Chirps from Center Ice

The Penguins were in Binghamton taking on the Devils in their final preseason game. They lost 3-1. They will end up in the preseason going 2-2, splitting each with Hershey and Binghamton in the four games played.

Lots of tough decisions coming for Clark Donatelli and his crew this week as the Penguins prepare for their 19th season of hockey in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Here is a look at the lines….

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Tristan Jarry opposed Mackenzie Blackwood.

One lineup change from what you see above, swap Cam Brown for Gage Quinney.

No change in the status of Jarred Tinordi, he’s still to be evaluated. That usually means that it’s probably more than just day-to-day. Jeff Taylor was held out of the lineup for precautionary reasons on the hit delivered by Connor Hobbs Saturday night in Hershey.

In the first, there was only one power play awarded and the Devils made the most of it with Nathan Bastian tipping in a Brandon Gignac shot from the point past Jarry to put the Devils on the board at 12:44. Shots were an even 8-8 heading into the second.

In the second, J-S Dea scored on a power play to bring the Penguins level with the Devils again at 4:32 for the only scoring in a hotly contested period. The Penguins had a slight edge in shots in the period; 11-9.

In the third and looking to break the tie, the Devils would inch ahead when Blake Pietila pounced on a turnover and scored to give Binghamton a 2-1 lead at 9:25.

About four minutes later, Craig Skudalski couldn’t control a bouncing puck and turned it over resulting in another goal for Binghamton when Chris Calnan scored to make it 3-1.

With the extra man on for the Penguins, they were not able to get a goal.

One note, ex-Penguin Tim Erixon figured in on all three Binghamton goals tonight, with three assists.

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So that wraps up preseason. The Penguins will have a full week of work to prepare for the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday night in their season opener.

Blog wise, where’s what I have on tap for you.

My AHL Previews start at noon Monday with the Pacific Division, with the Central Division on Tuesday, the North on Wednesday and wrapping up with the Atlantic on Thursday.

Any news out of Coal Street or up top in Pittsburgh will be met with its own separate blog post. The Gameday setup will hit the blog for the Pens opener against the Checkers on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

The Penguins were on the road Saturday night in Hershey for their third of four preseason games. They won in overtime via a goal by Frank Corrado by a score of 3-2. The Penguins couldn’t score on 11 power play opportunities.

Here is a look at the lines…

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Casey DeSmith opposed Parker Milner, who was replaced at the halfway mark by Adam Carlson.

Before the game, the Penguins cut five players from camp. To Wheeling: Hunter Fejes, Dan Milan, Kevin Schulze. Matt Petgrave is under contract with the Brampton Beast. Justin Parizek was straight up released.

Also, some injury updates, Jarred Tinordi has, “yet to be evaluated” per Mike O’Brien and Colin Smith participated in the morning skate. Both left Friday’s game vs. Binghamton.

In the first, the Penguins struck first when J-S Dea picked a corner on Milner while the Penguins had a delayed penalty that gave Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 lead. Neither team scored on the power play, the Penguins going 0/2 and the Bears 0/1.

There was a big hit when Connor Hobbs flattened Jeff Taylor with a hit that earned Hobbs an interference penalty. Taylor was OK and shook off the hit. Here it is, courtesy of our friends from Chocolate Hockey…

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In the second, Reid Gardiner doubled the Penguins lead with a big shot at 1:25 off of a face-off in the Pens offensive zone. The Penguins were running the Bears all over the rink forcing Hershey into penalty after penalty, but could not cash on the power plays that referees David Banfield an Peter Schlittenhardt were giving them.

So Dustin Gazley takes things into his own hands and scores on a n delayed penalty that cut the Penguins lead to one.

Undeterred, the Penguins continued to goad the Bears into penalties and had a perfect opportunity to extend the lead back to two again when Wayne Simpson clipped Dominik Simon with his stick that drew blood.

In the third, the 2:59 that the Penguins had on the power play to open the period came and went. That was 0/9 so far missing regular players like Daniel Sprong, Tom Kostopoulos and Zach Aston-Reese.

Still, with no consistent five on five allowed by Schlittenhardt / Banfield, every time you turned around one of the teams were on the power play.

Finally, Chris Bourque scored with the extra man on for the goalie, to tie the game to force overtime.

In overtime, teams went back and forth, then J-S Dea stripped a Bear of the puck, led a 2-on-0 with Frank Corrado, passed to the Penguins defensemen who scored to win the game for the Penguins.

Late, Pittsburgh released Jay McClement from his professional tryout agreement. Penguins have one more move to make which is looking more and more like Patric Hornqvist to injured reserve to buy more time for Hornqvist and the Penguins brass for making a decision on what they want to do with Josh Archibald / Derrick Pouliot.

Penguins conclude their preseason with a 5 p.m. start in Binghamton Sunday. Recap after the game.

