Chirps from Center Ice

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

AHL Power Rankings: Week 17

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 17 Posted by on February 2, 2015

So as the calendar flips to February, things are hotly contested in many of the divisions in the AHL.

In the North, you have the Adirondack Flames four points behind the Utica Comets, who have 56 points.

In the Midwest, division leading Rockford leads the way with 58 points and three back the Milwaukee Admirals are lurking.

In the West, the Oklahoma City Barons are running away with things, but the race for second is a hotly contested one. The San Antonio Rampage lead the Texas Stars by six points.

All those teams I mentioned? They play their pursuer or pursuee twice this week. Are you a contender or a pretender? While it may be too soon to say, this weekend may be the first step in finding out.

The Syracuse Crunch still lead the Week 17 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings by the way. Click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where everyone else ended up this week.

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Power Rankings

Deep Sixed — Pens LOSE 6-2

1 Comment Posted by on January 31, 2015

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I can’t for the life of me remember if I have use that headline once before here. If I have, I apologize.

Anyway, I have been blogging up this team long enough to see a game like this one coming. Let’s look at the elements….

— You have a Penguins team rolling, winning four straight games, coming off of a 5-0 laugher in Springfield last night.
— A goaltender in Matt Murray who has been hot as of late, and leads the AHL in goals against average coming into tonight’s action.
— A Lehigh Valley team that had its heads kicked in the night before at home against Hershey and the night prior against Albany.
— Andrew Ebbett down from Pittsburgh this afternoon after being re-assigned. Ebbett was a key contributor to the Penguins ending the then six game losing streak against St. John’s about ten days ago.
— You find yourself up 2-0 at home on a Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 8,217 people 10:23 into the first period on a game that is being locally televised, also.

You are going to roll, right?

Wrong. Instead, the Phantoms respond with six straight goals, chase Matt Murray in the process and win 6-2. The game devolved late in the third period with fights and misconducts being passed around like a hot potato at a summer camp. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond is facing at least a one game suspension, picking up and instigator penalty in the final five minutes of the third period.

Penguins went up quickly on the Phantoms with a Scott Wilson power move to the net on Lehigh Valley starting goaltender Robb Zepp at 6:24 of the first. Tom Kuhnhackl tacked on a power play goal off of a Bryan Rust shot that Zepp left a big rebound on.

Wilkes-Barre was cruising. Then they got complacent.

— Andrew Gordon made it a 2-1 game at 12:30 of the first with a dart of a shot while the Penguins were just going through the motions.
— Adam Comrie scored a power play goal at 15:47 to tie the game at two on a snipe of a shot that Murray could have saved.

Second period saw Jesper Pettersson score to make it 3-2. This chased Murray from the net, enter Jeff Zatkoff who was healthy enough to at least back up tonight. The Penguins didn’t allow any more shots the rest of the way, threw everything but the kitchen sink at Zepp the rest of the way, 16 shots total, but couldn’t get anything past.

There was a point in the game when the Penguins were down one where they clearly put the puck past Zepp but ref Keith Kaval ruled incidental contact on Zepp and washed out the goal. I thought that this was the turning point in the game. A 3-3 tie is a lot better than working and working and coming up empty and then getting scored on again and again.

In the third period, the Phantoms wasted no time.

Taylor Leier scored :20 in on the first actual shot that Zatkoff sees and you could feel the game getting out of hand.

Nick Cousins buries a juicy rebound left by Zatkoff for a 5-2 Phantoms lead on a power play goal at 3:53.

Jason Akeson on what must have been a blown assignment because he had all day to make a move and dance into the top of the circles and let go a shot with no traffic in front for a 6-2 Lehigh Valley lead.

Head Coach John Hynes took his timeout after that. Didn’t matter. Game ended up with fights and lots of guys getting tossed on 10 minute misconducts. I thought the pairing of Kaval / Tim Mayer did good as far as assessing 10 minute misconducts to anyone who stepped out of line with the game being well decided between two divisional rivals.

J-S Dea, Matia Marcantuoni, Eric Hartzell, Josh Archibald and Adam Payerl were the healthy scratches tonight. Hartzell will likely get shipped to Wheeling sooner rather than later. Derrick Pouliot was called up to Pittsburgh prior to the game for the injured Christian Ehrhoff.

Three Stars: 3) Andrew Gordon (goal, assist, +2) 2) Nick Cousins (goal, two assists, +2) and 1) Taylor Leier (goal, two assists, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey loses in a shootout to Syracuse 3-2. Followed that one on Twitter and it sounded like an instant classic. Crunch were up 2-0, Bears claw back with a goal late in the second and tie it in the third…..Norfolk beats Binghamton in overtime 2-1.

