Chirps from Center Ice

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It’s a good thing knowing that you have an insurance policy in a goaltender that is good, strong and confident.

It’s better when you take about half the shots as the other team and still win by multiple goals.

It also helps when your penalty killing unit goes 7-for-7, like the Penguins did tonight.

A 33 save shutout by Casey DeSmith, Penguins get goals from Tom Sestito, Daniel Sprong, Frank Corrado, J-S Dea and Dominik Simon and steamroll the Lehigh Valley Phantoms tonight by a 5-0 score.

Casey DeSmith opposed Alex Lyon.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong
Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Zach Trotman – Kevin Czuczman
Dylan Zink – Frank Corrado

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Freddie Tifferls skated as the extra body in warmups. Dylan Zink slotted in for the recalled to Pittsburgh Chris Summers.

First Period: Sleepy start for the Penguins, who were being outshot by the Phantoms 5-0 through the first media break. Out of that, Thomas DiPauli beat out a Phantoms defender, I think it was Philippe Morin, may have been Sam Morin, and wheeled around the net of Lyon and passed to a wide open on the opposite side Tom Sestito who topped the goal home to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

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Daniel Sprong connected on the power play a little over three and a half minutes later to make it 2-0.

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Nice setup by Dylan Zink that set the whole thing up.

Penguins had this stretch tonight where they would go on the power play then give away a silly penalty to Lehigh Valley and skate anywhere from :20 to :40 at four on four. They didn’t allow the Phantoms to score, but it was annoying to see the Penguins earn a penalty and hand it away while on the man advantage.

Second Period: Frank Corrado threw a shot from the point that found its way past Lyon for a 3-0 lead. The puck ate up Lyon from my vantage point. Bad goal to give up in my opinion. You be the judge….

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Penguins went to the penalty kill and the Phantoms hemmed them in the whole time but Wilkes-Barre was able to get out of it unscathed. Casey DeSmith had some fine saves.

Later, Tom Kostopoulous had a nice backhand pass to J-S Dea that connected for a 4-0 Penguins lead that chased Alex Lyon…

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Shots through two periods were 25-15 Phantoms heading into the…

Third Period: How dialed in was Casey DeSmith tonight?

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Chris Conner (remember him?) took a high sticking call that drew blood that put the Penguins on a 4:00 power play. Dominik Simon connected on this shot by Zach Trotman that made it 5-0 past Dustin Tokarski who entered in relief of Alex Lyon after the Dea goal in the second. The Phantoms acquired Tokarski from the San Diego Gulls on Monday.

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Video highlights…

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Three Stars: 3) Dominik Simon (goal, assist. +1) 2) Tom Sestito (game winning goal, +1) and 1) Casey DeSmith (33 save shutout)

This is the second shutout of Casey DeSmith’s AHL career, the other one coming against this same Lehigh Valley team. In four games against the Phantoms, he has just allowed two goals.

Around the Devision: Hartford with an impressive 5-2 victory over Toronto at home tonight…Bridgeport beats Charlotte 5-3 in North Carolina…Providence stays hot beating Springfield 3-2. Hershey was off.

Standings: Still early days. Providence, Charlotte and Hartford with four points. Lehigh Valley with three, Wilkes-Barre and Bridgeport with two and Springfield and Hershey with zero.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers kicked off their season on the road in Greenville, South Carolina and won 5-4. Reid Gardiner had the game winning goal. He also had an assist. Garrett Meurs had two goals. Sean Maguire picked up the win, stopping 43 of 47 shots.

Coal Street should have video highlights. If I see them I will work in an edit.

These two teams rematch tomorrow in Allentown. Gameday setup hits the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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If you have been coming to this blog for any number of years you will often read me write that there are great teams in the AHL, good teams and bad teams. Charlotte, a team that hasn’t been seen in the Eastern Conference since 2011, is a great team. They were a playoff team last year in the Central Division and were not intimidated by this new look, revamped Wilkes-Barre-Scranton Penguins team. The Checkers spoil the Penguins opener with a 5-2 win.

No, my lede did not include a diatribe against referees Evgenii Romasko and Terry Koharski. They called what they saw and they happened to call a lot of it. The Penguins got burned twice shorthanded by Warren Foegele, who by all accounts should be AHL Player of the Week this Tuesday. Koharski / Romasko called it down the middle, six penalties a side for each team, and the Penguins gave up a power play goal to Charlotte and also allowed Foegele to score twice shorthanded. You don’t win many hockey games that way no matter if its opening night or not.

