Chirps from Center Ice

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

Three Going Up…On A Tuesday

2 Comments Posted by on December 15, 2015

Let’s get right to the news of the day.

Goaltender Matt Murray and forwards Conor Sheary and Kevin Porter were recalled to the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday. The purpose of the Murray recall was because Marc-Andre Fleury went to the coaching staff after last nights 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals last night not feeling well. It wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon that it was announced that the Penguins goaltender does have a concussion and is out for the next two weeks.

Beau Bennett was hurt (again) last night on a hit along the boards by T.J. Oshie. Pittsburgh was already playing light with no extra forwards, so the recall of Sheary and Porter were imminent if not permanent for one, with the recent retirement of Pascal Dupuis.

With Steve Oleksy week to week with an upper body injury, Coal Street announced the recall of defenseman Harrison Ruopp on Tuesday morning. Ruopp is 2-24 and a -1 in 23 games for the Nailers. I would consider him the extra defenseman for now as Clark Seymour played well in his AHL season debut for the Penguins Saturday paired with Derrick Pouliot.

In reaction to the trio lost to recall by Pittsburgh, Coal Street recalled goaltender Brian Foster, forwards Ty Loney and Sahir Gill from the Wheeling Nailers. Brian Foster has won his last three starts and has given up two or fewer goals in all three starts. Gill is 3-15-18 and a +1 in 24 games while Loney is 5-7-12 in 18 games and an even +/- rating.

If Conor Sheary does dress tomorrow in Boston against the Bruins, it will be the Massachusetts native NHL debut. He’s a bit undersized, but leads the AHL Penguins in points and has a 71.74 GF%. He’s been on the ice for 33 goals scored and just 13 against. He’s excellent on the power play and uses his speed to get to areas where he can generate offense.

Matt Murray’s NHL call up is long overdue. He has nothing left to prove in the AHL and is just biding his time. I am hopeful that Sullivan and Company give him a shot to show how good he is. Also, when it was the tandem of Jeff Zatkoff and Matt Murray here last year in Wilkes-Barre, Murray outplayed Zatkoff and won nearly every goaltending award imaginable.

This is Tristan Jarry’s team now. There were some that had Jarry projected higher than Murray prospect-wise. Jarry is more than capable of stepping in and taking the job and running with it.

Seth said today that Tyler Biggs didn’t practice today because of a lower body injury. I don’t know how that could have happened, he hasn’t played since December 6 in Hershey.

Pittsburgh is in more dire straits than Wilkes-Barre or even Wheeling. Both minor league affiliates lead their respective divisions while their NHL counterpart sits on the outside looking in. Wednesday’s matchup with Boston is pivotal for the Pittsburgh Penguins as Boston is the first wild card team. The AHL Penguins and ECHL Nailers have enough of a cushion that personnel losses now won’t deal them as harsh as a blow as it could for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Interesting days and weeks ahead.

Gameday setup for Wednesday’s tilt in Allentown against the Phantoms hits the blog at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, WBS, Wheeling

AHL Power Rankings: Week 10

1 Comment Posted by on December 14, 2015

It’s the Griffins world now and we are all just living in it.

It’s the middle of December and the Grand Rapids Griffins have won 11 straight games in a row, beating Central Division leading Rockford IceHogs Saturday night and needing comeback fashion after falling in an 0-3 hole Sunday in Des Moines against the Iowa Wild only to win in overtime. Grand Rapids was the odds on favorite to win it all this year, took the month of October off and are now as hot as ever and are still your number one team as the Week 10 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings roll in.

There are a few teams still jostling for relevancy, teams that are on the way up from obscurity and teams on the way out of the spotlight to the darkness to maybe never be heard from again.

Find out more by clicking the jump if you didn’t link in direct.

Read more of this post

Power Rankings

Simon Says Shutout — Pens WIN 4-0

Comments Off on Simon Says Shutout — Pens WIN 4-0 Posted by on December 12, 2015

ALB          vs.          HER

0                                               4

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If you are a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins fan and were concerned about the great start that the Penguins got off to and worried that with Mike Sullivan being promoted to the NHL to coach the Pittsburgh Penguins, after tonights performance you should not have to worry.

