Chirps from Center Ice

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Just expecting to go into another teams building because of past success in said building against said opponent is a dangerous way to do business when you are pursuing a playoff spot.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms didn’t have a single power play goal tonight but still managed to get two special teams goals by Cole Bardreau and defeat the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 4-2.

The Penguins, the control car in the Atlantic Division for other teams magic numbers, help Hershey lower their magic number to two and the Providence Bruins, the only other team besides the day’s opponent that matters to the Penguins lower theirs to six.

The Bruins lost in Bridgeport 4-3 in regulation tonight. They host Utica, who shutout Hartford down the road in Connecticut tonight 4-0 on Sunday. Each team has four games left. The Penguins cannot be a playoff team by the end of the weekend.

Flat effort all around by the Penguins tonight. Lehigh Valley jumped on the Pens from the beginning and I got the sense that all Wilkes-Barre needed to do was withstand the rush by the Phantoms and let the game come to them but the hits kept coming.

Regroup and get back at it Sunday.

Tristan Jarry opposed Alex Lyon.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Top three lines untouched, Jordy Bellerive made his professional debut, centering Chase Berger and Jimmy Hayes. Calen Addison, fresh off of signing a three year entry level contract with Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon, was paired with Chris Summers. Bellerive replaced Chase Berger and Addison replaced Michael Kim. John Muse backed up.

First Period: Flurry of offense from the Phantoms, who get one to go in a pile of bodies when Tyrell Goulbourne scores to give the Phantoms the lead.

Felt at the time that all the Penguins needed to do was get out of the mad rush by the Phantoms to win the game in the first ten minutes and then take control.

Alex Lyon was dialed in early, stopping a Kevin Czuczman shot teed up for him by Sam Lafferty.

Penguins were headed to a power play, the only of the period, and it was a chance to level things.

Only Cole Bardreau had other ideas.

Steals it from Haggerty, dances past Prow and leaves defenders in his wake. Rough goal to give up in the sequence for Wilkes-Barre.

But then, on the same power play, Sam Lafferty dangles his way in, dishes to Ryan Haggerty and scored on his knee a goal that cut the deficit to one.

Penguins somehow outshot the Phantoms 7-6 despite the lollygag start.

Second Period: Very contentious period. The Penguins were robbed of a goal that should have counted and allowed yet another shorthanded goal to fall down a pair of goals.

First, the disallowed goal. Adam Johnson was hooked driving to the net and still managed to get a shot off and it went in.

Only the referee, I couldn’t tell if it was Mike Duco or Mike Dietrich down there in the corner, washed the would be goal out. Take a look.

Two things. First, hit play on the video above and watch Lyon’s glove, then watch the referee make the move to his mouth. You have the hand being quicker than the eye and the intent to blow. You would have liked to see the other referee jump in there and say that Lyon never had the puck covered, but I don’t think they can overrule intent to blow. It sucks, given the circumstances.

What sucks even more, is that Cole Bardreau scored his second shorthanded goal of the game that extended the Phantoms lead to two.

Penguins couldn’t get anything going by way of a later power play, almost playing too cautious to not allow a third shorthanded goal, so it was 3-1 Phantoms heading off to the…

Third Period: Byron Froese, the stone in the shoe of the Penguins for a while now, scored on a wraparound to effectively salt the game away with this goal that made it 4-1.

Brandon Hawkins scored with just south of six minutes remaining to make it a two goal game and you started to think if the Penguins could stage yet another third period comeback in Allentown that would be epic.

But, with Jarry pulled for the extra attacker, no more offense would come.

Pens would go on to outshoot the Phantoms 35-23. Lyon was good for Lehigh Valley and their penalty kill was better.

Three Stars: 3) Alex Lyon (33 saves) 2) Byron Froese (goal, assist) 1) Cole Bardreau (two shorthanded goals)

If Lehigh Valley sets up video highlights and I can work an edit tin before now and 11 am Sunday I will work it in here. 11 am Sunday is the Gameday setup for the rematch in Allentown.

Let’s Go Pens!

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This game, a 4-0 Wilkes-Barre / Scranton win over the Binghamton Devils, was a lot closer than the scoreline would indicate. Yes, the Penguins pretty much had their way with the last place Devils tonight and yes, John Muse had a 33 save shutout, his second of the season  but for about 55 minutes of regulation, it was only a two goal lead. You and I have seen our fair share of games that go bad for the Penguins.