Standings: Hershey 54 — Penguins 52 — Lehigh Valley 47 — Norfolk 41 — Binghamton 40

Conference: 1) SYR (61) 2) MCH (60) 3) HER (54) 4) HFD (57) 5) SPR (56) 6) POR (53) 7) ALB (53) 8) WBS (52)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 4-3 to Kalamazoo. Derek Army had a goal and an assist in the loss.

SendToNews Highlights: Not up yet. Doubt the Pens will offer YouTube. Doubt you’d click through to see them anyway on SendToNews. Let’s move on…

Bears host the Admirals tomorrow and burn off one of three games in hand on the Penguins. Wilkes-Barre is in action Tuesday against Springfield. My Power Rankings will hit the blog Monday at 4 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: vs. Lehigh Valley 1/31

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Lehigh Valley 1/31 Posted by on January 31, 2015

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Home Game: 24

AHL Game: 667

Who: Lehigh Valley Phantoms

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Media Kit

Last Game: Last night in Springfield, the Pens won 5-0. Matt Murray had a 28 save shutout and was named the first star of the game. For Lehigh Valley, they lost at home to the Hershey Bears last night by a score of 6-1. Taylor Leier scored the only goal for the Phantoms in the loss.

Last Meeting: December 13 in Allentown, the Pens lost 2-1 in a shootout. J-S Dea scored a goal for the Penguins in the loss.

Record: For WBS: 24-17-1-3 (52 pts., 2nd place East Division) — For LV: 20-18-4-1 (45 pts., 3rd place East Division)

Why you should care: Penguins come home to a sellout crowd tonight against a Phantoms team that has lost two in a row and playing its third game in three nights. Wilkes-Barre has won four in a row and still need to do the right things in order to have success.

Referee(s): Tim Mayer / Keith Kaval

Linesmen: Jud Ritter / Luke Murray

Twitter: @WBSPenguins and @WBSGameDay / @LVPhantoms

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins / /LehighValleyPhantoms

Instagram: wbspenguins / lehighvalleyphantoms

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie and @TLTomVenesky / @gblockus

Broadcasters: WBS: Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / For Lehigh Valley: Bob Rotruck @BobRotruck

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep

Radio: For WBS: WILK Newsradio / For Lehigh Valley: Fox 1470

Television: AHL Live and WQMY-TV local in Wilkes-Barre.

Promotion(s): Trading Card Set, courtesy of Times Tribune

Other Game to Watch: Battle of division leaders tonight as the Northeast Division leading Syracuse Crunch face-off against the East Division leading Hershey Bears in Chocolatetown tonight.

Next Five Games: SPR 2/3, @ HER 2/7, @ BRI 2/8, BNG 2/11, POR 2/13

Gameday

¡Cuatro es Importante! — Pens WIN 5-0

1 Comment Posted by on January 30, 2015

WBS          @          button_spr200

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have won four straight games. G Matt Murray has collected four shutouts this season, surpassing his counterpart Jeff Zatkoff in doing so.

The Penguins won tonight 5-0 in Springfield. Matt Murray had a 28 save shutout. The Penguins have not allowed the Falcons to score a goal on them yet this season. The Penguins won 5-0 back in October and it was, ironically enough, Matt Murray’s first shutout of the season.

Oh, if you haven’t yet figured out the headline yet, it’s “Four is Important” translated over to English from Spanish. I might be the only AHL blogger to use the Spanish language as a headline this weekend, or season, for that matter.

Anyway, this post game recap includes some new things that I am experimenting with. Twitter recently implemented native video. In lieu of you clicking off and looking at a Vine of a goal or a highlight, I am able to embed the highlight straight into the blog recap without you, the reader, having to click off someplace else. Great timing, eh? The Pens scored five goals total tonight and you have five different highlights to look at, embedded right here in the blog.

The aforementioned Matt Murray vs. Oskar Dansk.

Lines were…

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Scott Wilson – Carter Rowney – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Jayson Megna – Adam Payerl
Dominik Uher – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham

Taylor Chorney – Brian Dumoulin
Reid McNeill – Derrick Pouliot
Barry Goers – Nick D’Agostino

Matt Murray – Eric Hartzell

Alex Boak took warmups but was scratched. Other scratches were J-S Dea, Josh Archibald and Pierre Leblond. Jeff Zatkoff took morning skate but is still week-to-week, technically.

Adam Payerl’s first game since December 26 at Binghamton.

First Period: Penguins started out slow, but after a penalty to Springfield, Jayson Megna scored this goal on a rebound left by Dansk…

The Penguins weren’t done. Tom Kostopoulos scored this goal from a nice pass from Nick Drazenovic on a quick developing two on one…

Penguins add on another power play goal from Taylor Chorney…

Obie summed up the period succinctly. The Penguins didn’t dominate the period, but they were opportunistic.

