Chirps from Center Ice

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I don’t want to say that we have reached the swan song of Teddy Blueger, but we are getting close.

A pair of goals and an assist for the Penguins centerman and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins obliterate the stone cold Bridgeport Sound Tigers 5-2 Wednesday morning in Connecticut.

There isn’t any room for Teddy Blueger at his natural center position right now in Pittsburgh. The one thing that is a strength of both the NHL team and AHL team is down the middle. All Blueger can do is take the assignments as they come. If he continues to light it up down here in Wilkes-Barre, Jim Rutherford and Company may have no choice but to call him up and make room for him.

Remains to be seen. Enjoy him while you still can, is what I am saying.

Tristan Jarry opposed Christopher Gibson.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Joseph Blandisi made his Penguins debut and went top line with Teddy Blueger and Anthony Angello. Cam Brown took warmups but was the scratch. Ryan Scarfo dropped to the third line, Ryan Haggerty moved up to that line also and Joseph Cramarossa was back in with Ölund and Hayes. Macoy Erkamps was back in for Tim Erixon who was the veteran removed to allow Cramarossa to get in today.

First Period: Penguins got out to a quick start with Joseph Blandisi getting a goal in his first game as a Penguin.

He initially put a shot on, which was blocked and stayed in the slot and collected his rebound and scored.

Tristan Jarry had to stop a Jeff Kubiak penalty shot when Kubiak was hooked shorthanded when the Penguins were on a power play.

Later, Teddy Blueger steals a puck in the neutral zone, skates in and scored to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.

Decent first period for the Penguins who outshot the Sound Tigers 8-3.

Second Period: Tons of goals and momentum swings.

Ryan Haggerty made it 3-0 after he wheeled around the face-off dot and unleashed a shot that made it 3-0.

That ended Chris Gibson’s day, enter Jeremy Smith.

Wilkes-Barre then scores :11 apart when Ethan Prow puts a shot on goal that Teddy Blueger pounces on, he wheels around Gibson and scores to make it 4-0 on a power play. Then, off of the ensuing face-off Ryan Scarfo intercepts a pass up the ice on the far wall and finds a cutting Ryan Haggerty in front to make it 5-0 before the Sound Tigers knew what hit them.

Here are the goals:

The Penguins at this point had more goals (5) then the Sound Tigers had shots (4)

Bridgeport Head Coach Brent Thompson used his time out and out of that on the very next shift, Chris Casto scored to break up the Tristan Jarry would-be shutout bid.

(Taylor didn’t GIF any goals this morning)

Tanner Fritz connected on a Sound Tigers power play that made it 5-2. Momentum was sliding on the Sound Tigers side, quickly.

Turning point of the game was when the Penguins killed a Zach Trotman penalty at the games halfway point. If the Sound Tigers scored here to cut the goal to two, it would have completely changed the complexion of the game.

Third Period: In hindsight, that power play that the Sound Tigers had at the midway point seemed like their final push because they took two penalties late in the second and the third period was ultimately benign. Ryan Haggerty was denied a few chances at his hat trick and Tristan Jarry had a few key late saves to preserve the win.

The Good: These morning starts are tricky, but the Penguins jumped out to a 5-0 start and withstood a small pushback from Bridgeport. Having Chris Summers and Zach Trotman on the blue line back is really important.

The Bad: Kind of hard to nitpick on this, but the Sound Tigers were getting flattened, called time out, and were a few breaks and bounces from turning this into a much closer game. Wilkes-Barre is going to need to start stringing a full 60 minute effort together if they want success more often than not.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Springfield beat Hartford 7-4 in a game which was bonkers. Ex-Penguins Paul Thompson had four goals. Ex-Penguin Harry Zolnierczyk scored his 100th AHL goal…Lehigh Valley beat Hershey in a shootout, 2-1.

Standings: Charlotte 64 — Bridgeport 52 — Lehigh Valley 51 — Springfield 50 — Providence 47 — Penguins 47 — Hershey 43 — Hartford 42

Penguins are off Friday, Providence hosts Charlotte, Lehigh Valley hosts Hartford and Springfield is in Syracuse.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Doesn’t look like there are any video highlights for this one, sorry.

