s where I thought that the Penguins were in trouble. They had not scored a home ice goal since last Tuesday. They ran a marathon just to get one goal tonight. As soon as that happens, they go down two men and the Whale draw even. Thankfully, the Penguins clamped down defensively and we were off to overtime.

But, before that occurred, Chad Kolarik would get nabbed for delay of game clearing the puck over the glass. Nearly every Penguin on the ice argued that the puck deflected but Kolarik. Nevertheless, the Penguins would kill it in regulation and then in overtime. Then, Joe Morrow cranks up and fires and ends it in overtime with Penguins buzzing in front of Talbot.

Three stars were Zatkoff (26 saves on 27 shots) Kolarik (goal, even) and Morrow (game winning overtime goal, +1)

Seemed to me that the Pens had that “never say quit” attitude about them tonight. Could be something, or could be nothing. Time always tells.

Alright. does that work for you? Hope so. Here’s what else went down outside of Wilkes-Barre:

Around the Division: The Hershey Bears shutout the Adirondack Phantoms 3-0. Philipp Grubauer had a 40 save shutout, his first of his AHL career and certainly not his last. Grubauer is a horse in goal. He is really, really good. Here’s a story that Justin Felisko from Hockey’s Future wrote about Grubauer during the ECHL All-Star game in Loveland, CO. Binghamton loses to Albany on the Southern Tier 5-3 and Norfolk beats Providence 3-2 in a shootout. Syracuse blanks Springfield 3-0. Newcomer Cedrick Desjardins with a 26 save clean sheet of his own. 

Standings: Syracuse 70 — Binghamton 67 — Penguins 59 — Hershey 58 — Norfolk 50

Conference: 1) SYR (70) 2) SPR (67) 3) PRO (66) 4) BNG (67) 5) POR (62) 6) WBS (59) 7) HER (58) 8) CT (57)

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 3-1 in Cincinnati tonight.

Pens back at tomorrow afternoon in Bridgeport, Conn. at 3 p.m. Gameday for that will be up here on the blog at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Penguins mount a third period comeback in the City of Brotherly love and win 2-1.

But I am not taking this as an impressive win because the Phantoms are the worst team in the AHL. The Penguins looked inert all game and got late goals from unlikely places. Bobby Farnham on a goal that surprised people then Brian Gibbons on a garbage goal.

Christiaan Minella was signed to a PTO this morning as Chris Collins was injured in practice yesterday blocking a shot off his foot in practice per Tom Grace in pre-game.

Brad Thiessen vs. Cal Heeter. Reid McNeill took warmups but was scratched.

First Period: Minella was out with a line of Zach Sill and Adam Payerl and they had some early chances but weren’t able to get one past Heeter. Then the Penguins find themselves defending a 1:05 5-on-3 against. Right as the first power play expired, Marcel Noebels put one past Thiessen as Brad was caught out of position not being able to corral a Phantom shot. Penguins get a power play late but it looked awful. Gain center ice, dump it in, chase, lose out on a puck battle, Phantoms clear. Gain center ice again, rinse and repeat.

Second Period: Penguins allow the Phantoms just three shots on goal in the period, just one through fifteen minutes. Couple of fights, including Farnham and Ian Slater with Slater getting the better of Farnham.

I got the sense that the Penguins were totally off their game. No physicality. When they had a little bit, they were totally overwhelmed and outmatched by bigger guys. You had at one point the 5’11 Jayson Megna going after the much bigger Tom Sestito.

Third Period: Dominik Uher gets high sticked by Brandon Manning. Blood is drawn. Penguins get a 4:00 power play. They manage ZERO shots on goal during the ENTIRE power play. Things looked bleak. Then, the Penguins hem the Phantoms in their own end and Bobby Farnham gets the puck and sneaks one past Heeter. Then, right after that, Brian Gibbons scores a garbage goal off of a rebound of a Jayson Megna shot. Phantoms later pull Heeter but are unable to get the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Brian Gibbons (goal, +1) 2) Cal Heeter (26 saves on 28 shots) and 1) Brad Thiessen 29 saves on 30 shots)

Around the Division: Providence shuts out Norfolk in Virginia 3-0. Binghamton beats Hershey in a shootout 5-4 after Nathan Lawson starts the game, tells his coach that he doesn’t feel right, Bears tie the game but lose in the shootout. The Crunch were off tonight. 

