Chirps from Center Ice

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They had it, then almost lost it but the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins hold on and win 4-3 Sunday afternoon in Allentown against the Phantoms.

They put away a game they were in control of for the most part but almost lost. Sound familiar? Just be glad they get a clean win and use a game in hand on Hershey to inch closer to the 13 time champs.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Vasily Ponomarev was suspended a game for receiving his match penalty Saturday against Hershey. Atley Calvert went in for him. Isaac Belliveau for Scooter Brickey on defense.

First Period: Joel Blomqvist was under early fire stopping the first seven shots of the game in a row by the Phantoms.

But then Avery Hayes stayed hot and scored off a nice feed from Sam Poulin.

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Then Sam Poulin bagged himself a goal picking off a pass in the slot and made it 2-0 for the Penguins.

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Second Period: Parker Gahagen was keeping the Phantoms in it, I heard Hart on radio say it could have gotten, “seriously ugly” if not for Gahagen’s efforts in net.

Tristan Broz beat him on a defection off an Avery Hayes pass that made it 3-0 Wilkes-Barre.

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Phantoms were under bombardment in the period from all four lines, but got a goal from JR Avon off a clean face-off win that made it 3-1.

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Third Period: Roles flipped. Phantoms bombed the Penguins zone with time and hit Blomqvist with shots. They would get a shorthanded goal to open the period to bring it to 3-2.

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That was Friday’s shootout hero Rodrigo Ābols getting the goal there.

Next goal was going to be huge and this time it was the Penguins that got it off of a laser from Filip Kral.

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But then the Phantoms would come closer off of a goal from Helge Grans off of another face-off play that made it 4-3 and a one goal game again.

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Blomqvist would continue to face heavy fire but the Penguins stayed strong and didn’t allow the Phantoms to score with an extra man on the ice with Gahagen pulled.

Three Stars: 3) Rodrigo Ābols (goal, assist) 2) Sam Poulin (goal, assist) 1) Filip Kral (goal, assist)

The Good: Managed to get over the hump and etch out a regualtion win and stop this mini sump there are on.

The Bad: Are they becoming complacent? Certainly looks like it.

Turning Point: Kral’s goal that makes it 4-2 gets it here.

Around the Division: Bridgeport finally beats Providence for the first time this season 4-2. Charlotte and Hartford are still in action as this goes up. Box here.

Standings: Hershey 65 – Penguins 60 – Providence 59 – Charlotte can tie the Bruins with a win over Hartford, but let’s worry about that when we have to.

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose in Greenville against the Swamp Rabbits 5-2.

Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter is your best bet.

AHL Power Rankings may be delayed till Tuesday because there are a lot of games Sunday and a bunch Monday. Stay tuned, I guess.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins mounted a third period comeback in the third period and were 12.5 seconds away from getting things right and snapping out of this slump that they are in.

The Hershey Bears had other plans.

Chase Priskie’s goal with 12.5 seconds left ties it, then Hendrix Lapierre’s goal in overtime ended it. Wilkes-Barre loses 4-3 in overtime.

The Penguins will look to get right Sunday afternoon in Allentown.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Mathias Laferrière made his Penguins debut for Jonathan Gruden (I heard on TV that Nick Hart said Gruden was injured. Gruden was in the locker room for a large part in the second period but finished out the game.) Filip Larsson’s first start in over a month in goal.

First Period: Physical period. Ville Koivunen injured Hendrix Lapierre, Lapierre returned later but they were taking runs at Koivunen all period.

Avery Hayes picked off a pass in the Bears zone and the Penguins were up 1-0.

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Second Period: Penguins stared the period on a power play but don’t connect. Hershey would on theirs when Alex Limoges tipped in a shot from the far wall that tied the game at one.

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I thought it was a better two periods as opposed to what you saw the night before against Lehigh Valley.

Third Period: Hershey would go up 2-1 on a Pierrick Dube deflection in front that put the Bears ahead 2-1.

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But the Penguins showed great resolve, and got a Valtteri Puustinen goal in the slot that tied the game at two.

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Puutstinen had time and space and picked his spot there. What a goal.

1:35 later, Avery Hayes scored his second goal of the night with this highlight reel tally that gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead.

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But then the Penguins found themselves in some penalty trouble when Vasily Ponomarev was assessed a match penalty for fighting giving the Bears a 3:00 major power play. They would not score but this was late and likely wore them down a bit.

With starting goaltender Clay Stevenson pulled, the Bears would indeed find the equalizer and scored to tie the game with 12.5 seconds left. Chase Priskie with the rebound.

