Chirps from Center Ice

          @          

5                              4

–

So that’s two wins on back to back nights against the North Division and Atlantic Division leading teams.

Clean. No overtime. No fluke goals. No flukes.

Adversity? Overcome. Tenacity? There. Never say die attitude? You bet.

Wilkes-Barre wins 5-4 after a late goal from Rutger McGroarty set up by Tristan Broz in another instant classic game by the Penguins in a weekend full of them.

The Penguins never trailed in the game and Filip Král had a four point (2-2) night. The aforementioned Broz had three assists.

There may be something there there with this team, but it’s November, about to be December here in a few hours and I have been down this road. Let’s enjoy the wins but not get ahead of ourselves.

Here’s how they lined up:

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1863002509607936494

Lineup Notes: These embeds aren’t working anymore and I don’t know what I am going to do about it. Anyway, Boko Imama and Jagger Joshua were in for Avery Hayes and Marc Johnstone from last night. up front and Isaac Belliveau for Sebastian Aho on defense.

First Period: Penguins didn’t waste any time and scored just. :55 in when a floater of a shot by Filip Král eluded Hunter Shepard.

Bogdan Trineyev scored through a mangrove of Penguins defenders midway through. Dan Renouf wasn’t able to corral the puck and the Bears capitalized. That’s what champions do.

https://twitter.com/TheHersheyBears/status/1863018935878058040

–

Second Period: One of the non scoring things I picked up in this period was the ease with which the Penguins killed the Hershey power plays that the back to back defending champs were awarded off the whistles of Cody Beach and Liam Maaskant.

Spencer Smallman was denied by Sergei Murashov and Murashov looked sharp.

Back to the power play talk, the Penguins didn’t waste any time on a power play opportunity when Vasily Ponomarev scored off a rebound from a shot from the point caromed off of Shepard and to Ponomarev who scored to give the Penguins a lead.

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1863034818662973711

This made Hershey mad. They respond in kind with relentless pressure. Usually you see this with teams and it passes with no goals. Those aren’t championship teams. This is a championship team.

https://twitter.com/TheHersheyBears/status/1863035741816660219

–

In case you are having problems with the embed, it’s Vinnie Iorio picking a spot on the low near corner that tied the game again.

But then the Penguins would edge ahead again when Emil Bemström would sneak behind the Hershey defense and snipe home a goal that made it 3-2 Penguins heading into the….

https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/1863039017786241447

–

Third Period: Hershey would connect on leftover power play time from the second period when Chase Priskie, who has all of his goals for the Bears on the power play this season, connects to tie the game yet again.

–

Then the Penguins would all of a sudden get :55 of a two man advantage and it looked bad. I thought that the Bears would kill it all off, get the requisite momentum, score again and hold on to win and here’s your turning point.

Wrong.

Enter Kral again who scores his second of the night that makes it 4-3 on the power play.

–

Nine seconds later, Ethen Frank scores to tie it again. The heavyweight bout was entering its 11th round.

–

Again, I have no idea of these embeds are embedding. Click the link and hit back to see what I am trying to show you.

Wilkes-Barre would navigate out of another Hershey power play about midway through and it looked like we were heading for overtime.

Nope. Tristan Broz, who has been the Penguins best player to date, finds Rutger McGroarty late that edges the Penguins ahead.

–

I liked how Broz waits out the diving Bears defender there and calmly shuffles a pass over to his teammate for the go ahead goal there. That’s veteran type stuff from an AHL rookie.

Hershey would pull Shepard in favor of an extra attacker but would not find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Rutger McGroarty (goal, assist) 2) Vincent Iorio (goal, assist) 1) Filip Král (two goals, two assists)

The Good: Hell of a way to establish yourself as a team that needs to be taken seriously taking down the North and Atlantic Division leading teams here in November. Power play looks lethal, penalty kill is really good as well.

The Bad: You are really nitpicking blaming defense or goaltending when you are in a shootout like this against a back to back champion in Hershey.

Turning Point: Broz to McGroarty at 18:45 of the third period that gives the Penguins the lead for good gets it here.

Around the Division: Charlotte shuts out Iowa 3-0….Springfield beats Hartford 4-1….Belleville shut out Bridgeport 2-0….Lehigh Valley beats Laval 4-3 and Utica wins their fifth game in a row shutting out Providence 3-0.

Standings: Hershey 31 – Penguins and Checkers 23 – Lehigh Valley 22 – Springfield and Hartford 19 – Providence 18 – Bridgeport 13

Wheeling Update: Nailers blow out the Cincinnati Cyclones 7-1. Taylor Gauthier stops 31. Kyle Jackson had a four point (2-2) night and was a +5.

