Chirps from Center Ice

          vs.          

3                                             6

–

They are .500 after a 6-3 win over the Binghamton Devils. Nice resurgence, but even if there were playoffs (there aren’t) they wouldn’t be in a position to qualify with the amount of games left.

They are coming together. Hope that there is some carryover come the Fall. I’m ready for this to be over already.

Here’s how they lined up:

Kasper Bjorkqvist made his season debut.

First Period: Bingo got on the board first, but then the Pens rattle off two straight. Here they are in GIF form. Note that the Robert goal was switched to Jordy Bellerive, who is having a nice season with his tenth goal.

Again, Bellerive’s goal. Robert never touched it.

The Devils are a mess, but nice to see a short handed goal.

Second Period: I am sure the instructions Anthony Angello was sent back with from Pittsburgh was to fill up the score sheet at every opportunity.

Exhibit A:

Bingo was hanging around though and drew back to within one with this busted tic tag toe play.

Josh Currie with his second on a nifty redirect and the Pens re-establish their two goal lead:

Third Period: Penguins get a power play to go early in the third when Tim Schaller connects here.

Ever resilient, Tyce Thompson gets the Devils within two with this goal here.

The Devils pulled the goalie for the extra attacker and the Penguins spent the remainder of the game trying to shoot and score from their own zone. They missed, constantly. It was quite hilarious. Finally Anthony Angello beats out an icing call (they weren’t coming anywhere close to the net) and got one to go for the 6-3 score that held.

Three Stars: 3) Jordy Bellerive (goal, assist) 2) Anthony Angello (two goals, assist) 1) Josh Currie (two goals, assist)

The Good: The leadership group in Currie and Angello had good nights and the rest of the team followed. Just like they drew it up.

The Bad: Binghamton is bad, and yet there was a sense until you looked up at the clock an realized there wasn’t a lot of time left that they probably weren’t going to make the comeback. But the thought always stayed with you.

Turning Point: Schaller’s power play blast to open the third period scoring gave the Penguins the insurance they needed.

They are back in action Saturday against Binghamton for the final time ever. The Devils are moving out of Binghamton and up to Utica and the Canucks are moving their affiliate out of Utica and to Abbotsford. There’s Board of Governor’s meeting Thursday which will most likely formalize all of this. My guess is you will get something on divisional alignments as well so maybe I will be here then to talk about that. No promises, though.

Let’s Go Pens and all that.

Stay safe.

          vs.          

4                                              3

–

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were denied their attempt at their fourth straight win Saturday evening at home against the Hershey Bears.

A tight contest throughout, one where a pure goal scorer would have come in handy here, Hershey gets a goal from an unusual source and get it to overtime and Connor McMichael wins it overtime to give the Bears a 4-3 overtime win.

First Period: They went seventeen games where they saw the opponent score a goal. They scored first last night and again today. Sam Miletic plays a puck off the wall and goes back door for a quick 1-0 Pens lead.

Hockey is a funny, frustrating sport.

But the Bears quickly responded when Cam Schilling scored on a laser for a tie game. 

They went back and forth the remainder of the period without scoring.

Second Period: Felix Robert scored about five minutes in to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead. 

Alexei Alexyev scored when Lagace made a stop on a Kessy bid, was on his butt and the Bears sniper went upstairs for the goal that tied it at two.

Sense a trend?

Bears had 1:01 of two man advantage for and called timeout but nothing materialized.

Third Period: Will Reilly scored on a dart from the slot that gave the Pens a lead again.

A Reilly rifle. @97WillReilly pic.twitter.com/IPUAs79nPV

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) May 1, 2021

Sense a trend?

Kale Kessy (of all people) comes up the ice and scores on a bit of a breakaway.

We love everything about this Kale Kessy breakaway goal. #HBH pic.twitter.com/ljOPJgwfGG

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) May 1, 2021

Sense a…OK, OK, you get it by now.

Teams traded a couple of good chances in the dying embers of regulation but it was off to…

Overtime: Connor McMichael sure loves his game winners. He scores on a breakaway and the Bears get the win and take the lead for the first time, for good.

.@con91mcmichael now has 11 goals for @TheHersheyBears this season.

6️⃣ have been game-winners.pic.twitter.com/EBanny2LWa

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) May 1, 2021

Three Stars: 3) Sam MIletic (goal, assist) 2) Kale Kessy (goal, assist) 1) Connor McMichael (overtime game winning goal)

The Good: Win some, lose some. They looked good this afternoon and stayed step for step with Hershey.

