Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

2018-19 AHL Previews – Central Division

Comments Off on 2018-19 AHL Previews – Central Division Posted by on October 2, 2018

 

Back for Day Two of the yearly Chirps from Center Ice AHL Previews. If you missed the Pacific Division click here to get caught up.

Today we find ourselves in the Central Division. The Central loses the Cleveland Monsters to the Eastern Conference’s North Division and gains the San Antonio Rampage and Texas Stars. Everyone in this division plays 76 games. No affiliation swaps other than San Antonio moving from Colorado’s NHL affiliate to St. Louis’ and Chicago no longer sharing an affiliate with Las Vegas, they are the sole affiliate of the Stanley Cup runners up Golden Knights.

Penguins play the Rockford IceHogs, the Milwaukee Admirals and the Grand Rapids Griffins twice each, with the games played at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza listed in bold.

Let’s get started…

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NHL Affiliation: Vegas Golden Knights

Record: 42-23-7-4 (95 points, 1st place Central Division)

Playoffs: Swept in three games in the Central Division Semifinals.

Head Coach: Rocky Thompson

Arena: Allstate Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Fort Wayne Komets

Offseason Moves: Daniel Carr, Zach Fucale, Jimmy Oligny, Gage Quinney, Curtis McKenzie

The Case For: Central champs return retooled, reloaded. Should be another successful season in Rosemont. 

The Case Against: Texas and San Antonio join the division and Rockford, Milwaukee and Grand Rapids project to be strong. It’s going to be an angry bees nest that the Wolves must negotiate through almost every weekend.

Social Media: @Chicago_Wolves / /ChicagoWolves / chicagowolves

Broadcaster: Jason Shaver

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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NHL Affiliation: Detroit Red Wings

Record: 42-25-2-7 (93 points, 2nd place Central Division)

Playoffs: Lost in five games to the Manitoba Moose in the Central Division Semifinals.

Head Coach: Ben Simon

Arena: Van Andel Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Toledo Walleye

Offseason Moves: Carter Camper, Harri Sateri, Chris Terry, Wade Megan, Jake Chelios

The Case For: The NHL parent team may be crap this season, but the prospects in Grand Rapids are a solid threat provided everyone stays healthy.

The Case Against: How much does the organizational lack of success seep down to the AHL level come January or February?

Social Media: @griffinshockey / /grgriffins / griffinshockey

Broadcaster: Bob Kaser

vs. WBS: 1/4, 2/9

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NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild

Record: 33-27-10-6 (82 points, 5th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Tim Army

Arena: Wells Fargo Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Allen Americans

Offseason Moves: Matt Bartkowski, Matt Read, Mike Liambas, Andrew Hammond

The Case For: Tim Army comes in from Wilkes-Barre to hopefully guide the Wild to a postseason berth with a solid group of offseason acquisitions.

The Case Against: Iowa has become the poster child for the old saying that they don’t play games on paper. Wild will need to prove to everyone that they are a serious threat.

Social Media: @IAWild / /IAWild / iowawild

Broadcaster: Joe O’Donnell

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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NHL Affiliation: Winnipeg Jets

Record: 42-26-4-4 (92 points, 3rd place Central Division)

Playoffs: Swept in four games by the Rockford IceHogs in the Central Division Finals.

Head Coach: Pascal Vincent

Arena: Bell MTS Place

ECHL Affiliation: Jacksonville Icemen

Offseason Moves: Ken Appleby, Nic Kerdiles, Seth Griffith, Felix Girard

The Case For: Really don’t see a reason for a major regression for the Moose this season, Manitoba should again be a solid club.

The Case Against: If there was a team in the Central that made playoffs that there were odds to miss, Manitoba may be a heavy favorite.

Social Media: @ManitobaMoose / /ManitobaMoose / manitobamoose

Broadcaster: Mitch Peacock

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Record: 38-32-4-2 (82 points, 6th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Karl Taylor

Arena: UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena

ECHL Affiliation: None

Offseason Moves: Colin Blackwell, Brian Cooper, Jarred Tinordi, Zac Rinaldo, Rocco Grimaldi

The Case For: Missing playoffs is the rare exception in Milwaukee, look for the Admirals to rebound in a big way and possibly be a strong contender.