Second Period: Penguins would kill off a double minor to Reid McNeill thanks to a few great saves in close by Murray. A Penguins power play would come and go, but then Derrick Pouliot would find Conor Sheary on this nice goal that made it 4-0 Penguins…

1:14 later, Bryan Rust would toast Nathan Oystrick and score this goal that chased Dansk…

Enter ex-Penguin Scott Munroe, who settled things down a bit for the Falcons. Murray had a great save on a defensive breakdown by the Penguins.

Third Period: Penguins put it on cruise control and played prevent. Penguins didn’t really push anything offensively but neither did Springfield. Shots in the period were 10-4 Penguins, ironically. Don’t be surprised to see Scott Munroe come out first Tuesday night in Wilkes-Barre in the rematch.

Three Stars: 3) Conor Sheary (goal, assist, +2) 2) Bryan Rust (goal, assist, +1) 1) Matt Murray (28 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Lehigh Valley in Allentown 6-1 to stay a point up on the Pens with  three games in hand. Binghamton loses to Norfolk 5-3 at home.

Standings: Hershey 53 — Penguins 52 — Lehigh Valley 45 — Binghamton 39 — Norfolk 39

Conference: 1) MCH (60) 2) SYR (59) 3) HER (53) 4) SPR (56) 5) HFD (55) 6) WBS (52) 7) POR (51) 8) ALB (51)

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 4-1 in Kalamazoo. Zack Torquato had two assists and was a +3.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. You’ll need to click off to see ’em.

Penguins come home to a sold out crowd tomorrow night against the Phantoms, playing their third game in three nights. Gameday for that will be up her eon the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: @ Springfield 1/30

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Springfield 1/30 Posted by on January 30, 2015

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Away Game: 22

AHL Game: 652

Who: Springfield Falcons

Where: MassMutual Center

When: 7:00 p.m.

Media Kit

Last Game: Saturday in Norfolk, the Penguins won in overtime 3-2. Tom Kostopoulos scored the overtime game winning goal. For Springfield, the Falcons hosted the Providence Bruins last Saturday and lost 2-1. Micheal Chaput scored the only goal for Springfield in the loss.

Last Meeting: October 24 in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins won 5-0. Matt Murray had a 21 save shutout and Bryan Rust had two goals and an assist.

Record: For WBS: 23-17-1-3 (50 pts., 2nd place East Division) — For SPR: 26-13-4-0 (56 pts., 2nd place Northeast Division)

Why you should care: We have two second place teams here that have been on top of their respective divisions for the majority of the season. Both teams are eager to get back to the top and want to take the right first step.

Referee(s): T. J. Luxmore

Linesmen: Paul Simeon / Chris Low

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @WBSGameDay // @TheFalconsAHL

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /falconsahl

Instagram: wbspenguins / falconsahl

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie and @TLTomVenesky

Broadcasters: For WBS: Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / For SPR: Andy Zilch @andy_zilch

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep

Radio: For WBS: WILK Newsradio / For Springfield: WHYN News Talk 560

Television: AHL Live

Other Game to Watch: It is going to be a theme here as we head to the final stretch of the season. Hershey is in Allentown tonight taking on the Phantoms tonight. Both teams have games in hand on the Penguins.

Next Five Games: LV 1/31, SPR 2/3, @ HER 2/7, @ BRI 2/8, BNG 2/11

Gameday

Go West, Young Man

4 Comments Posted by on January 29, 2015

Today, the AHL announced and confirmed the worst kept secret in minor league hockey for years now. There will be a new Pacific Division that will represent the AHL clubs of the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. In layman terms, here is what is going to happen in 2015-16.

— The Norfolk Admirals, affiliates of the Anaheim Ducks, are leaving town for San Diego, California.
— The Adirondack Flames, affiliates of the Calgary Flames, are leaving town for Stockton, California.
— The Oklahoma City Barons, affiliates of the Edmonton Oilers, are leaving town for Bakersfield, California.
— The Manchester Monarchs, affiliates of the Los Angeles Kings, are leaving town for Ontario, California.
— The Worcester Sharks, affiliates of the San Jose Sharks, are leaving town for San Jose, California.

It is expected that Norfolk, Adirondack and Manchester will have ECHL teams next season. There is no word on ECHL plans for Oklahoma City or Worcester yet. That league is scheduling a press conference Friday at 3 p.m.

From what I read, these NHL teams wanted a west coast pod for years now. They didn’t want a jet lagged player who just flew five hours across the continental United States the morning that their star players gets sick.

From what I believe, I don’t think that they necessarily care about attendance or if the teams are successful or not. When I think San Diego, I don’t think hockey. But AHL President Dave Andrews said at the AHL’s State of the League on Monday the following…

We’re going through a process we’ve never gone through before, which, if successful, will be difficult for a number of our markets, but at the same time, is probably critical to the health of our league from a stability point of view and maintaining a 30-team league.