The only reason it wasn’t a Checkers runaway was due to the play of Tristan Jarry, who stopped 31 of 35 shots.

Jarry opposed Jeremy Smith. Here’s a look at the lines…

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Sure beats me hammering out the lines like the old days no?

First Period: Pens nearly got on the scoresheet first with this nice setup and play by Tom Sestito. Yes, Tom Sestito.

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Real quick, want to thank Taylor for putting these GIFs out there on Twitter and being so nice to allow me to embed them on my blog for you all. I think it enhances the read.

Penguins struck first with a goal boy Daniel Sprong on the power play. Get used to seeing a lot of this this upcoming season…

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That release is sickening, by the way.

Checkers would get on the board after an intentional offside call from the Penguins put the draw down in the Penguins zone to Jarry’s right. After the face-off Valintin Zykov turned around and fired at Jarry and it went in….

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Second Period: All out Checkers blitzkrieg, 23 shots to the Penguins 9, put Charlotte ahead of Wilkes-Barre 3-2 after things ended in the second.

Penguins jumped out to a 2-1 lead when Thomas DiPauli follows his own shot while shorthanded and beat Smith to push the Penguins ahead.

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Ferocious forechecking by Teddy Blueger set up the whole thing. DiPauli takes advantage.

Undeterred, Phil Di Giuseppe cashed on a power play when he put a shot on Jarry then followed the rebound off of Tristan’s shoulder and put a backhand in to tie it at two for Charlotte.

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Penguins then found themselves on the power play looking to make something happen, but J-S Dea turned the puck over to Roland McKeown who found Foegele who scored his first shorthanded goal of the night….

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Again, shots 23-9 for Charlotte and nary a goal scored even strength for the Checkers.

Third Period: Foegele again, shorthanded again….

https://twitter.com/CheckersHockey/status/916835910033051649

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Shots were an even 6-6 this period including a not shown 175′ empty net goal by the Checkers with Jarry vacated from Di Giuseppe.

Charlotte, already leading coming into the period, get another shorty from Foegele to make it 4-2 then get an empty netter. Ballgame.

After the game, Tom tweeted this…

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Three Stars: 3) Thomas DiPauli (goal, even) 2) Lucas Wallmark (two assists, +1) and 1) and Warren Foegele (two shorthanded goals, +2)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley pounds Hershey 7-2 in Allentown….Bridgeport loses 2-1 in Binghamton….Providence beats Springfield 5-2. Hartford was off, they host Lehigh Valley Sunday afternoon.

Too soon for a Standings look. Lehigh Valley, Charlotte and Providence all won so they are on top of the division, the rest of us, Wilkes-Barre included, have 0 points. Still early days.

Wheeling Update: Nailers get ripping on their season next weekend.

I don’t think that the Penguins will post video highlights but if they do, I will edit them in.

Power Rankings debut Monday at 4. Check them out then. Let’s Go Pens!

The Penguins were in Binghamton taking on the Devils in their final preseason game. They lost 3-1. They will end up in the preseason going 2-2, splitting each with Hershey and Binghamton in the four games played.

Lots of tough decisions coming for Clark Donatelli and his crew this week as the Penguins prepare for their 19th season of hockey in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Here is a look at the lines….

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Tristan Jarry opposed Mackenzie Blackwood.

One lineup change from what you see above, swap Cam Brown for Gage Quinney.

No change in the status of Jarred Tinordi, he’s still to be evaluated. That usually means that it’s probably more than just day-to-day. Jeff Taylor was held out of the lineup for precautionary reasons on the hit delivered by Connor Hobbs Saturday night in Hershey.

In the first, there was only one power play awarded and the Devils made the most of it with Nathan Bastian tipping in a Brandon Gignac shot from the point past Jarry to put the Devils on the board at 12:44. Shots were an even 8-8 heading into the second.

In the second, J-S Dea scored on a power play to bring the Penguins level with the Devils again at 4:32 for the only scoring in a hotly contested period. The Penguins had a slight edge in shots in the period; 11-9.

In the third and looking to break the tie, the Devils would inch ahead when Blake Pietila pounced on a turnover and scored to give Binghamton a 2-1 lead at 9:25.