Standings: Syracuse 68 — Binghamton 67 — Penguins 57 — Hershey 56 — Norfolk 48

Conference: 1) SYR (68) 2) SPR (67) 3) PRO (65) 4) BNG (67) 5) POR (62) 6) WBS (57) 7) HER (56) 8) CT (56)

SendToNews Highlights: Probably won’t be up either because it’s an NHL building or later. I will check at some point tomorrow.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost in Toledo to the Walleye 5-2. Keven Veilleux was a -4. Ouch.

Penguins travel home to faceoff against the Connecticut Whale in front of a sold out crowd at 7:05. Gameday will be up at 3:00 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Penguins go 1-2 on the weekend, bookended by a shutout on home ice Friday that the hands of the Norfolk Admirals 1-0 and today on home ice at the hands of the Syracuse Crunch 3-0.

You can see that the Penguins wanted to get ahead early on, as the shots after one were 12-3 in favor of the Penguins. Penguins got their only power play of the game when the Crunch were whistled for too many men, had chances but were unable to score.

Crunch goaltender Riku Helenius left rebounds all over the place all game really. If the Penguins would have been in better position to get to those rebounds, it would be a much different outcome, I feel.

Second period was more of the same, for the Penguins. A bend but not break mentality for the Crunch, who after two periods were being outshot 17-5. Pens had to kill the only Crunch penalty in that period, but the leagues best unit handled it easily.

In the third, you could see that the Pens were gassed. As a matter of fact, the headline for this recap would have been “Out of Gas” but I figure the play on Helenius’ name would add more humor to a pretty meek weekend.

Anyway, it takes three Penguins to decide which one of them would get the puck out of the defensive zone. Pierre-Cedric Labrie took a puck off of a d-man, fed Kyle Wilson who was all alone with Zatkoff and backhanded it in for a 1-0 Crunch lead.

The next shift, Brett Connolly pounces on a rebound of a Tyler Johnson shot to make it 2-0. John Hynes used his timeout. One of the questions I would have for Hynes if I talked to him postgame would have been if you had to go back and do it over, would you go back and use the timeout after the Wilson goal?

Not that it mattered, because a little bit later Ondrej Palat found Kyle Wilson in the slot and Wilson fired it home to make it 3-0 and that was your ballgame.

If the Penguins were up 3-0 after the first or second, a different outcome?

If the Crunch played last night, a different outcome?

I can’t say for sure. Especially when you can’t score goals. This team really misses Paul Thompson. I think that the players really feed off of his presence. As far as defense and goaltending go, the Penguins don’t seem to really have any problems in that department although if you watched today you would probably argue this point with me.

Divisionally, Binghamton won in a shootout up in Albany 3-2. Hershey beats Rochester in Western New York 4-1 and Norfolk wins in overtime at Bridgeport 3-2.

Standings go Binghamton 65, Syracuse 64, Penguins and Bears 55 and Norfolk 48.

So instead of five points back of the Crunch, it’s nine. And you have the Bears side-by-side now looking to advance and the Admirals getting their sea-legs, pun intended.

Penguins are seventh in the conference, with 55 points. They are seven points back of fifth place Portland.

Wheeling was off and I don’t know many that want to see SendToNews highlights.

Penguins are likely off Monday and will practice Tuesday. I have some things kicking around in my head for some topics this week. Check back here or with me on Twitter and Facebook for the latest.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Chad Kolarik breaks out a four point performance and makes a big difference on the power play tonight, and the Penguins roll the Binghamton Senators 5-2.

This was a needed game for the Penguins, catching the Senators who have been decimated by call-ups, and was the first regulation win by Wilkes-Barre / Scranton against the B-Sens this season.

Brad Thiessen vs. Robin Lehner

Personnel wise, Joey Mormina and Cody Wild were in for Alex Grant and Mark Eaton. Grant took a shot to the head or upper body last night and Eaton is slowly working his way into game shape.

First Period: Adam Payerl paid off his taking out Nathan Lawson from the last time these two teams met on Tuesday with Jack Downing. The build-up last longer than the fight itself. Chad Kolarik scored on a power play right at the end of a 5-on-3 for the Penguins. There were a lot of penalties. 19 total between the two teams. Referees Ryan Murphy and Dave Lewis were active tonight.

Second Period: B-Sens started their push back with about 7:00 to go in the first period. It carried over to the second. Penguins had a power play. As they were lugging the puck through neutral ice, Cole Schneider picked it off, skated it in and Tyler Eckford skated in and cleaned up the rebound. Tie game. Penguins could have let this set them back, but they reset and pressed on. Trevor Smith corralled a loose puck in Lehner’s crease while on the power play to put the Pens up 2-1.