Wilkes-Barre keeps pace with fourth place Providence, who wins 8-6 at home against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Bruins remain three points ahead (83) of the Penguins (80) for now. The Sound Tigers are in a tail spin. They have not yet clinched a playoff spot and scored six goals and still lost. How often do you see the losing team score six goals and loose? It doesn’t happen often. Those two teams rematch Saturday in Bridgeport. That was the only divisional game that mattered to the Penguins tonight.

John Muse opposed Evan Cormier.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: The Penguins have 37 players on their roster and half of them are guys on amateur tryout contracts or ATO’s. Just this week alone I think the Penguins added like seven players and the more household names like Calen Addison and Jan Drozg didn’t even dress for the Pens tonight yet were added to ATO’s.

Anyway, for tonight the line was not touched. Adam Johnson was returned by Pittsburgh earlier Friday and Ben Sexton returned back from injury. Brandon Hawkins (ATO) debuted on third line. Michael Kim (ATO) debuted on defense. Cam and Chris Brown, Patrick McGrath and Tim Erixon were the odd men out from Tuesday. Cam Brown took the warmup.

A note about Kim and Hawkins. Neither looked out of place. I really liked what I saw from Hawkins, who forechecked and hit and from Kim who created turnovers, just standing guys up at his own blue line.

First Period: Men against boys period with the Penguins dominating pace and play yet at the end of the first period the Penguins only led by one goal on account of this Chris Summers goal. Summers swooped in and cleaned up a shot by Sam Lafferty.

Kim’s first professional point. Rookie defensemen out of Boston College wearing number eight. I know someone from there that came through here wearing that number. His name is Brian Dumoulin.

Pens couldn’t do a think on long stretches of power play time, and even more two man advantage time, squeezing their sticks a bit too tightly. Otherwise, they score two or three and the game turns into a laugher, quickly.

Second Period: Lafferty got his goal to go this time, finishing off a cross ice pass by Ethan Prow to make it 2-0.

Penguins carried the play through much of the period again. John Muse stood up to the few chances that the Devils offered easily.

Third Period: Zipped by, you were waiting for something to happen really good or bad, and finally Joseph Blandisi scores with a second left on a Colton White kneeing penalty to make it 3-0.

Capping off a great debut as a professional, Brandon Hawkins scores an empty netter with a nice assist from Jarrett Burton.

Ballgame.

Three Stars: 

The Good: Clark Donatelli’s decision to give Tristan Jarry the literal night off and go with Muse. Alex D’Orio (yet another ATO) backed up Muse, leaving Tristan Jarry as the man in the nets in Allentown for two games this weekend there against the Phantoms.

The Bad: The lack of success on the power play in the first period was a sight to see. Binghamton is a last place team and the Pens had long stretches of two man advantage that they didn’t get many shots on Cormier on.

Turning Point: Blandisi’s goal late in the third took the game from, “I hope we win,” to “We are going to win.”

Setting up Saturday: Five games left for Providence and Wilkes-Barre. Bruins rematch with the Sound Tigers on Saturday while the Pens travel down the Pennsylvania Turnpike to set up shop in Allentown to take on the Phantoms, who were off tonight. You’ll probably see more ATO guys rotate in, although I would be fine leaving who played tonight in Saturday but like I have said countless times before, I don’t coach the team, I just write a blog about them.

Video Highlights: 

Gameday setup vs. Lehigh Valley will hit the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins went into a Tuesday morning game with their playoff hopes on the door of life support. The Sound Tigers needed two points to sew up a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

It was a game on paper that you would think the Penguins would struggle with, after watching them lay an egg against a Springfield Thunderbirds team in their only action of the weekend last Saturday. The Sound Tigers had success last weekend to inch closer to a playoff spot and were 24-6-2 at home coming into Tuesday’s contest.

Using a three goal first period and withstanding an 18-4 shot differential in the third period, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win 3-1 in Bridgeport. The win draws the Penguins back to three points behind the idle Providence Bruins with equal games played, denies the Sound Tigers a playoff spot for the time being and hands the Atlantic Division Championship to the Charlotte Checkers.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Anthony Angello and Juuso Riikola were out of the lineup with injuries. Patrick McGrath went in on the fourth line. Tim Erixon jumped in on defense. Top two lines for Wilkes-Barre were untouched, Cam Brown jumped in Angello’s spot on the third line. Defense pairing were all shuffled.

First Period: With these morning starts, the first team to get out of the blocks the right way normally carries the momentum. Fortunately in the first, it was the Penguins.

Ryan Haggerty carried the puck out of the Bridgeport zone, through neutral, then split to Bridgeport defenders and was tripped. Penguins went to an early power play just :33 in.

Haggerty didn’t waste time in giving the Penguins an early 1-0 lead before the game was a minute old.

