Chirps from Center Ice

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21 shots in the first period and four goals for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

19 shots and zero goals after.

The Penguins lose a heartbreaking game in overtime 5-4 to the Providence Bruins on Sunday afternoon. There are serious holes with this team. They are like bullies. They beat up on weakling teams but if you step up to them and smack them back they cower and run away,

They may be constructed like a championship caliber team, but they are not a championship caliber team.

Kirk MacDonald has his hands full, and it doesn’t get any easier this Wednesday against the North Division leading Rochester Americans.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Emil Bemstrom and Atley Calvert for Matthias Laferriere and Matty De St. Phalle up front, Colton Poolman for Scooter Brickey on defense.

First Period: Before the game was five minutes old and within 48 seconds, the Penguins put three goals on the board in nearly consecutive fashion. Rutger McGroarty, Colton Poolman and Boris Katchouk all scored on the relatively steady Michael DiPietro. The Bruins, playing in their third game in as many games (just liked the Penguins) looked absolutely  gassed. Here’s all the goals.

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Providence called time out and it worked because ex-Penguin Billy Sweezey scored his first as a Bruin to get one back for the home team.

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The game settled a bit but then Katchouk won a face-off back to Emil Bemstrom who stepped into one and re-established the three goal Wilkes-Barre lead.

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The Penguins pumped a season high 21 shots on goal in the period.

Second Period: Providence gets two goals 1:11 apart from Jeffrey Viel and Max Jones to make it an uncomfortable one goal lead for the Penguins.

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Larsson loses track of the puck enough for Viel to use a sweeping wraparound chance to score.

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Deflection in front.

Jeffrey Viel is then assessed a match penalty for spearing and is thrown out of the game. On the ensuing five minute power play that killed into the….

Third Period: … the Penguins failed to score.

Momentum started to shift for those unaware, and Max Jones netted his second of the game that tied it right after half way.

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This was on a power play where Colton Poolman was assessed a penalty for knocking the net he was defending off of its moorings. Unacceptable. It was also the second consecutive penalty that the Penguins had to kill. Doubly unacceptable.

Referees Liam Maaskant and Sydney Harris were fine. Referees and officiating this weekend was great, get lost if you want to blame them for this.

They somehow got it to…

Overtime: Georgii Merkulov always scores against the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Like if you can find a betting website somewhere that takes action on AHL games and specifically if a player would score a goal in the game, put a dime on Merkulov scoring against the Penguins.

With .7 left, Merkulov scored against the Penguins and the Bruins completed the comeback.

I didn’t like Avery Hayes in this overtime. Penguins were on a rush and Hayes has a chance for a shot, but instead he passes and it’s intercepted and leads to a breakaway the other way for the Bruins which is saved by Larsson. He’s too inconsistent to be a consistent member of the lineup.

https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/1893807233999274451

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Three Stars: 3) John Farinacci (two assists) 2) Max Jones (two goals). 1) Georgii Merkulov (game winning overtime goal)

The Good: Three goals in under a minute and four total in a period they dominated top to bottom.

The Bad: They can’t play a consistent sixty minute hockey game to save their arses at this point and it is costing them points that they will be wishing they had in April. Another three game series against Lehigh Valley looks inevitable at this point.

Turning Point: I think the Max Jones second goal on the power play gets it here because even if the game were somehow were to get to a shootout, I don’t think the Penguins would have been successful.

Turning Point 2: Failing to score on the 5:00 Viel match killed them too. They have the #1 power play in the AHL. This past weekend sure as hell didn’t look like it.

Around the Division: Hershey shuts out Charlotte 2-0. Springfield beats Bridgeport 3-2 in a shootout.

Standings: Hershey 67 – Penguins and Providence 63 – Charlotte 61 – Lehigh Valley 59 – Springfield 57 – Hartford 48 – Bridgeport 30

Wheeling Update: Nailers started an hour later and are hosting the Reading Royals. Box here.

Video Highlights: Sickos click here.

Power Rankings Monday with a new number one and then the Weekend Preview comes your way Wednesday setting up the weeks actions tarting that night in Rochester.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Sometimes you run into a hot goalie and Saturday, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins ran into Colten Ellis who stopped 31 shots faced and stymied the Pens who lose 5-3.

The scoreboard out of town set up nicely for the Penguins who could have drawn to within a point of Hershey, but that didn’t happen.

Onto Providence, who lost to hapless Hartford, Sunday.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Emil Bemstrom was sent back to Wilkes-Barre but didn’t make it to the game in town. Will see what his status is for Sunday in Providence. Matty De St. Phalle made his Penguins season debut replacing Atley Calvert.

First Period: Teams trade power plays. I didn’t like the power play all night. No one scored on the man advantage.

Wilkes-Barre bottled up the Thunderbirds in the period and got a 1-0 lead they took to intermission off a Corey Andonovski turnover that Ville Koivunen capitalized on.

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Second Period: Thunderbirds waste no time and score :31 in where Aleksanteri Kaskimäki scores a beauty of a goal.

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Less than a minute later, Boris Katchouk scores to re-establish the Penguins lead.

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Otto Stenberg is a highly touted prospect for the St. Louis Blues and he showed why when he scored from the high slot that tied the game for Springfield.