A 4-0 dismantling of an Albany Devils team that had won seven in a row coming into the night and a 22 save shutout by Tristan Jarry, his first as a professional, the eighth different Wilkes-Barre / Scranton goaltender since April 2012 to get one and the first back to back shutouts by different Penguins goaltenders since December 31, 2014 and January 2, 2015.

New Interim Head Coach Jay Leach wins in his debut as a head coach against the team he used to play for.

Now one game does not a coaching tenure make. I have next Friday’s matchup with the Toronto Marlies circled on my calendar, but you should not haver to worry. I’m not.

Jarry opposed Yann Danis.

Lines were the same as last night with one caveat, Clark Seymour was in for Steve Oleksy who injured his hand blocking a shot last night in Allentown.

Before the game, Jason Botterill met with the media. Seth has it covered.

First Period: A few chances both ways in the feeling out process. Dominik Simon clears a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Albany put its top ranked unit on the ice. Jim O’Brien hits a cross bar. Tom Kostopoulos trips a guy and the Pens are right back on the kill again. They kill it then bombard Danis with shots. Oskar Sundqvist whiffs on a wide open net on a one time setup.

Finally, Kevin Porter scored to make it 1-0 Penguins. Dominik Simon led a two on one charge and dropped a pass to Porter who kicked the puck to his stick and in one fluid motion wired it past Danis to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Second Period: Tom Kostopoulos scored at :22 and the Penguins doubled their lead. Niclas Andersen shot a puck at Danis, who spilled the rebound right at Kostopoulos who pounced on it and scored to make it 2-0.

Albany went to the power play for the third straight time and the Penguins completely shut down their attempts and had about five shorthanded chances. The Penguins were really on the come after the kill, with chance after chance.

Finally Kevin Porter added his second of the night when Dominik Simon picked the pocket of a Devil trying to get it out of the zone and passed to Porter who scored it to make it 3-0 Penguins. That was three straight multi point games for Dominik Simon dating back to Wednesday against Syracuse. Simon is and should be a strong contender for AHL Player of the Week.

The story of the night to this point was the Penguins penalty kill, which was 3-for-3 to this point on the Devils top rated power play.

Third Period: Will O’Neill thinks he scores on a delayed Devils power play. Referee Peter Tarnaris awarded the goal but took it away upon video review. The Penguins had also thought they scored in the second period when Tarnaris waved off a shot that hit the crossbar. He reviewed that one and confirmed his call then.

It didn’t matter though as Scott Wilson scored on the power play anyway and it was 4-0 Penguins.

One thing I will say about Clark Seymour making his debut for the Penguins tonight is that he blocked a lot of shots and made his defensive partner Derrick Pouliot stand out. He also fought ex-Penguin Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond in the second period.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, assist, +1) 2) Kevin Porter (two goals, +2) and 1) Tristan Jarry (22 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hartford beats Bridgeport 4-2…Hershey beats Binghamton 5-3…Portland beats Providence on a last second shot in overtime by ex-Penguin Rob Schremp 3-2…Lehigh Valley beats Springfield 5-4 in a shootout.

Standings: Penguins (.792 percentage points) — Hershey (.640) — Bridgeport (.611) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Portland (.500) — Springfield (.480) — Providence (.480) — Hartford (.462)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers beat the Toledo Walleye tonight by a score of 6-2. Coach Clark Donatelli’s Nailers lead the North Division by a point now over the Walleye. Brian Foster stopped 21 of 23. John McCarron had two goals. Harrison Ruopp had a goal and an assist.

Imagine for a second you are Associate General Manager Jason Botterill. You have Jay Leach that just won in his head coaching debut in convincing fashion over an excellent Albany Devils team. You have Clark Donatelli in the ECHL guiding the Wheeling Nailers to the top of the North Division with a win over Toledo. You have tons of qualified guys looking to get in the door for an interview. It’s an embarrassment of riches.

Here is the postgame infographic:

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/675889027904577536]

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And one more final takeaway:

[tweet https://twitter.com/CVSethLakso/status/675886444200742912]

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What a whirlwind day.