Video Highlights: Will likely be up as soon as I get tired of waiting around for them and shut my laptop like last night. LOL.

Power Rankings Monday. It’s a recurring theme that I can’t get a team stick as a number one team. Laval was number one last week and lost two straight. They are out. Cleveland has won 10 in a row, the heck with it, give it to Cleveland. Check out the rest on Monday.

Let’s Go Pens!

          vs.          

3                                5

–

They looked done and dusted Friday. The Rocket were up 3-1 and the shots were a crazy 27-6 in favor of the Laval Rocket.

But then the Penguins, who already scored a power play goal, scored another.

And then another to tie it.

Then a goal by a guy here on a professional tryout gives them the lead.

Then a goal after a penalty kill gives them the cushion.

Part one of the weekend test is in the clear and the Penguins pass this one with flying colors, winning 5-3.

Hershey tomorrow.

Before we start, I don’t know what’s up with the Twitter / X embeds anymore. Sometimes they work, other times they don’t. Sometimes they do and I don’t think they do and sometimes they don’t and I think they do. If they don’t, you will see the raw link. Click on it then click back. I don’t know, blame Elon!

Here’s how they lined up:

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1862640020223361183

–

Lineup Notes: Dan Renouf returned from injury. He replaced Justin Lee. Nikolai Knyzhov, on a PTO, sticks in the the lineup. When they make the announcement that Renouf is going to be named captain, they should also announce an AHL. contract for Knyzhov.

Forward wise, Puustinen, Ponomarev and Poulin were in for Boko Imama, Raivis Ansons and Jagger Joshua in some form or fashion.

First Period: Laval is fast. This was evidenced by the 16-5 shot advantage after twenty minutes and the 2-1 score that the Rocket had after the period.

Rocket opened the scoring on a transition by Josh Jacobs.

https://twitter.com/RocketLaval/status/1862656067534004713

–

But the Penguins had a power play and looked really bad with it for the first half but then Ville Koivunen had a hard shot that spilled to Sam Poulin who backhanded it past Hughes to tie the game.

–

Thinking that the Penguins would get out of the period relatively clean, but no. Blomqvist and the aforementioned Knyzhov get their lines crossed and Penguins killer Alex Barre-Boulet scores to give the Rocket a 2-1 lead heading into intermission.

https://twitter.com/RocketLaval/status/1862661778758402405

Second Period: The Rocket would score a power play goal of their own when Jared Davidson would score a power play goal that would double the Laval lead.

https://twitter.com/RocketLaval/status/1862664809688264928

–

The shots were a boffo 27-6 in favor of the Rocket with about six minutes left in the second period but then William Trudeau takes his second penalty of the game and then Boris Katchouk scored to bring the Penguins within one.

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1862672728139928031

–

The Penguins started to move their feet a bit and carried 1:16 of power play with them to the…

Third Period: Ville Koivunen would connect on a goal off the carryover power play from the second period and it’s a tie game.

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1862678084308058355

–

There power play goals for the Penguins to get them right back in a game they had no business being in to this point.

The Rocket could not get anything going and then Nikolai Knyzhov scored to push the Penguins ahead 4-3…

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1862681430628688239

–

Sign this man to an AHL standard players contract immediately.

Then the Penguins found themselves in penalty trouble when the Rocket had :27 of two man advantage. Not only did the Penguins kill it all easily, but Joona Koppanen was in the box was freed and connected to make it 5-3 Wilkes-Barre.

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1862683807494643787

–

I mean, just when you thunk the team couldn’t impress you more, they do this.

Quite the turn of events for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, who, after I mentioned were being outshot 27-6, scored four unanswered goals and outshot the visitors 14-5. How the tables have turned!

Laval didn’t even bother to pull Connor Hughes for the extra attacker, and I don’t think I have ever seen that before at this level.

Three Stars: 3) Jonathan Gruden (fight) 2) Sam Poulin (goal, assist) 1) Ville Koivunen (goal, assist)

The Good: I like the tenacity of this team. Laval is really good team and quick. But when you see these teams they tend to be one dimensional. They will hit you until you hit back. The Penguins finally hit back and then Laval packed it in and it was only a matter of time.

The Bad: Were the Penguins playing rope a dope? There are better teams in the AHL than the Rocket. I think one of them they play Saturday. We will see.

Turning Point: The Knyzhov goal that put them ahead gets it here.