Third Period: Penguins stepped on the gas and pulled away. Trevor Smith scored again, fed by Kolarik. 3-1. Then, Gibbons picks off a puck, skates in and gets Lehner down and tucks a puck in behind him past his pads. 4-1. Dylan Reese would then deflect a pass in to make it 5-1 later for the Penguins third power play goal later. Binghamton would get one late to make it 5-2 but could get no closer.

There really was no flow in the game with all the power plays handed out but unlike last night where the Penguins were handed seven straight, they capitalized on three of them.

The top line of the Penguins made up of Smith, Kolarik and Riley Holzapfel had 10 points combined. Strength in goal has been there all season. Scoring has been hot and cold. No doubt the Penguins need the top line guys to go all the offensive heavy lifting, so to speak.

Three Stars: 3) Brad Thiessen (22 saves on 24 shots) 2) Trevor Smith (two goals, assist, even) and 1) Chad Kolarik (goal, three assists, even)

Around the Division: The Bears lost 2-1 in Toronto and had their seven game point streak snapped. Norfolk lost 2-1 in overtime to the Connecticut Whale in Hartford. The Crunch were off.

Standings: Binghamton 63 — Syracuse 62 — Penguins 55 — Hershey 53 — Norfolk 46

Conference: 1) SPR (65) 2) BNG (63) 3) PRO (61) 4) SYR (62) 5) POR (60) 6) WBS (55) 7) CT (54) 8) HER (53)

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Lots to look at. Good times.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off tonight.

Penguins cap off the weekend with a 4 p.m. home game vs. the Syracuse Crunch. Gameday will be here at noon tomorrow.

I hope you enjoyed the tweet embed feature I discovered today. This will be returning again tomorrow vs. Syracuse and every other game thereafter.

Let’s Go Pens!

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In lieu of the traditional recap, let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly from tonight’s game, shall we?

The Good: Penguins only allow the Admirals 12 shots on goal the entire game and drew seven straight penalties over the span of the game. Chances were there, pretty much all game.

The Bad: 0-for-8 on the power play. 32 shots, no goals.

The Ugly: Russian goaltender Igor Bobkov played a stellar game, and the Penguins lose 1-0. The Pens now have scored just one goal in their last two games.

The above summarizes this otherwise boring game. It’s really hard to come up with words when the team gets shutout but looks good in the process while getting shutout, if that makes any sense.

The Admirals fourth line did it again. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond throws a puck on net that Penguins goaltender Jeff Zatkoff doesn’t corral and Brayden Irwin stuffs it home in the scrum to put the Admirals out ahead 1-0 early in the third. It would prove to be all the run support Bobkov and the Admirals would need.

Personnel wise for the Penguins Chris Collins made his debut. Cody Wild took warmups but was scratched. Joey Mormina did not but he was healthy. The rest were injury scratches.

Alex Grant was clipped late in the third by Mat Clark and did not return. For his effort, Clark fought Adam Payerl.

That’s all I can make sense of tonight. Penguins take to the road in Binghamton tomorrow.

Three Stars: 3) Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond (assist, +1) 2) Brayden Irwin (goal, +1) 1) Igor Bobkov (32 save shutout)

Around the Division: Syracuse dropkicks Binghamton 7-1 on the Southern Tier tonight. Robin Lehner took the loss. The B-Sens lost David Dziurzynski, Derek Grant and Eric Gryba to Ottawa earlier today. The Crunch are now off until Sunday, when they play the Penguins at 4 p.m. here in Wilkes-Barre. The Bears let a 2-1 lead slip on them and lost 3-2 in the Canadian version of the Steel City, Hamilton Ontario tonight in a shootout. The Bears have points in their last seven games and are, well, read on….

Standings: Binghamton 63 — Syracuse 62 — Penguins 53 — Hershey 53 — Norfolk 45

Conference: 1) SPR (65) 2) BNG (63) 3) PRO (59) 4) SYR (62) 5) POR (58) 6) WBS (53) 7) HER (53) 8) CT (52)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lose 6-5 in Gwinnett, SC tonight. The Gladiators score three unanswered goals in the third period to stun the Nailers. Keven Veilleux was without a point and registered a -1.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Not much to look at from both a Wilkes-Barre and Norfolk perspective.

Gameday for tomorrows venture in Binghamton will be up here on the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!`