The hits continued. Chase Berger scored his first professional goal in just his second professional game through a screen on the left side that gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead.

But Wilkes-Barre was not done. Ryan Haggerty scored his second of the game when he collected a Sam Lafferty faceoff win, floated mid slot and fired to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead.

Shots were 14-8 Penguins after one. Smith was under bombardment all period and it could have easily been 4-0 or 5-0.

Second Period: Another thing that you have to worry about with the morning starts is that the team that starts in the hole gets their legs moving and the team on top relaxes a bit because it’s a morning game and then all of a sudden it becomes a contest again. That didn’t happen in the middle frame. The Penguins maintained their 3-0 lead.

Smith had some good stops, starting off with a Chris Brown breakaway chance set up by Ryan Haggerty. Then he stopped Joseph Cramarossa with a glove save in the splits.

Third Period: Sound Tigers started to move their feet in the period and got the Penguins in penalty trouble. Finally Jeff Kubiak deflected a Carter Hutton shot from the point that deflected past Jarry and in to bust up Jarry’s would be shutout bid.

Penguins put on a penalty killing clinic the rest of the way and held off Bridgeport’s oncoming charges. Ryan Haggerty had a couple cracks at his hat trick but was denied.

Three Stars: 3) Jeff Kubiak (goal) 2) Chase Berger (goal) 1) Ryan Haggerty (two goals)

The Good: Getting out to a hot start before the clock struck 11 a.m. in the morning. A mild second and then withstanding a furious bid by the Sound Tigers in the third period.

The Bad: Kind of hard to come up with something like this, considering the opponent just scored one goal, but putting away a team is something that lacks I think right now. If the Penguins do get into the playoffs, they will need that killer instinct.

Turning Point: The three goal explosion in the first period ended up turning out to be too big of a hole to climb out of.

No other scores in the division that you need to worry about.

Video Highlights: 

But for anything breaking, check out the Power Rankings on Thursday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Springfield Thunderbirds came into Wilkes-Barre tonight and won 4-1. They did so on the back of some great bounces that put them ahead 2-0. When Ryan Haggerty scored his 20th goal of the season that made it 2-1 heading into the third period, a too many men on the ice call against the Penguins saw Springfield and their top overall power play score to essentially ice the game away. The Thunderbirds would add another goal for good measure.

With Hershey beating Providence tonight at Giant Center 2-1, the Penguins are five points back of a playoff spot with seven games to play.

Tristan Jarry opposed Chris Driedger.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Those two players noted in the tweet above were signed to ATOs earlier this week and contracts for next season. Linus Ölund and Patrick McGrath yielded to the debutants.

First Period: Chase Berger nearly acquainted himself properly when the had this great chance in the slot that was denied by Driedger.

This ain’t college, kid.

Vincent Praplan cherry picked and was the beneficiary of a high clear that he corralled and backhanded past Jarry to give the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the period.

Bounces.

Second Period: Adam Rockwood tapped his first pro goal past Jarry on a nice setup from Anthony Greco on a transition play that made it 2-0 Thunderbirds early on.

Bounces.

Ryan Haggerty would pull one back for the Penguins on this goal.

Penguins would lose Anthony Angelllo and Juuso Riikola to injury. Angello’s I believe happened in the first period and Riikola’s happened in the second. Riikola’s was lower body, he slammed his stick off the bench then hobbled back to the locker room in pain and limping. He tried to give it a go in the third when they came back from break but couldn’t and went back in the room.

Tyler had nothing to report postgame on their statuses.

Third Period: Harry Zolnierczyk scored on a knee drop one timer shot that bulleted past Jarry on the power play that gave the Thunderbirds a 3-1 lead. This came when the Penguins were called for too any men on the ice.

Penguins would essentially have two power play opportunities to get back into the game and failed on both. Each time, they would go on to get scored against.

This time, Alex Breton did the honors for his first goal as a professional as well.

Mid-slot snipe. Nice.

Three Stars: 

The Good: The kids look good. I had someone come up to me a on the concourse and say that they play the game at 100 mph because they don’t know any better, but Chris Brown and Chase Berger looked good for the limited amount of time they had out there, with the Pens trailing in the third they didn’t see much ice time.

The Bad: Springfield is playing out the string but came to play, got bounces and left the Pens in a big hole as the final two weeks are upon us.

Turning Point: Zolnierczyk’s power play goal was the killshot. Springfield was getting all the bounces and capitalizing. The Penguins didn’t have the same amount of luck.

