Chirps from Center Ice

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Wilkes-Barre wins 5-2 in Bridgeport against a last place Islanders team that has only won five times at home all season and re-establishes second place in the division and are five off Hershey for the division lead. They can punch their ticket to the postseason with a win Wednesday at home against Hartford.

What a few hours for the Penguins, huh? OT win against the Bears Saturday and then today’s result. Makes the 10-2 thrashing Friday at home against Providence seem like a distant memory, right?

Here’s how they lined up – Bridgeport didn’t post the lines and never do. Where have you gone, Mike Fornabaio?

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Lineup Notes: Chase Pietila and Dan Renouf for Scooter Brickey and Mac Hollowell on defense and Sam Poulin for Mathias Lafferiere at forward.

First Period: Penguins were peppering Jakub Skarek and scored four times.

Sam Poulin opened the scoring then also chipped in two more assists. Matt Nieto tipped in a Filip Kral shot to make it 2-0, then Valtteri Puustinen layered in a power play goal to make it 3-0 and then Boris Katchouk scored in the final minute to make it 4-0.

It was a boffo period for the Penguins, who had four goals on just eight shots, and the end of Skarek’s services in net. Here’s the goals….

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Second Period: Henrik Tikkanen took over and calmed things down for the Islanders who clawed back at the tune of two goals from Marshall Warren from a tip from the point and then Alex Jeffries beating Filip Larsson that made what was a comfortable lead on a Sunday afternoon a bit of a nail biter.

Note about these goals, it was the first time the Islander scored a goal against the Penguins since November 16.

Normally now the next goal is vital in these situations.

Zach Gallant, who earned himself a second game, was wrecking shop behind the Islanders net and this chaos found its way to Chase Stillman, who wired home his first as a Penguin to make it 5-2 and give the Penguins some much needed room.

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Third Period: Quiet period. Penguins killed two penalties and the Islanders got no closer.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Nieto (goal, assist) 2) Sebastian Aho (three assists) 1) Sam Poulin (goal, two assists)

The Good: 3) They go 2-1 on the weekend after getting smashed 10-2 Friday at home against Providence and Filip Larsson gets a confidence building win. They have a chance to punch a ticket to the postseason Wednesday at home against Hartrfod.

The Bad: Did they let off or were they really that bad in that second period where Bridgeport was in control and got two goals?

Turning Point: Obvious here, Stillman’s goal that made it 5-2 gets it here. It was a very big goal.

Around the Division: Shocking that on a Sunday, there were no other teams in action in the Division.

Standings: Hershey 83 – Penguins 78 – Providence 77 – Charlotte 76 – Lehigh Valley 69 – Springfield 66 – Hartford 61 – Bridgeport 35

Wheeling Update: Nailers are out in Indiana taking on the Indy Fuel. Box here.

Video Highlights: Your best bet is here if you really want to see them, but I pretty much gave you the details above.

Power Rankings will be up Monday afternoon. Please check them out when you can.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Atley Calvert had a pair of goals but it was Avery Hayes’ goal in overtime that gives the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins a 3-2 overtime win over the Hershey Bears on Saturday night.

Good wash away game for the Penguins after Friday’s monstrosity against Providence.

Onto Bridgeport Sunday, with a chance to close the magic number even closer to zero.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Sam Poulin was suspended a game by the AHL early Saturday for a slew foot. He was called for a hold :31 into the third period Friday but I thought it had the look of a slew foot and I was right. He was out, Marc Johnstone is hurt so that meant Matt Nieto and Zach Gallant were in up front. For Gallant it was his Penguins debut. On defense Sebastian Aho and Scooter Brickey were in for Dan Renouf and Nate Clurman.

First Period: Tamer start in comparison to the low bar based off of Friday, Filip Kral was called for a high stick and the Bears played pitch and catch with the puck and Mike Vecchione slammed one home to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

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Give a great team like the Bears an inch and they take a mile.

Second Period: Atley Calvert cleaned up the trash around the front of the net and scored to get the Penguins on the board at 3:49.

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Penguins to this point still hadn’t had a power play. That said, Casey Terreri and Mike Dietrich called a fantastic game.

Third Period: Calvert nets his second of the game at 6:52 off a nice feed from Zach Gallant to push the Penguins ahead 2-1.

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Turning Point: Wait, what? Just work with me here. Henrik Rybinski high sticks Filip Kral and draws blood, Penguins to a 4:00 power play. They do not score. They do not threaten. The Bears kill it easy.

Then with Hunter Shepard pulled, Mike Vecchione nets his second of the game off of a deflection.

(Hershey didn’t offer video. Many in the arena thought it was a kick, but Terreri and Dietrich reviewed and adjudged good goal)

Overtime: 

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Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Sergei Murashov (24 saves, 10-0 in AHL) 2) Atley Calvert (two goals) 1) Avery Hayes (overtime game winning goal)

The Good:  Way to wash to stink off that loss Providence handed you. It was one game, crumble it up and throw it in the bin and move on to the next one. They didn’t make the same mistakes and it got them the win.

The Bad: Giving another point to a team you are trying to chase down is a fools enterprise.

Gave you the turning point above. Get one, maybe two power play goals, and the Hayes heroics are not needed.

Around the Division: Hartford beats Milwaukee in overtime 2-1. The Penguins cannot clinch a spot this weekend. I think that’s the only score that matters. The rest of the boxes are here.

Standings: Hershey has 83. The Penguins have 76. With these Saturday game starting an hour earlier, I ain’t sticking around for the remaining finals.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are in Toledo. Box here.