Week 16 AHL Power Rankings are out Thursday morning, check them out then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Gritty win for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, who defeat the understaffed Lehigh Valley Phantoms in overtime, 2-1.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 44 of 46 shots on his conditioning stint from the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins shot 70% of their shots at Stolarz directly into the Phantoms logo on Stolarz’s chest. I don’t think that he had many high risk saves that he had to make today. Penguins shooters made it pretty easy for him though the first forty minutes, putting 32 shots on Stolarz.

But it was the Phantoms scoring first, Mike Huntebrinker scored his first of the season with this goal in the opening stages of the third period.

That’s Kevin Czuczman there in front going for the half block. Huntebrinker put it past him and then off the post, Jarry and then in.

The Penguins had two power play opportunities but couldn’t muster anything close to a dangerous look that Stolarz would have had a chance to turn away.

One second after power play expired, Adam Johnson scored his fourth goal in three games that tied the game at one and the Penguins had life again.

Diving block by the Phantoms defender may have taken something off of the shot that changed up on Stolarz.

The teams skated even the rest of the way in the third period and went off to overtime.

After a herky jerky start to overtime whee it looked like a shootout was inevitable, Ethan Prow ended it.

Teddy Blueger drove the net, put a shot on that Stolarz denied but didn’t cover, and Ethan Prow was there to sweep it home. Ball game.

Kind of writing the game story backwards from here. Nothing really happened offensively in the first two periods. The Phantoms has 17 shots through two periods and the Penguins had 17 shots in the second period alone. It was a dominating performance from the Penguins offensively, but all offerings laid at the feet at Anthony Stolarz were easily turned away.

Two rivals on the ice in a game that had importance for both, the Phantoms and Penguins have been reeling of late, so you would think that they would be ornery for a 1 p.m. Monday start. No. They played good, legal hockey for much of the game. Referees Terry Koharski and Ryan Jenken had long leashes today and only called what needed to be.

Tristan Jarry got the start for the Penguins. Here is how they lined up.

Joseph Blandisi was sent down by Pittsburgh on Sunday and is expected to arrive tonight and practice with the team Tuesday before they get on a bus and head to Bridgeport for a 10:30 a.m. start on Wednesday.

Zach Trotman and Chris Summers were both back from their injuries and had big impacts on the ice today, erasing any high chances that any Phantoms players tried to produce. As a result, Joseph Cramarossa had to sit as the extra veteran. Other lineup notes were Ryan Scarfo up with Teddy Blueger and Anthony Angello top line. Cam Brown to third line. Jimmy Hayes up from, Ryan Haggerty down to, fourth line. Patrick McGrath went in for Cramarossa. Macoy Erkamps and Danny Fick (who skated as the extra in warmups) yielded to Summers ands Trotman.

The Good: I like the amount of shots that the Penguins put up today. They ran into a goaltender who was very, very good today in Stolarz, who deserved a better result today.

The Bad: Flipping that, at what point do the shooters try a different angle or release point when Stolarz is getting hit in the chest time after time after time? That may be be nitpicking, though.

Around the Division: Hershey beat the suddenly reeling Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-1. Providence beat Hartford 5-2 and the Bruins collect 5 of 6 points this weekend. Springfield hosted Laval Monday night and lost in overtime 4-3.

Standings: Charlotte 64 — Bridgeport 52 — Lehigh Valley 49 — Springfield 48 — Providence 47 — Penguins 45 — Hershey 42 — Hartford 42

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are off this week.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are practicing Tuesday, will then get on a bus and then head to Bridgeport for a 10:30 morning start against the Sound Tigers. I will have the Gameday setup with your morning coffee bright and early at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Spare me the Anthony Peters gripes. The Penguins net minder took the net Saturday afternoon against the Hershey Bears and was dealt a 5-3 setback.

Now I am one of Peters biggest critics here, but listen to this logic.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are severely understaffed right now due to injuries. Patrick McGrath took the warmup today and was the only healthy scratch that the Penguins had.

That is a lot of regular contributors out of the lineup for Wilkes-Barre. It’s a patchwork lineup right now which is top heavy. You have your Blueger’s and Dea’s and Johnson’s, but inconsistency after that.

Anthony Peters can let in 100 goals. If the team ahead of him fails to move their feet to generate any offense and go down 2-0 in the first period like they did Saturday, with the lineup as it currently sits, it’s hard to dig out of against a Hershey Bears team that just has the Penguins number and is playing some excellent hockey of recent.

