Chirps from Center Ice

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

Dropping the (Klink)Hammer

Comments Off on Dropping the (Klink)Hammer Posted by on December 5, 2014
[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/540936284450357248]

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Above, you will find my reaction to the news that Pittsburgh traded defenseman Philip Samuelsson to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for forward Rob Klinkhammer this afternoon.

I’m sure I echo anyone who reads this blog and is a fan of the Penguins here in Wilkes-Barre.

But let’s face it, this move was inevitable. The Penguins had too many defensemen in the pipeline. Samuelsson was probably not going to see the blueline in Pittsburgh anytime soon, so the move was made in exchange for a player like Klinkhammer that can step in immediately and help out in Pittsburgh.

In case you are wondering, Klinkhammer hasn’t played in the AHL since 2011-12. He is a full time NHL-er.

In a reactionary move, Coal Street has recalled Alex Boak and Clark Seymour.

I would guess that we could see a body filter back to Wilkes-Barre at some point now that Klinkhammer is in the fold, but the Penguins play an afternoon game against Ottawa Saturday and who knows when Klinkhammer will get into town, get settled and acclimated to Mike Johnston’s system. I wouldn’t expect any movement back to Wilkes-Barre until the early part of next week, but who knows.

Other big news of the day that now seems like a footnote, Bryan Rust was recalled because Patric Hornqvist was injured in last night’s game vs. Vancouver.

We press on though. The Gameday setup vs. Lehigh Valley hits the blog at 3 p.m.

Pittsburgh, WBS, Wheeling

Macaroni and Fish

Comments Off on Macaroni and Fish Posted by on December 4, 2014

Roster moves announced this morning by Coal Street.

Matia Marcantuoni is back and he’s bringing Sahir Gill with him. The Penguins added Gill via professional tryout agreement (PTO).

When Marcantuoni was sent down, his impact was immediate. He scored a hat trick on November 7 against Evansville. He has a total of 10 points (4-6-10) in 11 games. Given the mass recalls of Penguins forwards to Pittsburgh, Marcantuoni’s recall was imminent.

Gill is a different story. He yo-yo’ed with Hamilton last season and has only appeared in just one AHL game. He is second on the Wheeling Nailers in points (4-10-14) and led the team in points last season with 54. Digging a bit deeper into Gill’s stats finds that he has a goal and three assists on the power play for Wheeling this season. Those four points on the power play would actually put him in a tie for third on the Penguins among active leaders on the power play. He could be a big help, if given the opportunity.

So, bottom line, it boils off as a win-win for everybody. The Penguins are getting two excellent players from their ECHL affiliate, including one in Gill that can help a 22nd ranked Wilkes-Barre power play. In Gill’s case, he’s getting what would appear to be his shot at the AHL.

One more thing. The Penguins didn’t make a recall for defense. I don’t really think they will need to unless there is a recall made by Pittsburgh. If Taylor Chorney isn’t ready, Nick D’Agostino could slot in.

We will see. Should be an interesting weekend.

WBS, Wheeling

I Heard You Paint Houses

Comments Off on I Heard You Paint Houses Posted by on December 3, 2014

Normally, if anyone asks me what I do for a living, I causally tell them that, “I paint houses” which is a inference to the book about Frank Sheeran, who was a part of Bufalino Crime Family which originated from Pittston, PA, where I went to school as a young boy.

I don’t paint houses and I sure as hell don’t do what “painting houses” inferred to in the book, but I have been very busy this week with life in general, so I haven’t been able to update the blog at all this week as a result. Blogging doesn’t pay the bills, sadly.

Anyway, you may or may not have heard by now the influx of injuries and call-ups to Pittsburgh and injuries to the call-ups.

— Jayson Megna is called up essentially for Pascal Dupuis, who is out long term with a blood clot.
— Andrew Ebbett was called up for Marcel Goc, who hurt his foot.
— Brian Dumoulin was called up because Kris Letang is out with a groin injury and Robert Bortuzzo was under the weather during Tuesday’s morning skate before the game with New Jersey that night.
— Scott Wilson was called up because Sidney Crosby was also ill Tuesday but played in the game against the Devils.
— Anton Zlobin’s season is over after he has surgery to his shoulder.

Later…

— It was revealed that Chris Kunitz has a broken foot and is out at least a few weeks.
— Scott Wilson was injured in the second period of his NHL debut against New Jersey with a leg injury.
— Robert Bortuzzo was suspended two games for his late hit on Jaromir Jagr.

So Pittsburgh is down to 12 forwards and 6 defensemen. Wilkes-Barre has 11 forwards. Pittsburgh hosts Vancouver Thursday and Ottawa Saturday before traveling to Long Island to play the Islanders Monday. Wilkes-Barre hosts Lehigh Valley Friday, Hershey Saturday and travels to Giant Center Sunday.

Goc practiced today. His status Thursday against the Canucks is up in the air. If he can’t go, then another recall from Coal Street is going to be needed. I think either J-S Dea or Bryan Rust would be the safe bets there. I also think that another defenseman goes up to be the seventh defenseman. The logical choice is Scott Harrington. If it would turn out to be true, such terrible luck for Harrington as Dumoulin would probably dress over him and Harrington would, again, be stuck in the press box. Who knows.