Video Highlights: Usually how these go as the moment I hit publish the video highlight will go up.

More tomorrow against Bridgeport Sunday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Ask yourself this question. Are the Hershey Bears any less of a Calder Cup threat because they lost to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 9-0 a few weeks ago?

Of course not.

A 10-2 throttling at the hands of the Providence Bruins and the Penguins are not any lesser of a playoff threat then they were at noon Friday.

Every team is allowed one or two clunkers. If you are the Bridgeport Islanders it happens once or twice a weekend.

Now, if this happens again Saturday when the Bears come to town? That’s an uneasy trend. If the Islanders drop seven on the Pens Sunday in Bridgeport, or the Pens lose 15-2 next Wednesday? Sure. Go on. Then it’s time to panic.

Just ball this one up and toss it away.

Boris Katchouk and Sam Poulin scored for the Pens, who put up 44 shots on Brandon Bussi and the Bruins Friday.

Providence was 3-for-5 on the power play. I mean they had everything going in their favor.

Fourteen Bruins had a point, Jeffrey Viel had four, two goals and two assists.

Georgii Merkulov scored for the Bruins because of course he does. He always scores against the Penguins. You better hope Hershey doesn’t sign him, ever.

Out of town, Hershey loses in Hartford 4-3 in regulation, Charlotte wins 2-1 in Rochester. The Penguins fall from second to fourth. The magic number stays at six.

Hershey leads the division with 82 points, Providence has 75, Charlotte and the Pens are tied at 74 and Lehigh Valley has 69 points but has three more games played then the Pens.

What sucks more is the fact I waste an excellent Severance related headline on this monstrosity. How many of the Four Tempers did you tame when you were watching tonight?

Let’s hope that the one sided affairs in favor of the Penguisn opponents sit with Kier for all eternity, or at least the end of this season.

Talk to you tomorrow. Off you go!

Let’s Go Pens!

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Wilkes-Barre grits out a 5-3 win Sunday in Allentown against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a game where the vibe was the same like Wednesday against Hershey. Pens go up, Bears draw even. Rinse and repeat here, but this game didn’t go to a shootout.

Seems like a methodical, determined win for the Pens, whose magic number will drop to six. They can hypothetically sew up a berth next weekend to the Calder Cup Playoffs.

But let’s talk about Sunday.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Poolman and Hollowell (illness) were out for Chase Pietila (making his AHL debut) and Scooter Brickey on defense. Atley Calvert for Vasily Ponomarev (lower body, day to day) up front.

First Period: It was a blink and you missed it start, with Tristan Broz getting a power play goal at 2:57, Joona Koppanen following with a shorthanded goal :24 later and then Ehen Samson getting an even strength goal :02 after a Phantoms power plat that made it a blazing start just 5:05 in. Here’s all the goals.

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Things settled a bit after that with each team getting a few good looks but no further scoring.

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre couldn’t get out of second gear to start the period having to kill a left over penalty to start the period and then a period right after that. Givani Smith netted another even strength goal for the Phantoms right after the power play expired that tied the game at two.

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Things again settled from there and the Penguins found themselves on a late power play.

Well, make it 2/2 in the contest so far for the Penguins as Avery Hayes pumped in power play goal for Wilkes-Barre that re-established the lead for the away team.

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Phantoms made a little bit of a pushback but Sergei Murashov held steady in the net for the Penguins.

Third Period: Penguins found themselves in familiar territory that they had Friday in Allentown, a long 5-on-3 for, this time for 1:42, but the Phnatoms held the Penguins to zero shots I believe.

Lehigh Valley gets a power play and then Phantoms debutante Nikita Grebenkin scores to even it at three.

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Just a backbreaking turn of events that I think do them in last season or a few seasons back.

But not this team.

Undeterred, Valterri Puustinen tips in an Owen Pickering shot to push the Penguins ahead 4-3.

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Then with Alexei Kolosov out for an extra Phantom, Joona Koppanen scores an empty net goal.

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Three Stars: 3) 1) Nikita Grebenkin (goal) 2) Valterri Puustinen (goal) 1) Joona Koppanen (two goals)

The Good: Nice response, they bent but didn’t break, handled road business and took home two points.

The Bad: Lehigh Valley isn’t a team they are going to want to see in the playoffs. I like the way they matchup. against Hershey. I don’t like the way they matchup against the Phantoms. So there’s that.

The Bad 2: Failing to score on over three minutes of five on three advantage for over the course of back to back games is going to give a lot of teams a lot of film on how to replicate what the Phantoms did to the Penguins these past two games.

Turning Point: Glaringly obvious, the Puustinen tip of the Pickering shot that gave Wilkes-Barre the lead for good gets it here.

Around the Division: Hershey is up big at the time this goes up in Chicago and will be the first team in the Calder Cup Playoffs if it holds. Box here. Charlotte is up on Toronto up in Canada, that box is here and Providence beats a suddenly ice cold Springfield Thunderbirds team 4-1.

Standings: Can’t really intelligently do this with the Bears and Checkers still competing in games when I hit “Publish” here – Penguins have 74 points and will stay in second place in the Division with a game in hand against Providence. Huge matchup between these two teams looms Friday in Wilkes-Barre.

Wheeling Update: Nailers in action with the Cincinnati Cyclones, that box is also here.

Video Highlights: At some point can be found here.

They will get the week off to rest recover and hopefully get some key guys back or close to back as the season hits its stretch run.

AHL Power Rankings will be up Monday at 2. Please do check those out.

Let’s Go Pens!