Chirps from Center Ice

The effort is there and the goals are not.

How many times can I say this? Seems the story of the season far, no?

Penguins were blanked in Hartford this afternoon 2-0, via a 35 save shutout by Jason Missiaen. An ECHL call-up. But that wasn’t the story of the day….

Interesting moves made by the Penguins today in the wake of NHL salvaging a season and reaching the structure of a new CBA. Eric Tangradi, Beau Bennett and Robert Bortuzzo were all healthy scratches today. Alex Grant was a healthy scratch as well, but he wasn’t part of the “wink, wink. nudge, nudge” trio of Bennett, Bortuzzo and Tangradi. Benn Ferriero was an injury scratch with what Tom Grace called a “tweak” and is listed as day-to-day. Drawing in for those out were Philippe Dupuis, Simon Despres, Dom Uher and Brian Strait. All saw action for the first time today.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jason Missiaen. Missiaen is 6’8 and the tallest goaltender in any level of hockey anywhere.

First Period: Nice back and forth between the two teams with the Whale getting the better of the shots early on. Thiessen looked sharp making saves and not giving up any rebounds. Finally, on the only power play awarded by referee Jarrod Ragusin, Kyle Jean was able to get one in past Thiessen while Micheal Haley was providing a screen on Thiessen, who never saw the puck until it was in his net. Whale didn’t let off making Thiessen make some more saves.

Second Period: Can best be described as one of the most frustrating periods of hockey for the Penguins of recent. Jason Missiaen is a ECHL call-up and an unconventionally tall goaltenter. He has a +4 GAA and a .850 save percentage. He didn’t play that way in the period. He makes a save in the crease when he flubs a kick save then the puck goes under his pad while flopping on the ice like a beached whale (pun intended) — then, a Simon Despres point shot he leaves a big rebound to. Bobby Farnham collects the puck and fires it. Missiaen, and his entire 6’8 frame, gets over and makes the save. Later, Brad Thiessen and Joe Morrow get their signals crossed behind the WBS net. A turnover happens and it leaves Thiessen woefully out of position for Kyle Jean to swoop in and score his second goal of the game on a wide open net. It was Connecticut’s first shot on goal in the period. Penguins would get a late power play that they didn’t manage a shot on goal on.

Third Period: Run support just was not there for the Penguins, who took 11 shots in the period. The Whale only took three. Missiaen was on his head all period too, making saves that were or could best be described as highlight reel. Pens had a crack at the power play late, but with how poorly that’s been running were never able to get one past the Whale netminder.

Three Stars: 3) Kris Newbury 2) Kyle Jean (2 goals, +1) and 1) Jason Missiaen (35 save shutout)

Around the Division: Norfolk lost to Charlotte 3-1. Hershey lost at home to the Worcester Sharks 2-1. The Binghamton Senators lost in Albany 5-2. Syracuse was off. Collectively, a terrible day for the East Division.

Standings: Same as they were yesterday, Syracuse 49 — Binghamton 45 — Hershey 34 — Penguins 33 — Norfolk 30.

Conference: 1) SYR (49) 2) SPR (43) 3) POR (42) 4) BNG (45) 5) WOR (39) 6) BRI (37) 7) PRO (36) 8) MCH (36) 11) WBS (33)

Wheeling Update: The Wheeling Nailers lost 3-1 in Reading, PA to the Reading Royals. Royals goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 of 28 shots and was named first star of the game. Why mention a Royal here in a Wheeling Update? Grubauer is Braden Holtby’s heir apparent, a really good goaltender and a name which will be soon all too familiar to Penguins fans when he is in Hershey.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Nothing really to see, unless you are a Whale fan.

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Stay tuned to the Twitter and Facebook feeds on any news which may break regarding call-ups to Pittsburgh for training camp. Pittsburgh plans on having 24-26 players in camp. Who, isn’t known yet but you can pretty much rest assured we have seen the last of Eric Tangradi and Robert Bortuzzo. As for the rest, remains to be seen. Jonathan Bombulie blogged his thoughts on who may be on the way up for good as well. He’s more of an authority on these matters than I will ever be.

If anyone does get the call, I’ll have thoughts on the blog as news breaks this week.

Let’s Go Pens!

Well, that was needed.

Needed for the Penguins, who have lost 11 of the last 12.

Needed for Brad Thiessen, who had a 3.41 goals against average and a 0.884 save percentage. A mediocre season to date is an understatement.

Needed for the fanbase, desperate for wins and watching the other fans of the division snatching up wins like they are going out of style.