The Case Against: Competition in the Central is high, Milwaukee cannot be plagued by the inconsistency which haunted them last season. 

Social Media: @mkeadmirals / /mkeadmirals / mkeadmirals

Broadcaster: Aaron Sims

vs. WBS: 1/5, 2/8

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NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Record: 40-28-4-4 (88 points, 4th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Lost in six games to the Texas Stars in the Western Conference Finals.

Head Coach: Jeremy Colliton

Arena: BMO Harris Bank Center

ECHL Affiliation: Indy Fuel

Offseason Moves: Terry Broadhurst, Andrew Campbell, Jordan Schroeder

The Case For: Last years surprise team was Rockford, who will continue that momentum into 2018-19 and be a decent contender.

The Case Against: Book is out on the IceHogs, who will not be seen as an automatic two points for the opponent. Teams will be prepared for what Rockford brings. How the IceHogs react off of that will tell the tale of how far and how much success they have.

Social Media: @goicehogs / /RockfordIceHogs / rockfordicehogs

Broadcaster: Joseph Zakrzewski

vs. WBS: 2/6, 2/24

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NHL Affiliation: St. Louis Blues

Record: 35-31-10-0 (80 points, 8th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Drew Bannister

Arena: AT&T Center

ECHL Affiliation: Tulsa Oilers

Offseason Moves: Brian Flynn, Joey Laleggia, Jordan Nolan, Trevor Smith, Tyler Wotherspoon

The Case For: St. Louis comes in as a full time affiliate for the Rampage. That, coupled with some solid offseason acquisitions leads you to believe that San Antonio will be markedly improved in 2018-19.

The Case Against: Competition is expected to be stiff in the Central, where the Rampage move to this season. Can they keep up?

Social Media: @sarampage / /sarampagehockey / sarampage

Broadcaster: Brian McCormack

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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NHL Affiliation: Dallas Stars

Record: 38-24-8-6 (90 points, 2nd place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Lost in seven games to the Toronto Marlies in the Calder Cup Finals.

Head Coach: Derek Laxdal

Arena: H-E-B Center at Cedar Park

ECHL Affiliation: Idaho Steelheads

Offseason Moves: Erik Condra, Joel Hanley Colton Hargrove, Michael Mersch

The Case For: Defending Western Conference champs come in as favorites in a new division. Stars should be good again this year and threaten for a playoff spot.

The Case Against: May not be the best team team in Texas anymore in a new division which was fun to watch last year.

Social Media: @TexasStars / /TexasStars / txstarshockey

Broadcaster: Brian Tosti

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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Back tomorrow for a look at the North Division.

The AHL

Final Cuts; AHLTV Free Preview

Comments Off on Final Cuts; AHLTV Free Preview Posted by on October 1, 2018

Pittsburgh kind of finalized their opening night roster with the assignments of the already cleared Zach Trotman and Zach Aston-Reese. Aston-Reese didn’t need waivers.

Their roster stands at 24 as of Monday and have to make one more move to get to the 23 man limit.

But Daniel Sprong, Brian Dumoulin and Tristan Jarry are all day to day with body ailments. Sprong and Dumoulin are skating on their own and not practicing, Jarry is not.

So where does that leave things?

Pittsburgh could IR all three and easily recall Trotman and Aston-Reese and have Casey DeSmith back up Matt Murray in goal Thursday night.

I would say of the remaining players up eligible to come down, you are looking at the waiver exempt players in Juuso Riikola and Tristan Jarry possibly coming down when all players are healthy. But since the roster is now at 24, with only one more move to make, the money would be on Jarry coming down and Riikola staying up. No NHL team carries three goalies and Jarry doesn’t need waivers. It’s possible that they bump Riikola down to get to 23, don’t IR anyone and keep things where they are until Jarry is healthy enough to come down and then recall Riikola.

Who knows. A lot of things still in play here. They seem to be all in on Dominik Simon, that is for sure.

