Chirps from Center Ice

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3                                  2

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They looked great Wednesday in the games first twenty minutes and lost the final forty. They lost that game.

They looked lost in the games first forty minutes Friday and great in the final twenty minutes. They managed to get to overtime.

This is where Jack Rathbone cooked.

Rathbone’s overtime game winning goal gives the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins a 3-2 overtime win.

Gosh these teams are a lot a like. Frustrating for both fan bases.

If you are a Springfield fan, you feel the way the Penguins fans felt on Wednesday. You had them right where you want them, let off and lost. Yeah you got a point, but the team that you are going to be tied to all season comes in, plays a great twenty minutes when it mattered most and beats you.

Best part, they get to do it all again Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Joona Koppanen, Justin Addamo were out. Corey Andonovski and a debuting Will Butcher went in. 300th AHL game for Alex Nylander.

First Period: Springfield didn’t play Wednesday, the Penguins scored five goals on Wednesday. The Thunderbirds had eighteen shots on goal in the period. Yes, they had two power plays in the period but still, that’s a lot of shots to give up in the first period when you only had six shots yourselves.

Second Period: Thunderbirds make it 2-0 in the period when Nathan Walker and Ryan Suzuki score. Suzuki’s came on a power play. Walker’s goal was, in my opinion, way too easy.

I’m trying to figure out who Ty Smith is engaging with behind the goal line there. Don’t know if that was his man or not, but Nathan Walker waltz down the slot and just picks a corner. Too easy.

Ryan Suzuki scored out of a brief review of a possible Penguins goal when the red light came on behind Malcolm Subban’s net. After a small review which clearly showed no goal, Ryan Suzuki came out off of the ensuing face-off and scored.

Pens had one power play through two periods and it looked alright, but obviously didn’t offer up a goal.

Third Period: Wilkes-Barre wakes up and gets a goal from Rem Pitlick to kickstart the comeback.

I am telling you if they can figure out the rest of everything else which is wrong, this power play they have hums and can straight up win them games. They get a goal here and that starts the rally.

Matt Filipe with a deflection in front and it’s tied.

Hindsight, if I am Springfield head coach Drew Bannister I call timeout here. He didn’t, the Penguins had another power play but didn’t score and it was off to…

Overtime: Penguins possessed the puck the entire overtime period and sixty-eight seconds in, Jack Rathbone ended it:

Three Stars: 3) Nathan Walker (goal, assist) 2) Magnus Hellberg (36 saves) 1) Jack Rathbone (overtime game winning goal)

The Good: We came out with torches and pitchforks for head coach J.D. Forrest on Wednesday. Good on JD Forrest for not letting off and scheming them a way to win. What they were doing in the first two periods seemingly wasn’t working, whatever changes he made (if any) won him the game.

The Bad: This formula of a bad first two periods and a miracle third is not a recipe for success.

Turning Point: Rathbone’s goal gets it here, as any Penguins game winning overtime goal would.

Around the Division: Hershey wins their eighth straight, beating Charlotte 4-2….Hartford thumps Lehigh Valley 7-3….Providence doubles up Bridgeport 6-3.

Standings: Hershey 34 – Hartford 28 – Penguins 22 – Springfield 22 – Lehigh Valley and Providence 21 – Charlotte 20 – Bridgeport 13

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 3-2 at home to Toledo.

Video Highlights: Aren’t up yet. Bookmark the AHL’s VideoCenter instead.

More after the rematch Saturday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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7                                    5

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You score five goals, you are supposed to win the hockey game.

You score five goals against the best team in the AHL, you are supposed to win the hockey game.

You score five goals against the defending Calder Cup Champions, you are supposed to win the hockey game.

They did not win the hockey game.

Wilkes-Barre loses a fire fight with the defending champion Bears 7-5 Wednesday night. It was a combination of a lot of things, in my opinion.

First, a hot start. Two goals by a returning from injury Sam Houde in the games first five minutes and they are off and running. Sure, Hershey scores one back but they get the two goal lead right back less than a minute later and they look like they are on cruise control and world beaters.

Second, Hershey storms out of the gate in the second period to the tune of four unanswered goals and stun the Penguins and their fans and lead 5-3 after two periods.

Third, they replace goaltenders and Magnus Hellberg relieves starting goaltender Joel Blomqvist to start the third period and lets a puck bleed through him and then later the Bears hit an empty net, while the Penguins cut the deficit to one each time in the period.