Pens win this game tonight 3-0, blanking the Worcester Sharks behind a 30 save shutout by Brad Thiessen. His first shutout in over fourteen months.

Ex-Shark Benn Ferriero scored just forty seconds into the game after Beau Bennett wrapped around the net and passed to Ferriero. It was the jump that the Penguins needed as they looked a lot better in the period. Thiessen looked really sharp from the jump as well. He’d been looking like the Thiessen of old in past affairs but hadn’t had the run support. Sharks, to their credit, continued to test Thiessen and never really looked out of it.

In the second, the Pens got goals from Riley Holzapfel and Warren Peters. The Holzapfel goal was a snipe job from the slot. The Peters goal was a rebound of a shot from Eric Tangradi. Sharks would buzz and get good looks but Theissen kept them out.

When the third period started, I am sure visions of the collapse in Binghamton were still fresh in everyones minds. Also to note, Worcester is 6-7-0-1 when trailing after two periods. That is best in the league. So they know how to comeback in the third. Only this time, it didn’t happen. Penguins played prevent defense all period long. They had no intention of putting pucks to Worcester goalkeeper Harri Sateri, taking just two shots all period. It worked. They held on for the win, backstopped by Brad Thiessen not allowing many if any rebounds all game.

Three Stars were Riley Holzapfel (goal, +1) Benn Ferriero (game winning goal, +1) and Brad Thiessen (30 save shutout)

Bears lose at home to the B-Sens 3-1. Crunch beat the Norfolk Admirals 4-3 in overtime for your divisional action.

Standings in the East Division are: Syracuse 49 — Binghamton 45 — Hershey 34 — Penguins 33 — Norfolk 30.

Conference looks like this: 1) SYR (49) 2) POR (42) 3) SPR (41) 4) BNG (45) 5) WOR (37) 6) BRI (37) 7) PRO (36) 8) MCH (36) 10) WBS (33)

Wheeling also enjoyed a shutout tonight. They blanked the Trenton Titans by a score of 5-0. Paul Crowder had a hat trick.

No SendToNews highlights to share yet.

Pens bus to Hartford tonight to take on the Connecticut Whale tomorrow at 3 p.m. Gameday will be here on the blog for you at 11 a.m.

Let’s look at tonight’s game in three parts:

The Good:

The Penguins allowed the B-Sens 15 shots on goal. Binghamton is a very good hockey team. Best winning percentage in the Eastern Conference, enough to send head coach Luke Richardson to Providence to coach the AHL All-Stars for the Eastern Conference. If this loss is during a stretch where the Pens are winning, you take this kind of loss given those kind of shots allowed against a quality opponent such as Binghamton any day of the week.

The Bad:

0 for 9 on the power play. Only one goal scored again. Two separate five on threes. Nothing to show for it. Nary a shot, even.

The Ugly:

1-11 in the last twelve games including 1-8 against divisional opponents. That hurts. Really bad, especially when you see your divisional foes nearly every weekend it seems. This was touched on in tonight’s Penguins Insider recap.

The result was a 3-1 Wilkes-Barre loss. Beau Bennett scored a postage stamp goal early in the first. Binghamton would even the score late in the period via Derek Grant. Microcosm of the season really. The Pens pressure the B-Sens all period, are pickpocketed in the offensive zone, and Binghamton scores. They’d then get a five on three goal by Mike Hoffman in the second period, then Hugh Jessiman would score on a wrist shot from the top of the circle in the third period to seal the victory for the B-Sens.

Around the Division: Syracuse shut out Norfolk 3-0. Hershey was idle.

Standings: Syracuse 47 — Binghamton 43 — Hershey 34 — Penguins 31 — Norfolk 29

Conference: 1) SYR (47) 2) SPR (41) 3) POR (40) 4) BNG (43) 5) WOR (37) 6) BRI (37) 7) PRO (36) 8) HER (34) 10) WBS (31)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers beat the Trenton Titans tonight at home 3-2 in overtime. Cody Chupp had two assists.

SendToNews Highlights: Are slowly being curated by Kate Krenzer and the B-Sens braintrust, but here is a link that will eventually show you all the good stuff.

Pens back at it tomorrow night at home vs. the idle Worcester Sharks. Gameday for that will be up here on the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

My other headline was going to be, “December to Remember?” – but I think I like this one better.

What a horrible month of December for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

After a 5-3 win on December 1 vs. the St. John’s IceCaps, the Penguins were in second place in the division. Here’s how the the East Division shook out when it was all said and done on December 1: Syracuse 28 — Penguins 26 — Binghamton 24 — Hershey 19 — Norfolk 16

They also sat fourth overall in the conference, the best of the best not a division leader.