Overtime: It wasn’t a possession fest like it was the night prior against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, more even here but Hendrix Lapierre found time and space at the top of the slot and world one past Filip Larsson to give the Bears the extra point.

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Three Stars: 3) Pierrick Dube (goal) 2) Chase Priskie (goal) 1) Hendrix Lapierre

The Good: Hung in there with the back to back defending champs and gritted out a point.

The Bad: Kirk MacDonald has his hands full. They were 12.5 seconds away from a four point deficit on Hershey for the division lead. These points count all the same now and in April.

Turning Point: Another game that chased it to the end, the Lapierre overtime game winner gets it here.

Around the Division: I wasn’t at the game in person tonight because I get these half colds that run through me in the span of like 72 hours. That said, with it being a 6:05 start I am not sticking around for the 7:05 starts. That’s Lehigh Valley hosting Syracuse and Springfield having all the fun out in Rockford. Boxes in the links for the respective games. In the earlier games Charlotte shutout Hartford 4-0 and Providence did the same to Bridgeport 5-0.

Standings: Hershey 65 – Providence 59 – Penguins 58 – Charlotte 57 — the rest are still in action the time this goes up but won’t catch the top four no matter what they do Saturday.

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 3-1 in the low country, or in South Carolina against the Stingrays. Sergei Murashov stopped 35.

Video Highlights: Whistling past the graveyard here again….

Back at it to close out the three in three Sunday afternoon against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

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No one else will say it, so I will say it.

I think they are slumping.

You saw it against a bad Bridgeport team that yes, they shutout last Friday and in the first half last Saturday against Cleveland and much more against stiffer competition Tuesday in Hershey.

Mistakes here and there and a lack of execution. They sucked Friday against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms who hung around like an unwanted houseguest and the Penguins lose 3-2 in a shootout.

No slowing down now, Hershey is less than 24 hours away.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Scooter Brickey for Nikolai Knyzhov was the only change they made on defense.

First Period: You could see signs it was going to be a slog. Sam Poulin tips in a shot in front to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead…

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But the Phantoms hung around and it was only a one goal lead heading into the…

Second Period: Lehigh Valley scores on a sequence where Joel Blomqvist is bowled over.

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No call on the ice by the referee, who huddled with the other officials and then signaled goal.

Look, it isn’t reviewable. Even if it was, no one knows what goaltender interference is anyway.

I think there’s a case both ways. Scooter Brickey checks Massimo Rizzo onto Blomqvist. There’s no whistle and the puck goes in. If there’s no infraction for Rizzo bowling over Blomqvist, then the goal should stand.

Wilkes-Barre responds in kind via a late Tristan Broz power play goal and the Penguins retook the lead.

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Third Period: Penguins had a few opportunities to make it a 3-1 lead and couldn’t.

Exhibit A: Puck hits both posts and stays out. In the ensuing play, Parker Gahagen goes down and needs a minute to regain himself but Wilkes-Barre can’t score as he’s prone on the ice.

Jacob Gaucher deflects a Phantoms power play goal to tie the game at two for the visitors.

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Exhibit B: Penguins get a power play at about halfway of the period and cannot score.

A month or so ago, I think they do.

They somehow manage to get to overtime.

Overtime: Solved nothing. Wilkes-Barre possessed for about three and a half minutes if not longer, couldn’t score. A month ago I think they do.

Shootout: Parker Gahagen stops all three shooters he sees (Ville Koivunen, Emil Bemstrom, Tristan Broz) and Joel Blomqvist stops Olle Lycksell and Samu Tuomaala but not Rodrigo Ābols in the bottom of the third and the Phantoms take the extra point.

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Three Stars: 3) Samu Tuomaala (goal) 2) Jacob Gaucher (goal) 1) Rodrigo Ābols (assist, shootout winning goal)

The Good: Managed a point they probably didn’t deserve.

The Bad: I think they are becoming one dimensional. Like, they are good and the talent is there, but teams get film on you and can counter. It’s doing the same thing over and over and expecting results you had at the start of 2025.

Turning Point: I think the lack of success on the last power play they had late bit them badly.

Around the Division: There’s no meat on the schedule on this Friday despite Lent not starting for a few more weeks. Providence beat Utica 5-1.

Standings: Hershey 63 – Penguins 57 – Providence 57 – Charlotte 55 – Lehigh Valley 52 – Springfield 51 – Hartford 45 – Bridgeport 27

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: Let’s keep whistling past this graveyard tonight.