Go back to the first. They get out to a hot start but Bears head coach Todd Nelson has a masterclass in coaching and gets his team to respond for four goals and completely change course on the hockey game. J.D. Forrest? Are we trying to protect the lead or play to extend it or are we fine with winning the games first twenty minutes? Hockey is a sixty minute affair, last I checked. Forrest was outclassed this game by his counterpart.

In the second, the Penguins, showed their ugly side and didn’t have a response at all for what was happening run front of them on the ice. You can criticize coaching all you want till you are blue in the face, you still have to go out and execute. They didn’t and let the Bears score four unanswered on them.

Ty Smith leads the team in points, had two assists Wednesday but was a -2. Going down the list, the only active player who has a positive in the +/- category is Xavier Ouellet at +1, but he was -3 Wednesday.

Consistent inconsistency. Score a lot of points. Get scored on a lot, too.

Say what you want about +/- against your fancy stats. No one understands your fancy stats. If they did, they would matter more and be featured where +/- is. They aren’t, so grab your soy latte and take a hike.

A total lack of execution top to bottom in the second period by the Penguins and the defending champion and best team in the AHL took advantage. It’s what great teams and championship caliber teams do. But if you have a two goal lead you have a head start. If you are prepared the way you are supposed to be, you should be in the advantage.

So the third and final point in the game was the coach made a change in goal and it seemed to help. Hellberg shut down the Bears when he needed to. But there was one goal that he would have liked to have back and he absolutely has to make a save on. Ivan Miroshnichenko throws a puck at the Penguins goaltender that bleeds through and trickles in to re-establish Hershey’s two goal lead. If he makes that save maybe, just maybe, it’s a different outcome and a complete reversal of fortunes for them in this one.

Gotta make that save. Gotta have a better response against the defending champions when you have your boot on their neck. You let off. You had them where you wanted them, let go and walked away. Meanwhile they come up from behind you and hit you over the head with a crowbar.

Consistently inconsistent.

I’m not going to hit you with all 12 goals because it’s a work / school night and I am not a madman. If you want them bad enough, they should be in the AHL’s VideoCenter.

Pens / Bears was the only game in town division wise, so you aren’t missing anything on that front.

Wilkes-Barre stays in fifth, on 20 points, with an all of a sudden really important home and home series inbound against the Springfield Thunderbirds, on 21 points.

A parting note on Hershey, who the Pens won’t see again until after Christmas…

12-time fixing to make it 13-time, and there’s not a damn thing you or anyone else can do about it.

More Friday. Talk to you then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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4                                   1

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Joel Blomqvist is going to be an NHL starting goaltender one day.

Sooner rather than later at this rate.

A 44 save performance by Blomqvist and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins salvage their week with a 4-1 win in Charlotte.

Not much else I don’t think can be written about the kid at this point, none better and finer in the first period of this contest with the Penguins seemingly on cruise control when Blomqvist was making really difficult saves from very difficult positions.

After another period of solid Blomqvist play and a power play goal by the Penguins, it was auto pilot from there.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: I like when the team tweets the lineup changes from the night before so I don’t have to. Pens went 11 forwards and 7 D. Taylor Fedun played in his 600th professional game.

First Period: Three quick goals in seven minutes of action for the Penguins sees Valtteri Puustinen, Joona Koppanen and Raivis Ansons find the back of the net.

Couple things, Charlotte had three power plays in the period and couldn’t score. The setup by Marc Johnstone and this guys overall hockey sense is something really to behold, setting up Ansons for his goal the blew the game open.

Second Period: Evan Cormier’s night was done, enter Ludovic Waeber in goal for the Checkers.

This time it was the Checkers taking the parade to the penalty box, taking all three penalties doled out in the period. Jonathan Gruden cashes on one of the power plays.

Nice pass by Jack Rathbone there to get it to Gruden for the easy tap in. I like Rathbone’s vision on the ice.

Third Period: Checkers pepper Blomqvist with 19 shots and one of them goes in when noted Penguin killed Will Lockwood scores to break up the shutout bid and allow for the teddy bears to fly and hit the ice and get the Checkers on the board.

This came at the end of a power play.

Three Stars: 3) Jonathan Gruden (goal, assist) 2) Valtteri Puustinen (goal, assist) Joel Blomqvist (44 saves)

The Good: Nice response by the Penguins to salvage what looked like an overall disappointing weekend.

The Bad: This is another one of those pause for a sec typing this up and watch the cursor blink type entries. Let’s just move on.