Then, a 5-4 overtime loss to Hershey. Up 3-0 vs. Portland and they lose in a shootout. Then the Zatkoff injury. A bad loss to the last place at the time Albany Devils 6-3. A 3-1 loss to Binghamton on my birthday. A 4-0 shutout loss to Syracuse. Then the implosion on the Southern Tier when they are up 3-0 to Binghamton to start the third and ultimately lose 4-3. They finally break the funk and win in Syracuse 3-2 to get John Hynes the coaching record. Then, shutout in Hershey 2-0 on Boxing Day, then the next night utterly dominated by the Bears on home ice 4-1. Then the OT loss to Norfolk 3-2 on Saturday night then finally tonight a 2-1 loss to the Syracuse Crunch.

December 2012 will go down 2-7-2-1 for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

The talk of “we will figure it out” or “there are guys with a lot of pride who are very talented in this room” or “we aren’t worried about this” have gone stale. Something has to give.

You can’t win a Calder Cup in December, but you sure may lose out on the chance to compete for one in December if you let things slip away.

Brad Thiessen opposed Dustin Tokarski tonight. Beau Bennett returned from injury. Benn Ferriero was scratched. He’s been playing poorly. That scratch is justified. Dylan Reese was scratched too. That’s a few games now. Something is up there.

Thiessen kept the Pens in it in the first period with some sharp saves on Syracuse’s gunners. Same held for the second period, but the run support just was not there. Richard Panik gets sprung on a mini-breakaway and scores with Joey Mormina hooking him. Then, Panik scores in the opening minutes of the third period while the Crunch were on a power play to make it 2-0. Trevor Smith would score with :01 in the third period left to spoil Tokarski’s shutout bid. Ballgame.

I’m going to look up the last time the Penguins scored a shorthanded goal.I’ll probably tweet it out later. Edit: Benn Ferriero November 21 in Hershey, a 4-0 win. The only one of the season. The power play in the third period looked terrible. People were booing. Myself included. I try to stay above the noise and not troll or go to negative town just for the sake of or because I like to, but the Penguins right now just are not making smart decisions with the puck and are just playing sloppy, sloppy hockey. It’s really awful to watch.

Things don’t get better for the Pens as they are in Binghamton on Friday. I hope that a weeks worth of practice fixes what is ailing the team right now.

Divisionally, Norfolk and Hershey were off. Binghamton hosted the St. John’s IceCaps and won 4-2. This means that B-Sens head coach Luke Richardson will coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars January in Providence as he’s the coach at December 31 in the Eastern Conference with the best winning percentage.

Standings look like this: Syracuse 45 — Binghamton 41 — Hershey 34 — Penguins 31 — Norfolk 29.

Conference is as follows: 1) Syracuse (45) 2) Springfield (39) 3) Portland (38) 4) Binghamton (41) 5) Worcester (37) 6) Bridgeport (37) 7) Providence (34) 8) Hershey (34) 10) Wilkes-Barre (31)

SendToNews Highlights are here.

Wheeling lost to the Elmira Jackals at home 3-2. Andrew Hotham had a goal and Carl Sneep an assist for the Nailers in the loss.

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Want to thank the people who read this blog. WordPress sent me the end of year report and the blog has been seen 36,000+ times just in 2012 alone. I am close to 100,000 views all time. I am not Jonathan Bombulie, nor do I want to be, but thank you, thank you, thank you for reading what I put up here. I strive to do the best that I can and be the best at it and bring you information relative to the Penguins and the American Hockey League in general from a fan perspective. I really appreciate all the compliments I get as someone who doesn’t have a journalism degree and someone who pushes paper for a living that people actually: a) read my blog b) enjoy reading my blog c) recommend my blog to others. I can’t thank you guys enough. Here’s to a great 2013!

Let’s Go Pens!

The effort looked there at times, but the Penguins could not win again tonight losing 3-2 in overtime to a better than their standings place shows Norfolk Admirals team. The Penguins are 2-7-1-1 in December. The Admrials are 7-3-1 in December. Like two ships passing in the night going the opposite direction.

I can’t explain it. I don’t think anyone can right now. It seems like the team is a ship without a rudder and just going wherever the current takes it.

No captain. No sense of urgency. No effort on most nights. No wins to show.

I don’t know. I am not in the room and around the team at all. The time for, “get it together” is over.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Igor Bobkov

First Period: Brian Gibbons throws a puck at the net and it slips by Bobkov for a quick 1-0 Penguins lead. First fifteen minutes or so, all Penguins. Final five minutes were all Norfolk. Shots this period were 11-7 Penguins.