Back at it Saturday against Hershey.

Let’s Go Pens!

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So Todd Nelson ripped into this Hershey Bears team really badly on Saturday after their 5-0 loss on home ice Saturday. So much so that the Bears took down the video of his post game availability because he was so mad at the way his Hershey Bears lifeless effort against a pedestrian Syracuse team.

They have a lot of guys sick and half the team is up from the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL, but Nelson didn’t use that as an excuse.

His team responded in kind and defeated the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Barely.

A would be game tying goal from Boris Katchouk was adjudged to be deflected into the net with a high stick with 2.2 seconds left. It was the right call. Despite the fact that you can’t review the sequence (you should) – replay showed that Katchouk’s stick was almost above his head when the shot by Mac Hollowell deflected off of Katchouk’s stick and in.

Again, the right call, despite the lack of replay to confirm the obvious, in my opinion.

EDIT: Went back and looked and turns out it was, blatantly a high stick.

https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/1889521139904328150

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Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Atley Calvert and Corey Andonovski were out for Emil Bemstrom and Vasily Ponomarev up front and Nikolai Knyzhov was back in on defense for Scooter Brickey.

First Period: A lot happened!

Five goals in the period, three for Herhsey and two for the Penguins. Andrew Perrott scored in his Bears debut off of a face-off win from Garrett Roe to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

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The Penguins would respond under three minutes later when Emil Bemstrom scored to tie the game at one.

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Hell of a pass by Owen Pickering there.

But then Hershey would rattle off a pair of goals in under two minutes. Hendrix Lapierre raced past Jack St. Ivany to slip one past Joel Blomqvistr to make it 2-1 and then Ethan Bear from the top of the near dot that made it 3-1.

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A melee would ensue which saw Vasily Ponomarev dismissed for a major boarding penalty which started it all, Nikolai Knyzhov and Hershey’s Justin Nachbaur for a secondary altercation and Dalton Smith getting a game misconduct for being an aggressor, jumping Ponomarev.

There were other secondary and tertiary infractions given out of that fracas, but I had no issues with the way refs Liam Maaskant or Patrick Hanhrahan handled things there.

:30 later, the Penguins found themselves on a 4-on-3 power play and Valtteri Puustinen scored to bring the Penguins to within one.

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Whew.

Second Period: The Penguins were flat out being outworked by the Hershey Bears in the period. The Bears tacked on a power play goal to start the period to extend the lead to two.

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That was Mike Vecchione cleaning up the loose change in front.

Hershey outshot the Penguins 7-6 in the period but many of the six shots for the Penguins came in one late desperation shift.

It was 4-2 to end the period and this was familiar territory for the Penguins because this is where they were Saturday against Cleveland, but it felt different.

Third Period: Better effort for the Penguins, who get a goal from Avery Hayes that brings it to within one.

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Hayes is high sticked and doesn’t bat an eyelash and scores. What an effort.

Penguins pull Blomqvist for the extra attacker but Spencer Smallman scored on an empty net that made it 5-3.

But hold up, Mac Hollowell scored his first as a Penguin to bring Wilkes-Barre to within one.

Pens then put the pressure back on the Bears and scored what looked like a tying goal but Katchouk redirected the puck in the net illegally.

No issues with the way that Liam Maaskant or Patrick Hanrahan handled the game, in my opinion.

Three Stars: 3) Ethan Bear (goal, assist) 2) Hendrix Lapierre (goal, assist) 1) Spencer Smallman (goal, assist)

The Good: They showed resolve in the eleventh hour, but ran out of time.

The Bad: Getting back to the headline, who wants it more? The Penguins were loaded by Pittsburgh during the Four Nations break and couldn’t beat a rag tag group of a lineup of half ECHL players? These were two points lost, poorly, by the better team on paper. Games in hand be damned.

Turning Point: I suppose you can give it to Spencer Smallman and his goal that made it 5-3 at the time or you could give it to the referees taking the would be Katchouk tying goal off the board.

Around the Division: I suspect that all of the games that the AHL played on this night (six total) they would have played on Super Bowl Sunday. With that said, none of the other teams in the Atlantic Division played.

Standings: Hershey 63 – Penguins 56 – Charlotte and Providence 55 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Springfield 49 – Hartford 43 – Bridgeport 26

Wheeling Update: Nailers are off until Saturday, when they take on the Bears ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays.

Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter is your best bet for you sickos.

Back at it Friday. I’ll have the weekend preview up on the blog around lunchtime.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Well, that was fun.