Color me shocked that Pittsburgh actually divulged real information on injuries and laid out a possible timetable for recovery rather than using the painfully benign “upper / lower body” classification and “day-to-day / week-to-week” garbage we see all the time.

Anyway, I’ll be back in full force with pre and post game coverage of the slate of games this weekend.

About Me, Pittsburgh, WBS

AHL Power Rankings: Week 8

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 8 Posted by on December 1, 2014

So here we are in Week 8 of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings, with a new number one.

It’s a bird! It’s a pla—, no literally, it’s a bird. The Springfield Falcons have won nine straight and are at the top of the Power Rankings this week.

There’s a team that I call the AHL’s yo-yo team. There’s a two horse race brewing in the Midwest Division. It’s a real battle in the West Division. There’s a team in the East Division I dub the best in the East Division that isn’t the Penguins or Bears.

Click through the jump if you didn’t link in from someplace else to see what I am talking about and to see where your favorite team ended up.

Read more of this post

Power Rankings

Small Ball — Pens WIN 1-0

Comments Off on Small Ball — Pens WIN 1-0 Posted by on November 29, 2014

   button_stj200       vs.       WBS

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The definitions may not match up entirely to the headline, but the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are doing more with less…

Top scorers Jayson Megna and Andrew Ebbett on recall to Pittsburgh? Not a problem.

Top defenseman Taylor Chorney out with an injury? Next man up, we got this.

A third period power play goal by Jean-Sebastien Dea was enough for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to defeat the St. John’s IceCaps by a score of 1-0 tonight. Matt Murray, making his first start in nearly three weeks, had a 22 save shutout and was at times, spectacular.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Conor Sheary – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – JS Dea – Josh Archibald
Tom Kostopoulos – Carter Rowney – Adam Payerl
Pierre Leblond – Dom Uher – Bobby Farnham

Brian Dumoulin – Philip Samuelsson
Scott Harrington – Barry Goers
Reid McNeill – Derrick Pouliot

Matt Murray – Jeff Zatkoff

Nick D’Agostino took warmups for the Pens. With Taylor Chorney injured, Barry Goers slotted in for him and Pierre Leblond was back from his one game suspension and was essentially in for Andrew Ebbett.

First Period: Pens bottled up the IceCaps, not allowing a St. John’s shot until 7:04 left in the first. That was the highlight of the period.

Second Period: Bobby Farnham was caught for diving while he was interfered with. Jonathan said this after the second…

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It was that kind of game. Think Portland from a few weeks ago but slightly more exciting.

Third Period: J-S Dea fired a shot from the blue line that appeared to have been tipped by Tom Kostopoulos. This is what John Hynes said to Tom after the game…

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Looked to me that Dea found space and just let her rip. Whatever it takes.

Matt Murray came up big late on a St. John’s power play, with a save through traffic. St. John’s pulled Connor Hellebuyck with just over a minute but never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Connor Hellebuyck (24 saves on 25 shots) 2) J-S Dea (game winning power play goal) 1) Matt Murray (22 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hershey lost to Syracuse 4-1. The offensive woes for the Bears continue. If the St. John’s IceCaps beat the Bears tomorrow in regulation, it takes the games in hand situation out of the equation as the Bears will just have one game in hand on the Pens trailing by four points….Lehigh Valley beat Norfolk 4-3 and Binghamton beat Rochester 4-3 also.

Standings: Penguins 26 — Hershey 22 — Binghamton 21 — Lehigh Valley 20 — Norfolk 16

Conference: 1) SPR (31) 2) MCH (27) 3) WBS (26) 4) SYR (25) 5) ALB (25) 6) HFD (24) 7) BRI (23) 8) STJ (23)

Wheeling Update: Eric Hartzell was impressive tonight against a high powered Florida Everblades team that had only lost two games in regulation coming into the night. The Nailers win 3-2 and Hartzell was named third star of the game.

SendToNews Highlights: Here’s the post game infographic and the Penguins YouTube package for your enjoyment:

[youtube http://youtu.be/8VHlS_p2pak?list=PLjK7Vm3sJ6fqh994BYWb0PnoATJw1z0lf]

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My Week 8 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog at 4 p.m. Monday. Enjoy what’s left of the Thanksgiving weekend!

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: vs. St. John’s 11/29

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. St. John’s 11/29 Posted by on November 29, 2014

vs. 

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Home Game: 11

AHL Game: 301

Who: St. John’s IceCaps

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Media Kit

Last Game: Wednesday in Hershey the Penguins lost in a shootout 2-1. Brian Dumoulin had the goal for the Pens in the loss. For St. John’s, the IceCaps were in Binghamton Wednesday and came back to win in a shootout by a score of 4-3. John Albert and Chase Balisy both had a goal and an assist in the win for St. John’s.

Last Meeting: October 18 in St. John’s, the Pens won 4-1. Scott Wilson had a goal and an assist for the Pens in the win.