About four minutes later, Craig Skudalski couldn’t control a bouncing puck and turned it over resulting in another goal for Binghamton when Chris Calnan scored to make it 3-1.

With the extra man on for the Penguins, they were not able to get a goal.

One note, ex-Penguin Tim Erixon figured in on all three Binghamton goals tonight, with three assists.

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So that wraps up preseason. The Penguins will have a full week of work to prepare for the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday night in their season opener.

Blog wise, where’s what I have on tap for you.

My AHL Previews start at noon Monday with the Pacific Division, with the Central Division on Tuesday, the North on Wednesday and wrapping up with the Atlantic on Thursday.

Any news out of Coal Street or up top in Pittsburgh will be met with its own separate blog post. The Gameday setup will hit the blog for the Pens opener against the Checkers on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

The Penguins were on the road Saturday night in Hershey for their third of four preseason games. They won in overtime via a goal by Frank Corrado by a score of 3-2. The Penguins couldn’t score on 11 power play opportunities.

Here is a look at the lines…

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Casey DeSmith opposed Parker Milner, who was replaced at the halfway mark by Adam Carlson.

Before the game, the Penguins cut five players from camp. To Wheeling: Hunter Fejes, Dan Milan, Kevin Schulze. Matt Petgrave is under contract with the Brampton Beast. Justin Parizek was straight up released.

Also, some injury updates, Jarred Tinordi has, “yet to be evaluated” per Mike O’Brien and Colin Smith participated in the morning skate. Both left Friday’s game vs. Binghamton.

In the first, the Penguins struck first when J-S Dea picked a corner on Milner while the Penguins had a delayed penalty that gave Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 lead. Neither team scored on the power play, the Penguins going 0/2 and the Bears 0/1.

There was a big hit when Connor Hobbs flattened Jeff Taylor with a hit that earned Hobbs an interference penalty. Taylor was OK and shook off the hit. Here it is, courtesy of our friends from Chocolate Hockey…

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In the second, Reid Gardiner doubled the Penguins lead with a big shot at 1:25 off of a face-off in the Pens offensive zone. The Penguins were running the Bears all over the rink forcing Hershey into penalty after penalty, but could not cash on the power plays that referees David Banfield an Peter Schlittenhardt were giving them.

So Dustin Gazley takes things into his own hands and scores on a n delayed penalty that cut the Penguins lead to one.

Undeterred, the Penguins continued to goad the Bears into penalties and had a perfect opportunity to extend the lead back to two again when Wayne Simpson clipped Dominik Simon with his stick that drew blood.

In the third, the 2:59 that the Penguins had on the power play to open the period came and went. That was 0/9 so far missing regular players like Daniel Sprong, Tom Kostopoulos and Zach Aston-Reese.

Still, with no consistent five on five allowed by Schlittenhardt / Banfield, every time you turned around one of the teams were on the power play.

Finally, Chris Bourque scored with the extra man on for the goalie, to tie the game to force overtime.

In overtime, teams went back and forth, then J-S Dea stripped a Bear of the puck, led a 2-on-0 with Frank Corrado, passed to the Penguins defensemen who scored to win the game for the Penguins.

Late, Pittsburgh released Jay McClement from his professional tryout agreement. Penguins have one more move to make which is looking more and more like Patric Hornqvist to injured reserve to buy more time for Hornqvist and the Penguins brass for making a decision on what they want to do with Josh Archibald / Derrick Pouliot.

Penguins conclude their preseason with a 5 p.m. start in Binghamton Sunday. Recap after the game.

The Penguins dressed more of a regular lineup tonight in tonight’s 6-2 win against the Binghamton Devils. So let’s jump right into the lines tweeted by Obie…

Tristan Jarry started and was backed up by Casey DeSmith and played the whole game. Scott Wedgewood opposed in the Binghamton net.

So as close to a regular lineup you will probably see for the Penguins tonight. You’ll probably see some of the other 26 players who did not dress tonight play in the road games in Hershey and Binghamton Saturday and Sunday.

The game was delayed by thirty minutes due to a compressor problem which help cools the ice.

Here is what I will say about the first period. To start, it was a much quicker pace with more established AHL guys in the line up. After the Penguins walked off the ice to the first intermission I tweeted at the time that it felt like the Penguins were playing the game in second gear, that they didn’t even go full out and still led 4-1 and made it look easy.

