Chirps from Center Ice

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Don’t look now but the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have not won in four games.

A 4-2 setback Friday night after a valiant would be comeback in the third sees the Hershey Bears take this one on Friday.

Oh and tomorrow’s opponent, Lehigh Valley did something the Penguins couldn’t do and that was beat Syracuse in Syracuse this evening.

I don’t know if they are missing offensive guns like Ville Koivunen and Tristan Broz that badly that it shows with these results as much as it is lapses in defensive judgement.

They fell in a 3-0 hole in the second period after the two defenseman down on conditioning, Jack St. Ivany and Ryan Graves, were on the ice for all three goals scored in the period.

Offense never got going Aidan McDonough scored early in the third to kick start a comeback, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scored :20 into a power play but they got no closer.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Penguins made a small future consideration trade with the Calgary Wranglers, trading for Blake Bennett who has been with the Flames ECHL affiliate the Rapid City Rush all season. On ice, Ryan Graves, Jack St. Ivany and Sebastian Aho in; Scooter Brickey, Chase Pietila and Alex Alexeyev out.

First Period: No scoring. They traded power plays.

Second Period: Hershey scores three times in a span of 5:37. Andrew Cristall crashes the net to make it 1-0, Sonny Milano throws one off of Sergei Murashov to make it 2-0 and then Ryan Chesley from the blue line makes it 3-0.

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Jack St. Ivany and Ryan Graves, NHL contracted NHL defensemen, on the ice for all three goals against.

Third Period: Aidan McDonough gives them life at 2:35.

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Where would we be without Aidan McDonough?

:20 into a power play and Harvey-Pinard scores to bring the Penguins within one.

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Bears blocked a lot of traffic and Mitch Gibson was solid enough when he needed to be, on a delayed call with Murashov pulled, Borden Trineyev scores an empty net goal.

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No, that’s not the empty netter, but he had some key blocks that preserved the win.

Three Stars: 3) 2) Melvin Fernstrom (two assists) 2) Ilya Protas (assist) 1) Andrew Cristall (goal, assist)

The Good: I liked the comeback attempt.

The Bad: NHL contracted defenders shouldn’t have put them in that predicament to start.

Turning Point: The Chesley goal gets it here as it stopped being fun after that and they desperately tried to erase a three goal deficit.

Around the Division: Charlotte shuts out Bridgeport 3-0….Cleveland beats Hartford 3-1….Lehigh Valley beats Syracuse 4-1.

Standings: Providence 89 – Penguins 79 – Charlotte 73 – Hershey 62 – Bridgeport 56 – Lehigh Valley 56 – Springfield 52 – Hartford 50

Don’t look now but Charlotte is comin’!

Wheeling Update: Taylor Gauthier with another 29 save shutout as the Nailers win 4-0 in Glens Falls and the Thunder.

Video Highlights: 

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More Saturday after the Phantoms game.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I didn’t like the first 20 minutes of this game, but was OK with the final 40 plus overtime. Wilkes-Barre / Scranton grits out a point on the road in Syracuse but lose 3-2 on overtime on a Lucas Mercuri power play goal that give the Crunch the extra point.

It looked like the Penguins were set to get buried again by the Crunch like the last time they were here on January 3 when they got creamed 6-0. But they tightened things up considerably from the second period on and a Melvin Fernstrom goal with under a minute to play in regulation get them a point they can use.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Quiet trade deadline day. No moves affecting the AHL club. Avery Hayes was papered down making him eligible for playoffs, Ville Koivunen was recalled under emergency conditions.

Melvin Fernstrom returned from injury replacing Ville Koivunen up front, Scooter Brickey was in for Matt Dumba.

First Period: Syracuse struck twice on transition plays and ran out to a quick 2-0 lead. Wilkes-Barre had two cracks at the power play but could not solve Brandon Halverson, who has been a stone in the shoe of the Penguins for two seasons now.

Tristan Allard and Brendan Furry with the goals here.

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And since they posted it, I will let you know about it – Boko Imama fought ex-Penguin Jarred Tinordi. Both men landed clean shots and never budged.

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You just don’t see that anymore.

Second Period: Better period for the Penguins as Rutger McGroarty scores on transition that gets Wilkes-Barre on the board.

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Pens whiff on their third power play of the game early on and then kill a good Crunch power play easily but still trailed 2-1 heading into the…

Third Period: No penalties in the period which seemed to snap by with the Penguins in control but the Crunch just keeping them at arms length. Then with Sergei Murashov pulled and after a timeout an Aidan McDonough shot is blocked to Melvin Fernstrom who scores to tie the game.