Peters opposed Ilya Samsonov, who by his own right is a big reason Hershey is playing so well recently. Hershey has now won four in a row.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Sam Lafferty, Matt Abt and Jeff Taylor all were out. We knew that Taylor and Abt left the game with injuries Friday against Rochester, Sam Lafferty was hit hard by Scott Wilson last night in the second period.

The Penguins signed defensemen and Nailers captain Danny Fick to a PTO earlier in the day Saturday. He was paired with Tim Erixon. Kevin Spinozzi went with Ethan Prow and Ryan Scarfo was used as the replacement for Sam Lafferty, but it was J-S Dea in Lafferty’s spot at the second line center.

Tom got an update from Pens head coach Clark Donatelli after the game:

Not mentioned by Tom, but Will O’Neill somehow is day to day as well.

First Period: Jarrett Burton was stopped on a early two on one by Samsonov. It was the only Grade A chance that the Penguins had all period in the six shots they mustered at the Hershey net minder.

Mike Sgarbossa opened the scoring on the power play with this play.

It was the tenth straight game that the Bears score first in.

I thought the entry should have been whistled down for offsides. Since I was not at the game today because of the snow, I had the ability to go back on AHL TV and go frame by frame. You tell me if you think the play should have been whistled down for offsides.

Hershey beat out and icing call and Shane Gersich scored to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.

Icing beat out, no one on the puck, no one marking Gersich. Yuck.

Peters had a big stop in the final minute. But the Penguins were badly outshot 11-6 in the first period. I heard Hart say on radio that the shots were at one point 6-6. The Penguins went the final nine minutes without a shot on goal.

Second Period: Anthony Peters was tremendous in the period. He stopped Nathan Walker right out of the opening face-off and stopped all 12 shots that he faced, including three Hershey power plays.

Adam Johnson scored a goal off of a J-S Dea shot when the Penguins were gift wrapped a two man advantage for a full two minutes.

Penguins hit a few posts in the period. Ethan Prow was freed from the penalty box and hit one. But the story of the period was Peters’ solid play in the second frame with his team down two goals.

Third Period: Hershey added another power play goal when Jayson Megna went pretty much unmarked in the slot with Nathan Walker screening and Hershey took a 3-1 lead.

Teddy Blueger got one back on a Penguins power play that got the Penguins to within one.

But then Joseph Cramarossa had a big hit on Shane Gersich and fought Connor Hobbs…

…but on the ensuing power play Riley Barber connected on the Bears third power play of the game to give Hershey a 4-2 lead.

Penguins got a later power play to possibly get it back to within one but Sam Miletic threw a pass to the point where there was no one but a Bears player. That Bears player was Jayson Megna who did this.

Just burned Tim Erixon and made Anthony Peters look silly.

J-S Dea set up Adam Johnson for his second of the game that cut it to two…

…but with Peters pulled the Penguins would get no closer.

The Good: The Penguins scored three power play goals.

The Bad: The Hershey Bears scored three. One is okay, two is a problem, three is unacceptable. It’s rare that you see a penalty free game. That last thing that you want to see is your penalty kill cost you games.

Oh, Hershey hasn’t won four games in Wilkes-Barre during the regular season since 2012-13 until today.

Three Stars: 3) Adam Johnson (two goals) 2) Mike Sgarbossa (goal, two assists) 1) Jayson Megna (two goals, assist)

Around the Division: Charlotte gets a point because that’s what they do, losing 4-3 in overtime to Toronto….Bridgeport takes down Providence 4-3 in a shootout…Lehigh Valley beats Rochester 3-2 in a shootout….Springfield shuts out Hartford 3-0.

Standings: Charlotte 64 — Bridgeport 52 — Lehigh Valley 48 — Springfield 47 — Providence 45 — Penguins 43 — Hartford 42 – Hershey 38

Wheeling Update: 

Box here.

Video Highlights: I doubt that the Pens will run a package as I suspect the employees will want to make it home safe. If I see one, I will put it here.

Pens are off Sunday and will play Lehigh Valley at 1 p.m. Monday. Gameday setup for that will hit the blog at 9 a.m. I am taking the day off from the big boy job and will be at the Arena.

Let’s Go Pens!