Chirps from Center Ice

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Alexander Nylander came back and only scored one goal.

You remember him, the guy that sick last weekend for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins whom you all missed, myself included?

Nylander’s goal was overshadowed by a big night from Sam Poulin, a hat trick, along with goals from Felix Robert and a returning Chris Bigras as the Penguins pound the Laval Rocket Saturday night 6-2. 

The secondary scoring was there for the Penguins with Valtteri Puustinen on his way back down for the Penguins and Radim Zohorna recalled, Wilkes-Barre got the secondary scoring it needed to ease past the Rocket for a comfortable win.

This blog post should have been titled, “A Night of Returns” because Louis Domingue started the game for the Penguins, after missing the last few months with injury, and opposed L-P Guindon.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Plenty. I mentioned some of them at the top. Jamie Devane also returned from injury. The Pens loaded Jan Drozg to the Grand Rapids Griffins. If you have been following the story close enough, Drozg wanted out and the Penguins gave it to him. He was a restricted free agent and likely will not be signed by Pittsburgh this summer. Alex D’Orio was sent to Wheeling.

First Period: Poulin scored 1:15 in and they were off to the races. But Joël Teasdale scores :25 later and Laval ties it right back up again. Then, A Chris Ortiz shot hits the post and Poulin is there to put the rebound in to make it 2-1.

Laval was bombing the Pens in shots in the period. But then a Chris Bigras shot goes in and that was the end of L-P Guindon. Enter Kevin Poulin, who settled things down considerably for the Rocket.

Here are the goals in the order they were scored.

Chris Ortiz should not come out of the lineup. He has been very good.

Second Period: No scoring. Laval had a power play late where they had their top unit of Dea, Harvey-Pinard and others and shot a lot at Domingue but the Penguins net minder held them out.

Third Period: Alex Nylander on a power play when Poulin was knocked over in front of the net and it was 4-1 Pens.

But then J-S Dea set up the aforementioned Harvey-Pinard and he typed one home for a power play goal that cut it to two for the Rocket.

1:12 later, Felix Robert scores to ice the game away, blasting through the middle of the ice to score and re-establish the Pens three goal lead.

Laval pulled Poulin with seven minutes left and our Poulin put it in the net of Poulin for the empty net goal and his first professional hat trick.

Three Stars: 3) Felix Robert (goal, assist) 2) Louis Domingue (37 saves) 1) Sam Poulin (hat trick)

The Good: Felt good to get one where you were in complete control for most of, if not all of the game.

The Bad: Baptism by fire for Domingue, who faced 39 shots, no flies on him though and he’s ready to go and be your number one goalie going forward.

Turning Point: I want to go with that sequence where Laval doesn’t score at the end of the second period on the power play there., but Felix Robert’s goal that re-establishes the Penguins three goal lead gets it here.

Around the Division: Springfield beats Charlotte 4-3 in overtime….Bridgeport pounds Providence 7-4….Lehigh Valley beats Hartford in a back and forth one 6-5.

Standings: Pens will gain some ground on idle Hershey at the five seed, but put it this way, both team are playing the same number of games and the Bears have 63 points and the Pens have 56. Pens still have a game in hand and I think one or two games left with Hershey. Improbable, not impossible.

Pens have a five point lead on Bridgeport.

Wheeling Update: Nailers down big against Reading, and I mean big. Box here.

Video Highlights: 

Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead. More Sunday after the Pens host the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I said in my Weekend Preview that there were players that “stir the drink” for the Penguins which were out of last weeks lineup and not put too much stock in getting 1 out of a possible 6 points last weekend. Those players, Forward Alex Nylander and Defenseman and team captain Taylor Fedun weren’t available last weekend and they weren’t available tonight.

The Penguins raced out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and outshot the Cleveland Monsters 20-6.

Then the second period happened.

The Monsters score two power play goals and tie the game at two.

An innocuous third period, but a Kasper Bjorkqvist shot at the buzzer deflects off of two Monsters players and goes in. But video review after showed that time had expired.

Dillon Simpson scored in overtime to give Cleveland the win. Pens lose 3-2.

What changed from the first period to the second? A desperate team came out, took advantage on the power play and got back into the game. The contest evened out after that.

You needed a straw to stir the drink. Well, Alex Nylander is still out with his illness. Nylander skated in the morning and Fedun is still out with his lower body injury.

They got a point and stay at .500. It’s where I had them pegged at the start of the season. Could Nylander have helped? Sure. Are the Penguins Calder Cup contenders with him in the lineup? Let’s not get silly.

