Comments Off on Pearls Before Quine — Pens LOSE 5-2
Posted by nafsnep on April 2, 2016
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I called the Sound Tigers, ‘dastardly’ in this afternoons Gameday setup on the blog.
Name me three teams that you don’t want to face come playoff time. Hershey is one, Toronto is one and likely Providence the other. You are forgetting about Bridgeport. Something about this Sound Tigers team gives the Penguins fits.
The Pens put 40 shots up on Sound Tigers goalie Chris Gibson tonight and still lost. It wasn’t even close. Here was a tweet that summed up the night, pretty much…
Sound Tigers get their first sustained pressure over a couple of shifts in a while. Yes, they lead 3-0 with 5:15 left in the second. #BST
Pens couldn’t do anything with the presence that they had in the offensive zone. Every shot was blocked. Every pass deflected. Every would be shot stopped by Gibson.
One of those nights.
The Penguins lost 5-2 to the Sound Tigers. With Portland, in tomorrow, beating Hartford tonight, the magic number drops to two. A win of any kind Sunday by Wilkes-Barre and they are in.
Tristan Jarry started his ninth consecutive game and was pulled after two periods when the score was 4-0 and well out of reach for the Penguins. Not for nothing, head coach Clark Donatelli tried different line combinations and replaced Jarry in net with Brian Foster. Foster’s only blemish was a puck that got away from him from behind his net that caromed to James Wright which at the time made it 5-1. Dominik Simon scored :32 into the third to cut the lead to 4-1.
The damage was done in the second period. The Penguins, already trailing 1-0 after the first period on an Alan Quine rebound he followed on a Sound Tigers power play, saw Bridgeport score three times.
And it was probably the best period that the Penguins played.
Quine added his second goal of the game finishing a nice cross ice pass from Mike Halmo that made it 2-0.
Quine completed the natural hat trick when he busted by three Penguins watching him and threw a seemingly weak backhanded shot at Jarry that hit the bar and went in for a 3-0 lead.
The Penguins, frustrated by what the Sound Tigers were giving them, couldn’t score on the periods only power play then saw a shot get blocked which led to a rush the other way for the Sound Tigers and a goal when a Pat Nullity shot from the blue line hit Connor Jones on the way in for a 4-0 Bridgeport lead.
The rout was on. If playoffs started today, the Penguins would be facing off against Bridgeport in the opening round. The Sound Tigers went 5-1 against the Penguins in the seasons series.
Mattias Plachta scored his first as a Penguin on a nice wrist shot late in the third with the game already decided. Donatelli used his time out to draw something up with Foster pulled but the Penguins could not get any closer.
Three Stars: 3) Connor Jones (goal, assist, +2) 2) James Wright (goal, two assists, +2) and 1) Alan Quine (natural hat trick, +2)
Around the Division: Hershey sees the first two shots against go in, fall behind 2-0 at Providence but come back and win in a shootout 4-3. The reverse of what happened here tonight in Wilkes-Barre happened up in Providence, the Bears won with just 18 shots on goal to Providence’s 38….Albany lost to Springfield 5-4. Ex-Penguin Matia Marcantuoni scored the game winning goal for the Falcons in the win. Marcantuoni was dealt in the trade which got the Pens Plachta. So both trade pieces score first goals for their respective teams. Nice….Lehigh Valley blanked St. John’s 4-0, the Phantoms were officially eliminated from playoffs tonight…Portland beats Hartford 4-1 which drops the Penguins magic number to 2.
Wheeling Update: The Nailers won a big one tonight over the Manchester Monarchs by a score of 2-1.
I’ll post any visual candy from Coal Street if they publish it in a morning edit.
Portland in tomorrow at 4. Gameday setup Sunday at noon.
Oh, if you are wondering where the pun headline came from, it’s a play on the term, “Pearls Before Swine” which has a biblical meaning and is also my favorite comic strip. I consider Stephan Pastis (also a big fan of puns himself) one of the greatest thinkers of our time.