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This got them to…

Overtime: I thought the officiating was better here then it was Wednesday, but Wednesday was a low bar. Ref Riley Brace gets Finn Harding for an iffy-ish hold on Tristan Allard that puts the Crunch on a power play. After a timeout, Lucas Mercuri scores to end the game.

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Ballgame.

For what it’s worth, the Penguins had their chances to score in overtime with Aaron Huglen getting denied by Brandon Halverson twice on the same sequence with the pad and then later on a one timer, both set up by Rutger McGraorty.

Bounces.

Three Stars: 3) Tristan Allard (goal) 2) Brendan Furry (goal) 1) Lucas Mercuri (game winning overtime power play goal)

Around the Division: Hartford shuts out Bridgeport 6-0….Charlotte beats Lehigh Valley 5-3 and Iowa shuts out Springfield 2-0.

Standings: Providence 85 – Penguins 79 – Charlotte 69 – Hershey 60 – Lehigh Valley 53 – Bridgeport 52 – Springfield 51 – Hartford 48

Wheeling Update: Nailers are out in Rapid City, SD for game two of their three game visit to the Rush. That box is here.

Video Highlights: 

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Enjoy the rest of the weekend off, enjoy the taste of Spring this weekend with the slightly warmer weather and don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead before you go to bed Saturday. Back here next week for the three in three against Lehigh Valley and Hershey.

Let’s Go Pens!

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If you want to beat the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, you have to get to them early.

Any maybe have the referees on your side, too.

A 5-4 loss on a Wednesday night where the Penguins were a step slower than the Thunderbirds for the first two period and then picked it up in the third. A pair of Aidan McDonough goals tied it, but a controversial Mathieu Joseph power play goal was ruled a good goal when it was clear that Joel Blomqvist was interfered with.

I am long past the getting hot over what goaltender interference is or isn’t. No one knows what it is, no one can explain it, and if you think you can you are lying to yourself and others who believe you.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Back to the conventional 12/6, Tristan Broz indeed injured, their leading scorer, Nolan Renwick and Zach Gallant draw in at forward, Sebastian Aho out on defense.

First Period: A bad pinch by Owen Pickering sees Juraj Pekarcik score 17 minutes into the game.

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Okay, not bad. They were a step behind all period but a one goal lead is manageable.

Only they took three penalties in the period and gave all the momentum to Springfield.

Second Period: Dillon Dube strikes twice, once at even strength and then on a power play. Aidan McDonough netted a power play goal just six seconds into the first power play of the game for Wilkes-Barre, to get the Pens on the board.

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I didn’t particularly like that third goal by Dube, if we didn’t have what we had in the third period, I would have gave that the turning point of the game. It had the feel.

Third Period: To this point the Thunderbirds were on their fifth power play of the game to open the frame on a Matt Dumba roughing penalty at the conclusion of the second period. I didn’t particularly like Dumba’s game, he took too many penalties (three in total) and just handcuffed the team all night.

I made a comment that the keep it close and step on it in the third period strategy could only get them so far. It nearly worked here because the Penguins wee by far the better team the entire period, and tied the game on goals by Tanner Howe and Aidan McDonough. For McDonough, his second power play goal of the game.

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But then the Mathieu Joseph power play goal. Springfield’s social media team, while usually class of the field with the amount of stuff they put out there, casually didn’t post the video of the Joseph interference goal here. After a brief conference at the scorers table, the goal was allowed to stand.

That basically did it. A Chris Wagner empty netter put it out of reach but then a bonehead turnover by Springfield sees Rafaël Harvey-Pinard score to make it 5-4 and closer than it seemed.

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Three Stars: 3) Mathieu Joseph (goal) 2) Aidan McDonough (two goals, assist) 1) Dillon Dube (two goals)

The Good: Where would they be without Aidan McDonough, who is carrying the freight with consistency with Hayes recalled and Broz hurt.

The Bad: The officiating was an abomination tonight. You know you are in for a guessing game when you see Rob Hennessey in the arm bands. He’s one of the slowest referees in the League, is overmatched, guesses, and flies by the seat of his pants on most nights. Seven power plays for Springfield? I have heard of refereeing the score, but refereeing the standings? Get lost. They normally send the B-team referees to lazy weekday games, and Hennessey embodies what it is to be a middling AHL official.

That said, you cannot be giving away points to a seventh place team that doesn’t belong on the same ice as you.

Turning Point: The Joseph power play goal gets it here.

