Chirps from Center Ice

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The Penguins had the Cleveland Monsters dead to rights all game.

But hockey is a one shot game most nights and despite firing just 17 shots all game at goaltender Joel Blomqvist, it is Shot 16 that ties it with an extra attacker in the third period and Shot 17 that wins it for Cleveland on the power play. Penguins lose 3-2 in overtime.

I mean they get a point, will stay at least third for another day, but this is a point they will wish they had in a few weeks and adjustments that they will need to make. If you double up a team in shots (the Penguins had 34 shots) you should be expected to win.

They didn’t, have about 26 hours to stew on it before they rematch with the Monsters on Monday night.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Unchanged up front, Jack St. Ivany (NHL recall) and Owen Headrick were out, Ryan Shea and Taylor Fedun were in on defense.

Injury Updates: J.D. Forrest told Pittsburgh media after the Penguins stopped by Cranberry, PA Saturday en route out to Cleveland that Marc Johnstone could be back by the end of the season and Peter Abbandonato could be ready for playoffs and that Sam Houde is out with upper and lower body injuries.

Isn’t the end of the season and the start of playoffs the same thing? Anyway…

First Period: No scoring, teams went 0/1 on the power play and 0/1 on breakaways. Sam Poulin had one shorthanded.

Second Period: :25 in, Justin Pearson scores on a pretty feed form Roman Ahcan. Pearson, left unmarked in the slot, makes no doubt and scores for the Monsters.

The Penguins would respond in kind :14 into a power play when Vinnie Hinostroza would score to bring the teams level.

About those breakaways, Joel Blomqvist stopped three to this point and here is one highlighted by the team he works for:

Third Period: Sam Poulin scores to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead. Ty Smith whiffed on a shot, Vinnie Hinostroza was down low, collected the whiffed shot, bumped it back to Smith who found Poulin streaking down the slot for a wide open shot.

The Penguins had a power play about halfway through the period and I said at the time that they could really inflict damage if they could score in the sequence. They didn’t.

Trent Vogelhuber pulled his goaltender, called time out and ex-Penguin now coach Mark Letestu drew up a play and the rest is history.

Owen Sillinger wins a face-off back to Marcus Björk, who finds David Jiricik one the far side at the point. Jiricik rips a shot and it goes in.

So it was off to overtime. You know how this goes if you follow this team.

Overtime: Nick Hart mentioned at the start that it was the 20th overtime for the Monsters this season. That’s a lot.

Radim Zohorna was called for interference and in the ensuing power play, Stanislav Svozil scores at 2:57 to give the Monsters the seeming impossible, stunning comeback.

Here’s that goal and the Jiricik goal that tied it late for Cleveland.:

Another overtime loss for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Three Stars: 3) Stanislav Svozil (overtime game winning goal) 2) David Jiricek (goal) 1) Justin Pearson (goal)

The Good: Despite the outcome, the Penguins were in control for 90% of the game against a division leading team, albeit that team is missing 5 of 6 of their top scorers to injury or recall.

The Bad: With how tight three through five is right now in the Atlantic, that extra point could have come in handy for the Penguins come mid-April.

Turning Point: I’m going to go off the wall here and say the missed power play chance halfway through the third period already up one gets it here as a 3-1 game is a steeper hill to climb for the Monsters when shots were at a premium for them. Alas, here we are.

Around the Division: Springfield beat Charlotte 6-4 in earlier action and Hershey shuts out a sliding Hartford Wolf Pack club 4-0. The Wolf Pack are winless in their last five contests.

Standings: Hershey 93 — Providence 77 – Penguins 69 — Charlotte 68 – Hartford 67 – Lehigh Valley 60 – Springfield 59 – Bridgeport 47

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: I’ll see if Cleveland or the Penguins run them and if they do will work the edit in.

Happy Monday, talk to you then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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If you do this right, then this next sentence is wrong.