Record: For WBS: 11-8-1-1 (24 pts., 5th place East Division) — For STJ: 9-8-4-1 (23 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division)

Why you should care: Penguins come into this game without top two forwards Jayson Megna and Andrew Ebbett on recall to Pittsburgh. They only managed one goal in Hershey on Wednesday, where will the goals come from tonight?

Referee(s): Jamie Koharski

Linesmen: Leo Boylan / Scott Pomento

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @WBSGameDay // @IceCapsAHL

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /stjohnsicecaps

Instagram: wbspenguins / stjohnsicecaps

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @TLTomVenesky // @telyrobinshort / @telybrendan

Broadcasters: For WBS: Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / For STJ: Brian Rodgers

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @CharlesMDart

Radio: For WBS: WILK Newsradio / For St. John’s: Listen Live

Television: AHL Live

Promotion(s): Penguins License Plate

Other Game to Watch: The Bears host the hot Syracuse Crunch tonight at Giant Center.

Next Five Games: LV 12/5, HER 12/6, @ HER 12/7, BRI 12/12, @ LV 12/13

Gameday

Eight’s Not Great — Pens LOSE 2-1 (SO)

Comments Off on Eight’s Not Great — Pens LOSE 2-1 (SO) Posted by on November 26, 2014

WBS        @       HER

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The Hershey Bears motto for the season is, “Defend the Den.”

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins get the message.

The Penguins lost 2-1 in a shootout, making it eight straight losses at Giant Center for the Penguins.

The game featured a goaltending clinic and many players looking up into the rafters of the Giant Center, with a lot of posts hit and near misses. Starting goaltenders Philipp Grubauer and Jeff Zatkoff were sharp this night.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Andrew Ebbett – Bryan Rust
Conor Sheary – Carter Rowney – Josh Archibald
Tom Kostopoulos – JS Dea – Adam Payerl
Tom Kuhnhackl – Dominik Uher – Bobby Farnham

Brian Dumoulin – Taylor Chorney
Scott Harrington – Philip Samuelsson
Reid McNeill – Derrick Pouliot

Jeff Zatkoff – Matt Murray

Barry Goers took warmups but was the scratch. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond served his one game suspension for his unpenalized antics last Friday in Albany.

You knew that Jayson Megna was called up to Pittsburgh. News out of Pittsburgh today was that Brittle Beau Bennett is out (again) with a lower body injury. He can’t stay healthy. It’s not a matter of if he gets healthy, it’s when. It’s unfortunate. Obviously, there wasn’t a call up today, but I’d expect one fairly soon. Andrew Ebbett is a name if you just want to call up a guy to scratch him. J-S Dea or Bryan Rust are two names that if Pittsburgh wants to call them up to see if they can play, I wouldn’t be surprised go up.

Third Period: If you are a regular reader to this blog and these game recaps, you know that I recap the First, Second and Third Periods. The only problem is that nothing of memory happened in the first and second periods except for…

— This Jeff Zatkoff save on a Caleb Herbert breakaway.
— This hit by Connor Carrick on Taylor Chorney which would knock Chorney out of the game.
— This fight between Josh Archibald and Nathan Walker, a TKO for Archibald.

In the third period of a tightly contested game, Philip Samuelsson put a puck over the glass which resulted in the automatic delay of game call. On the ensuing power play for Hershey, Stan Galiev one timed a puck home for the Bears that would put them in front 1-0 and end a 152:15 goalless drought for them after the offense for the Chocolate and White sputtered this past weekend.

Brian Dumoulin, with Jeff Zatkoff pulled in the last minute of regulation, fired this goal home to tie the game at one a piece.

Overtime: Would be firsts for both teams. The first overtime for the Bears on Giant Center ice and the first time the Penguins played under the 3-on-3 format, because Kris Newbury and Bobby Farnham were in the penalty boxes for infractions. Connor Carrick hit a crossbar. That was it. It was onto the…

Shootout: Stan Galiev and Scott Wilson both missed in Round 1. Dustin Gazley and J-S Dea connected in Round 2. Connor Carrick and Bryan Rust missed in Round 3. Chris Brown beat Zatkoff in Round 4 and Andrew Ebbett missed his chance and the Bears skated away with the extra point.

Three Stars: 3) Brian Dumoulin (goal, +1) 2) Philipp Grubauer (24 saves on 25 shots) and 1) Stan Galiev (goal, even)

Around the Division: The St. John’s IceCaps beat the Binghamton Senators in a shootout also, the score was 4-3….Norfolk got reinforcements back from Anaheim and beat Charlotte 4-1….Lehigh Valley lost to Springfield 3-2.

Standings: Penguins 24 — Hershey 22 — Lehigh Valley 18 — Binghamton 19 — Norfolk 14

Conference: 1) SPR (27) 2) MCH (25) 3) WBS (24) 4) SYR (23) 5) BRI (22) 6) HER (22) 7) HFD (22) 8) ALB (21)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers beat the Greenville Road Warriors at home 4-2. Zack Torquato earned first star honors with a goal and two assists.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Penguins are off until Saturday. For as many games in hand that the Bears have on the Penguins (two) they do not play Friday night. So have a nice Thanksgiving and check back here for the next blog update for Saturday’s setup against St. John’s.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

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