Comments Off on RAPID RECAP: Pens LOSE 5-2
Posted by nafsnep on April 2, 2016
Final shots on goal for this one was 40-24 for the Penguins who did everything they could and threw the kitchen sink at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers but an Alan Quine hat trick and a lot of blocked shots is enough for the visitors to get out of town with a 5-2 win over the Pens tonight.
Pens magic number drops to two with the Hartford Wolf Pack losing to the Portland Pirates who are in tomorrow to face off against the Penguins. Hershey Bears were in overtime agains the Providence Bruins last I looked so the Pens will fall out of first by one point if not more.
Last Game: Tuse day at home against Springfield, the Pens won 4-3. Dustin Jeffrey had a goal and two assists against his former team. For Bridgeport, they hosted Portland Tuesday morning and won 5-2. Mike Halmo had two goals and Alan Quine had three assists.
Last Meeting: March 13 in Bridgeport, the Sound Tigers won 3-2. Justin Florek had a hat trick and Ben Holmstrom had three assists.
Record: For WBS: 41-22-4-1 (87 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For BRI: 37-24-4-3 (81 pts., 4th place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: The Pens can lock up a playoff spot tonight with a win and a Hartford loss to Portland tonight. In order for that to happen, Wilkes-Barre has to beat the dastardly Bridgeport Sound Tigers who have given the Penguins fits this season. A win and some help and the Pens are in for the fourteenth consecutive time.
Television:AHL Live and locally on MyNetworkTV and on 22 The Point in Pittsburgh
Promotion(s): Star Wars Night | Rebel Alliance Jersey Auction benefiting the CEO Weinberg Food Bank | Girl Scout Night
Other Game to Watch: No other choice here. Hartford hosts Portland. A Portland regulation win coupled with a Penguins win of any kind and Wilkes-Barre sews up a playoff spot.
Next Five Games: POR 4/3, LV 4/8, @ HER 4/9, HER 4/10, @ LV 4/15
Rowney’s March production saw him score 7 goals and assist on 10 others. He had a career high 9 game point streak and a hat trick during March and was far and away the Penguins best player.
Congrats to Carter Rowney on being named CCM/AHL Player of the Month. Fantastic March for the 3rd-yr pro with 17 pts (7G-10A) in 12 games…
— Pittsburgh recalled Oskar Sundqvist on Wednesday after learning that Bryan Rust is sidelined with a lower body injury, day to day.
— Coal Street swapped back up goaltenders Thursday. Brian Foster up while Franky Palazzese went down. Head Coach Clark Donatelli told reporters Wednesday that this was a planned move to let Foster find his swagger down in Wheeling. In March, Foster put up a 3-1-1-1 record with a .920 SV% and a 2.16 GAA. He also had a 30 save shutout.
— Sahir Gill is on track for an April 15 return. Ethan Prow is in town but couldn’t practice because his gear got lost.
The Penguins will likely sew up a playoff spot this weekend. With the Penguins off tonight, their magic number can shrink to two if Hershey beats Hartford tonight. There is a caveat, however. A Bears win puts them back in first place over the Penguins. When I queued some of the fan base on Twitter, the results were mixed. Basically the tone being that playoff seeding is going to be paramount and that the Pens want to avoid Providence at all costs.
It ain’t supposed to be easy.
Gameday for Saturday’s home game with Bridgeport goes up on the blog Saturday at 3.
It’s the type of game that probably eludes the Penguins two months ago with the lack of a dynamic playmaker like Jeffrey. Springfield has nothing left to play for but they came in and put up a heck of a fight against a Penguins team that has been elite pretty much all season.
Tristan Jarry, making his eighth straight start, opposed Marek Langhamer
Lines were…
Dominik Simon – Dustin Jeffrey – Adam Krause
Mattias Plachta – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – J-S Dea
Tom Sestito – Oskar Sundqvist – Jarrett Burton
Tim Erixon – Steve Oleksy
Will O’Neill – Barry Goers
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Tristan Jarry – Franky Palazzese
Lineup notes: Teddy Blueger and Jake Guentzel were given the night off as Oskar Sundqvist and Jarrett Burton replaced them in the lineup. Reid McNeill was back and took the place of Harrison Ruopp.
