Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Mike Condon Claimed, Rosters Shaken Up

Comments Off on Mike Condon Claimed, Rosters Shaken Up Posted by on October 11, 2016

NHL rosters are due today, so the Pittsburgh Penguins assigned forward Kevin Porter, defenseman David Warsofsky and goaltender Tristan Jarry to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins today.

Wait. Tristan Jarry?

Yes. Tristan Jarry was assigned to Wilkes-Barre. The reason for this is because the Pittsburgh Penguins claimed goaltender Mike Condon off of waivers from the Montreal Canadiens at noon Tuesday.

While yes, this transaction makes zero sense, the brain trust wants Jarry to get reps at the AHL level rather than sit and hold a clipboard and blow bubbles backing up Marc-Andre Fleury while Matt Murray continues his recover from his hand fracture. As soon as Murray is good to go, Pittsburgh waives Condon. The Canadiens would get the right of first refusal, can re-claim Condon and assign him to their AHL affiliate in St. John’s. Condon is nothing more than a pure rental while their star recovers.

It sucks for Jarry because there is nothing more he could have done or been asked of in camp. He will be in the NHL someday, today just isn’t his time. They want him to continue to develop his game in the AHL.

It also sucks for Casey DeSmith, who head coach Clark Donatelli dubbed dubbed on Sunday as his starter against Hartford on Saturday. DeSmith had a stellar camp. This business can be brutal sometimes.

In a later transaction, goalie Doug Carr was released and will report to the Wheeling Nailers.

Tom Sestito, who cleared waivers yesterday, was not re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre. You may not have heard but Sidney Crosby was diagnosed with a concussion suffered in practice last Friday, so Sestito is up for the time being as the 12th or 13th forward. As for Warsofsky, I think the brain trust thinks that keeping Derrick Pouliot around NHL players with NHL coaching will be better for his development vs. being sent back to the AHL where he has sort of hit a ceiling.

So the rosters appear set. Add in Warsofsky and Porter into these line combos from practice Tuesday…

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… and you probably have a team ready to contend out of the gate again like prior years.

Don’t forget about the AHL Previews running on the blog. The Central Division Preview is up on the blog one post down. North goes tomorrow.

Pittsburgh, WBS

Central Division Preview

Comments Off on Central Division Preview Posted by on October 11, 2016

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Welcome back to Day 2 of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Previews. Yesterday we checked out the Pacific Division and today we find ourselves finishing out the Western Conference in the Central Division. As the previews advance, you can find the links at the top of the blog in the menu bar under “AHL Previews.”

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The only change comes from the Central Division is the name of the defending champion Cleveland Monsters, who last season played under the name of Lake Erie Monsters. The Penguins don’t play anyone in this division either, so keep dreaming.

Here we go.

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NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes

Record: 36-32-3-5 (80 pts., 5th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Ulf Samuelsson

Arena: Bojangles’ Coliseum

ECHL Affiliation: Florida Everblades

Offseason Moves: Andrew Miller, Kevin Raine, Mitchell Heard

The Case For: Charlotte can be a team to watch this season. Expect Milwaukee and Grand Rapids to contend for the division, but Charlotte can play upset.

The Case Against: Iowa is retooled, discount Cleveland at your peril. There may be too many cooks in the contenders kitchen for the Checkers to make it to the postseason.

Media Coverage: Jenni Probst for the blog Chasing Checkers

Twitter: @CheckersHockey

Facebook: /charlottecheckers

Instagram: checkershockey

Broadcaster: Jason Shaya

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NHL Affiliation: St. Louis Blues

Record: 33-35-5-3 (74 pts., 6th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Craig Berube

Arena: Allstate Arena

ECHL Affiliation: None

Offseason Moves: Kenny Agostino, Alex Friesen, Brad Hunt, Andrew Agozzino, Morgan Ellis, Wade Megan

The Case For: A team that was expected to contend last season never got out of second gear and was forgotten about. Don’t expect that this season.

The Case Against: Central is shaping up to be the most competitive division again in the AHL. Do the Wolves really have all the horses to contend?