The Bad: You will hear me harp on this for as long as necessary. They lack a true goal scorer and in yet another tight game, one would have come in handy.

Turning Point: Kale Kessy’s goal that tied it put the Pens on their heels a bit, gets the Bears a point and then McMichael’s heroics are just the icing on the cake.

They are back at it Wednesday against Binghamton on Cinco de Mayo.

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.

     @    

3                                       1

–

Penguins go undefeated in Newark this season winning in all three trips after a 3-1 win Friday night.

You were wondering if there was going to be a let down after beating two of the better teams in Hershey and Lehigh Valley earlier in the week against a Binghamton team who dressed just four natural defensemen and have lost six straight coming in.

There’s a methodical approach to this win streak. I think it’s simply just one shift at a time. But for an offensive output Sunday with the Bears, its been a structured approach for this three game win streak for the Penguins.

Here’s how they lined up:

First Period: Jordy Bellerive scored his ninth of the season followed up by Jon Gruden capitalizing on a gaffe by the goaltender that made it 2-0.

https://twitter.com/wbspenguins/status/1388279435271487488?s=21

GIF by the Pens says Miletic but the goal was awarded to Gruden.

Second Period: No scoring. Pens had the only power play of the period but didn’t capitalize.

Third Period: Binghamton got one back on a redirect that made it interesting and the score was cut to one. Colton White on a redirect.

No GIF here.

Penguins scored their first empty net goal off the season when Drew O’Connor picked off a clearing attempt that made it 3-1 with three seconds to play.

Three Stars: 3) Alex D’Ohio (23 saves) 2) Colton White (goal) 1) Jon Gruden

The Good: Three game win streak is good. They are getting a solid performance from Alex D’Orio in goal and playing out that way from defense all the way up to forward.

The Bad: Again, nitpicking a one goal by the opponent performance by Wilkes-Barre is a futile effort.

Turning Point: Seemed like the win was never in doubt, after going up 2-0 in the first and leaving it that way at the end of the second. Bingo got one back, but nothing more.

5 o’clock start Saturday at home against Hershey.

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.

          vs.          

1                                                 2

–

Penguins goaltender Alex D’Orio had a birthday today.

His gift? A 41 save performance and a, “I have arrived” moment as the goaltender of the future for the Penguins. Wilkes-Barre beats Lehigh Valley 2-1 in overtime Wednesday night.

It goes without saying that D’Orio has kept his team in the game tonight as well as Sunday against Hershey. He singlehandedly stood down the barrel of two of the better teams in the division and navigated his team to a positive result.

Imagine if this team had a goal scorer.

Here’s how they lined up:

First Period: Not much to write home about. Linus Sandin scored on a 2-on-1 after a failed Penguin clear to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead. There was a fight, with Will Reilly and Brennan Saulnier getting after it.

Second Period: No scoring, teams traded power plays. Goalies were stealing the show.

Third Period: Penguins still down one and time was becoming the enemy, Pens find themselves on ~1:45 of two man advantage and Anthony Angello cashes for a power play goal.

But that kid I mentioned at the open was starting to steal the show. It’s his birthday, after all.

Post to post to keep it level.

Overtime: About 90 seconds in, Josh Currie found Tim Schaller for the game winner.

Three Stars: 3) Felix Sandstrom (32 saves) 2) Tim Schaller (overtime game winning goal) 1) Alex D’Orio (41 saves)

The Good: Consider the corner turned. The Penguins are no longer that pushover team you saw a few weeks ago. They have jelled, you can buy the coachspeak and captain talk, and they have a hell of a goaltender budding into a star.

The Bad: Hard to nitpick when you have a rookie goalie stop 41, only give up one and win in overtime.

Turning Point: Has to go to Angello’s power play goal in a gotta have it moment for the Penguins on the power play there in the third.

They are back at it Friday in Newark.

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.

          vs.          

3                                              6

–

They looked the Pens of yore this afternoon in Wilkes-Barre, winning 6-3, rather convincingly mind you, against a Hershey side which as been the class of the division for pretty much the entirety of this shortened 2021 season.

Unflappable, physical and unrelenting. The Penguins of old, for sure.

Alex D’Orio opposed Pheonix Copley.

On D’Orio, he has earned the net in my opinion and has made the most of the opportunity afford him this season. Sign a vet in the offseason and let D’Orio eat next year.