Coal Street also made cuts. Forwards Tyler Bird, Yushiroh Hirano, Renārs Krastenbergs, Cédric Lacroix, Zac Lynch and Nick Saracino as well as defensemen Johnny Austin, Dan Fick, Craig Skudalski and goalie Danny Tirone all were sent to Wheeling this afternoon. Matt Abt, Cam Brown, Tim Erixon and Ryan Horvat stick around for now. There are no roster limits in the AHL, in case you were wondering. They are the only league of the big three (NHl, AHL, ECHL) without one.

Finally, the AHL’s new streaming toy, AHLTV, will be free to all who sign or have already signed up for the service this weekend. With Wilkes-Barre off Friday and Sunday, I’ll be messing around on there trying out all the new features they have been talking about.

If you missed the Pacific Division Preview which debuted at noon, it’s one post up or right here. Central tomorrow at noon, more news sprinkled in here and there. Keep checking back, business is picking back up.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

2018-19 AHL Previews – Pacific Division

Comments Off on 2018-19 AHL Previews – Pacific Division Posted by on October 1, 2018

 

Back for another season is my annual look and preview at every team in the American Hockey League, it’s the 2018-19 version of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Previews.

The schedule for this week will be the Pacific Division today, the Central tomorrow, the North on Wednesday and the Atlantic on Thursday. You can access the previews at any time by clicking on the handy drop down menu at the top of the blog. I will leave it up for a few weeks before taking it down once we get into the season.

Anyway, we start far out in the Western Conference in the Pacific Division. Let’s get right to it.

Affiliation changes here and additions are as follows, in is the Colorado Eagles up from the ECHL as the new AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche and out are the Texas Stars and San Antonio Rampage who move to the Central Division. Every team in this division plays 68 games so the, “ranking by percentage points” is a distant memory for everyone else. 

The Penguins don’t play anyone here, so the “vs. WBS” line isn’t included. We start in alphabetical order beginning with the Bakersfield Condors. Social Media tabs are Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in that order.

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NHL Affiliation: Edmonton Oilers

Record: 31-27-9-1 (72 points, 7th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Jay Woodcroft

Arena: Rabobank Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Wichita Thunder

Offseason Moves: Kevin Gravel

The Case For: Condors could play sleeper, with the Texas teams out of the division now. Could be a team to watch the first part of the season.

The Case Against: Lost a lot of core guys in offseason to other teams. This was a non-playoff team that was buried early last season. Could end up the same way. 

Social Media: @condors / /BakersfieldCondors / condors

Broadcaster: Ryan Holt

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NHL Affiliation: Colorado Avalanche

Record: Technically an expansion side. Spent last season (as a franchise) in the ECHL.

Playoffs: n/a

Head Coach: Greg Cronin

Arena: Budweiser Events Center

ECHL Affiliation: Utah Grizzlies

Offseason Moves: Grayson Downing, Sheldon Dries, Scott Kosmachuk

The Case For: League newcomer Colorado is coming off back to back Kelly Cup Championships in the ECHL. It’s a franchise that is used to winning. 

The Case Against: The problem is that the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche has lost a lot more than it has won. It may be a cold dose of reality and an uphill climb to be a contender in Loveland, Colorado this season.

Social Media: @ColoradoEagles / /ColoradoEagles / coloradoeagleshockey

Broadcaster: Kevin McGlue

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NHL Affiliation: Los Angeles Kings

Record: 36-25-4-3 (79 points, 3rd place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Lost in four games to the Texas Stars in the Pacific Division Semifinals.

Head Coach: Mike Stothers

Arena: Citizens Business Bank Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Manchester Monarchs

Offseason Moves: Peter Budaj, Zack Mitchell

The Case For: Ontario should be a solid team again this season who can battle divisional foes for 68 games and have a good shot at winning the division.

The Case Against: Seems that something has been lacking the past couple of seasons with the Reign. Are they a playoff contender? Sure. A championship contender? I wouldn’t go that far.

Social Media: @ontarioreign / /OntarioReign / ontarioreignhockey

Broadcaster: Cameron Close

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NHL Affiliation: Anaheim Ducks

Record: 36-28-3-1 (76 points, 5th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Dallas Eakins

Arena: Valley View Casino Center

ECHL Affiliation: None

Offseason Moves: Jared Coreau, Ben Street, Chase DeLeo, Ben Thomson

The Case For: Had a playoff spot until the final weekend and was pushed out by a resurgent San Jose team. Had a solid offseason by Pacific Division standards and will probably be at the top of the division all season.