I gave you the scores that matter in the lede. Hershey is in Bridgeport Sunday against Bridgeport. You want a Bridgeport regulation win.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are back in action Tuesday morning in Bridgeport at 10:30. But for anything breaking between now and then check out the Gameday setup with your morning coffee or team Tuesday bright and early at 6:30 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Power went out outside the Arena late afternoon. A transformer blew behind the Marshall’s in the Arena complex. As a result, the Providence Bruins – Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins game was delayed an hour. Game start is scheduled for 8:05.

With this being a work night home game (last of the regular season thank heavens) and with such a late start, it’s going to be a running live blog tonight. I’ve always thought about doing these, but have always opted for the, ‘transcribe to the Notes app, copy paste and worry about formatting issues later’ approach.

Not tonight. Check back periodically for updates. I’ll have em after warmups, first, second and third periods. If there’s overtime I’m lodging a formal complaint.

Lineups:

Nothing I could tell lineup wise as far as a change from Sunday vs. Springfield. Tinkering with line pairings but otherwise unchanged.

First Period: Took the Pens about 4:30 to register the first shot on goal and then the Bruins 5:45. Pretty zippy start to the game and the first half of the period.

Jake Lucchini finished this nice cross ice pass from Jarrett Burton to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.

Bruins made a little bit of a push in the latter stages of the period but Jarry looked solid throughout.

Second Period: Cautious, calculated period. Two power plays a side, but no scoring. Bruins were eager to let the play come to them in their defensive end, and it worked as Wilkes-Barre only registered six shots on goal.

Game had all the makings of a defensive, closely contested affair heading into the third.

Third Period: Bruins with an early push but Jarry was dialed in. Two early saves preserved the 1-0 lead the Pens had.

Cooper Zech was stripped of a puck trying to exit the zone which set up a quick two on one with Ryan Haggerty and Sam Miletic. Miletic cashed to make it 2-0 Penguins.

Big goal at the time.

Bruins tried and tried, but couldn’t get anything past Jarry.

The Good: Joseph Cramarossa and Jake Lucchini were everywhere tonight, but how about Tristan Jarry? The shutout has eluded him this season and this past month he’s singlehandedly placed the team on his back and carried them to three points back of Providence now. Bruins have trended up, caught Hershey for third, and Jarry coolly makes 23 saves in a contest that could have easily finished 1-0.

The Bad: Not applicable.

Turning Point: Jarry’s saves in the open of the third that preserved the 1-0 lead. The Miletic goal was the icing.

Lehigh Valley beat Rochester in overtime 4-3. Charlotte shut out Bridgeport 4-0. No boxes. It’s late.

Pens will have a highlight package up later and I’ll work in an edit if I can.

Power Rankings Thursday. Pens are off Friday, Bruins are in Syracuse. Pens back in action Saturday at home against Springfield.

Let’s Go Pens!

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John Muse makes 32 saves after Tristan Jarry was given the afternoon off after starting thirteen straight games for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, who defeat the Springfield Thunderbirds 3-2 on Sunday. The Penguins close to five points behind idle Providence. Both the Bruins, Penguins and Hershey Bears have played 67 games. Hershey also sits on 79 points, after losing 4-1 and getting swept in Cleveland Sunday.

Muse opposed Chris Driedger.

Lines were…

Lineup: No changes for the Penguins from Saturday in Allentown. Lines were the same from Saturday as well. The only change was Muse in goal.

First Period: J-S Dea had a hell of a day in his return to Wilkes-Barre. He is easily Springfield’s best player and had two power play goals for the Thunderbirds today including this one on the back door which gave the Thunderbirds and early 1-0 lead.

Penguins respond with Sam Miletic deflecting in a power play goal that tie it at one.

Second Period: Was a penalty fest, with nine power plays awarded. Seven, if you take away the two times that the Thunderbirds were caught with too many men on the ice. No flow to the game whatsoever. Referees Guillaume Labonte and Tim Mayer called it tight on tired players playing their third game in three days.

So of course Anthony Angello scores an even strength goal for the six or so minutes that the teams were on even strength.

Nice to see Angello get that one there, he had hit a bit of a wall here in his rookie season.

Third Period: J-S Dea connected on his second power play of the game that tied the game at two early on in the third period.

With both teams skating without any whistles for a change, it looked like they were content to play for overtime.

J-S Dea was denied his hat trick on this nice save by John Muse.

Joseph Cramarossa stepped up and snapped home a goal with under four minutes left.

Springfield, with Driedger pulled for the extra attacker and through a time out, never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 

The Good: Using the game in hand to make up ground on Providence and Hershey.

The Bad: Springfield is really a one line team. The game really should not have as close as it should have been. That may be at disrespect to the opponent, but the facts are the facts.