Around the Division: The Paper Tigers do it again, rallying from two goals down to beat last place Hartford 3-2. Too bad the Wolf Pack won’t be around in mid-April and beyond. Then what?`

Standings: Providence 85 – Penguins 78 – Charlotte 67 – Hershey 60 – Lehigh Valley 53 – Bridgeport 52 – Springfield 51 – Hartford 46

Wheeling Update: Nailers are out in Rapid City, SD for a trio of games against the Rapid City Rush. That game is ongoing at 11 o’clock on a Wednesday night, so I will leave the box here.

Video Highlights: 

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It doesn’t get any easier when they head to Syracuse Friday. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Local reference with the blog headline, it was Jack Williams’ overtime goal 1:55 into overtime that gets Cleveland the extra point and the Penguins a 2-1 overtime loss Saturday evening.

Tightly contested game where Sergei Murashov stole one for the Penguins, the point at least, keeping his team in it.

Matt Dumba had all the offense for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton, scoring a late. second period power play goal.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Opted for 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, with Finn Harding jumping in the lineup and Zach Gallant coming out.

First Period: Penguins were outshot 18-5 in the period and went down on a Zach Aston-Reese deflection in front of Sergei Murashov for a 1-0 lead.

Quick 15 minutes then the final five turned into a slog as the Monsters were given a power play followed by the Penguins. For the Penguins, they nearly got scored on shorthanded but Ole Julian Bjørgvik-Holm beat Murashov five hole but hit a post.

Second Period: After seeing the Monsters first 18 shots at Murashov in the first period, Wilkes-Barre really clamped down and only allowed the Monsters three shots at the Penguins net minder.

Penguins had 1:31 of two-man advantage and after a time out and seeing the first half of the power play pass Matt Dumba would step up and fire one in for a power play goal that tied the game at one.

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Third Period: No scoring but the carelessness with the penalties continues to be a problem. They were able to get 3 of 4 points this week because of goaltending, but they took two penalties in the period and failed to score on a power play about midway through.

Sergei Murashov with a save of the year type work.

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He fooled Cleveland’s goal judge and the in house person in charge of the goal horn.

Also, the Penguins lost Tristan Broz to injury late in the second. Matt Dumba didn’t take kindly to a hit and ended up taking a roughing penalty.

Overtime: 

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That’s Tony Brown on the call there and he’s criminally underrated in my ears as a play by play guy. Cleveland has a good one here.

Three Stars: 3) Brendan Gaunce (assist) 2) Sergei Murashov (27 saves) 1) Jack Williams (overtime game winning goal)

The Good: They took 3 of 4 points out of a non-division opponent, on the road. You take that all the time.

The Bad: The power play continues to struggle.

Turning Point: I am going to give it to Sergei Murashov’s save highlighted above because without it, it’s a regulation loss because they could have played till next November, I don’t think the Penguins were scoring another goal today.

Around the Division: Providence gets two third period goals to force overtime and win 3-2 in a shootout at home against Bridgeport, these two teams rematch Sunday….Springfield beat Charlotte 5-1 and there was a goalie fight involving Louis Domingue….Hershey is all over Rockford out in Illinois. That box is here. Hartford and Lehigh Valley had a marathon shootout that lasted 12 rounds. Hartford wins 5-4.

Standings: Providence 81 – Penguins 78 – Charlotte 64 – Hershey (56, pending outcome in Rockford) – Lehigh Valley 52 – Bridgeport 52 – Springfield 49 – Hartford 46

Wheeling Update: Nailers and Komets are in a tight one out in Fort Wayne. That box is here.

Video Highlights: 

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Back at it Wednesday when they host Springfield. Weekend Preview will be here Wednesday around lunch time.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The last time these two teams met a few weeks ago, Joel Blomqvist was pulled and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lost in overtime.

Fast forward to Friday night and Blomqvist goes the full 60, stops 22 shots and his Penguins team holds on for a 3-2 win.

Goals by Atley Calvert, Villa Koivunen, playing in his 300th professional game and Aidan McDonough.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Joona Koppanen and Zach Gallant for Filip Hållander and Melvin Fernstrom up front and Alex Alexeyev and Chase Pietila for Finn Harding and Emil Pieniniemi on defense. Hållander was recalled after his conditioning stint and Fernstrom is day to day with an upper body injury suffered last Sunday in Bridgeport.

First Period: Zach Gallant with a beautiful setup to Atley Calvert who scores on a backhand to put the Penguins up 1-0 early.

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Then a setup behind the net by Rutger McGroarty to Ville Koivunen for a slam dunk goal that extended the Penguins lead to 2-0.

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These goals come :45 apart.

Cleveland settled in from there and the flood of goals stopped.

Second Period: The Penguins took four consecutive penalties, three in this period alone and on the final power play for the Monsters on a heavily disputed too many men on the ice call against the Penguins, Luca Del Bel Belluz scores :04 into a Monsters power play that cut the deficit to one.