Probably the most important game of the season for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Seeing the Hartford Wolf Pack edge ahead of them for third on Tuesday night, the Penguins needed a response against a team that has owned them on their home ice and frustrated them the last time these two teams met.

They respond, in a huge way, to the tone of 3-0. The first shutout of the season for Joel Blomqvist and first of his North American career. Jagger Joshua had a pair of goals.

The depth scoring answered when the top liners of Sam Poulin and Vinnie Hinostroza had a quiet night.

Huge game, gets them back to third with the Hartford loss in Charlotte Wednesday which I will get to in a bit.

I stop short at saying confidence building, because the power play is a downright abomination. But there’s time and they can still work on that, we hope.

Here’s how they lined up…

Lineup Notes: Debut for Vasily Ponomarev, return of Jonathan Gruden and Raivis Ansons. This trio replaced Matt Filipe, Lukas Svejkovsky and Tanner Laderoute. Laderoute was released from his PTO and was returned to the Wheeling Nailers. On defense, Xavier Ouellet and Owen Headrick were in for Taylor Fedun and Ryan Shea, who was recalled to Pittsburgh in the Gruden back to Wilkes-Barre transaction yesterday.

First Period: Jagger Joshua cleaned up the loose change in front…

…and the Penguins were off to the races.

But not without some bumps, as the Penguins found themselves on the wrong end of a two man advantage for :46. Phantoms power play was hitting at a 26% clip recently and were good on the road but the Penguins were able to get through it fairly unscathed.

Second Period: Penguins had three power plays in this game and let’s just move on and hot say anything bad about them and just say nothing about them at all.

Jagger Joshua bags his second of the night with a roof job after Corey Andonovski took a big hit to make a big play.

Said this at the time…

Third Period: Kind of a grit your teeth and hope for the best because the next goal here was going to be huge. If the Penguins score it’s 3-0 and a steeper hill to climb for the Phantoms. If Lehigh Valley pulls one back, it’s hang onto your butts and a white knuckle finish.

Thankfully, the Phantoms did not score any goals in the period. The teams traded power plays then the Penguins got another crack. Later, with the Lehigh Valley net empty, Dmitri Samorukov scores from about 190 feet away and makes it 3-0…

The only question from here was will Blomqvist do the thing?

Yeah, he did the thing.

23 saves for the Penguins rookie. Probably the best prospect in the organization and the future in goal for Pittsburgh. He’s overdue for this shutout and let’s hope there are many more this season to come.

Three Stars: 3) Corey Andonovski (two goals) 2) Jagger Joshua (two goals) 1) Joel Blomqvist (23 saves)

The Good: Felt good walking out of the arena and not getting blasted by cold air, right? That’s playoff weather for you. Think the players knew? I think so. Hell of a response against a team that has their number, moreso then the Bears, if that makes sense.

The Bad: That power plays stinks, man.

Turning Point: Lots of moving targets tonight. The second Joshua goal, the :46 kill of the Phantoms two man, take your pick.

Around the Division: Hartford loses 4-0 in Charlotte. The Checkers take all four points from the Wolf Pack, while Hartford only walks away with one point in North Carolina….Laval beats Bridgeport 5-1.

Standings: Hershey 88 – Providence 75 – Penguins 68 – Hartford 67 – Charlotte 66 – Springfield 57 – Lehigh Valley 57 – Bridgeport 47

Wheeling Update: Nailers were out in Iowa and lost 3-2 in overtime to the Heartlanders. Tanner Laderoute had a goal in his return for the Nailers. Taylor Gauthier had 29 saves.

Video Highlights: 

Enjoy the weekend off, they aren’t back in action until Sunday at 3 in Cleveland. Weekend Preview will most likely be up Saturday, I want it to be as fresh as I can make it in time for the Sunday-Monday set out in The Land.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I hate when I send a tweet thinking I may use it later.