Here are the video highlights:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnFKxsVuKHY&feature=youtu.be]

Blog wise, I’ll have an update to the charts sometime Sunday afternoon and the Week 10 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog Monday at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

RAPID RECAP — Pens WIN 4-0

Comments Off on RAPID RECAP — Pens WIN 4-0 Posted by on December 12, 2015

The Wilkes-Barre / ScrNton Penguins just ended the Albany Devils seven game win streak in convincing, shutout fashion. A 22 save performance by Tristan Jarry as the rookie netminder collects his first professional shutout.

Back to back shutouts for the weekend, with Matt Murray getting one last night in Lehugh Valley. 

Penguins shut down the Albany power play, which coming in was ranked best in the AHL. 

Two goals from Kevin Porter and another multipoint game for Doninik Simon. 

Oh, and Jay Leach’s head coaching debut is a win against his former team. 

Lots more to get to in a bit. 

Rapid Recap

GAMEDAY: vs. Albany 12/12

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Albany 12/12 Posted by on December 12, 2015

vs.     alb

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Home Game: 14

AHL Game: 360

Who: Albany Devils

Where: Times Union Center

When: 7:05 p.m.

Media Kit

Last Game: Last night in Allentown, the Penguins beat the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 4-0. Matt Murray had a 23 save shutout and Dominik Simon and Scott Wilson both had a pair of goals. For Albany, the Devils won their seventh straight game, beating the Syracuse Crunch 3-1. The Devils have not lost since losing to the Penguins…

Last Meeting: 5-3 on November 21 in Albany. Scott Wilson had two goals and Tristan Jarry stopped 25 of 28.

Record: For WBS: 18-5-0-0 (36 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For ALB: 16-4-3-0 (35 pts., 2nd place North Division)

Why you should care: This is going to be a good game. I get the sense that this may be an instant classic between these two teams. The Devils have never won more than five games in a row as a team and have the look this season of a contender. I don’t think there is any doubt that the Penguins are a force, so I expect this game to be a closely contested one for all sixty minutes, if not beyond.

Referee(s): Peter Tarnaris

Linesmen: Bob Goodman / Jim Harper

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @WBSGameDay / @AlbanyDevils

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /albanydevils

Instagram: wbspenguins / albanydevils

Beat Writers: @CVSethLakso and @TLTomVenesky / @Pete_Dougherty and @Bill_Cain_

Broadcasters: For WBS: Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / For ALB: Josh Heller @Josh_Heller

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @trace_1114

Radio: For WBS: WILK Newsradio / For Albany: 104.5 The Team

Television: AHL Live / WQMY-TV in Wilkes-Barre market

Promotion(s): Holiday Celebration | Ugly Christmas Sweater Auction | Teddy Bear Toss #2

Other Game to Watch: Grand Rapids in Rockford out West. The Griffins have won nine in a row and are looking for ten at the home of the IceHogs.

Next Five Games: @ LV 12/16, TOR 12/18, @ SYR 12/19, @ HER 12/26, vs. LV 12/27

Gameday

Mike Johnston Fired, Mike Sullivan Hired, Jay Leach Interim

Comments Off on Mike Johnston Fired, Mike Sullivan Hired, Jay Leach Interim Posted by on December 12, 2015

“You can’t fire the players, so fire the coach.”

After guiding the Pittsburgh Penguins to an underachieving 15-10-3 start, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced this morning that they have fired Head Coach Mike Johnston and replaced him with Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. Assistant Coach Gary Agnew was also let go as part of the process as well.

Sullivan has guided the WBS Penguins to an American Hockey League best 18-5 start.

When the hire of Sullivan was announced, you had the feeling that it was only a matter of time before he would pilot an NHL bench again. You figure that if Pittsburgh did falter, Sullivan would be waiting in the wings to replace him. The crescendo had built in recent weeks and finally the writing was on the wall when GM Jim Rutherford went to the Pittsburgh media to openly criticize and question some of the decisions made by the on ice management of a team that has superstars like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury.

Coal Street announced in the wake of the news that Jay Leach will serve as interim head coach of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins:

[tweet https://twitter.com/wbspenguins/status/675739809781030913]

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Seth’s reaction here, with video from Jonathan Bombulie in Pittsburgh embedded with the first interview with the new Pittsburgh Penguins head coach.