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But then in the final minute of the period, Aidan McDonough with a huge goal that made it 3-1 Wilkes-Barre at the end of a large offensive zone setup by Wilkes-Barre.

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Third Period: Referees Koletrane Wilson and Stephen Huff flipped the script on the teams and started calling penalties against the Monsters. Despite this, the Penguins were unable to score.

The game tightened up when. Guillaume Richard scored just 1:15 into the period to make it a one goal game again.

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Unfortunate bounce off of the skate of Owen Pickering.

Joel Blomqvist stopped a James Malatesta. breakaway bid about halfway through.

This was a game where you could almost feel it being a one goal game.

With Zach Sawchenko pulled, the Pens iced the puck a bunch but Cleveland never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Rutger McGroarty (assist) 2) Atley Clavert (goal) 1) Aidan McDonough (goal)

The Good: Two points on the road and Blomqvist had a hell of a game, you can argue he stole one against the Monsters tonight.

The Bad: Special teams continues to be a major concern and they were careless again.

Turning Point: The McDonough goal gets it here.

Around the Division: Hershey is out in Rockford and at about 9:50 p.m. on a Friday that game is 1-1. Box here…..Charlotte clips Springfield in overtime 3-2.

Standings: Providence 79 – Penguins 77 – Charlotte 64 – Hershey (will remain in fourth no matter what happens in Rockford with either 54 (loss) 55 (point) or 56 (win) points – Bridgeport 51 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Springfield 47 – Hartford 44

Wheeling Update: Nailers with a 7-2 win at home against Kalamazoo. The K-Wings were held to just 10 shots on goal the entire game. Taylor Gauthier got the win, Nolan Renwick with a goal, Ryan McAllister a goal and two assists, Danial Laatsch had a goal and Zach Urdahl had two assists. 10 shots. That’s something.

Video Highlights: Why didn’t someone tell me to just go to teams YouTube pages earlier???

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Back at it again in Cleveland at 4 p.m. Don’t be late!

Let’s Go Pens!

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A lot to like about this one, a 4-0 Penguins win in Bridgeport.

25 save shutout for Sergei Murashov, his third of the season.

11 of the Penguins 18 skaters recorded a point.

They are getting healthier.

2/4 on the power play and 3/3 on the penalty kill.

But, consider the opponent. It’s Bridgeport, who has played better and is a bit improved, but will only be a 5 or 6 seed in the playoffs, if we are being brutally honest. Call me again when they do this against Syracuse, Rochester or Charlotte.

But that’s the pessimist in me, this was a good solid win, so let’s get into it.

Here’s how they lined up. Bridgeport didn’t post lines.

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Lineup Notes: They are getting healthy. Ryan McAllister came off the injured list but was a scratch. Alex Alexeyev is still ill, just Zach Gallant (upper body, day to day) and Raivis Ansons (week to week, upper) are injured.

Today, Gabe Klassen was back in the lineup after missing the last two as a healthy scratch, as was Rafaël Harvey-Pinard for Avery Hayes and Joona Koppanen. Read into what you will on the Hayes scratch and Koppanen I think is part of the veteran rule. On defense Emil Pieniniemi and Finn Harding were back in for Chase Pietila and Scooter Brickey.

First Period: The Islanders had a late push where they owned possession time which kin dot forced the Penguins into taking a penalty. A Filip Hållander shorthanded rush up ice was denied by Henrik Tikkanen.

Second Period: The penalty kill from the first bled into the second but it was handled by the Penguins. Then Tanner Howe, who quietly has compiled a hell of a last few weeks, scores to put the Penguins ahead 1-0.

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This was later followed up by a bomb of a shot from Captain and Connecticut native Phil Kemp.

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Kemp has three this season, all against Bridgeport.

Third Period: The Penguins ran away with things in the period but it came at the expense of Melvin Fernstrom.

Travis Mitchell hit Fernstrom with a shoulder to shoulder hit which thrust Fernstrom into the boards by the Penguins bench. A 5:00 major and game misconduct was assessed to Mitchell for boarding which put the Pens on a 5:00 power play.

Gabe Klassen and Aidan McDonough scored, set up by Ville Koivunen and Harvey-Pinard, respectively.

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The only question would be whether Murashov would get a shutout or not and while he was tested late, he did earn the shutout.

Three Stars: 3) Sergei Murashov (25 saves) 2) Phil Kemp (goal) 1) Tanner Howe (goal)

The Good: Seemed like a team win, everyone pulling in the same direction, all for the common good.