Alex D’Orio started. He opposed Jet Greaves. Greaves faced 20 shots in the first and won the game for his team in that period because without him stopping the barrage he faced, the Monsters are down 4 our more goals coming into the second.

Louis Domingue backed up. Tommy Nappier skated in the morning but is also now listed as a non-COVID ill person.

It’s a work night, so here’s how the goals went…

Kasper Bjorkqvist tapped in a net front pass from Michael Chaput and the Pens were up 1-0.

Drew O’Connor struck on a power play and that made it 2-0.

Here’s the goals:

In the second, the Monsters struck for two power play goals. Carson Meyer and Jake Christiansen in that order. Here they are…

Here’s the goal that Kasper Bjorkqvist scored at 60:01, which of course didn’t count….

Close.

Dillon Simpson scored the overtime winner here.

Ballgame.

Here’s how they lined up.

Bjorkqvist in for Jan Drozg was the only lineup change.

Three Stars: 3) Drew O’Connor 2) Jake Christiansesn (goal, assist) 1) Dillon Simpson (overtime game winner)

The Good: More of the first period, please?

The Bad: Less of whatever the second and third period was.

Turning Point: 

I want to disagree, but I can’t.

Around the Division: Texas drops Charlotte 7-1. Belleville thumped Providence 4-1. The Pens were the only team in the division to get a point on Wednesday.

Standings: They are still .500 and in sixth.

Wheeling Update: Justin Almeida has 21 goals. He scored one of them in the Nailers 2-1 win at home against Toledo.

Video Highlights: 

Laval Saturday. They smoked Rochester 7-2 Wednesday. Yikes.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I think the Penguins gritted this point out in Providence Sunday afternoon.

They scored to tie the game with 3.3 seconds left to force overtime, but it was Oskar Steen’s goal just 24 seconds into overtime that wins the game and Providence skates away with a 5-4 overtime win.

A point against the Atlantic Division leading Bruins, but a point out of the entire weekend isn’t going to make anyone feel any better about a playoff chance as we progress to mid-March.

Five straight at home starting this week against the Cleveland Monsters, a team that the Penguins have had a lot of success against.

Alex D’Orio opposed Kyle Keyser.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Nathan Legare was out, Jan Drozg was in. Everyone else was status quo injury wise.

First Period: Kyle Keyser with a big save on a Pens 2 on 1 early on with Radim Zohorna and Drew O’Connor. It stayed pretty even, until Cameron Hughes takes a spin o rama pass from Steven Fogarty and beats D’Orio for a goal that made it 1-0 P-Bruins.

(no GIF here, Providence does the bare minimum. Anyone else tune into Nick Hart’s call this afternoon? Sounded like he was broadcasting through a coffee can.)

Hughes’ has a seven game point streak.

Second Period: If you like a period with a lot of goals, then this period was for you.

Michael Chaput socred on a power play to get the Pens on the board and tied the game at one.

Then Sam Poulin would score at the net front to put the Pens ahead 2-1 with this play.

But the Providence Bruins would immediately charge back and score two goals about 90 seconds apart from one another. Cameron Hughes’ second goal from a blast from the point to tie it, then Victor Berglund would score on a rebound to make it 3-2.

Later, Jack Studnicka scores to make it 4-2.

But the Pens respond right back to keep the game from turning into a runaway and get a goal back when Jonathan Gruden scores in a scrum after Keyser fumbled a shot fly Matt Bartkowski that pulled the Pens back within one heading into the…

Third Period: Keyser stones Drew O’Connor for the second time in the game as O’Connor was coming out of the penalty box.

Pens got in some late penalty trouble and then pulled D’Orio for an extra attacker. They could not win a face-off and Providence kept icing the puck. Then, with 3.3 seconds left after a Penguins face-off win, Valtteri Puustinen scores to force overtime.

Ninth extra attacker goal scored by the Pens this season.

Overtime: Didn’t last long. Nick Hart had just mentioned that D’Orio was 6-1 in overtimes this season and then Steen scored :24 in. 6-2 now.

Three Stars: 3) Valtteri Puustinen (goal) 2) Cameron Hughes (two goals) 1) Oskar Steen (goal, assist)

The Good: Held the best team in the Atlantic Division off the scoreboard on the power play. Pens went a perfect 5/5 on the kill.