Turning Point: I think the Ansons goal really put things out of reach for the Checkers, considering how the game was going at that point and the frustration which was mounbtying every time they tried something on Blomqvist.

Around the Division: Providence beats Bridgeport 2-1….Hershey beat Iowa 2-1….Lehigh Valley beat Rochester 5-4….Springfield plasters Utica 7-0….Hartford beats Belleville 4-3 in overtime.

Standings: Hershey 28 – Hartford 26 – Lehigh Valley and Springfield 21 – Penguins 20 – Charlotte 20 – Providence 19 – Bridgeport 11

Wheeling Update: Nailers hosted the Iowa Heartlanders and lost 6-2.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it against Hershey on Wednesday. More then, before I set the week up for you with the Weekend Preview.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I mean this felt like a scheduled loss.

The Penguins, who played less than 48 hours ago in Hershey against the defending champion Bears, travel on Thanksgiving and play in Charlotte the next afternoon at 4 p.m. and lose 6-3. I don’t know if it was another “consistently inconsistent” game, or an actual sleepwalking because of all the travel thing or not. They had a 6-1 shot advantage in the first period but were outshot 10-6 for the period and trailed by two, had two back to back power plays to open the second, then went offensively cold and scored on again in the second, scored a pair in the third to make a game of it 2:42 into the third before the Checkers took the ball and punched it into the end zone and ran away with it.

Maybe a little of both? I liked the pushback to open the third but then the old habits died hard.

Onto the next, same time Saturday.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Taylor Fedun for Mark Pysyk, Jordan Frasca for Matt Filipe.

First Period: Checkers had an 0-for-19 cold streak on the power play coming into the game, so of course they go 2-for-5 in the game with Justin Sourdif scoring a low one timer to open the scoring at 10:27.

Then Charlotte scores off an odd man rush that looked a bit too easy for my liking. Mackie Samoskevich with the goal here.

Second Period: Pens have back to back power plays, get a couple good looks but can’t score then Charlotte starts going on a tear and get a goal to go ahead 3-0 off a Zac Dalpe goal.

This was a power play goal, the Checkers first of the period. Seems a bit dirt in your eye when the Penguins can’t score on two power plays then the Checkers, who were 0-for-19 coming in, come right back and get their second of the game. Also, just :08 in.

Third Period::18 in, Jonathan Gruden scored to give the Penguins life and it was 3-1. A hell of a response at the time.

Then they get another one a little over two minutes in and it’s a game. Cedric Desruisseaux’s first as a Penguin.

Then Santtu Kinnunen fires a shot that is deflected in by Ty Smith and the Checkers re-take their two goal lead.

Just a backbreaking goal, all things considered.

Brendan Perlini with a rocket that essentially salts the game away and the Checkers go right back up by three goals again.

Ty Smith atones for his earlier boffo and scores to make it a two goal game again but then he falls down at the blue line and Justin Sourdif scores an empty net, shorthanded goal to ice the game away.

Three Stars: 3) Rasmus Ashland (three assists) 2) Mackie Samoskevich (goal, assist) 1) Justin Sourdif (two goals, assist)

The Good: I liked the response in the third period’s open.

The Bad: Hockey is a 60 minute game and they only played about five good minutes.

Turning Point: Santtu Kinnunen’s goal that was deflected in by Ty Smith was the back breaker. Penguins dealt a heap of adversity in the games first forty minutes come back to make it a one goal game and then Smith’s unintentional redirected goal makes it a two goal affair and they face adversity again and it snowballed from there,

Around the Division: Hartford beats Springfield 4-2….Providence beats Lehigh Valley in overtime 2-1.

Standings: Hershey 26 – Hartford 24 – Charlotte 20 – Springfield 19 – Lehigh Valley 19  – Penguins 18 – Providence 17 – Bridgeport 11

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose in Cincinnati 5-2.

Video Highlights: VideoCenter is your friend here.

More tomorrow in the rematch.

Let’s Go Pens!

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1                                  2

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Oh man, I wished they would have gotten a point out of this game at least.

They have to fly to Charlotte for a 4 p.m. game Friday. Thursday is Thanksgiving. Seems unfair and downright crazy that you would have a not easy to get to team (Charlotte) host a home game against an opponent (the Penguins) who just played less than 48 hours ago (Penguins lost 2-1 in Hershey Wednesday)

So it goes.