The Bad: Can’t nitpick a shutout, so let’s nitpick special teams. I didn’t like them when they were on the 5:00 major, Bridgeport got too many looks in a 2-0 game.

Turning Point: The 5:00 major power play netted them two goals, and helped them run away and get them the win.

Around the Division: Providence had a 13 game winning streak coming into Saturday and at the close of business Sunday they now have a 2 game losing streak after Hartford beats the Bruins 5-2.

Standings: Providence 77 – Penguins 75 – Charlotte 61 – Hershey 52 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Bridgeport 49 – Springfield 46 – Hartford 44

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

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The P-Bruins will burn off one of their four games in hand on the Penguins when they travel to Allentown to take on the Phantoms on Wednesday. Charlotte will be in Bridgeport Wednesday also.

Wilkes-Barre will be out in Cleveland next weekend. I’ll talk to you Friday with the Weekend Preview.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I didn’t put too much stock when the Bridgeport Islanders scored first Saturday night. It happens all the time for them.

I started to worry, though, when the Islanders scored again to go up 2-0.

But my worried were allayed when the Penguins scored twice to tie the game at two heading into the first intermission.

Then the Penguins scored again, then again, but a Liam Foudy shorthanded goal shifted momentum in a big way, but the Penguins held on in a too close for comfort type of an affair.

Wilkes-Barre wins 4-3 to draw within four points of the Providence Bruins who had their thirteen game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Springfield Thunderbirds Saturday. The Bruins still have four games in hand on the Penguins.

Here’s how they lined up. The Islanders are one of a handful of teams that don’t post a lineup graphic.

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Lineup Notes: Matt Dumba and Scooter Brickey for Emil Pieniniemi on defense and Aidan McDonough for Rafaël Harvey-Pinard at forward.

First Period: Adam Beckman’s shot while there were Islanders buzzing around Joel Blomqvist’s crease goes in and the Islanders take an early 1-0 lea at 6:06.

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Then a Julien Gauthier goal comes when an Ethan Bear shot misses the net entirely, caroms hard off the back wall straight to Gauthier who had a step on Blomqvist and into a wide open net at 7:55 that gave Bridgeport a 2-0 lead.

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This is the same Bridgeport team that bussed four hours down from Springfield the night before while the Penguins were idle.

Things hit a lull for a but and settled, then a Filip Hållander goal comes at 17:26 off of a rebound that gives the Penguins some life.

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Then Atley Calvert 1:03 later from the far dot and it’s a tie game.

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Good response. They went down last week to Syracuse and its snowballed out of control after that. Bridgeport isn’t Syracuse, though.

Second Period: Sebastian Aho loves playing against his old team because he always scores.

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Not a lot of action to write home about here. Tristan Broz fought Daylan Kuefer, that was all.

Third Period: Weird sequence here. Ville Koivunen rips a shot that rings iron, referee Jack Young washes it out, play continues.

Matt Dumba who was on the ie was adamant that the shot resulted in a goal and at the next stoppage, Young and Patrick Hanrahan review on the iPad at the scorers table and, well…

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Good goal. They had to put about :50 or so seconds back on the clock.

But, a dumb D-to-D pass by Matt Dumba while the Penguins were on the only power play of the game results in Liam Foudy posting up the pass and taking the puck all the way in for a shorthanded goal.

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Special teams remain an abject, top to bottom, disaster.

A rejected blog headline was “Brickey Wall” – but where I was going here was there was a late sequence where, with Jeremy Smith pulled for the Islanders, a puck gets past Blomqvist but it’s Scooter Brickey’s stick that prevents the puck from crossing the line.

Hanrahan and Young reviewed this on the iPad and this time, their suspicions turned out to be correct, no goal.

Three Stars: 3) Tanner Howe (two goals) 2) Sebastian Aho (goal) 1) Ville Koivunen (goal)

The Good: They gritted out a win that this time, I think they deserved.

The Bad: Special teams continues to be an issue.

Turning Point: The Koivunen goal gets it here because it ultimately ended up getting them the win.

Around the Division: Providence sees their 13 game winning streak come to an end up in Springfield as they lose 3-2…..Hartford shuts out Belleville 4-0….Lehigh Valley beats Hershey 6-4…Charlotte beats Syracuse 4-3.

Standings: Providence 77 – Penguins 73 – Charlotte 61 – Hershey 52 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Bridgeport 49 – Springfield 46 – Hartford 42

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They play again Wednesday.

Video Highlights: 

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The Sunday game in Bridgeport was moved up to 3 p.m. because of the weather. I’m actually happy to see that because I don’t like Sunday games in general, and a 5 p.m. start would have been brutal anyway.

Let’s Go Pens!