The Bad: 37-25 were the shots for the Pens over the Bruins Sunday, a 2/1 advantage Friday in Bridgeport. Seems like they lack a true finisher. If this weekend wasn’t a true indicator, then I don’t know what was.

Turning Point: The Puustinen goal seemed like it, but they Steen overtime win gets it.

Around the Division: Hartford beats Bridgeport 4-1 in the division’s only other action on this Sunday.

Standings: Pens will stay at .500 in sixth. Bridgeport drops to .472 percentage points and stay seventh. Idle Hershey is fifth with .546

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

I’ll post video highlights if I see them and can work an edit in.

More likely Tuesday or Wednesday with the Weekend Setup of the Wednesday Cleveland, Saturday Laval and Sunday Hartford game.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Arnaud Durandeau loves playing against the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

His third goal in as many games against the Penguins stands up as the game winner in a 4-2 win for the Islanders and a sweep of the sixth place Penguins by the seventh place Islanders.

I had a commenter on Twitter tell me that they don’t have any answers for this consistently inconsistent team. I can’t disagree.

I don’t know, Pens picked up 7 of 8 points last week. This weekend? Running around like chickens with their head cut off. Sure, they ran into a gamed up Islanders team last night and tonight was the same way. Bridgeport drew first blood last night and just finished the job Saturday. It happens.

Alex D’Orio opposed Jakub Skarek.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: No changes.

First Period: Pens get on the board first with a wrap around shot by Drew O’Connor. He tracked a shot off the wall, wheeled around the net and stuffed it home for a 1-0 Pens lead.

But the the Islanders tie and then quickly take the lead.

Andy Andreoff, quickly becoming a stone in the shoe of the Penguins, scores to tie the game for Bridgeport.

Chris Terry led the 2×1 and Andreoff, playing in his 500th game, scored. Eight game point streak for Andreoff also.

Next, Thomas Hickey finds space at the point, fires and the puck caroms off bodies and goes in to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead.

They don’t ask how. As long as the light goes on.

Second Period: No scoring in this period but it was a better period for the Penguins who had the only power play in the frame.

Two fights broke out, Chris Terry vs. Matt Bartkowski and Kyle Olson vs. Blade Jenkins fought to draws.

Third Period: Jonathan Gruden scored to tie the game for the Penguins and you thought that the push was on.

Nice shot.

But then enter Durandeau. His shot was a rebound of a wraparound chance by Michael Dal Colle.

Oh, and in case you thought where the pun idea came from:

Indeed.

Pens had no favors special teams wise, didn’t go on the power play in the third.

Cole Bardreau with insurance, putting home the rebound of a Jeff Kubiak shot that made it 4-2.

Pens pull D’Orio and Jakub Skarek tried twice to score on the empty net. His first attempt went wide left then the second was stopped at center ice.

Three Stars: 3) Thomas Hickey (goal) 2) Andy Andreoff (goal) 1) Arnaud Durandeau (goal)

The Good: Woof.

The Bad: Can’t have essentially the same result happen to you two nights in a row.

Turning Point: As the headline indicates, Arnaud Durandeau’s goal in the third period gets the distinction.

Around the Division: They aren’t final when this goes up but Charlotte leads Lehigh Valley big, Providence the same with Springfield and Hartford also with Hershey.

Standings: The only thing that matters is that the Pens are back to .500 again. .500 may not make playoffs in this division this year.

Wheeling Update: Reading beats the Nailers 4-2. Josh Maniscalco and Tim Doherty the goal scorers there.

Providence Sunday afternoon. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins outshot the Bridgeport Islander 42-20 Friday night and lost 5-4.

Bridgeport is in a got to have it mode where they are in last place in the Atlantic Division and need to start pushing in order to get out of the basement.

Cory Schneider still has it. The Islanders goaltender stopped 38 tonight, some difficult as the Pens were bombarding him with shots.

Not for a lack of trying, either. Every penguins skater registered a shot on goal.

Sometimes you just run into a desperate opponent that will refuse to lose. That was Bridgeport on Friday.

Schneider opposed Tommy Nappier.

Lineup Notes: Taylor Fedun was injured in the first period of the game on Sunday, scores the OT GWG and is now day to day. This is why Chris Ortiz was recalled. He skated at the morning skate Friday.

First Period: Chris Terry from a bad angle, scores to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Andy Andreoff shot misses everything, deflects off the back wall to Samuel Bolduc who finds Terry for the goal.

Didn’t take long for the Penguins to respond as the fourth line and Felix Robert scored to tie the game at one.