First Period: Took the Pens about 90 seconds to get going, Steve Oleksy found Dustin Jeffrey skating down the slot and Jeffrey scored five hole on his old team to put the Pens up 1-0.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 29, 2016
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Springfield got one back when Dominik Monardo parked himself in the driveway of Jarry’s crease and waited when Greg Carey put a shot in from along the far wall. Jarry made the initial save with the pad but Monardo swept it in to even the game at one.
Minutes later, Jeffrey and Dominik Simon worked a little give and go when and Simon tapped it in to restore the Penguin lead.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 29, 2016
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Speedy period. Both teams were quick.
Second Period: :58 in, Greg Cunningham put a shot on Jarry that seemed harmless but it got by the Penguins goaltender that tied the game.
The Pens answered when the Falcons scored in the first and they did again in the second. This time, Nic Andersen had his shot blocked but still had enough on it to get it by Langhamer which made it 3-2 Pens.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 30, 2016
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Both teams had chances via power play to capitalize but neither was able to. The Pens on back to back power plays and the Falcons with 1:01 of two man advantage.
A big scrum ensued at the end of the second period. Justin Hache and Steve Oleksy fought. Josh Archibald jumped into a pile of bodies.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 30, 2016
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Third Period: The Penguins finally capitalized on the man advantage when Tom Sestito deflected a Will O’Neill shot from the point that went in to make it 4-2 Penguins.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 30, 2016
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Falcons were spilling turnovers all over the place as the Penguins forechecked extremely hard. But, with less than a minute to play with Langhamer pulled got back to within one with a goal by Greg Carey that made it 4-3 with 54.4 seconds to play.
But with time dwindling and with Langhamer pulled, Springfield was unable to find the equalizer.
Three Stars: 3) Will O’Neill (two assists, even) 2) Dominik Simon (goal, assist, even) and 1) Dustin Jeffrey (goal, two assists, even)
The news of the day was that Pittsburgh signed defenseman Ethan Prow to a two-year deal that kicks in for 2016-17. He is headed to Wilkes-Barre on an Amateur Tryout Contract. Jonathan had some words on him here and Jesse Marshall from Pensblog broke it down here. Marshall is excited about the signing, given the fact that the majority of assets that Pittsburgh had were all traded away at some point or already in the system. Depending on when he gets here and how he practices, I’d expect Prow to see game action fairly soon.
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Around the Division: Bridgeport beat Portland in a morning kids day game by a score of 5-2….the only other game in the division was Hartford visiting Albany a game that the Wolf Pack lost 3-0. Box here. Everyone else was off.
The Magic Number to clinch is 4 on account of the Hartford loss and the fact that the Pens own a tiebreaker over them. Conceivably, Wilkes-Barre can lock up its fourteenth consecutive trip to the playoffs this weekend.
Last Game: Saturday at home against Providence, the Pens got smoked 5-0. For Springfield, they lost in Portland 6-1. Brendan Shinnimin scored the only goal for the Falcons in the loss.
Last Meeting: February 27 in Springfield, the Pens lost 5-2. J-S Dea and Kael Mouillierat scored goals for the Pens in the loss.
Record: For WBS: 40-22-4-1 (85 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division) — For SPR: 23-35-3-5 (54 pts., 8th place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: The Penguins will be looking to shrink their magic number even further with a meeting against the nothing left to play for Springfield Falcons. First things first, they need to treat this game very seriously because you know the Falcons will be looking to play upset.
Other Game to Watch: Wilkes-Barre and other teams in the division can see their magic number shrink even more with an Albany win against Hartford, who sits in sixth place in the division.
Next Five Games: BRI 4/2, POR 4/3, LV 4/8, @ HER 4/9, HER 4/10
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 