Welcome to a jam packed Double Issue of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings. I sincerely hope you all had a nice Christmas and New Years holiday. The Power Rankings return after a two week holiday hiatus and there is a lot to get to.
There is a third place team in the Atlantic playing like the best team in the AHL.
A familiar face at the top of the Pacific and the Central Division.
A couple of quietly underrated, dangerous teams and…
…the defending champs making a push.
Click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where the teams lined up this week.
Have to assume with the health of Kris Letting and Trevor Daley that one if not both Ruhwedel and Warsofsky will remain in Wilkes-Barre. Brian Dumoulin is still out with his broken jaw. My guess is it will be Chad Ruhwedel, who played in last nights overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens.
As for Jarry, it is a bit of a risk re-assigning him to Wilkes-Barre being as though should he get hurt while back that leaves Pittsburgh with no NHL contracted goaltender as a back up. Yeah, you could say that Sean Maguire is under an NHL deal, but he is in Wheeling and too green to even consider as a viable option.
Wilkes-Barre plays Tuesday at home against Hartford, Friday at home against Hershey, Saturday at home against Binghamton and again Sunday in Hershey. Pittsburgh is off till next Sunday when they play Tampa Bay.
Assume Jarry gets the Tuesday game against the Wolf Pack, and is either called up or backing up Casey DeSmith Friday against Hershey and then either called back up Saturday or Sunday if not already called up by Friday.
As for Wheeling, the Nailers do not play again until Friday when they host the Toledo Walleye and then again Sunday when they host the Cincinnati Cyclones. My guess is depending on how the dominoes fall later in the week with whenever Pittsburgh recalls Jarry again will spell out Doug Carr’s status for the Penguins this coming weekend. You would have to assume, should Jarry go up before Friday, that Carr gets one of the three weekend games against either the Senators or Bears.
Comments Off on Sliding into the New Year — Pens LOSE 3-2
Posted by nafsnep on December 31, 2016
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It took till the last day when the sun went down in 2016, but the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have lost back to back regulation games.
A 3-2 loss and a dazzling display of goaltending by Chris Driedger of the Binghamton Senators. Driedger singlehandedly won the game for his team.
Pens drop two straight games for the first time this season and run to 2017 as the best team in the AHL despite the setback. Last night, Wilkes-Barre ran into a hot team in Providence. Tonight, they ran into a hot goaltender. You can’t win t hem all.
Casey DeSmith vs. Chris Driedger
Lines were…
Sahir Gill – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Jake Guentzel – J-S Dea – Dominik Simon
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Ryan Haggerty
Tim Erixon – Stuart Percy
Derrick Pouliot – Lukas Bengtsson
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow
Casey DeSmith – Doug Carr
Lineup Notes: Sahir Gill’s first game action in 10 games, having last played on December 3. Head Coach Clark Donatelli stuck him on the top line with Kevin Porter and Tom Kostopoulos. He dropped Simon down to the third line, scratched Danny Kristo, and swapped Haggerty for Reid Gardiner. Defense unchanged.
First Period: No flies on Sahir Gill. Hasn’t played in 10 games, scores off of a face-off to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead…
Gill’s first goal for the Penguin since February 12.
Minutes later, Jason Akeson scored on the power play which tied it for the B-Sens. It was the fourth time in a row that the Penguins allow a power play goal on the first power play awarded to the opposing team.
Driedger denied a J-S Dea shot on a two on one opportunity late as the period ended.
Second Period: Jason Akeson scored his second when Stuary Percy turned the puck over. Darren Rumble took it, centered to Akeson mid-slot and Akeson gave the Senators the 2-1 lead.
Driedger was up to task in the period in denying the Penguins scoring chances. Wilkes-Barre’s fourth line had the better opportunities and outshot the Senators 20-6 in the period.
Buddy Robinson scored to make it 3-1 on a bullet pass that appeared offside. Here is the video I took. Let me know if you agree with Gaunce.
VIDEO: Here's the only angle on the Robinson goal which may have been offside. pic.twitter.com/weYke0R0il
Sundqvist made it to the bench, but needed assistance to the locker room not putting any weight on his right foot / leg. He did return for the…
Third Period: Pens continued to pour on the offense, seeing a Josh Archibald shot hit the crossbar but go out. Then Sundqvist hacked and whacked at a puck in Driedger’s pads but the B-Sens netminder was able to get over to the puck and smother it in his crease before it bled across the line.