The Case Against: Does history bear repeating again? Does San Diego start out hot then fade late? Do they recover from the embarrassment that was the final weekend of last season? 

Social Media: @SDGullsAHL / /SDGullsAHL / sdgullsahl

Broadcaster: Andy Zilch

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NHL Affiliation: San Jose Sharks

Record: 34-26-4-4 (76 points, 4th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Lost in four games to the Tucson Roadrunners in the Pacific Division Semifinals.

Head Coach: Roy Sommer

Arena: SAP Center

ECHL Affiliation: None

Offseason Moves: Kyle Wood

The Case For: Roy Sommer’s teams are always well prepared. That was evident in the final weeks of the regular season. Look for the trend to continue.

The Case Against: If there is one playoff team from last year that you bet on to miss this year, San Jose is probably that team.

Social Media: @sjbarracuda / /sjbarracuda / sjbarracuda

Broadcaster: Nick Nollenberger

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NHL Affiliation: Calgary Flames

Record: 34-28-2-4 (74 points, 6th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Cail MacLean

Arena: Stockton Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Kansas City Mavericks

Offseason Moves: Tyler Graovac, Anthony Peluso, Kerby Rychel, Alan Quine, Buddy Robinson

The Case For: Decent haul this offseason in acquiring key pieces that will play major roles for the Heat this upcoming campaign. Stockton flirted with being a good team last year, they are primed to make the jump in 2018-19.

The Case Against: Ontario, Tucson and San Diego could be penciled in as playoff squads, Colorado is a big unknown and the other teams may play spoiler. There is only so much room and Calgary affiliates have usually disappointed.

Social Media: @AHLHeat / /AHLHeat / ahlheat

Broadcaster: Brandon Kisker

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NHL Affiliation: Arizona Coyotes

Record: 42-20-5-1 (90 points, 1st place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Lost in five games to the Texas Stars in the Pacific Division Finals.

Head Coach: Jay Varady

Arena: Tucson Convention Center

ECHL Affiliation: Norfolk Admirals

Offseason Moves: Adam Helewka, Jacob Graves, Hudson Fasching

The Case For: Defending division champ ready to pick up where they left off last season. Tucson was a solid team in the second half of the year last season and that trend could continue into the Fall.

The Case Against: Plenty defections to other teams that chipped in a ton offensively may hinder the Roadrunners chances this season.

Social Media: @RoadrunnersAHL / /RoadrunnersAHL / roadrunnersahl

Broadcaster: Adrian Denny

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Back tomorrow with a look at the Central Division.

The AHL

Preseason Game #3 – Hershey 2, Penguins 3

Comments Off on Preseason Game #3 – Hershey 2, Penguins 3 Posted by on September 30, 2018

The Penguins wrapped up their preseason slate in Hershey with an afternoon game with the Bears and won 3-2. Wilkes-Barre goes 3-0 on the preseason and now set their sights on setting a lineup, maybe naming a captain, and the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Here were a look at the lines:

Ryan Horvat / Cam Brown / Kevin Lynch
Renars Krastenbergs / Nick Saracino / Yushi Hirano
Troy Josephs / Cedric Lacroix / Patrick McGrath
Tyler Bird / Tobias Lindberg /

Matt Abt / Jeff Taylor
Kevin Spinozzi / Dane Birks
Johnny Austin / Tim Erixon
Dan Fick was the seventh defenseman.

Anthony Peters got the start, Johnny Muse backed him up. Penguins went 7 defensemen and 11 forwards.

In the first, Nick Saracino scored a power play goal to give the Pens a 1-0 lead. Logan Pyatt tried a clear, it ricocheted off of Bears starting goalie Ilya Samsonov’s skate and Saracino pounced on it and scored.

Later, a name that you are going to get familiar with and grow to hate if you are an opponent of the Bears.

That’s Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and that was a hell of a shot.

Penguins almost scored after the face-off that followed, but Tobias Lindberg wasn’t able to push it though.

In the second, the Pens had to kill off a carryover 5-on-3 power play and did so successfully. Later, Shane Gersich hacked and whacked at a loose puck in the crease to give the Bears a lead.