Media Coverage: The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times 

Twitter: @Chicago_Wolves

Facebook: /ChicagoWolves

Instagram: chicagowolveshockey

Broadcaster: Jason Shaver

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NHL Affiliation: Columbus Blue Jackets

Record: 43-22-6-5 (97 pts., 2nd place Central Division)

Playoffs: Won Calder Cup. Played as the two seed out of the Central Division and swept Hershey in four games.

Head Coach: John Madden

Arena: Quicken Loans Arena

ECHL Affiliation: None

Offseason Moves: Aaron Palushaj

The Case For: Defending champs look to avoid the championship hangover. I get the sense that Cleveland will field another competitive club again this season.

The Case Against: Don’t expect a repeat though.

Media Coverage: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Twitter: @monstershockey

Facebook: /monstershockey

Instagram: monstershockey

Broadcaster: Tony Brown

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NHL Affiliation: Detroit Red Wings

Record: 44-30-10-4 (90 pts., 4th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Played as the four seed out of the Central Division and were swept by the Milwaukee Admirals in three games in the Central Division Semifinals.

Head Coach: Todd Nelson

Arena: Van Andel Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Toledo Walleye

Offseason Moves: Matt Ford, Carter Sandlak, Ben Street, Matt Lorito

The Case For: Solid, big time signings for Grand Rapids and Todd Ford to tinker with. The Griffins disappointed last year with some growing pains last season. Expect things to run a bit smoother this season with these signings and Nelson’s second season.

The Case Against: Will be the same with any contending team in this division, any run of bad luck can get you buried in a hurry.

Media Coverage: Pete Wallner for Grand Rapids Press

Twitter: @griffinshockey

Facebook: /grgriffins

Instagram: griffinshockey

Broadcaster: Bob Kaser

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NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild

Record: 24-41-5-6 (59 pts., 8th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Derek Lalonde

Arena: Wells Fargo Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Quad City Mallards

Offseason Moves: Patrick Cannone, Victor Bartley, Alex Stalock

The Case For: Re-tooled lineup for Iowa. Do not expect the Wild to be a team you can just steamroll anymore.

The Case Against: We will believe the Wild’s facelift when we see it.

Media Coverage: Des Moines Register and Tom Witosky, Independent

Twitter: @IAWild

Facebook: /IAWild

Instagram: iowawild

Broadcaster: Joe O’Donnell

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NHL Affiliation: Winnipeg Jets

Record: 26-41-4-5 (61 pts., 7th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Pascal Vincent

Arena: MTS Centre

ECHL Affiliation: Tulsa Oilers

Offseason Moves: Kevin Czuczman

The Case For: The AHL is all about developing talent for the purposes of getting to the next level. The Moose will develop their talent, beyond that?

The Case Against: I can’t say anything nice, so I won’t say anything at all.

Media Coverage: Patrick Williams

Twitter: @ManitobaMoose

Facebook: /ManitobaMoose

Instagram: manitobamoose

Broadcaster: Mitch Peacock

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NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Record: 48-23-3-2 (101 pts., 1st place Central Division)

Playoffs: Played as the one seed out of the Central Division and lost in six games to the Lake Erie Monsters in the Central Division Finals.

Head Coach: Dean Evason

Arena: UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Cincinnati Cyclones

Offseason Moves: Matt Irwin, Michael Liambas, Harry Zolnierczyk

The Case For: Another strong team ready to take over the Central Division rests in Milwaukee. The Admirals should contend out of the gate. If they sustain dominance, they can run away with this division.

The Case Against: I wouldn’t expect a runaway from the Admirals. A playoff team? Yes. A Cup contending team though?

Media Coverage: Admirals Roundtable, who have a blog and a twitter feed and Dave Boehler, who writes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Twitter: @mkeadmirals

Facebook: /mkeadmirals

Instagram: mkeadmirals

Broadcaster: Aaron Sims

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NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Record: 40-22-10-4 (94 pts., 3rd place Central Division)

Playoffs: Played as the three seed out of the Central Division and were swept in three games by the Lake Erie Monsters in the Central Division Semifinals.

Head Coach: Ted Dent

Arena: BMO Harris Bank Center

ECHL Affiliation: Indy Fuel

Offseason Moves: Sam Carrick, Jeremy Langlois, Daniel Ciampini

The Case For: Look for Cleveland to have a hangover, Chicago and Manitoba to struggle. Iowa is an unproven commodity. You can probably pencil in Rockford as a playoff team and contender.