An epic 5-4 comeback from behind overtime win for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, who still have not lost to the Lake Erie / Cleveland Monsters on home ice.

But it was how they got there that tells the tale.

After a penalty marred first period that saw the Cleveland Monsters score on not one, but two five on three advantages, the Penguins were behind the eight ball and trailing 4-1.

It was like the whole world was against them.

I don’t want to blame the officials but Casey Terreri and Will Kelly weren’t it. Terreri was here Friday and seemed fine, Saturday too. Will Kelly seems overmatched at this level and sees things no one else sees and calls things no one else calls.

But the Penguins won the game, so let’s leave stripes be. Hold onto your butts whenever you see Kelly as the guy officiating your game, you are in for a hell of a ride.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Jesse Puljujarvi quit on the team and is having his contract terminated. Pens gave him a shot to re-establish himself, he did somewhat, then 31 other teams passed on him through waivers. That’s why I cheer for the front of the jersey and never the back. If he doesn’t want to be here anymore, get lost.

Vasily Ponomarev went up to Pittsburgh this afternoon.

On the ice, Corey Andonovski and Atley Calvert drew in for Ponomaraev and that quitter Puljujarvi. Thank god this is the last time I have to spell Puljujarvi.

First Period: At the expiration of a Dan Renouf penalty, Joseph LaBate got Cleveland on the board first.

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Penguins respond quickly with a goal from Jack St. Ivany that tied the game at one.

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Through a screen. And a St. Ivany goal? That’s what you want to see.

But as they were announcing the goal, Rocco Grimaldi scored :36 later and the Monsters re-took the lead.

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Trey Fix-Wolansky and LaBate added two more Cleveland goals while the Penguins were down two men.

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The Penguins took five straight penalties to open the period and got burned for four goals, two of them on the power play.

They looked bad the night prior against Bridgeport and won. Cleveland offered stiffer competition and this? Oh boy.

Second Period: A Valtteri Puustinen shot banks off of Joona Koppanen’s leg and the comeback was seemingly on.

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Kelly and Terreri dialed back the penalties in the period.

Third Period: Okay, so they settled a bit and started to play Penguin hockey. They torched Jet Greaves’ net with 17 shots in the period and with every passing shot and shift, momentum started to turn.

Nifty hands by Jonathan Gruden in close from a hell of a pass from Sam Poulin and the Penguins are back to within one.

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Then after a time out and with Murashov pulled for the extra attacker, the Penguins would indeed find the equalizer when none other than Sam Poulin scored to tie the game at four.

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Free coffee!

But the celebration would be a bit short-lived as linesman Jud Ritter adjudged that Marc Johnstone threw a puck over the glass, thus assessing a delay of game penalty.

Ritter sucks and I think he has a vendetta against the Penguins going back years. But that’s beside the point.

Overtime: After 22 skaters in Cleveland jerseys and four idiots with striped shirts and whistles, here we are.

Wilkes-Barre would kill the Johnstone penalty thanks to four really good saves from Sergei Murashov and then Owen Pickering scored with 23.1 seconds left to clinch the epic comeback for the Penguins.

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Another angle…

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Three Stars: 3) Sergei Murashov (29 saves, four in overtime) 2) Sam Poulin (goal, two assists) 1) Owen Pickering (game winning overtime goal)

The Good: They never seemed out of it despite how things were going after the first. That’s coaching. That’s leadership. That’s determination.

The Bad: Besides the officiating, what planet was Mac Hollowell on? Not a good game at all by Hollowell in my eye, somehow credited with 7 shots. He would have had double that if those attempts were actually on target.

Turning Point: In a game that chased it to the end, the Pickering goal gets it here.

Around the Division: Bridgeport wins just their third game on home ice this season, beating Charlotte 5-1….Syracuse roughs up a depleted and ill Hershey team 5-0 that skated a man short because of it….Hartford beats Lehigh Valley 4-2 and Springfield beats Providence 5-2.

Good night out of town for the Penguins. Here’s why:

Standings: Hershey 61 – Penguins 56 – Charlotte and Providence 55 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Springfield 49 – Hartford 43 – Bridgeport 26

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 4-3. Jordan Martel with a goal and an assist. Jaxon Castor stops 23.

Video Highlights: 

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Late Breaking News:

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Pittsburgh and the rest of the NHL are on break for whatever the hell Four Nations is for two weeks, so this is expected.

The Power Rankings will be out Monday, don’t forget the Pens have a road trip to Hershey where they can draw to three points of the Bears lead with a win. Important game.

Let’s Go Pens!