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Penguins had a power play late and kept it in for a good 90 seconds but could not crack Colten Ellis. Just at the end of the kill, Springfield scores to go ahead via a Corey Schueneman goal that Tristan Jarry thought should have been whistled down for icing.

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Three goals past Jarry. Are they all his fault? I don’t think so. Beat on a dirty first goal, high slot through a screen on the second and maybe he could have had the third goal. Who knows. There’s a lot of pressure on the guy getting waived and underwhelming.

Third Period: Penguins got themselves a nice kill to start the period and were buzzing for a tying goal but Ellis shut the door at every offering. They continued to press Ellis, but came away empty.

Then a failed clear by Wilkes-Barre sees Matthew Peca score and the hill gets steeper for the Penguins who are now chasing a two goal deficit.

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The Penguins do get a late power play goal from Valtteri Puustinen that give them some life…

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…but it came too little too late. With Jarry pulled for an extra attacker, Nikita Alexandrov scores into the empty net to make it 5-3 and sealed the game away for the Thunderbirds.

Three Stars: 3) Ville Koivunen (goal, two assists) 2) Otto Stenberg (goal, assist) 1) Corey Schueneman (goal, assist)

The Good: Strong game by Ville Koivunen, factoring into all three Penguins goals.

The Bad: That effort was wasted. Golden opportunity to get a point behind Hershey with some separation to Providence back at the three spot, but this closes everything up and is a net positive for a team like Charlotte.

Turning Point: The Schueneman goal late in the second gets it here.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley is out in Rockford, that box is here….Charlotte gets a late goal and an empty netter to beat Hershey 3-1….Hartford beats Providence 6-5 in a track meet….Utica beats Bridgeport 4-2.

Standings: Hershey 65 – Penguins 62 – Providence and Charlotte 61 – Lehigh Valley xx – Springfield 55 – Hartford 48 – Bridgeport 29

Wheeling Update: Nailers repay the favor and shutout the Tula Oilers 2-0. Sergei Murashov with an eye popping 42 save shutout.

Video Highlights: Go to the AHL VideoCenter if you are a sicko.

Back at it Sunday afternoon against Providence. Talk to you then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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A methodical takedown of a struggling Hartford Wolf Pack team on Friday sees the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win 4-1 to close to within three points of the first place Hershey Bears.

Didn’t want to mention it in the Weekend Preview, but if the cards fall right now that the Penguins have won Friday, Wilkes-Barre could hypothetically wake up Monday morning in first place in the Division.

But let’s get there when we get there, if we get there.

Here’s how they lined up. Hartford never posts lines.

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1893081968675275229

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Lineup Notes: Vasily Ponomarev returned from his one game suspension and replaced the recalled Emil Bemstrom. Isaac Belliveau replaced Scooter Brickey on defense. Filip Larsson got the start, which surprised me.

First Period: It got ugly for the Wolf Pack and quickly.

Louis Domingue lets in the first shot he sees at :29 off the stick of Rutger McGroarty.

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Hartford got in penalty trouble, taking consecutive penalties putting their 27th ranked penalty kill against the #1 ranked power play in the Penguins (still feels weird typing this) and Avery Hayes made them pay that made it 2-0 on a hack and whack job in the crease.

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1893096158261612910

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The Penguins made it 3-0 when Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen and Boris Katchouk played pitch and catch with the puck which saw Katchoukl score.

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1893097302497051104

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Second Period: I didn’t like the response at all by the Penguins out of the room. Hartford scored and the Penguins only had two shots for the first 15 or so minutes of the period. They couldn’t do anything wrong in the first and everything was going in, but in the second Filip Larsson was under bombardment, stopping 12 of 13 shots. The one goal he allowed came off of the stick of Maxim Barbashev.

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Third Period: Teams traded a Filip Kral delay of game and a Connor Mackey high sticking penalty but neither team notched a power play goal. At no point was it a, “next goal is important here” because it was a much more even period.

With Louis Domingue pulled, Marc Johnstone scored an empty net goal.

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Have to feel for Louis Domingue. He had some great saves for his team and without him it’s probably a five or six goal win for the Penguins.

Three Stars: 3) Maxim Barbashev (first AHL goal) 2) Filip Kral (two assists) 1) Rutger McGroarty (goal, assist)

The Good: I liked the start. A goal :29 in? Let’s go!

The Bad: I didn’t like that second period. If a better team makes adjustments it could have been a lot worse. Oh no!

Turning Point: That Katchouk goal seemed like a back breaker.

Around the Division: Light Friday as a theme here in the Atlantic. Lehigh Valley is out in Western Michigan taking on the Griffins and lose in a shootout 5-4. Providence hosted Utica and wins 4-2. The rest of them were off.

Standings: Hershey 65 – Penguins 62 – Providence 61 – Charlotte 59 – Lehigh Valley xx – Springfield 53 – Hartford 46 – Bridgeport 29

Wheeling Update: Tulsa Oilers are in for a visit and shutout the Nailers 3-0. Luke Lush, which is a hell of a name, had a 17 save shutout.

Video Highlights: Bookmark the AHL VideoCenter this weekend on your browser as that’s likely your best bet.

Talk to you tomorrow after the Springfield game.

Let’s Go Pens!