The Case Against: The Central Division was the most competitive division last season, don’t expect that to change. A couple bad weekends strung together and Rockford can be on the outside looking in.

Media Coverage: Rockford Register Star

Twitter: @goicehogs

Facebook: /RockfordIceHogs

Instagram: rockfordicehogs

Broadcaster: Bob Mills

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Back in more familiar territory Wednesday as we tackle the North Division.

The AHL

Segalla Signed; Final Cuts Made – DTBUTSC

1 Comment Posted by on October 10, 2016

In advance of opening night this Saturday, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have announced that they have signed Ryan Segalla to an AHL contract and in the same press release send him and six other players to the Wheeling Nailers.

They are forwards Miloš Bubela, Gage Quinney and Cody Wydo, as well as defenseman Brett Stern, Michael Webster and Christian Hilbrich.

Here is a look at the roster, consisting of 24 players, as of October 10.

Highlighting, it looks like Patrick McGrath, Reid Gardiner and Adam Krause have all tentatively made the team. Gardiner is still on a professional tryout agreement, which I believe is good for 25 games, so what Coal Street may be thinking is see how he does in those 25 games before committing to him full time by way of a standard players contract.

I did call Gardiner a diamond in the rough type player based off of his production last season with Prince Albert of the WHL.

Don’t forget to check out the Pacific Division Preview that debuted today, one post down. Central Division Preview goes at noon Tuesday.

DTBUTSC: Did the Blogger use the Semicolon Correctly?

WBS, Wheeling

Pacific Division Preview

Comments Off on Pacific Division Preview Posted by on October 10, 2016

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Back again this year are the soon to be famous Chirps from Center Ice AHL Previews. I think that the AHL Previews have been the longest standing feature piece on the blog since its inception about 2,000 posts ago.

Anyway, if you are new here, it’s my best effort at painting the picture for each AHL team. I do it division by division. Today, we start in the far away land in the Western Conference known as the Pacific Division.

But before we do that, I just want to mention that nothing changed this year format-wise other than just a slight change in the media information. Face it folks, gone are the days where you read about a sporting event in the paper the next day. If there is a blog that covers the AHL team more than the newspaper, that gets the primary spot. In cities where I don’t know of a blog, it defaults to whatever paper is in the city. Links are provided where necessary.

Follow the American Hockey League on Twitter @theAHL and @AHLPR. On Facebook at /TheAHL and TheAHL on Instagram.

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This season, the teams that play just 68 games grows by one as the Tucson Roadrunners enter the fray as the old Springfield Falcons team. No other affiliation changes here and still the “California Five” teams of Bakersfield, Ontario, San Diego, San Jose and Stockton remain on the 68 game plan as the Texas teams in San Antonio and Cedar Park remain with the rest of the league at 76 games.

Penguins don’t play anyone in this division, so the “vs. WBS” section was removed for redundancy sake.

Here we go…

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NHL Affiliation: Edmonton Oilers

Record: 31-28-7-2 (71 pts., 5th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Gerry Fleming

Arena: Rabobank Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Norfolk Admirals

Offseason Moves: Frankie Simonelli, Taylor Beck, Mark Fraser

The Case For: Forgettable inaugural season for the Condors at the AHL level. Team seems more committed to being competitive this year.

The Case Against: I don’t know, man. It’s an Edmonton affiliate. They had one good year two years ago with Oklahoma City making it to the Western Conference Finals. When were Edmonton affiliates competitive?

Media Coverage: Mike Griffith for the Bakersfield Californian

Twitter: @Condors

Facebook: /BakersfieldCondors

Instagram: condors

Broadcaster: Ryan Holt

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NHL Affiliation: Los Angeles Kings

Record: 44-19-4-1 (93 pts., 1st place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Played as the one seed out of the Pacific Division and were swept by the Lake Erie Monsters in the Western Conference Finals.

Head Coach: Mike Stothers

Arena: Citizens Business Bank Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Manchester Monarchs

Offseason Moves: T.J. Hensick, Jack Campbell, Daniel Ciampini

The Case For: Defending Western Conference Champions hit a road block named Lake Erie last season. I see no reason for that to slow this Reign team down. Expect them to use that as a learning experience and again to contend in the Pacific and overall in the West.