Garrett Wilson poked home a back door goal after nice work in the corner from Teddy Blueger to chip a puck to Tom Kostopoulos who no look passed to Wilson in front.

Kostopoulos cleaned up a point shot by Daniel Sprong that gave the Pens a 2-0 lead while Wilkes-Barre was on a two man advantage. Adam Johnson hacked and whacked one second after the other power play expired to make it 3-0.

The Devils only had one shot on goal to this point.

Devils finally punched back on a power play when a Jan Mandat shot from the point deselect off of a Penguin and past Jarry to make it 3-1.

Wilkes-Barre responded in kind with Garrett Wilson’s second goal of the night, deflecting a Zach Trotman shot to make it 4-2 heading into the second period.

In the second, each team got one goal late. Dominik Simon scored when he pounced on a loose puck and scored to make it 5-1. About a minute later Nathan Bastian scored on a ugly Penguin turnover in front of Jarry.

Tom Kostopoulos had a goal and an assist from the first period and completed his Gordie Howe hat trick after a fight with Jacob MacDonald. MacDonald cross checked Jarred Tinordi which sent Tinordi to the room holding his hand / wrist.

In the third, Kevin Czuczman added on to the Penguins lead with a blast of a shot from the point that found its way past Wedgewood that made it 6-2. There were about a million slashing calls in the game. It gets annoying and predictable after a while.

Video highlights…

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Penguins play Hershey tomorrow then rematch Binghamton Sunday. I’ll have recaps of each this weekend.

Not going to go too far in-depth here with the first preseason game of the season for both clubs. Tonight was about fringe guys from both sides getting evaluated before inevitably being shipped away to the ECHL affiliate with the influx of talent coming down from the NHL. I counted a sum total of three regulars in the lineup for Wilkes-Barre. The Bears players didn’t wear nameplates.

One thing really quick, all the players Pittsburgh put on waivers yesterday cleared today.

Lines in case you were wondering:

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Colin Stevens for the Penguins opposed Parker Milner in goal.

In the first, Hershey cashed early on a power play when Penguin killed Dustin Gazley pounded home rebound of a shot from the point.

Penguins chased a bit, more so by the Bears because there was a ton of icing penalties in the period.

Patrick McGrath laid the body on Andrew Cherniwchan legally on a big hit.

Penguins killed off 1:49 of a 5-on-3 after two consecutive slashing penalties :11 apart. Probably the cleanest part of the period for Wilkes-Barre. Most of the time were plays where the player cherry picked a bit and tried to sneak in for a breakaway. Parker Milner had none of it though, stopping all 9 shots.

In the second, the Bears continued to increase their lead with a transition goal set up by Cherniwchan. He led a rush after a Hershey icing down ice, put a shot on Stevens that Hampus Gustafsson put home for a 3-0 lead.

Dustin Gazley found an unmarked Jeremy Langlois in front of the net who made it 3-0.

Gazley later dangled through Kevin Schulze and was never picked up by Danny Fick to make it 4-0.

Penguins only had two shots on goal in the period, and I don’t think a single one came after the ten minute mark. Everything was a home run pass or a cherry pick attempt. Parker Milner was not challenged at all.

In the third, the Penguins finally were awarded a power play but could not score on it. Seconds after the Power play expired, the Penguins found themselves on the penalty kill again.

The Bears would score to make it 5-0 when Stephen Collins poked one past Will King who was on in relief of Colin Stevens in goal.

Connor Hobbs and Patrick McGrath got together for a fight which ended quickly when Hobbs got Pat’s jersey over his head:

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Tom Mele went to the front of the net and was rewarded with a goal, ending Milner’s shutout bid which put Wilkes-Barre on the board.

Penguins got run around by a Hershey team that brought more established players with them. Perhaps the 21 players who showed up Tuesday took the air out of the players who dressed tonight, but it’s supposed to be about leaving an impression and there really wasn’t one to be had at all from anyone who dressed for Wilkes-Barre tonight.

There may be cuts Thursday and if so I will have an update. If not, check back Friday night after the second preseason game the Penguins will play against Binghamton.

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I don’t know what to say.

I had a feeling, around December or January, when the call-up started happening and the Penguins maintained first place overall in the AHL and the Eastern Conference that this year was going to be different.