The Penguins dressed more of a regular lineup tonight in tonight’s 6-2 win against the Binghamton Devils. So let’s jump right into the lines tweeted by Obie…

Tristan Jarry started and was backed up by Casey DeSmith and played the whole game. Scott Wedgewood opposed in the Binghamton net.

So as close to a regular lineup you will probably see for the Penguins tonight. You’ll probably see some of the other 26 players who did not dress tonight play in the road games in Hershey and Binghamton Saturday and Sunday.

The game was delayed by thirty minutes due to a compressor problem which help cools the ice.

Here is what I will say about the first period. To start, it was a much quicker pace with more established AHL guys in the line up. After the Penguins walked off the ice to the first intermission I tweeted at the time that it felt like the Penguins were playing the game in second gear, that they didn’t even go full out and still led 4-1 and made it look easy.

Garrett Wilson poked home a back door goal after nice work in the corner from Teddy Blueger to chip a puck to Tom Kostopoulos who no look passed to Wilson in front.

Kostopoulos cleaned up a point shot by Daniel Sprong that gave the Pens a 2-0 lead while Wilkes-Barre was on a two man advantage. Adam Johnson hacked and whacked one second after the other power play expired to make it 3-0.

The Devils only had one shot on goal to this point.

Devils finally punched back on a power play when a Jan Mandat shot from the point deselect off of a Penguin and past Jarry to make it 3-1.

Wilkes-Barre responded in kind with Garrett Wilson’s second goal of the night, deflecting a Zach Trotman shot to make it 4-2 heading into the second period.

In the second, each team got one goal late. Dominik Simon scored when he pounced on a loose puck and scored to make it 5-1. About a minute later Nathan Bastian scored on a ugly Penguin turnover in front of Jarry.

Tom Kostopoulos had a goal and an assist from the first period and completed his Gordie Howe hat trick after a fight with Jacob MacDonald. MacDonald cross checked Jarred Tinordi which sent Tinordi to the room holding his hand / wrist.

In the third, Kevin Czuczman added on to the Penguins lead with a blast of a shot from the point that found its way past Wedgewood that made it 6-2. There were about a million slashing calls in the game. It gets annoying and predictable after a while.

Video highlights…

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Penguins play Hershey tomorrow then rematch Binghamton Sunday. I’ll have recaps of each this weekend.

Not going to go too far in-depth here with the first preseason game of the season for both clubs. Tonight was about fringe guys from both sides getting evaluated before inevitably being shipped away to the ECHL affiliate with the influx of talent coming down from the NHL. I counted a sum total of three regulars in the lineup for Wilkes-Barre. The Bears players didn’t wear nameplates.

One thing really quick, all the players Pittsburgh put on waivers yesterday cleared today.

Lines in case you were wondering:

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Colin Stevens for the Penguins opposed Parker Milner in goal.

In the first, Hershey cashed early on a power play when Penguin killed Dustin Gazley pounded home rebound of a shot from the point.

Penguins chased a bit, more so by the Bears because there was a ton of icing penalties in the period.

Patrick McGrath laid the body on Andrew Cherniwchan legally on a big hit.

Penguins killed off 1:49 of a 5-on-3 after two consecutive slashing penalties :11 apart. Probably the cleanest part of the period for Wilkes-Barre. Most of the time were plays where the player cherry picked a bit and tried to sneak in for a breakaway. Parker Milner had none of it though, stopping all 9 shots.

In the second, the Bears continued to increase their lead with a transition goal set up by Cherniwchan. He led a rush after a Hershey icing down ice, put a shot on Stevens that Hampus Gustafsson put home for a 3-0 lead.

Dustin Gazley found an unmarked Jeremy Langlois in front of the net who made it 3-0.

Gazley later dangled through Kevin Schulze and was never picked up by Danny Fick to make it 4-0.

Penguins only had two shots on goal in the period, and I don’t think a single one came after the ten minute mark. Everything was a home run pass or a cherry pick attempt. Parker Milner was not challenged at all.

In the third, the Penguins finally were awarded a power play but could not score on it. Seconds after the Power play expired, the Penguins found themselves on the penalty kill again.

The Bears would score to make it 5-0 when Stephen Collins poked one past Will King who was on in relief of Colin Stevens in goal.

Connor Hobbs and Patrick McGrath got together for a fight which ended quickly when Hobbs got Pat’s jersey over his head:

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Tom Mele went to the front of the net and was rewarded with a goal, ending Milner’s shutout bid which put Wilkes-Barre on the board.

Penguins got run around by a Hershey team that brought more established players with them. Perhaps the 21 players who showed up Tuesday took the air out of the players who dressed tonight, but it’s supposed to be about leaving an impression and there really wasn’t one to be had at all from anyone who dressed for Wilkes-Barre tonight.

There may be cuts Thursday and if so I will have an update. If not, check back Friday night after the second preseason game the Penguins will play against Binghamton.