If you are worried that Wilkes-Barre will never win another game again, stop it. Scott Wilson won’t forget to score goals, Tom Kostopoulos won’t forget to lead, Steve Oleksy won’t forget how to play defense and Matt Murray won’t forget how to stop a wrist shot from the slot. The Penguins will be fine. They always are.

[tweet https://twitter.com/ahlpr/status/675727478552453122]

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If management doesn’t think that Leach is capable to guide Wilkes-Barre, there will be a bevy of excellent coaches lining up or tripping over themselves to get the gig behind the bench at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza whenever there is a hockey game being played.

My best to Mike Sullivan with the parent club and best of luck to Jay Leach in the new interim position.

The Gameday setup against Albany hits the blog at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Goals Weren’t the Only Thing Absent Tonight — Pens WIN 4-0

Comments Off on Goals Weren’t the Only Thing Absent Tonight — Pens WIN 4-0 Posted by on December 11, 2015

WBS       @       button_lv200

  4                                       0

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Apologies to anyone who relies on me for coverage of the Penguins on a full time basis tonight. I was out at dinner with my big boy job and thus unable to tweet the Penguins game tonight in Allentown, a 4-0 Wilkes-Barre win, another Matt Murray shutout, his fourth of the season and just one off the all time WBS team lead in shutouts held by Brad Thiessen.

The Penguins went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill tonight and fixed their power play woes by scoring two, one by Dominik Simon and the other by Scott Wilson. The duo had a pair of goals total.

I’ll do my best to piece all of this together from the top so here goes….

Matt Murray opposed Anthony Stolarz, who has been playing some really great hockey as of late. Stolarz stymied the Penguins last weekend and the Phantoms as a whole were on a bit of an uptick, 8-4-1 in their last 13 games coming in. The Penguins had the feeling of, “what if” tonight with what happened last weekend. Not to discount anything that the Syracuse Crunch are about, but the Penguins were, are and will be the better team however you slice that matchup.

Lines were….

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Carter Rowney – Kevin Porter – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Kuhnhackl – J-S Dea – Bryan Rust

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Josh Archibald was scratched again along with Tyler Biggs and Clark Seymour.

Tom Kostopoulos appeared in his 500th game for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton…

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/675467647329415168]

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First Period: Dominik Simon got the first of his two goals with a redirection of a Tim Erixon shot from the point that went in for a 1-0 Penguins lead. Wilkes-Barre would double the lead about twelve minutes later when Scott Wilson got the first of his two goals of the night with a one time shot on a power play that broke an 0-for-24 skid for the Penguins. Shots after one were 8-6.

Second Period: Pens would continue the parade to the penalty box but not allow the Phantoms to score; then Dominik Simon scored again even strength to make it 3-0. Prior to, Murray was making some big time stops with the defenders in front of him gassed. The Penguins were outclassed in the period, thanks in large part to constantly going on the kill in the period, and the Phantoms outshot Wilkes-Barre 12-6 in the period.

Third Period: Scott Wilson collected his second goal of the night, this time on the power play. Conor Sheary made a spin pass to Kostopoulos, who found Wilson on the redirect for a 4-0 Penguins lead. Lehigh Valley tried to press, but the Penguins limited them to just three shots late through the third, and outshot them 6-5 in the period.

Total shots were 23-20 Phantoms.

Random Stuff: 11 goals total for Dominik Simon, 4 in the last two games….Four of Matt Murray’s 16 shutouts have come against Lehigh Valley. I think he has three against Springfield.

Three Stars: Scott Wilson (two goals, even) 2) Matt Murray (23 save shutout) and 1) Dominik Simon (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Bridgeport beat Portland 3-1…Springfield beat Binghamton 4-3…Providence beat Hartford 3-1…Hershey was the lone Atlantic Division team off tonight.

Standings: Penguins (.783 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.635) — Hershey (.625) — Lehigh Valley (.481) — Springfield (.479) — Providence (.479) — Portland (.477) — Hartford (.440)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost to the Toledo Walleye 2-1 in a shootout. The two team space back to West Virginia to pay off the back end of the home and home tomorrow night.

Here is the post game infographic:

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/675526764974768130]

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Albany is in tomorrow for what is shaping up to be a good one. The Devils have won seven in a row. The last team to beat them? The Penguins on November 21 in Albany. Gameday setup for that will hit the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

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