Background, Wilkes-Barre came into the third period up 1-0 on visiting Lehigh Valley. You all know what they did the night prior where they were down coming into the third and rallied to win.

A power play goal, a shorthanded goal and a goal off of a turnover were all the Lehigh Valley Phantoms needed. Oh, sure they tossed in a fourth goal just to be sure but the Phantoms win 4-2 Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Let’s talk about the Penguins third periods of late, especially against this team. They can’t seem to hold a lead. They can’t seem to hold a lead at home.

Let’s get into this.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: I don’t know if anyone at 40 Coal still reads the blog anymore but the mention of who comes in and replaces who in the lineup graphic is really helpful vs. “Here’s who we’re rolling with tonight” or something else.

First Period: Teams traded a couple of power plays. Seemed like a bit of a slog. No scoring.

Second Period: Penguins get a goal from Ryan Shea with Sam Poulin buzzing the tower to give Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 lead.

Good goal, okay start, but you just knew that they needed more.

Third Period: They had some carryover power play time they weren’t able to score on. Then :13 into a Lukas Svejkovsky hook, Samu Tuomaala scores on a power play to tie the game at one.

Then Garrett Wilson, who was running his mouth all night, takes an unnecessary checking to the head 5:00 match penalty and is ejected from the game. He clipped Ty Smith who was fine, but the Penguins were on a power plat for 5:00.

Remember how I told you in the Weekend Preview that they needed to score a power play goal in every game in this miniseries?

They didn’t. Not only that but they gave up a shorthanded goal to go behind 2-1 when Brendan Furry scored on a mini breakaway.

Just. Brutal.

Worse? Taylor Fedun with a bonehead turnover in front of his net that ends up inside of it. Adam Brooks with the gift of a goal.

Good lord I just looked at that replay and Fedun gave it away twice.

Even Polei makes it 4-1 on a snipe.

Sam Poulin scores on a penalty shot that brings the Penguins within two…

…but they would get no closer and did not score on the power play.

Three Stars: 3) Parker Gahagen (30 saves) 2) Rhett Gardner (two assists) 1) Brendan Furry (goal)

The Good: Nice to see the building full and the fans seemed to have a good time for the first forty minutes at least.

The Bad: Didn’t like Svejkovsky’s game. Played too fast and loose. Seems like it’s one step forward with him and two steps back. Fedun’s turnover is inexcusable. The power play sucked despite getting a goal by default on the penalty shot by Poulin. Losing to a non-playoff team. I mean I could keep going but we lose an hour of sleep tonight.

Turning Point: Said it at the time, but the 5:00 major power play that they failed to score on but got scored on gets it here. Sometimes they are obvious.

Around the Division: Hartford picks up a point but loses in a shootout in Bridgeport 3-2….Hershey beats Charlotte 3-2….Springfield beats Toronto 5-1.

Standings: Hershey 88 – Providence 73 – Penguins 66 – Hartford 66 – Charlotte 62 – Springfield 57 – Lehigh Valley 55 – Bridgeport 47

Wheeling Update: Nailers rematched against Fort Wayne and won 4-3. Taylor Gauthier picks up the win with 30 saves.

Video Highlights: Not up yet. I doubt they are in a hurry. If I see them and can work an edit in, I will.

But for breaking news between now and Wednesday, talk to you then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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After a tumultuous couple of days for the Penguins organization, business had to continue with the issue still in doubt for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and their playoff seeding and chances.

They answer with a gritty, gutsy, third period comeback win in Allentown Friday night and win 3-2 and will stay ahead of the Hartford Wolf Pack for another night.

Rematch Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre with these two teams.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: More trades. Magnus Hellberg was traded to Florida for Ludovic Waeber. Waeber is a goalie who did time with the Charlotte Checkers. In a corresponding move, Coal Street signed Jaxon Castor to a PTO. The thought process here is twofold. 1) You may see Taylor Gauthier get recalled and stay with Wilkes-Barre. Gauthier has been tearing up the ECHL. Let him back up Blomqvist and if need be, call up Weaber or even Garret Sparks if you have to. 2) Just have Waeber back up Blomqvist.