Off the face-off, the Penguins scored on a goal by Troy Josephs set up by nice pass by Tobias Lindberg.

In the third, Pens played bend but not break with penalties against, withstood the storm and got a goal with 7:31 to play from Renars Krastenbergs. Penguins maintained offensive zone time ad Krastenbergs was there to put the puck in and give the Penguins a lead.

Wilkes-Barre’s penalty kill went 8-for-8 and they scored a power play goal. Not a bad way to end the preseason, 3-0, and leading or tied for all but about a minute for all three games.

Highlights…..

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But it all starts for real beginning Saturday at home against the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Coaching staff will have some decisions to make Monday with who to send to Wheeling and who to cut. I’ll have stuff on Twitter once the announcements are made.

Schedule for this week going up on the blog is as follows:

Monday: Pacific Division Preview.
Tuesday: Central Division Preview.
Wednesday: North Division Preview.
Thursday: Atlantic Division Preview.

The previews will hit each day at noon. There is a drop down menu at the top of the blog to navigate from anywhere on the blog to get there once they debut.

I’ll drop in other news and notes as they come in. Gameday setup for Springfield will hit the blog Saturday at 3. Power Rankings will be back also, but on a new day. That day will be Thursday. I haven’t settled on a time just yet. I’ll let you know sometime next week.

Should be another fun year. Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

Preseason Game #2 – Penguins 6, Hershey 2

Comments Off on Preseason Game #2 – Penguins 6, Hershey 2 Posted by on September 29, 2018

I don’t care if it’s preseason, it’s always fun beating Hershey.

A more regular lineup for the Penguins tonight who beat the Bears 6-2.

Lines were:

Garrett Wilson / Linus Ölund / Jim Hayes
Tom Di Pauli / Teddy Blueger / Anthony Angello
Adam Johnson / Sam Lafferty / Ryan Haggerty
Troy Josephs / Tobias Lindberg / Sam Miletic

Will O’Neill / Chris Summers
Johnny Austin / Stefan Elliott
Matt Abt / Ethan Prow

Anthony Peters / Danny Tirone

Craig Skudalski took warmups. He signed a PTO with Wheeling, who open camp next week.

Penguins jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on a nice clean up goal by Sam Lafferty and a set up pass by Troy Josephs to Sam Miletic a few minutes later.

Matt Abt, who played well enough Thursday to earn a second look tonight, took a shot on Vanecek that was stopped, but big body Anthony Angello dug it out, shifted it over to Lafferty for the first goal of the game. Nice play by Abt and forecheck by Angello.

Bears caught napping overloaded on the near side when Josephs wheeled around the net and set up Miletic for the second goal.

Two Sam’s scored in the first. There’s a pun in there somewhere.

:15 into the second, Hershey cuts into the lead with a goal by Jeremy Morin. He raced past two defenders and scored.

Penguins could not score on a 4:00 double minor, so at least the power play is in midseason form.

Ethan Prow scored on a dart from the blue line that beat Vanecek high. I don’t think there was a screen involved but Anthony Angello was close by. He’s a big enough body to cause disturbances in front of the net.

Steven Whitney scored for the Bears when the Penguins were caught standing around spectating to bring the Bears back within one.

But Wilkes-Barre got up on the wheel and got two goals by the end of the second, one by Teddy Blueger on a nice give and go with Ryan Haggerty and then another on a terrific shot between the legs of a Bears defender by Sam Lafferty, his second of the game.

If you have “Good Sam” in your pun pool this year as possible headlines for the blog, that one may go off the board quickly this season and be overused is Sam Miletic makes the team also.

We had fun with it on Twitter after Sam Miletic scored a power play goal that made it 6-2. Endless pun possibilities.

Anyway, Penguins were essentially on cruise control all period, finally got the power play to click and even killed off a Will O’Neill double minor.

Three stars were Haggerty, Lafferty and Miletic.

These two teams meet Sunday afternoon in Hershey at 5. Talk to you then.