Second Period: Norfolk must have adjusted to something because they owned this period. Chris Wagner deflects a Gabe Guentzel shot six minutes in. They continue to sail around the ice, pun intended. Penguins then get some offensive zone time. They manage no shots on goal at Bobkov. Then, a puck hops a stick and Admirals leading scorer Peter Holland skates in and scores on Zatkoff to make it 2-1. Somehow, someway, the Penguins tie the game late off a Jayson Megna stuff after a Pens faceoff win.

Third Period: Uneventful, really. Both teams had a chance at the power play but nothing became of it.

Overtime: :27 in, Benn Ferriero gets called for hooking in the neutral zone. This is after referee Geno Binda calls just two penalties in the third period and many he either missed or let slide. :27 later, Peter Holland feeds Patrick Maroon in the slot and Maroon buries it for the game winner.

Three Stars: 3) Jayson Megna (goal, +2) 2) Peter Holland (goal, assist, even) and 1) Patrick Maroon (overtime game winner, even)

Around the Division: Syracuse coughs up a four goal lead to the worst offensive team in the AHL in the St. John’s IceCaps (2.34 goals a game) and lose 5-4 in overtime. Binghamton keeps rolling and win in Rochester 2-1. Hershey loses in regulation to the Albany Devils 3-2.

Standings: Syracuse 43 — Binghamton 39 — Hershey 34 — Penguins 31 — Norfolk 29

Conference: 1) SYR 43 — 2) SPR 37 — 3) POR 36 — 4) BNG 39 — 5) WOR 35 — 6) BRI 35 — 7) PRO 34 — 8) HER 34 — 10) WBS 31

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were shutout by Ryan Zapolski and the South Carolina Stingrays 3-0. Yes the same Ryan Zapolski who was in Wilkes-Barre on a PTO when Zatkoff went down with an injury.

SendToNewsHighlights: Aren’t up yet. Will be tomorrow morning most likely. Sunday Morning Edit: They are here. Went up 20 minutes after this published last night. Go figure.

Pens face off against the Syracuse Crunch at 5:05 Monday. Gameday for that will be up at 1 p.m. on New Years Eve.

Keep plugging. Go Penguins!

The slide continues.

The Penguins are now 1-8 in their last nine games. I can’t explain any one thing that could be the problem. Let’s walk through the basics:

1) Goaltending.  I don’t think there is an issue here. Jeff Zatkoff won goalie of the month in November. You don’t all of a sudden forget how to play goal. Brad Thiessen is a former AHL Goaltender of the Year as well.

2) Defense. An issue, but not a concern at this point. Okay, maybe a concern, because there have been more that a few times that a defensive gaffe has led to a turnover which in turn leads to a goal against. Still, a top unit in the AHL.

3) Forwards. John Hynes shook up the lines. It’s late, so I am not going to individually go through each players performance, but there really doesn’t seem to be an established fourth line. Second and Third lines rotate almost game to game, situation by situation, opponent to opponent.

4) Special teams. Big concern here. power play is running at a 1 for 41 clip at this time. Penalty kill is ranked third in the league, however.

5) Coaching. John Hynes is the all time winningest coach in Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins history. If you think he is the problem, please never read my blog again.

So in short, I don’t know.

The problem which scares me though is, I don’t think the Penguins do either.

They lost tonight and were swept in the mini-two game series against the Bears 4-1. Not a lot to get into here but I will do my best.

Lines were shook up. They were as follows:

Dupuis – Peters – Tangradi
Megna – Smith – Gibbons
Thompson – Ferriero – Holzapfel
Sill – Farnham – Uher

Dumoulin – Reese
Strait – Bortuzzo
Morrow – Despres

Zatkoff – Thiessen

First Period: Garrett Mitchell scores his 981st goal against the Penguins this season to make it 1-0 Bears early. Bobby Farnham and Kevin Marshall fought shortly thereafter. Farnham riled up his team and the crowd. It worked in part, as the Penguins would sustain offensive zone pressure throughout the remainder of the period but would be unable to crack netminder Dany Sabourin. Shots after one were 11-6 Penguins.

Second Period: Shots quickly jumped to 10 for the Bears in the opening minutes of the second period. They adjusted and quickly extinguished any pressure Wilkes-Barre had hoped to carryover from the first period. On a rush, Jeff Taffe sets up Steve Oleksy on a drop pass he wristed home past Zatkoff to put the Bears up 2-0. Seemed at the time to stop all momentum Wilkes-Barre had mounted or hoped to mount. Later, the Bears miss an open net, maintain pressure and capitalize on another and make it 3-0 via Mathieu Beaudoin.