The lynch-pin to that statement in my opinion was, “if successful.” It is still too soon to say that it will be. I think that what the AHL cares more about is pleasing their NHL partners and maintaining a healthy, 30 team league. The shine of having a brand new AHL team in San Diego, Stockton, Ontario and other places will be great for the first couple of years. But what happens say, five years in, if these teams start to struggle at the gate and struggle financially? What would it mean to the overall health of the AHL if close to 20% of the teams are struggling?

Wilkes-Barre wise, this westward movement will have little to no impact. You will probably see some realignment to the divisions again. I think that the five team divisions go away. You could see Wilkes-Barre in a division next year with usual suspects Hershey, Lehigh Valley and Binghamton and mix in any combination of Syracuse, Albany, Utica, Bridgeport, Rochester or even Toronto. You’re also going to see more of teams like Providence, Portland, Hartford and maybe Lake Erie, Hamilton or Charlotte on the schedule for next year.

Do the Penguins go the way of the Admirals, Sharks, Monarchs, Barons and Flames? I don’t think so. You are talking a four hour trip to Pittsburgh as opposed to a flight. Players from all over the AHL rave about Wilkes-Barre as a premier AHL destination. The Coal Street facility is a pristine asset to have in anchoring an AHL team like the Penguins to a city such as Wilkes-Barre. The Penguins lease with the Arena and affiliation with Pittsburgh expire in 2019, but I think it is safe to say that you can rest easy in knowing that something like this dark day in five AHL markets across the East will never happen in the Wyoming Valley.

While I have you, Pittsburgh sent Bryan Rust and Scott Wilson back to Wilkes-Barre Wednesday. Alex Boak was recalled from Wheeling Thursday.

Penguins play tomorrow in Springfield. Gameday for this hits the blog Friday at 3.

The AHL

AHL All-Star Classic Recap — West WINS 14-12

1 Comment Posted by on January 26, 2015

I filled in for Tom Venesky from the Times-Leader tonight. You can read the game story in Tuesday’s paper.

Fighting internet issues in a cold arena stage sitting right behind the goal judge is the price that you sometimes have to pay. But who is complaining. The game story was filed without issue and I can finally decompress and write this blog post. More of my element.

Anyway, the Western Conference won 14-12 tonight over the Eastern Conference. There were four hat tricks. There were two penalty shots. There were co-MVP’s. Charles Hudon from Hamilton had a hat trick and an assist and Utica’s Jacob Markstrom stopped 14 of 16 shots in the first period to take home the awards.

Something that I noticed in this game was a lackadaisical start in the beginning, an offensive display in the second period and then a frenetic pace in the final period. There were twelve goals scored in the second period alone. Five scored by the Western Conference in record time, 4:35. They scored six and the East scored six.

Really you could have, if you wanted to, made a case for Oklahoma City goaltender Richard Bachman to get the co-MVP if you wanted to. The East trailed all game, and really stepped on the gas in the final period. Bachman stopped 18 of 22 shots to preserve the West’s win.

But this is an all-star event, one that doesn’t count and this is Utica after all, so give the starting goaltender for the Western Conference the honor and call it a night.

Pouliot and Kostopoulos both had assists on the night. Kostopoulous actually had two but the second was taken away.

Anyway, there was other things to attend to today. Like half of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins team being called up to Pittsburgh. Scott Harrington, Bryan Rust, Scott Wilson and Andrew Ebbett were recalled this afternoon. Wilkes-Barre doesn’t play again until Friday and there was talk about Pittsburgh getting healthy. so we will see who if anyone trickles down in time for puck drop at 7 p.m. Friday in Springfield.

I always like to come to these events to meet people and mingle with those I know. Another thing I like to do is get audio of the AHL’s State of the League Address with Dave Andrews, the AHL’s president. Bob Howard from the Power Play Post Show there this morning and posted audio.

Here is the link in raw format…

Nothing really to take out of it from a Wilkes-Barre perspective. Nothing has been finalized with the AHL’s movement out West yet. There could be some other teams shook up but not necessarily moving West. The deadline for all of this is in May, but they would like to have everything in place by April for scheduling and ticketing purposes.

He also mentioned scheduling. The AHL isn’t moving off 76 games any time soon. Some teams want 72 games but there are others that love 76. It’s about 50/50 and you need 75%.

There could be unbalanced conferences with teams like here in Utica and Rochester coming East to play. All of that is talk though with bigger challenges in the way.

It’s really interesting audio, so give it a listen if you have 54 minutes of time to kill.

I am back on the road Tuesday, heading home. We will pick up the real stuff again at the end of the week.

The AHL

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