Here’s how they lined up:

First Period: They came out throwing the body. Remember those Penguins who would physically wear down an opponent by just beating the crap out of them? That’s what they looked like today.

Philippe Maillet opened the scoring on a 4-on-3 that put the Bears on the board first.

But Chase Berger tied it on this ridiculous angle goal and then Josh Currie worked off a give and go that gave the Pens a lead heading into the second period.

Second Period: Remember yesterday when I said that the Penguins lacked a pure goal scorer? You want to know what a pure goal scorer looks like?

That’s a pure goal scorer. Matt Moulson will be in the AHL Hall of Fame some day.

Wilkes-Barre jumps ahead again when Jon Gruden’s intended pass for Kyle Olson turns into a shot for a goal on Pheonix Copley.

Axel-Jonsson Fjallby scored a short handed goal. Inopportune time for that to happen. All the momentum in the world, and you give up a short handed goal.

Josh Currie added a power play goal to give the Pens a 4-3 lead heading into the third.

Third Period: The Pens came out firing and got a goal from Jon Lizotte. No GIF on this one.

Pens took a couple of penalties and were able to navigate through fine. Anthony Angello added the put away goal with under five minutes to play to ice the game away.

Three Stars: 3) Kyle Olson (two assists) 2) Jon Gruden (goal, assist) 1) Josh Currie (two goals, assist)

Nick Hart with some tidbits:

Captain steps up, gets help from up and down the lineup from all facets and the rookie goaltender shoves aside an assault from the best team in the division. Great Sunday.

The Good: More of this please. Would like to see more. Did J.D. Forrest coach this out of this team or did they all just say enough is enough? Guess we will find out together this Wednesday at home against the Phantoms.

The Bad: Nitpicking in hindsight, but the penalties in the third are something you do not want when nursing a lead against the divisions best team.

Turning Point: Josh Currie’s power play goal gave the Pens a lead they wouldn’t relinquish and set back the Bears. Hershey was up to the challenge, but the Pens stayed firm and didn’t break.

More of this please against Lehigh Valley Wednesday.

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.

     @    

1                                        3

–

This is one of those games where I don’t mind the loss because the effort was there. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins battled the Hershey Bears to a scoreless draw early in the third period when the scoring action finally heated up. The two teams finally started taking things out on each other in a penalty filled second, but it was the Bears who scored first, followed by the Penguins on a power play and then Hershey added one with under five to play and then an empty net goal with .3 seconds left to win 3-1 at home Saturday afternoon.

The two teams rematch Sunday evening in Wilkes-Barre.

Tyler had a bit of a foreshadowing tweet.

And wouldn’t you know it the Bears would score on a fluky goal that opened the scoring. Off a skate and in.

Penguins would head to a power play with a gotta have it chance to tie the game and they score when Drew O’Connor connects for a goal that leveled it.

Soon after, Jon Gruden was hauled down and he was awarded a penalty shot. He missed.

(no video here, he skated down the right side, cut across and tried to go five hole on Bears starting goaltender Zach Fucale.)

Alex Alexeyev scored on a dart with 3:30 left to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.

Brian Pinho would hit another empty net, his sixth I think this season, with .3 left to play to make it 3-1 Hershey.

Here is how they lined up. Sometimes I write these stories in reverse.

Three Stars: 3) Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (goal) 2) Alex Alexeyev (goal, assist) 1) Zach Fucale (31 saves)

The Good: It was a competitive game. A young, inexperienced team took one of the better teams in the AHL in Hershey to the edge and nearly won.

The Bad: I have a feelingI am going to be typing up “competitive” a lot here these next few seasons. The Penguins lack a true scorer, and one would have definitely come in handy today.

Turning Point: You can either go the save by Fucale on Gruden which kept it 1-1 or Alexeyev’s go ahead goal with minutes to spare.

They rematch Sunday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre. Different result or more of the same?

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.

This tweet from Pens play by play man Nick Hart summed up tonight’s affair between Wilkes-Barre and Syracuse perfectly:

One step forward and two steps back tonight for the Penguins, who haven;t scored first in a dozen plus games. When you are constantly playing from behind and are a young group at the core, it makes for a long season.

Box here. Alex D’Orio got the start, played well, but there is only so much to do when the team in front of you is so porous.

Someone needs to put an APB out on Pierre Olivier-Joseph. Two penalties tonight, hasn’t really done much since his reassignment from Pittsburgh. The NHL hangover is still lingering with him.

That may be too harsh, they’ve all been poor, collectively.

Back at it next Saturday against Hershey.