The Penguins would outshoot the Senators 18-7 in the period and pounded Driedger with shots. They owned the offensive zone time.
Finally, the Penguins got a power play goal via, who else, Jake Guentzel.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 1, 2017
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Penguins would get no closer though as they needed to kill a penalty. Binghamton had no interest in wanting to press for a fourth goal because the Penguins weren’t letting them. Driedger continued to make save after save on the Penguins, and Wilkes-Barre with DeSmith pulled for an extra man, were never able to find the equalizer.
Three Stars: 3) Phil Varone (two assists, even) 2) Jason Akeson (two goals, even) and 1) Chris Driedger (44 saves on 46 shots)
Around the Division: Hartford falls at home against Albany, 3-1… Providence will nbc your new #1 team in the AHL Power Rankings on Monday with a 4-1 win in Hershey, another dominating win by a dominating team. Lehigh Valley, Springfield and Bridgeport were off.
Binghamton might have video highlights and if they do I will run an edit.
The AHL Power Rankings Double Issue will be out at noon on Monday, a special publication time because I figure most of you will be celebrating the observed New Year plus I believe Penn State plays in the Rose Bowl at 4 Monday, so I figure you’d be more interested in that than the 20th ranked AHL team in the Power Rankings.
Wheeling Wrap returns Tuesday at noon, which also is the next time the Penguins are in action again, at home, against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Last Game: Last night at home against Providence, the Pens lost 5-2. The loss snapped a seven game winning streak for the Penguins. For Binghamton, the Senators were in Syracuse and beat the Crunch in a shootout 3-2. Chris Driedger denied all callers in the shootout round.
Last Meeting: This past Monday in Binghamton, the Penguins overpowered the Senators in the third period, scoring two goals en route to a 5-4 win. Jake Guentzel continued his tear, with two goals and an assist. Casey DeSmith improved to 8-0-2 at the time.
Record: 21-6-3-0 (45 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For BNG: 12-17-2-1 (27 pts., 7th place North Division)
Why you should care: Penguins need a bounce back win to close out 2016 this evening in Binghamton. Don’t expect the Senators to hand it to them especially with the way things went down this past Monday for the B-Sens.
Other Game to Watch: The Penguins hosted the Providence Bruins last night and now the Bruins take the short trip down I-81 and visit the Hershey Bears.
Next Five Games: HFD 1/3, HER 1/6, BNG 1/7, @ HER 1/8, @ TOR 1/11
I almost wanted to use the headline, “Evil Twin” tonight because the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Providence Bruins are so evenly matched. But on a night where one twin was so much better than the other, the headline accurately describes what the Bruins did to the Penguins tonight.
A 5-2 loss tonight by the Penguins which ends the seven game losing streak and finally sees a regulation loss go up in the column for Casey DeSmith. Third straight game where an opponent scores at least one power play goal and the second time this season that an opponent scores two power play goals in a game. Also, the first shorthanded goal of the season was allowed by the Penguins who were the last team in the AHL to allow a shorthanded tally.
If you read the second paragraph and though, “boy, sounds like a disaster on special teams,” it was. Sitting here trying to dissect it all, special teams is what cost the Penguins any chance in the game tonight because the two sides were pretty even at even strength.
All is not lost though…
Clark Donatelli (Atlantic) joins Benoit Groulx (North) as the Eastern Conference's coaching staff for the 2017 #AHLAllStar Classic https://t.co/Rpzpjiwy0h
Dominik Simon – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Jake Guentzel – J-S Dea – Danny Kristo
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Reid Gardiner
Tim Erixon – Stuart Percy
Derrick Pouliot – Lukas Bengtsson
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow
Casey DeSmith – Doug Carr
Lineup Notes: Tom Sestito returned to the Penguins lineup after a two game absence. He had been dealing with migraines.
First Period: Penguins had an early power play which came and went which really would set the tone on how the night would go on special teams for Wilkes-Barre. After the kill, Zac Rinaldo fires a fallaway shot at Casey DeSmith which the Penguins netminder makes the save on, but dropped it in his glove and Justin Hickman in the right place at the right time, pushes it across to give the Bruins an early 1-0 lead.