The Case Against: Did Lake Erie expose a weakness that other teams will now be able to capitalize on?

Media Coverage: Lindsay Czarnecki for the blog LA Kings Insider.

Twitter: @ontarioreign

Facebook: /ontarioreign

Instagram: ontarioreignhockey

Broadcaster: Joseph Zakrzewski

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NHL Affiliation: Colorado Avalanche

Record: 33-35-8-0 (74 pts., 7th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Eric Veilleux

Arena: AT&T Center

ECHL Affiliation: Colorado Eagles

Offseason Moves: Nathan Lieuwen, Jeremy Smith, Ryan Stanton, Mike Sislo, Joe Whitney, Trent Vogelhuber, Jim O’Brien

The Case For: Don’t sleep on this Rampage team. This team, at least on paper, is built to contend out of the box.

The Case Against: Lots of stars, one puck. Good division, competitive Central Division.

Media Coverage: Nathan Mallet for the blog Running with the Herd

Twitter: @sarampage

Facebook: /sarampagehockey

Instagram: sarampage

Broadcaster: Dan Weiss

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NHL Affiliation: Anaheim Ducks

Record: 39-23-4-2 (84 pts., 2nd place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Played as the two seed out of the Pacific Division and were beaten by the Ontario Reign in the Pacific Division Finals in five games.

Head Coach: Dallas Eakins

Arena: Valley View Casino Center

ECHL Affiliation: Utah Grizzlies

Offseason Moves: Jeff Schultz, Nate Guenin, Scott Sabourin, Nick Tarnasky

The Case For: Solid veteran signings for the Gulls this season. San Diego will be a contender again this season.

The Case Against: Ontario is strong, Bakersfield is looking for a bounceback, San Antonio is a dark horse Calder Cup contender, Texas is always great. Gulls will need to be on their toes all season if they want to be around in April.

Media Coverage: Dan Arel for the blog Mayor’s Manor

Twitter: @SDGullsAHL

Facebook: /SDGullsAHL

Instagram: sdgullsahl

Broadcaster: Craig Elsten

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NHL Affiliation: San Jose Sharks

Record: 31-26-7-2 (73 pts., 4th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Played as the four seed out of the Pacific Division and were beaten by the Ontario Reign in the Pacific Division Semifinals in four games.

Head Coach: Roy Sommer

Arena: SAP Center

ECHL Affiliation: Allen Americans

Offseason Moves: Dan Kelly

The Case For: Struggling to find one. San Jose was a playoff team last season, but struggled to get there and were easily dismissed. It’s possible that the Barracuda were happy with the team that they had and only added a player in Kelly just because.

The Case Against: Too many competitive teams in the Pacific. The Barracuda ain’t one of them.

Media Coverage: Bay Area News Group

Twitter: @sjbarracuda

Facebook: /sjbarracuda

Instagram: sjbarracuda

Broadcaster: Nick Nollenberger

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NHL Affiliation: Calgary Flames

Record: 32-32-2-2 (68 pts., 6th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Ryan Huska

Arena: Stockton Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Adirondack Thunder

Offseason Moves: Linden Vey, Jamie Devane (PTO), Mike Angelidis, Matt Bailey, Matt Frattin

The Case For: These are solid signings for the Heat, who had a terrible inaugural season. Look for better things from Stockton this season.

The Case Against: Goaltending may be an issue, defense too. In this division where the emphasis is on percentage points, could be killer.

Media Coverage: Scott Linesburgh for The Record

Twitter: @AHLHeat

Facebook: /ahlheat

Instagram: ahlheat

Broadcaster: Brandon Kisker

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NHL Affiliation: Dallas Stars

Record: 40-25-8-3 (91 pts., 3rd place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Played as the three seed out of the Pacific Division and were beaten by the San Diego Gulls in the Pacific Division Semifinals in four games.

Head Coach: Derek Laxdal

Arena: H-E-B Center at Cedar Park

ECHL Affiliation: Idaho Steelheads

Offseason Moves: Brandon DeFazio, Caleb Herbert, Dustin Stevenson, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Austin Fyten

The Case For: Texas is always competitive, and there are no indicators that this season will be the anomaly. May not be the best team in Texas, though.

The Case Against: It shouldn’t be that hard to name four more teams better than Texas in the Pacific.