Then the aforementioned Ortiz scores his first AHL goal on a nice pinch play that gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

Look at the hands on him!

Second Period: Penguins outshoot the Islanders 20-7 in the period.

Quality, not quantity.

The Islanders score two goals to go up 3-2 in in the period.

Simon Holmstrom finishes off a two on one pass from Any Andreoff to tie the game at 2.

In a period marred by penalties, six total in the period alone awarded by referees Jordan Deckard and Tim Mayer, the Islanders were able to score all of their goals even strength.

Chris Terry, again, scores his second goal of the game to put the Islanders up 3-2 as they headed into intermission.

Bad goal to give up in the situation.

Third Period: Arnaud Durandeau camped in front, unmarked, and he scores to make it 4-2.

Worse goal to give up in the situation.

Felix Robert gets the Pens back within one with his second of the game.

Penguins kept coming in waves, but Cory Schneider kept bailing the Islanders out. Filip Hallander had a chance after Samuel Bolduc broke his stick, but Schneider came up again and made the save.

Kyle MacLean with the dagger.

I’d rather not, thanks.

Radim Zohorna scored with Nappier pulled while the Pens were on a power play to make it 5-4.

But that’s all the Penguins would get, unfortunately.

Three Stars: 3) Felix Robert (two goals) 2) Andy Andreoff (three assists) 1) Chris Terry (two goals)

Michael Chaput had three assists.

The Good: I mean the fact that the Pens had every skater register a shot on goal was nice. Was Wilkes-Barre the better team? I can’t say confidently yes.

The Bad: You can’t have a last place team want it more than you. The Islanders did. The Pens have to quickly learn from this as they rematch Saturday.

Turning Point: The Durandeau goal early in the third wasn’t the start the Pens wanted and the exact start the Islanders needed.

Around the Division: Charlotte beats Lehigh Valley 5-2….Springfield beats Hershey 4-3 in overtime. The Bears scored two goals late. James Neal with a hat trick capped off by the overtime game winner.

Standings: The Pens will do well with the Lehigh Valley loss, but Hershey getting a point and Charlotte winning clean widens the gap to fourth and fifth. Pens are on .510 percentage points, Hershey is at .557, now the Phantoms are in last place at .469 and Bridgeport sees the results pay off and are in seventh at .471.

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: If I see em I will post em.

Rematch Saturday at 7 in Bridgeport. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins captain Taylor Fedun, playing in his 400th game, sealed the win for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Sunday afternoon. The Penguins started the third period up 2-0, only to see that lead evaporate and they all of a sudden were trailing. After a Valtteri Puustinen power play goal which tied it late for the Penguins, it was the captain, Fedun, who scored to give the Penguins 7 out of a possible 8 points this week to widen the gap to 7th place Lehigh Valley. Pens win 4-3 in overtime.

The Penguins are, by my estimation, not a team that many want to play right now. That’s a good thing, just have to maintain that playoff seeding.

Alex D’Orio opposed Hugo Alnefelt.

Here’s how they lined up:

No lineup changes from last night.

First Period: Radim Zohorna rebound goal and the Pens were off to the races early.

Pens killed the only penalty of the period, an early trip called against the aforementioned Zohorna.

Second Period: Drew O’Connor tap in for a goal and the Penguins doubled their lead.

Pretty quiet period, which I don’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Third Period: The Crunch blitzkrieged. Gage Goncalves just :49 in, and the Crunch were on the board:

Then, about five minutes later….

Put in by Gabriel Fortier.

Then, a seemingly harmless shot by Remi Elie beats D’Orio and the Crunch, down 2-0 to start the period, led with under eight minutes to play.

So the Pens were down one. They headed to a power play late. They pulled D’Orio for the extra attacker and a two man advantage.

Valtteri Puustinen, on the spot.

(no GIF here, it’s in the highlights below)

Overtime: Drew O’Connor with a costly turnover which led to a Grade A Crunch chance, but D’Orio stopped it. Rush the other way, and…

Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Drew O’Connor (goal, two assists) 2) Radim Zohorna (goal, assist) 1) Taylor Fedun (game winning overtime goal)

The Good: Nice way to pick themselves off the mat after getting stunned with three goals in the third period.

The Bad: Great teams, the ones that win Calder Cups, find ways to go up three in the third like Syracuse did and stay there. Pens have a lot of holes yet, but 7 of 8 points are nothing to sneeze at.