Third Period: Brad Thiessen came in for relief of Zatkoff, who allowed three goals on fifteen shots. Penguins finally break through on a power play goal by Paul Thompson. Going back on my tweets from that point, all it was after that was tweeting time and score. Literally nothing was going on for the Penguins offensively the last ten minutes of the game. Boyd Kane picks a corner on Thiessen late and put the game away at 4-1.

Going back the last couple of games, it really hasn’t been Penguin hockey. It really has been hard to watch at times because nothing is going the Penguins way.

Three Stars: 3) Boyd Kane (goal, assist, +1) 2) Jeff Taffe (two assists, +2) and 1) Garrett Mitchell (goal, assist, +2)

Around the Division: We were the only divisional action on the schedule.

Standings: Syracuse 40 — Binghamton 35 — Hershey 34 — Penguins 30 — Norfolk 27

Saturday’s game against the defending champion Norfolk Admirals is HUGE in the scope of things.

Conference: 1) SYR (40) 2) SPR (37) 3) POR (34) 4) BNG (35) 5) HER (34) 6) BRI (33) 7) PRO (32) 8) MCH (32) 10) WBS (30)

So not only do the Penguins have to worry about last place they also have to worry about losing touch with the 7 and 8 seeds in the Conference.

SendToNews Highlights: Not much to see here, and they aren’t up at 11:05 p.m. on Thursday yet. Morning after edit: The highlights are up. They include all five goals and two fights including Simon Despres and Bobby Farnham.

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose in a shootout to the Greenville Road Warriors 5-4 at the Bi-Lo Center in South Carolina. The Nailers were up 4-2 at one point but the Road Warriors were able to tie it late and win in the shootout. Chris Barton had a goal and two assists and was a +2 in the loss. The same two teams meet again tomorrow night in Greenville.

Hang in there. That’s all I can say.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens lose this game 2-0 tonight in Hershey.

Thoughts:

1) The Penguins sorely miss Beau Bennett. It is apparent that the rookie runs the Penguins special teams unit. The Penguins were 0-for-6 tonight on the power play. Tom Grace said on radio pregame that he is day to day.

2) Braden Holtby is a very good goaltender. He has no business in the AHL. Due to the NHL lockout, he is here. He has six shutouts of the Penguins in his career. If fan bloggers like yours truly had all-star votes, he and Springfield’s Curtis McElhinney would be two of the three sent to Providence to represent the Eastern Conference next month.

3) Garrett Mitchell loves playing against the Penguins. He scored a goal in the first period after an uncharacteristic Brian Strait turnover early in the first period. He has three goals in the season series so far which is tops amongst head-to-head goal scorers.

4) I said at the beginning of the year that if the NHL lockout goes all season that either Hershey or Wilkes-Barre will not make playoffs. It certainly looks, with how bleak the NHL labor strife is at this time and how inert the Penguins have looked the last 10 games, that Wilkes-Barre will have a short Spring.

Penguins could not generate any offense despite only allowing the Bears 20 shots on goal. Yes, defense wins championships. But before you get to playoffs which allow you to win a championship, you have to win games. Offense wins games. The Penguins aren’t generating any offense right now which is a huge concern.

I said earlier today on Twitter that the results of the next four games the Penguins play will paint the picture of what the Penguins will look like overall for the remainder of the season. They played Hershey tonight, rematch against them tomorrow, have Norfolk and Syracuse Saturday and Monday. Win all four, back in the division hunt. Lose all four, the basement is calling. Play .500 hockey, you are right where we started, while the division lead gets larger and the margin of error gets smaller. That would be indefensible for even I to defend.

That’s about it. These two teams rematch again tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre.

Three Stars were Ryan Potulny (assist, +2), Garrett Mitchell, game winning goal, +1 and Braden Holtby (33 save shutout) in that order.

Syracuse beat Binghamton 5-3. Norfolk was off.

Crunch lead the East Division with 40 points. B-Sens are in second with 35 points. Bears are in third with 32 points. Penguins are fourth with 30, Norfolk is in fifth with 27 points.

Conference is Syracuse, Springfield, Portland, Binghamton, Providence, Hershey, Manchester, Worcester in that order. Penguins sit tenth. Currently out of a playoff spot.

The Wheeling Nailers were off tonight.

Scott Stuccio hasn’t uploaded the SendToNews highlights yet, but he will and when he does I will link in. SendToNews.com is where you can see the highlights. Edit: Here they are.

Gameday for the rematch will be here tomorrow at 3 p.m.