Media Coverage: Stephen Meserve for the blog 100 Degree Hockey

Twitter: @TexasStars

Facebook: /TexasStars

Instagram: txstarshockey

Broadcaster: Brien Rea

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NHL Affiliation: Arizona Coyotes

Record: 26-42-3-5 (60 pts., 8th place Atlantic Division, playing as the Springfield Falcons)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Mark Lamb

Arena: Tucson Convention Center

ECHL Affiliation: Rapid City Rush

Offseason Moves: Justin Peters, Brandon Burlon, Anthony DeAngelo, Jamie McBain, Chris Mueller, Garrett Ross

The Case For: Should be an interesting maiden voyage in Tucson this season with this Roadrunners team. Coming over as the god awful Springfield Falcons team, this team, at least on paper, looks to be very competitive.

The Case Against: How many, “on paper” teams have ever won a Calder Cup or been competitive in reality?

Media Coverage: Alexander Kinkopf 

Twitter: @RoadrunnersAHL

Facebook: /RoadrunnersAHL

Instagram: roadrunnersahl

Broadcaster: Tom Callahan

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Back tomorrow at noon Wilkes-Barre time for the Central Division Previews.

The AHL

Preseason Game #3 – Hershey 1, Penguins 4

Comments Off on Preseason Game #3 – Hershey 1, Penguins 4 Posted by on October 9, 2016

The Penguins were in Hershey Sunday afternoon playing their final game of the preseason before the regular season gets going on Saturday at home against Hartford. They won 4-1 and finish 2-1 in preseason and sweep the Bears on the weekend series.

Here were the lines:

Jake Guentezel – Oskar Sundqvist – Reid Gardiner
Ryan Haggerty – Sahir Gill – Adam Krause
Dominik Simon – Gage Quinney – Cody Wydo
Christian Hilbrich – Miloš Bubela – Patrick McGrath

Reid McNeill – Tim Erixon
Brett Stern – Barry Goers
Ryan Segalla – Ethan Prow

Casey DeSmith – Doug Carr

DeSmith opposed Joe Cannata in a rematch of last night.

First Period: Joey Leach scored on a shot from the blueline that got past DeSmith either via a deflection or a screen and it was 1-0 Bears. Immediately after the face off, Ryan Haggerty dumps a puck in that Sahir Gill chases down and scored on past Cannata for a 1-1 game. Teams traded penalties with no one taking advantage. Cannata was needed when he denied Guentzel and Bubela with Jake on a 2-on-1 and Miloš on a breakaway.

Late, Gage Quinney as a result of a Bears turnover. Tim Erixon picked it off, skated in onside and passed to Dominik Simon who found Quinney who put the Penguins ahead 2-1 at the end of the period.

Second Period: Doug Carr took over the net duties for Casey DeSmith. DeSmith stopped 8 of 9 shots in the first period.

Pens traded power plays with the Bears. Past halfway, I heard Mike O’Brien say on radio that the Penguins didn’t have any shots on goal in the period.

Wilkes-Barre received a late power play and cashed. Dominik Simon made it 3-1 Penguins.

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Wilkes-Barre would only manage five shots on goal in the period and the Bears only had four. Shots were 14-12 Penguins at the end of the second period.

Third Period: The Penguins haven’t had a fight in the preseason, and the most interesting thing that happened this far into the period was Garrett Mitchell and Patrick McGrath trying to get the fists flying, but before punches were thrown, the melee was broken up. So no fight.

Nothing really doing this period. Bears outshot the Penguins 16-9 in the period and the Penguins got a shorthanded goal late when the Bears pulled Cannata for an extra man for a 6-on-4 power play. Oskar Sundqvist would score the goal for the Pens.

Was actually expecting Hershey to obliterate the Penguins today with the Bears dressing a more seasoned lineup and the Penguins bringing half a team really. But it’s preseason and will be forgotten about tomorrow morning, so let’s not speculate any further than that.

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So that will do it for preseason. Monday starts the 2016-17 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Previews. We start at noon Monday in the Pacific Division then noon Tuesday for the Central Division and then the North on Wednesday and closing it out with the Atlantic on Thursday.