Turning Points: Muse’s save on Dea, denying the hat trick is one, Cramarossa’s goal is the other. One doesn’t really happen without the other.

Points wise, the Penguins are on 74. They are five off of Providence and Hershey with 79. Everyone has 67 games played. Nine games left. Providence is here Wednesday, before heading to Syracuse Friday and Hershey Saturday.

Hershey has Providence Saturday and Bridgeport Sunday.

Video Highlights: 

Talk to you Wednesday but for breaking news before.

Let’s Go Pens!

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There was under a minute left to play in the third period, Wilkes-Barre was down one and getting buried in shots and were on track to go nine points off of Providence for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic.

That’s when Sam Lafferty went to work.

With Jarry pulled, the Penguins rookie scored to complete his hat trick to force overtime. Ryan Haggerty would then score on a breakaway to give the Penguins the extra point and the win as Wilkes-Barre wins 5-4 in overtime.

The Providence Bruins defeated the Binghamton Senators, so the deficit to the Bruins in fourth remains as it was when the game started this evening, seven. The Penguins burn off the game in hand on Providence Sunday afternoon at home against Springfield. It can get to five with a regulation or overtime win. That would then set up a huge meeting with Providence where, with the same regulation or overtime win, can get the deficit to three.

But that’s counting the chickens before they hatch.

Moral, they still have life. It’s not an ideal situation, but if they had lost the game tonight in regulation, their playoff hopes would have been entirely extinguished in my book. The win gives them enough to keep them in the heads of the Bruins.

Tristan Jarry opposed Alex Lyon in a rematch from Friday night.

Lines were…

Lineup: Shuffled up the forward lines but for the top line. Patrick McGrath went in for Trevor Yates. No changes on D other than Jusso Riikola pairing with Chris Summers. Thirteenth straight start for Tristan Jarry. Chris Summers skated in his 500th AHL game.

First Period: A really testy period by both teams, with the bad blood on display boiling over from Friday night. The Penguins jumped out to the lead early when Sam Lafferty thundered down the slot and backhanded a shot past Alex Lyon to give the Pens a 1-0 lead…

But :28 later, a low shot by Mark Friedman that was kicked out by Jarry went right to Philip Samuelsson and in to make it a 1-1 game.

Penguins spent the final half of the period on a power play it felty like as the Phantoms took penalty after penalty. Wilkes-Barre had two separate :20 two man advantages.

With one second left on the final one, Joseph Blandisi scored to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

Another nice backhand, this time with a pass instead of a shot, by Sam Lafferty to Blandisi for the shot and goal.

Second Period: It was the Penguins turn to take all the penalties and have a long two man disadvantage but they got out of it.

Sam Lafferty added another goal to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

Greg Carey had two chances in the slot and didn’t miss on his second one. It was a one goal lead all of a sudden.

Cole Bardreau scored to make it a tie game late.

Lehigh Valley had slowly percolated enough and this was the result.

Third Period: Tristan Jarry should be the Penguins MVP. If the Penguins do manage to make playoffs this season, it will because of Jarry and the plays that he makes to keep the team in the game at the moment. Like this sequence early on in the period.

Byron Froese scored to give the Phantoms the go ahead goal and a 4-3 lead.

Looking bleak, it didn’t look like the Penguins were going to score on even terms, then Lafferty and his magic took over.

That’s a hat trick. Second one in the building by an opponent, the first was a few weeks ago by Jimmy Hayes.

It also forced…

Overtime: Periscoped here…

If you don’t want to watch it all from start to finish, Ryan Haggerty stole a puck in the neutral zone, skated in and….

Ballgame.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Providence beats Binghamton 3-1. The rest of the scores are really meaningless but I will give them to you anyway. Hershey loses in Cleveland 5-2, Charlotte beats Hartford 3-1, Laval beats Springfield 3-2 in overtime and Bridgeport beats Belleville 2-1.

Standings: Charlotte 94 — Bridgeport 84 — Hershey 79 — Providence 79 — Penguins 72 — Lehigh Valley 71 — Springfield 69 — Hartford 65

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose a close one in Kalamazoo 3-2. Winston Day Chief, one of the best names in hockey, scored for the Nailers in the loss.

Setting Up Sunday: Everyone is talking about Providence, but if you just noticed above, the Hershey Bears are on the same points as the Bruins with 79. They rematch with the Monsters Sunday. The Bruins are off.

If Coal Street puts up a video high light package or Lehigh Valley for that matter, it will run here.

Gameday setup for Sunday’s game against Springfield hits the blog Sunday at 11 am.

Let’s Go Pens!