Here’s how they lined up…

Lineup Notes: Besides the recalled guys (Alex Nylander, Dmitri Samorukov (signed an NHL deal yesterday, I thought it was merit based but he was legit recalled) John Ludvig (recalled from conditioning stint) were all out. In were Cedric Desruisseaux (signed PTO Wednesday morning, Wheeling’s leading scorer) Raivis Ansons (forgot about him, but WBS assigned him to Wheeling a few weeks ago, then recalled him this morning) Corey Andonovski and Jack St. Ivany were in. Jansen Harkins was reassigned back to Wilkes-Barre Wednesday evening.

Whew. That’s a lot. I wonder what’s up with Taylor Fedun. Take all the time you need.

First Period: Pretty even period but a bit lopsided. Bears got the first seven shots, got a goal from Dylan McIlrath from the blue line which I think was redirected in off of the skate of Raivis Ansons, then Rem Pitlick scored to tie the game about half way through, they had the next seven shots, then the Pens went on a power play which was a masterclass where they kept the puck in Hershey’s zone for 1:35. Shots were an even 10-10. Here were the goals…

Second Period: Felt that Hershey had the edge in play this period despite it being a pretty evenly played period at that. Bears take the lead when Ivan Miroshnichenko set up Riley Sutter for an easy goal which gave the Bears a 2-1 lead.

Nothing you could do here. Miroshnichenko pursues the puck, two Penguins chase after, he threads a pass to Riley Sutter in front for an easy tap in goal.

That was the difference in an overall even period with a slight edge to Hershey. Joel Blomqvist made a bunch of late, difficult saves to keep it a one goal deficit for the Penguins.

Third Period: Penguins had to kill two Ty Smith penalties (slashing at 10:36, tripping at 16:22) and never gained enough positive traction to challenge Hunter Shepard, firing just a scant 5 shots at the Hershey goaltender.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Strome (assist) 2) Dylan McIlrath 1) Riley Sutter (goal, assist)

The Good: This team can beat Hershey.

The Bad: Not tonight, at least.

Turning Point: Nothing you could do about that second goal Hershey scored (trust me, I tried to find a scapegoat here) and, in a tight game like this, save maybe for the effort or lack thereof in the third, that goal gets it here.

Around the Division: Hartford beats Providence 6-4….Cleveland beats Charlotte 5-2….Springfield beats Bridgeport 4-2.

Standings: Hershey 26 – Hartford 22 – Springfield 19 – Penguins 18 – Lehigh Valley and Charlotte 18 – Providence 15 – Bridgeport 11

Wheeling Update: Depleted Nailers beat Toledo 4-2. Taylor Gauthier with 33 saves.

Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter is your friend here. I am traveling for Thanksgiving and won’t be behind this keyboard until I open it from down there Friday afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving. Let’s Go Pens!

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I said about a week ago that Joel Blomqvist may be the best goaltender in the Penguins organization. He will be in the NHL one day, probably sooner rather than later, and my suspicions as to why were on full display in the third period in Providence on Saturday.

Bruins fire thirteen shots at the Penguins goaltender, thirty in total but fall 2-1 to the Penguins. Justin Addamo and Alex Nylander scored for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton.

They need all the points they can amass, and this week they got five out of a possible six. They have a road game in Hershey on Wednesday followed by a travel day on Thanksgiving then a 4 p.m. Friday start in Charlotte then again on Saturday. That’s a hellacious road trip against a pair of teams that the Penguins are battling with in the beehive known as the AHL’s Atlantic Division.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Jansen Harkins got the Jonathan Gruden treatment today, getting recalled and sent back all within two hours. So he was unavailable for the Penguins Saturday. Lineup was otherwise as the team noted above.

First Period: Besides Having to kill four penalties in the period, they got a goal from the returning Alex Nylander…

Immediately after, or :57, Providence ket the press in their zone and Reilly Walsh scored to tie the score at one.

Again, having to kill four penalties was less than ideal. Not only because it increases the chance of the other team to score, it kills whatever momentum you are building towards to get a goal for yourself.

Second Period: Two teams trade power play opportunities but the Penguins are the ones to nudge ahead by a goal thanks to Justin Addamo.

First point as a Penguin for Matt Filipe. Jagger Joshua is making a case for player of the week with his fourth point in as many games.

Solid period for the Penguins because I got the sense that the Bruins were going to throw the sink at them. It didn’t happen.

Third Period: Providence’s power play sucks, in the bottom third in the AHL, and they could have used a couple of goals but came up empty. Blomqvist stopped all thirteen shots put in his direction. He’s good.