Postgamer

J-S Dea Claimed on Waivers by NJ Devils

Comments Off on J-S Dea Claimed on Waivers by NJ Devils Posted by on September 28, 2018

The ghosts of Ray Shero and John Hynes strike again…

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1045709941552680961

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Always a possibility, never a certainty that a guy would get claimed. I didn’t forsee any team claiming Dea, but Shero signed him as an undrafted unknown and Hynes helped develop him. Dea was a good player stuck on the wrong franchise. There never was any doubt that he would start the season in Wilkes-Barre in my mind, but he’s over-ripened at the AHL level and needed to break out. New Jersey putting a claim in on him allows that.

This after a nice article from Jonathan Bombulie which was featured on the AHL site today.

In case you are wondering, the Penguins would have the right of first refusal should New Jersey ever try to sneak Dea down to their AHL club in Binghamton and re-expose him to waivers. Pittsburgh could then re-claim him and assign him to Wilkes-Barre. I don’t see that happening, but I’ve been wrong before.

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Zach Trotman was the other player put on waivers by Pittsburgh Thursday and he cleared. No Penguins were on waivers noon Friday.

The AHLTV set top app (I only have Apple TV, can’t speak on others) is live in the App Store, so if you have a smart TV with the apps supported by the AHL’s new streaming device, queue up ‘AHLTV’ and stream away this upcoming season.

Practice updates were quiet Friday, I didn’t see anything from Tom or Tyler out of Coal Street today. So more Saturday night here on the blog after the Penguins second preseason game of the season against Hershey. Head Coach Clark Donatelli did tell the media Thursday night that Anthony Peters would get the whole game Saturday. Beyond that as far as other lineup changes is anyone’s guess.

Talk to you Saturday after the game.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Preseason Game #1 – Penguins 3, Phantoms 2

Comments Off on Preseason Game #1 – Penguins 3, Phantoms 2 Posted by on September 27, 2018

The Penguins play one week night regular season home game in October (October 17 against Hershey) then none in November and two in December before nothing of the sort before March again. Besides Sunday afternoon home games, work night games are right up there with things I like the least about this goofy hobby of mine.

A preseason work night home game? Someone on Coal Street is trolling me.

The Penguins kicked off their preseason with a 3-2 win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

I don’t go nuts on preseason write ups. So let’s get to the nuts and bolts because 6:50 Friday morning* will be here before you know it.

Lines were:

Sam Miletic – Linus Ölind – Renārs Krastenbergs
Yushiroh Hirano – Cam Brown – Ryan Horvat
Pat McGrath – Cédric Lacroix – Troy Josephs
Tyler Bird – Nick Saracino – Zac Lynch

Dane Birks – Kevin Spinozzi
Johnny Austin – Dan Fick
Jeff Taylor – Matt Abt

John Muse – Danny Tirone

Craig Skudalski took warmups, didn’t rush and was the scratch.

In the first, Pens found themselves up 2-0 on goals from Matt Abt and Linus Ölund. Abt’s shot came when a Phantoms defender got tangled up with referee Dan Kelly behind the net and Ölund’s goal was a rebound off of Phantoms netminder Branden Komm’s pads set up by Sam Miletic’s blazing speed. Both goals came :37 apart.

Muse was sharp in the first, blocking shots through traffic and bailing out his defensemen.

In the second, Phantoms connect on a power play :04 into a Hirano hooking penalty when Phil Myers scored to cut it to one for Lehigh Valley. Muse was standing on his head making a case to be the backup goalie come opening night. When in doubt, go with the guy with the NHL contract (Muse) and option Peters to the ECHL, but that’s a conversation for another day.

Phantoms would score another power play goal when Cole Bardreau whacked in a puck that popped up on Muse to tie the game at two.

Penguins get the lead back on a five on three power play when Sam Miletic posted up near side and whacked in a rebound Komm spilled.

In the third, John Muse stole the show with stop after stop. Pens finally killed a penalty and then failed to score on a power play of their own. Muse ended up being the story of the period. Pens withstood the pressure Lehigh Valley put on them and Muse was up to task.

Muse didn’t get a star in the three stars, that went to Abt, Ölund and Miletic in that order. He deserved one.

Anyway, that’s it. If there is news Friday I’ll have it here, otherwise talk to you again after the Saturday game against Hershey.

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* – that’s when my alarm goes off.

Postgamer

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