I am leaning more towards number two, but you have to read on to see why.

I think it is apparent that Pittsburgh is fast tracking Blomqvist for the NHL next season. He’s earned it.

Other moves were paper transactions on Valtteri Puustinen and Jonathan Gruden, making them eligible for assignment to Wilkes-Barre when Pittsburgh’s season wraps up and Joona Koppanen being assigned and playing Friday in Allentown.

On ice, Lukas Svejkovsky and Jack Rathbone were back from their respective injuries. Matt Filipe and Dillon Hamaliuk were out for Svejkovsky and Laderoute. Jack Rathbone for Owen Headrick.

Ty Smith stays in Wilkes-Barre. How? He was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes and is Carolina property. The Hurricanes do not have an AHL affiliate. The Chicago Wolves are independent, opting to go without an NHL affiliate so, for now, Smith stays put.

Whew. That’s a lot. Onto the game.

First Period: I told you in the Weekend Preview that if the Penguins wanted to have success against the Phantoms they had to score a power play goal in each game. Well, it took them four seconds, but they did score a power play goal when Austin Rueschhoff cleaned up the loose change left by a shot from Vinnie Hinostroza from the point.

Pace slowed down a bit from there as it usually does when these teams meet.

Second Period: Phantoms jump the Pens from the drop of the puck and Ty Smith and Vinnie Hinostroza get their wires crossed and Jack Rathbone tries to bail them out but the pass is picked off at center ice by Victor Mete who finds Brandon Furry who then finds a streaking Rhett Gardner who goes top corner on a post to post going Joel Blomqvist to tie the game at one.

Well past ten minutes and all the Pens had was a grip it and rip it shot from Jagger Joshua.

They picked it up a bit, but then Lehigh Valley was back on it quickly and Rhett Gardner bags his second of the period on a two man advantage for the Phantoms and it’s 2-1.

Penguins looked bad that period, out of sync and what have you.

Third Period: Needing a positive response, the Penguins get one in the form of Lukas Svejkovsky for his first of the season in the AHL on an absolute dart.

Game started to devolve a bit after that, every whistle had fisticuffs. Pens miss on a 4:00 double minor but looked good on it, credit Lehigh Valley’s penalty kill I guess.

Things settled from there and it appeared as if that they were headed to overtime and we all know the Penguins success or lack thereof in that period.

Corey Andonovski to the rescue.

A most ridiculous tip or deflection of a pass from Ryan Shea for Andonovski who has had a mercurial year. If a guy like Andonovski starts warming up, there’s no telling the heights that this team can reach.

Lehigh Valley pulled Cal Petersen for an extra attacker but ere not able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Cal Petersen (18 saves) 2) Rhett Gardner (two goals) 1) Corey Andonovski (game winning goal)

The Good: They battled. JD Forrest pushed the right buttons and it’s a huge two points that will help them down the stretch.

The Bad: Game too close for my liking and I didn’t like that second period at all against a non playoff team.

Turning Point: The Andonovski goal is the clear and obvious choice here.

Around the Division: Hartford wins 7-4 over Providence….Charlotte beats Hershey 5-3 for the Bears third loss in a row? Bridgeport beats Springfield 4-2.

Standings: Hershey 86 – Providence 73 – Penguins 66 – Hartford 65 – Charlotte 62 – Springfield 55 – Lehigh Valley 53 – Bridgeport 45

A note, the Penguins finished last season with 66 points.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are out in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That game started late. Box here.

Back to Gauthier, he started in goal for Wheeling Friday, so the thought is Waeber may be headed to Wilkes-Barre. Who knows, though.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it for the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration game against the Phantoms again in a rematch.

Let’s Go Pens!