Any news with re-assignments from Pittsburgh, Tom Sestito is on waivers Sunday, or additional cuts made to the Penguins, will be sprinkled in this week with the Previews.

Postgamer

Coal Street Cuts Eight

1 Comment Posted by on October 9, 2016

Announced Sunday morning by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins was the following roster moves…

Forwards Derek Army, Garrett Meurs and Nick Sorkin; defensemen Danny Fick, Dan Milan and Kevin Schulze; as well as goaltenders Leland Irving and Adam Morrison were all released from their tryout agreements with the Penguins. Army, Meurs, Fick, Schulze and Sorkin will report to the Penguins’ ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers.

Some of the names competing for jobs remaining in camp are Reid Gardiner, Cody Wydo, Jarrett Burton, Miloš Bubela, Christian Hilbrich, Gage Quinney, Adam Krause, Michael Webster and Ryan Segalla. You can probably safely say they will play this afternoon in Hershey. 

In goal, Doug Carr looks to have won the backup job by default. I say that because Leland Irving most likely has a job lined up elsewhere. Carr is signed to an ECHL deal with Wheeling, so let Irving sow his seeds at his new job and let Carr back up and get AHL experience while Tristan Jarry remains up with Pittsburgh. 

Wilkes-Barre plays once next weekend, home against Hartford then not again until October 21 against Springfield. A lot can happen between now and then. 

More later after the final preseason game in Hershey.

WBS, Wheeling

Preseason Game #2 – Penguins 4, Hershey 2

Comments Off on Preseason Game #2 – Penguins 4, Hershey 2 Posted by on October 8, 2016

Nothing flashy again here recap wise for the second of three preseason Penguins games and the first of a weekend home and home against the Hershey Bears.

One piece of news before the recap. Kevin Porter and David Warsofsky cleared waivers at noon Saturday making them eligible for assignment to Wilkes-Barre.

The Penguins beat the Bears tonight 4-2. Even though it’s preseason, it’s always fun beating Hershey.
These were the lines put out by Coach Clark Donatelli for tonight’s game against the Hershey Bears:

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First Period: Penguins were a lot quicker tonight then they were Wednesday. Hershey loses control of a puck in their zone, take a delayed penalty when Patrick McGrath wired one from the top of the slot in for a 1-0 Penguins lead. The fourth line was on the ice for that one as Nick Sorkin and Miloš Bubela assisted on the goal.

Later, Dustin Gazley went invisible for a second because the Penguins defenders must have forgot he was on the ice, as he skated in unabated and picked his spot on DeSmith and evened the game at one a piece.

Pens looked great on the penalty kill, DeSmith outstanding overall.

Second Period: Joe Cannata made a great pad stop on J-S Dea while the Pens were in two on one. Then Casey DeSmith got in on the pad action with a stop the other way.

Halfway through, Vitek Vanacek took over the Bears net. Casey DeSmith stayed in. I’m thinking some combination of Leland Irving and / or Doug Carr start Sunday in Hershey.

Hershey edged ahead when Dustin Gazley centered Hubert Labrie while the Bears were 3-on-1.

Pens had a power play after that. They spent the entire two minutes in cycling the puck and taking shots but were not able to put one past Vanacek.

DeSmith was up to his old tricks making spectacular saves.

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DeSmith may push Jarry for starter once Tristan gets back from Pittsburgh. The brain trust up too may not rush Matt Murray back if DeSmith continues to play like this at the AHL level and Jarry so far at the NHL preseason level.

Third Period: Pens turned the game in their favor thanks to two penalties drawn by Oskar Sundqvist. Sundqvist got the first power play goal off a nice behind setup by Tom Kostopoulos, drew a holding penalty later when Reid Gardiner crashed the net to make it 3-2 Penguins.

Bears pulled Vanacek and Tim Erixon scored into the empty net from about 190′ away that iced the game away.

Pens rode out the Hershey storm the first five minutes of the period then took off and never looked back. I think DeSmith faced just one shot on goal the final ten minutes or so.

Some collateral damage. Josh Archibald was held crashing the net and went hard into Vanacek and did not return. He was helped off not putting any pressure onto his left leg. If there is a report by Tom or Seth later, I’ll run an edit or mention it in a future piece.

Wilkes-Barre closes out the preseason Sunday in Hershey at 5.

Postgamer

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