Soon thereafter, Alex Grant hits Jake Guentzel late. Guentzel didn’t like that and slashed the ex-Penguin. Referee Terry Koharski sees this and puts Guentzel in the box. The Bruins score on the power play to double the lead when Colby Cave scored.
Providence was flying. They jumped all over the Penguins off the drop of the puck and had a two goal lead and led in shots 11-5 halfway through.
But the Penguins turned the tables and scored to cut it to one, the closest they would get the remainder of the night, when Oskar Sundqvist left a drop pass of Josh Archibald who scored on a bad angle shot that made it 2-1.
Pens couldn’t connect on another power play late, hit a post in the final minute at even strength, and it was off to the…
Second Period: It took just :19 for Providence to re-establish their two goal lead, when Rob O’Gara wired in a shot to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead. In the rush after the goal, O’Gara cross checked Kevin Porter. Remember this for later.
Pens sat back, let the rush come to them, Cameron Gaunce fell down and O’Gara sniped home his second of the season.
If you want to call that the turning point of the game, I wouldn’t blame you.
If you want to call these next couple paragraphs the turning point, I wouldn’t blame you either.
The aforementioned O’Gara took a cross checking penalty he didn’t like and while skating to the box let Koharski know about it. Koharski had enough of his dissenting opinion and added on an unsportsmanlike penalty giving the Penguins a 4:00 double minor.
Bruins put on a clinic killing that double minor. A clinic.
Not only did Providence kill off the two man disadvantage, when they did, Zac Rinaldo exited the box and was fed a pinpoint pass by Tommy Cross. Rinaldo beat DeSmith to give Providence a 4-1 lead. It was the first shorthanded goal the Penguins allowed this season.
Bad to worse, Peter Cehlarik scored on a cross ice pass from Danton Heinen on a power play made it 5-1 Providence and that was all she wrote at the end of the second.
Third Period: Doug Carr relieved DeSmith in net, the Penguins allow Providence just two shots on goal, Kevin Porter got his pound of flesh on Rob O’Gara with a 5:00 major penalty and game misconduct for a boarding call. I don’t think it’s suspension worthy, but that remains to be seen. Penguins get one back on the power play when Jake Guentzel set up Oskar Sundqvist for a power play goal. Wilkes-Barre kept pushing for the next goal but Providence wasn’t having any of it.
Three Stars: 3) Oskar Sundqvist (goal, assist, even) 2) Zac Rinaldo (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Colby Cave (gola, assist, +1)
Notes: Five goals allowed tie a season high for the Penguins…Zane McIntyre improved to 10-0 on the season for Providence.
Wheeling Update: The Nailers fell 4-2 in Reading tonight to the Royals. Mike Webster and Derek Army scored goals for Wheeling. Sean Maguire took the loss in net, stopping 24 of 28.
Video highlights…
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Please note the special start time Saturday in Binghamton. The game begins at 6:05 so therefore the Gameday setup for that game will hit the blog Saturday at 2.
Penguins seven game winning streak comes crashing down hard at the the hands of the Providence Bruins tonight, final score 5-2.
Providence dominated every facet, from even strength to their top rated penalty kill and even connected on the power play. It’s why they have only lost once in the month of December.
And no, Tristan Jarry would not have that much more of a difference tonight. DeSmith had no chance tonight because the team in front of him never game him one.
Goals by the Pens were scored by Josh Archibald and Oskar Sundqvist. Sundqvist’s came on the power play.
Last Game: Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre against the Springfield Thunderbirds, Jake Guentzel recorded a hat trick and the Penguins won their seventh straight game. For Providence, they defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-3. The Bruins scored two third period goals en route to victory.
Last Meeting: November 12 in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins won 3-1. J-S Dea, Oskar Sundqvist and Jake Guentzel all found the back of the net for the Penguins and Casey DeSmith stopped 28 of 29.
Record: For WBS: 21-5-3-0 (45 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For PRO: 17-7-4-3 (41 pts., 4th place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: Two of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference meet Friday night in Wilkes-Barre. The Penguins come in winning seven straight games, Providence comes in with a 13-1-2-2 record in their last 18 games and have only lost one game in regulation in the month of December. Expect a battle tonight, either defensively, something like 2-1 or 3-2, or an offensive explosion, 6-5 of 8-7 in overtime, something like that.
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