Three Stars: 3) Joel Blomqvist (29 saves) 2) Alex Nylander (goal) 1) Justin Addamo (goal)

The Good: Good to see Addamo jump in there and score a big goal. They were good as a team this weekend and swept a team who looked like they were turning the corner and, at times, made it look easy. Have the Penguins turned the corner?

The Bad: Another one of those games when I am struggling to come up with something. Let’s just move on.

Turning Point: The Addamo goal gets the two points. but there were saves in the final five minutes that I thought were ticketed for the back of Blomqvist’s net that never made it there. Team effort.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley demolishes Belleville 8-1….Hershey shuts out Bridgeport 4-0….Hartford beats Syracuse 5-2.

Standings: Hershey 24 – Hartford 20 – Penguins 18 – Charlotte 18 – Springfield 17 – Providence 15 – Lehigh Valley 14 – Bridgeport 9

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. Nailers are in Fort Wayne on Sunday.

Video Highlights: Bookmark the AHL’s Video Center if you come here looking for the highlights. Looks like there are highlights for every AHL game which is nice to see.

Weekend Preview will be up likely Tuesday. Talk to you then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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4                                  2

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You have heard me say recently that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are consistently inconsistent.

Tonight was a perfect example.

Wilkes-Barre and Providence are scoreless through two periods. Providence put 13 shots on starting goaltender and down on conditioning Alex Nedeljkovic but just two (one in the second, one thus far in the third) and then the Penguins find themselves up 3-0. They were on cruise control.

Until they weren’t.

Bruins score two goals :22 apart to make it a one goal game.

But, the Penguins goaltender came to the rescue. No, it wasn’t a timely save or a jaw dropping post to post dive on a one time laser.

It was this:

Wilkes-Barre wins 4-2. Nedeljkovic becomes the first goaltender in AHL history to score two career goals.

Penguins stop the Bruins three game winning streak. With how consistently inconsistent this team is, look for Brandon Bussi to shut the Penguins out, Providence wins 8-0, J.D. Forrest can’t stop pulling the goaltender and Bussi scores a hat trick.

I digress.

Solid game played by Wilkes-Barre who withstood the Bruins assault in the first period, locked down the Bruins in the second period while Providence had a 4:00 power play. Penguins replicated it again in the third, holding the Bruins to just one shot and got three goals from Jagger Joshua, Ty Smith on a power play and Valtteri Puustinen. Here are those goals…

Second goal in as many games for Joshua.

Power play goals in 10 of the last 11 games for the Penguins.

Long pass from Jack Rathbone which connected with Puustinen for the breakaway goal. Nice play, great vision by Rathbone and excellent finish by Puustinen to put the game seemingly out of reach.

Bruins pulled starting goaltender Brandon Bussi and get two goals in :22 from Georgii Merkulov and Justin Brazeau.

(Providence didn’t post videos)

Nedeljkovic had enough of getting scored on and decided to score one himself. See video above.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Matt Filipe was out, as was Jack St. Ivany. The Pittsburgh Penguins sent Alex Nedeljkovic and John Ludvig down for conditioning so J.D. Forrest so Ludvig jumped in the lineup with Ty Smith.

Injured are Sam Poulin, Sam Houde, Avery Hayes and Colin White week to week. Alex Nylander is still ill.

Three Stars: Ty Smith (goal, assist) 2) Valtteri Puustinen (goal, assist) 1) Alex Nedeljkovic (17 saves, goal)

The Good: Holding the Bruins to essentially two shots before a furious rally after the first period is pretty, pretty good.

The Bad: You just know they lose 5-1 tomorrow. Consistent inconsistency! It’s the Penguins way!

Turning Point: Nedejkovic’s marching orders when he was sent down for conditioning was probably just get reps in, try to put the AHL squad in a position to win, see you in a week. His goal put it away for the Penguins tonight and shows that he’s just playing with his opponents at the AHL level.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley wins 3-2 in Laval…Hershey survives a late rush from Bridgeport to win 5-4….Syracuse drops Hartford 5-3 and Springfield beats Utica 2-1 in overtime. Charlotte is still out on the West Coast and play the San Diego Gulls late. Box on that here.

Standings: Again because Charlotte is late Friday can’t post these with accuracy. Penguins are on 16 points. Things are tight. It’s a good division.

Wheeling Update: Nailers fall in Indianapolis 4-1 to the Indy Fuel.

Video Highlights: Assume they will be up soon and if I can get back around will edit them in.

Back at it again Saturday for the rematch. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!