Around the Division: Charlotte beats Iowa 5-3…Utica wins again, this time over Springfield 3-2. That’s four wins in a row for the Comets after starting the season 0-10-1-2….Lehigh Valley beats the Hershey Bears 2-1 in overtime. Providence, Bridgeport and Hartford were off.

Standings: Hershey 32 – Penguins 21 – Charlotte 21 – Lehigh Valley 20 – Hartford 19 – Providence 18 – Springfield 17 – Bridgeport 13

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were in action earlier in the day and beat the Cincinnati Cyclones 5-1. Luke Richardson had the net for the Nailers, stopped 19. Jordan Martel had three assists. Gabe Klassen had a pair of goals.

Video Highlights: 

–

Hershey Saturday and that should be huge. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

            vs.            

0                                  5

–

They had a whole week to stew on it, and man it must have pissed them off.

The line of Emil Bemstrom, Boris Katchouk and Ville Koivunen, snake bit the last time these teams sqared off last weekend, erupt for three goals and four assists as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins roll the Bridgeport Islanders 5-0 on Friday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Oh yeah. Joel Blomqvist had a tidy 23 save shutout, his first of the season and the Pens third overall. Some of his saves were excellent and timely, notably with about there eminutes left in the game, where referees Jack Young and Rob Hennessey decided it put the Islanders on a full two minute man advantage. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Here’s how they lined up:

–

Lineup Notes: No lines for the Islanders. I miss Mike Fornabaio covering this franchise. For the Pens, unchanged up front but Sebastian Aho was back from injury, Phip Waugh was sent back to Wheeling and Justin Lee was in for Isaac Belliveau.

I guess it spells well for a fellow like Nikolai Knyzhov, who is in town on PTO. He has been fine and honestly, they should just sign him to an AHL contract, but getting healthier on D may make the guy expendable. Problem is, one of the 31 other AHL teams is going to see this and sign the guy.

First Period: Wilkes-Barre out to a 2-0 start with goals from Avery Hayes and Emil Bemström, scoring in similar fashion.

–

Hayes has been in and out of the lineup recently, this was a showing here on why he needs to stay.

–

In between goals, Joel Blomqvist had the save of the night on a rebound attempt by future AHL Hall of Fame and Islanders captain Chris Terry.

Second Period: No scoring, but the Penguins had the play in the period, highlighted by a 4:00 double minor power play opportunity for the Islanders where the Penguins put on a masterclass of penalty killing and had, in my opinion, the better of the chances during the special teams time.

Oh, and another timely, big time save by Jarry with a blocker in traffic kept Bridgeport off the board.

Third Period: You didn’t want to see them let off and they didn’t, in my opinion, probably their finest period of the season to date.

First a second goal from Emil Bemström and the inspiration for tonight’s headline.

–

Then Boris Katchouk on the doorstep and it’s 4-0 Penguins.

https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/1860144198059720720

–

Raivis Ansons and Tyce Thompson fought and it was the loudest the building was all night.

Then Bridgeport goalie Jakub Skarek comes 15 feet out of his net and Avery Hayes runs over him. Out of the melee, Jonathan Gruden is involved. Refs Hennessey and Young put Bridgeport on a full two minute two man advantage.

It didn’t matter.

The Penguins would knock sticks into passing lanes, block shots (as Justin Lee did with a big one) and Joel Blomqvist continued to dazzle and would not be denied his shutout bid.

In a moment of karma, after the Penguins successfully killed the penalty, Hayes and Gruden get spring out of the box. This happened next…

Karma.

All that was left was to see if they could hold on for a shutout for their goaltender and they did.

Three Stars: 3) Boris Katchouk (goal, assist) 2) Emil Bemström (two goals, assist) 1) Joel Blomqvist (23 saves)

The Good: They responded to their coach who likely challenged them this week in a big way and handled a team that gave them fits the last two times they met.

The Bad: Nothing to see here.

Turning Point: The save Blomqvist made on Terry back in the first gets it here. If Terry scores it’s tied at one. Who knows what happens from there.

Around the Division: Hershey gets a last second goal from Mike Vecchione to tie it in Rochester and then Vecchione wins it for the Atlantic Division leading Bears 4-3 in overtime…Providence shutout Lehigh Valley 3-0….Springfield beats Charlotte 4-3 in overtime. Hartford had the night off.

Standings: Hershey 26 – Penguins 19 – Hartford 18- Charlotte 17 – Providence 16 – Springfield and Lehigh Valley 15 – Bridgeport 10

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

–

That’s it for the weekend for the Penguins.

Power Rankings Monday, Thanksgiving Thursday then back at it next Friday against Laval. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Let’s Go Pens!