This was the year I thought. Our Cup to lose I said to a select few.

In the 30 team American Hockey League, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were the best overall team in it during the regular season. They won the Atlantic Division, the Eastern Conference and the Kilpatrick trophy.

But none of that mattered in the postseason. Ask any favored team going into a playoff series. Golden State Warriors in basketball. The Atlanta Falcons in the third period of the Super Bowl past.

In the postseason, you aren’t playing the 30 team AHL schedule any longer, your focus is one opponent.

For the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, it was the Providence Bruins.

I went through the stats that one afternoon and looked at how dead even the two teams were in every facet. Goaltending, Offense and Defense, it was almost a dead heat.

I gave the advantage to the Penguins, as did many others, and erroneously selected them to advance in four games.

A masterful, herculean, down right impossible effort by Bruins goaltender Zane McIntyre Sunday afternoon, stopping 50 shots sent his way. Danton Heinen scores twice, once in the first on a power play after a too many men on the ice call, the third in the series called against the Penguins and then late in the third with seven minutes to play. J-S Dea pulled one back for the Penguins on a later power play but the Penguins fate had already been sealed. Penguins fall 2-1 in Game 5 and bow out of the playoffs in the first round. The are the first regular season champion since the 1995-96 Cornwall Aces to not advance in past the first round of the AHL playoffs.

They failed to score on a double minor right after the Heinen first period goal, already down one, and McIntyre settled into groove that stole one for the number four seeded Providence Bruins, who finally overcome the postseason nightmare which is the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. The ghosts of a 3-0 blown series lead a few years ago and a sweep last year die a cold death on the ice at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

I don’t think there is anything left here to recap. Penguins shot themselves in the foot with a too many men on the ice call that the Bruins capitalized on :09 later on, couldn’t convert a double minor high sticking call on Tom Kostopoulos immediately after, put a mountain of shots on Zane McIntyre and could not advance to the second round of the playoffs.

Seth had some nice quotes here which I think sum up the game and the series for me. Your mileage may vary.

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To sum, the Penguins offense sputtered when it had a 2-1 series lead when the clock struck midnight Friday morning.

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But to be fair, these teams were evenly matched and were built from goaltender on out.

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And sometimes you get beat.

Three stars were all Providence, Jordan Szwarz was third with two assists, Danton Heinen was second with two goals and Zane McIntyre was first with 50 saves on 51 shots.

I will have a Year in Review piece on the blog thus week. I’ll probably go back and look at what I got wrong in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs and try to predict Round Two sometime later this week.

Things will be quiet here until the end of the playoffs after that unless there is breaking news like a guys signing overseas or someone signing on for next season. My offseason moves chart will probably go up at some point within say a month or so.

I will most likely have the AHL Free Agent Big Board again around July 1. I’ll crowdsource it again like I did last year. Apply today!

Thank you.

Thank you to the Penguins for another good season of content here on the blog. It’s easy when you are good and the Penguins were this season and that made for some goofy and awful puns and some overall good times during the regular season. Thank you to Brian Coe in the front office, the braintrust that makes all of this social media go. Voices of the Penguins Mike O’Brien and Nick Hart had another stellar year as a tandem. You will go to bed tonight bummed that the Penguins didn’t win the Calder Cup they were favored to win, but remember this, the team that beat the Penguins doesn’t have a broadcaster, and has little to no social media presence whatsoever.

Thank you to you, the reader, who reads this blog religiously either by stopping me on the concourse, finding me on Twitter or Facebook and saying how you enjoy the blog or by subscribing via e-mail. Growing a reader base doesn’t come overnight. It takes work, hard work, to grow a base of people who consider your stuff on par with the print media. For that I say thank you.

Thanks to Seth Lakso of the Citizens’ Voice and Tom Venesky of The Times-Leader for another stellar year of coverage of the team. Another thing to consider when you turn in for the evening and begin to start your summer, the newspaper business is a fading industry. Most towns don’t have a full time beat covering their minor league team. Ask any Texas, Hershey, Binghamton, Hartford, or Rochester fan off the top of my head what it’s like having to go to the internet to read a final score of that night’s game. Wilkes-Barre has two beats that religiously follow the team.

So that’s all she wrote.

One final video from the best in the business…

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Thank you again. Enjoy your summer, and Let’s Go Pens!