Turning Point: The Puustinen goal that got us there, but the Fedun goal that won it.

Around the Division: Utica beats Hershey 3-1. Bridgeport beats Charlotte 5-3. Providence triples up Hartford 6-3.

Standings: Pens solidly in sixth with .520. Charlotte in with at .550. Idle Lehigh Valley with .479.

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Power Rankings likely Tuesday. Weekend Setup Friday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Bolstered by a hat trick from Filip Hallander, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins survived a scare from a pesky Bridgeport Islanders team on Saturday night and win 5-3.

Without Hallander’s offense output tonight, I’m not so sure that the Penguins win the game tonight.

Drew O’Connor and Anthony Angello added goals for the Penguins. Tommy Nappier stopped 28 of 31 saves.

So far, 5 of 6 points for the Penguins, one off what I said I would be comfortable with back on Monday when I set up the week with the Weekend Preview. Syracuse in Sunday afternoon, but let’s recap Saturday’s game below:

Tommy Nappier opposed Jakub Skarek. Here’s how the Penguins lined up:

Bridgeport didn’t post lines.

Lineup Notes: P.O. Joseph and Mark Freidman were recalled Thursday. Friedman’s conditioning stint lasted two games. Joseph went up because Mike Matheson is week to week. Joseph didn’t play Saturday afternoon against the New York Rangers but may get a look Sunday afternoon. Alex Nylander missed the game with a non-COVID illness. Felix Robert took his place. Will Reilly and Cam Lee were back in on defense for Wilkes-Barre.

First Period: Pens came out blazing, jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Drew O’Connor took a feed from a pinching Mitch Reinke for a 1-0 lead, then Filip Hallander took a rebound off of Skarek and flipped one past him on the backhand for a 2-0 lead then the Penguins scored on the power play when Anthony Angello scored on a hell of shot high slot to make it 3-0. Here’s all three goals as they were scored.

But then Bridgeport started to muck it up, slow the game down, and it started to work for them.

Parker Wotherspoon pulled one back for the Islanders.

I didn’t particularly like the way the period ended for the Penguins. I realize that if you are being aggressed upon by an opponent you need to defend yourself, but everyone knows what the Islanders are trying to do here, just skate away because you are the one with a 3-0 lead.

Second Period: Things settled down and the Penguins extended their lead to three again with Hallander’s second goal of the night, giving the Penguins a 4-1 lead.

But six seconds into an Islander power play, a shot by Andy Andreoff goes in to cut Bridgeport’s deficit to two again.

The Islanders tenacity is something to behold.

Third Period: That tenacity was on full display in the opening sequences of the period as Bridgeport draws one back when Arnaud Durandeau scored to cut the Penguins lead to one.

Hardly ideal.

Late, the Islanders hit the post with two shots from two different shooters all within about five seconds of one another. Paul LaDue from one angle, then Robin Salo immediately after.

But Filip Hallander had seen enough and scored his hat trick to salt the game away.

Three Stars: Andy Andreoff (goal) 2) Juuso Riikola (two assists) 1) Filip Hallander (three goals)

The Good: Thank goodness for Hallander, right? Puustinen, O’Connor, Riikola and Joseph sometimes carry the mail for the Pens, but Hallander stepped up in a big way here and you want to see that momentum keep going.

The Bad: I don’t want to say that there was a lack of discipline, but I didn’t like the way that played overall in front of Nappier. Hallander’s three takes a lot of the stink out of the room, but the fast and loose type of play doesn’t work for a team that lacks a pure goal scorer. You almost have to play regimented and they lacked that tonight but were lucky enough to get out with two clean points.

Turning Point: Hallander’s third goal gets it here. Game was full of them too.

Around the Division: Cleveland beats Lehigh Valley 2-1…Hartford thumps Providence 5-2…Springfield doubles up Charlotte 4-2. Hershey was off.

Standings: Pens with a gap now to seventh Lehigh Valley. They have .510 percentage points in sixth and the Phantoms have .479. Charlotte, in fifth, is still a ways a way with a .561 percentage. Springfield has a healthy lead at the top of the division over Hartford, .630 to .609.

Wheeling Update: Nailers blast the Kalamazoo Wings 8-2. Patrick Watling two goals, three assists. Sam Houde had a goal and two helpers. Only three Nailers skaters didn’t register a point.

Video Highlights: Pens will have them. You are probably on your own for those. I’m not likely to get an edit in.

More Sunday after the matinee with the Crunch.

Let’s Go Pens!