Chirps from Center Ice

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There are a lot of guys either hurt or on recall for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins right now.

So the Penguins have had to plug deep into their ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, for players.

One of those players is Evan Vierling.

A two point night for the man, a goal and an assist and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are off to the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 overtime win against the Cleveland Monsters.

I’m burying the hero of the night, Radim Zohorna, who scored the overtime game winning goal for the Penguins. It was Zohorna who took a penalty in the third period who put the Penguins down a bit against the Monsters but it was Zohorna who kept the puck the entirety of overtime it seemed and scored a beautiful goal crashing the net to give the seemingly masterful Penguins yet another overtime game winning goal all of a sudden.

For the first time in a while, the team is postseason bound.

Technically with Springfield losing to Belleville, they were in and Zohorna’s heroics were moot, but don’t tell the fans.

Here’s how they lined up….

Lineup Notes: As the graphic states, the AHL debut for Mathieu De St. Phalle. Jagger Joshua returned from injury. A reader was nice enough to fill me in that he heard that Joona Koppanen was injured in practice and Jonathan Gruden is injured. Owen Headrick out for Scooter Brickey was the other change.

First Period: Evan Vierling scores his first AHL goal with a nice hardworking play set up by Lukas Svejkovsky who was like a hungry dog on a bone with the puck, keeping it in. Svejkovsky throws a puck at the net and Vierling is there to deflect it home.

Second Period: I didn’t like the way they presented themselves. Something seemed off, and it was proven true when Roman Ahcan tipped in a shot similar-ish to the way Vierling tipped his (in exactly the same spot, almost) that tied the game at one a piece.

The sloppiness continued, but the penalty kill and their All-Star goaltender bailed them out the remainder of the period.

Third Period: Avery Hayes, obviously feeling it from scoring his first AHL goal last game, scored his second in front that put the Pens ahead 2-1.

Clutch, indeed, he nearly scored seconds before.

The Penguins had a power play with 3:03 left to play. I said at the time that a goal here would be huge.

They didn’t get a goal and instead Cleveland got a goal that tied the game at 19:00.

Stanislav Svozil with a shot from the point.

Brief huddle by the officials to discuss goaltender interference but since no one knows what it is or what it looks like, why bother. The goal stood.

Overtime: By this time the Springfield score went final so it didn’t matter, the Pens were in, but what would the vibe be?

I would say, pretty, pretty good.

Three Stars: 3) Jagger Joshua (two assists) 2) Evan Vierling (goal, assist) 1) Radim Zohorna (overtime game winning goal)

The Good: Ticket punched. All that matters is securing at least third place and trying to possibly chase down Providence for second place for a possible First Round bye.

The Bad: They got murdered on the face-off dots and that led to both Cleveland goals.

Turning Point: The Zohorna goal gets it here, it’s late, let’s not overthink it.

Around the Division: Light night by AHL on a Friday standards. Springfield is shutout in Belleville 3-0….Lehigh Valley scores three straight to take down Providence 3-2 in overtime….Hershey pummels the Iowa Wild in Des Moines 7-2.

Standings: Hershey 103 – Providence 84 – Penguins and Charlotte 77 – Hartford 70 – Lehigh Valley 67 – Springfield 63 – Bridgeport 55

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it at 5:00 p.m. for a road game in Bridgeport. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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No. You read that right, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins won the game Saturday 4-3 in overtime, just their second victory in overtime this season and Joel Blomqvist’s first OT win as well.

Not with a bit of drama, as they carried a 2-1 lead into the third period only to see it evaporate and trail 3-2. It was here where Avery Hayes scored his first AHL goal at a good time to tie the game then it was Corey Andonovski going coast to coast to win it in the extra frame.

The magic number for a playoff berth should be four, with Springfield losing in regulation to Utica, provided my math is correct, which it rarely is.

Here’s how they lined up…

Lineup Notes: Owen Headrick for the recalled Ryan Shea on defense, Evan Vierling and Matthew Quercia for some combination of Sam Poulin and Scooter Brickey.

First Period: Ethan Samson beats Joel Blomqvist short side to put the Phantoms on the board first.

Not a lot to like this period. They had a power play they couldn’t get out of their own way on and took a penalty just :59 in and at some point lost Jonathan Gruden to injury. Gruden was not seen the remainder of the game.

Second Period: They remained down 1-0, didn’t connect on two power plays in the period but then Austin Rueschhoff won an offensive zone face-off and throws a shot at the net and there was Radim Zohorna to clean up the mess and tie the game at one.

Coupla minutes later, roles were reversed and it was Zohorna throwing a puck at the net and Rueschhoff cleaning up the loose change for a power play goal that gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

A late Phantoms shot hit the post with seconds remaining.

Third Period: Penguins held the Phantoms shotless for the first seven minutes but then the Phantoms got rolling.

Samu Tuomaala with a dart off a face-off and it was a tie game.

And a coupla minutes after that, Emil Andrae put the Phantoms ahead through an Adam Brooks screen that put the Phantoms ahead 3-2.

Another third period collapse? Really?!?!?

Nah nah.

Avery Hayes to the rescue.

Evan Vierling with the assist of all assists there, his first AHL assist.

Time ran out and here we go, off to…

Overtime: Was hold on to your butts because they were 1-8 coming into overtime.

But Corey Andonovski had enough of the losing in overtime.

Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Austin Rueschhoff (goal, assist) 2) Avery Hayes (first AHL goal) 1) Corey Andonovski (overtime game winning goal)

The Good: Good comeback, given the terms and the opponent.

The Bad: Seven of them were -1, all of them regulars. That’s not going to be good enough against the Hershey’s and Providence’s of the world.

Turning Point: Pick one between the Hayes goal that got you there or the Andonovski goal that ended overtime.

Around the Division: Hershey beats Hartford 2-1 in a shootout….Utica beats Springfield 4-3….Bridgeport beats Charlotte 1-0 in overtime….Syracuse shuts out Providence 4-0.

Standings: Hershey 99 – Providence 83 – Charlotte 77 – Penguins 75 – Hartford 70 – Lehigh Valley 65 – Springfield 63 – Bridgeport 53

Wheeling Update: Nailers are in Cincinnati and the game is still in action when this blog post goes up. Box here.

Video Highlights:

Have a Happy Easter! Talk to you this Friday or sooner if I have to. Let’s hope I don’t have to.

Let’s Go Pens!

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A pair of goals from guys who either haven’t scored one yet (Taylor Fedun) or haven’t scored since the first game of the season in Charlotte way back in October (Xavier Ouellet) are enough to carry the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to a 3-1 victory in Sunday afternoon in Allentown.

Here is what it means in the short term. The magic number drops to 9, the Penguins bump back ahead of the Charlotte Checkers by a point for third in the Atlantic, although the Checkers have a game in hand now. Charlotte will be in Hartford Wednesday and in Bridgeport Friday before the Penguins play these Phantoms at home again Saturday.

34 saves for Joel Blomqvist, some of them highlight reel, included below. Vinnie Hinostroza drew the dagger late in the third on a power play with a goal, the Penguins only of the contest.

Here’s how they lined up…

Lineup Notes: They went back to the 11F-7D setup with Connor Brickey from The Ohio State University making his AHL debut. Justin Addamo was the forward from yesterday that was out of the lineup Sunday. Taylor Fedun replaced Owen Headrick.

First Period: Joel Blomqvist bailed out his team early.

But later Raivis Ansons had a turnover and that turnover ended up in the back of his net when Adam Brooks scored.

But the Penguins went undeterred and Taylor Fedun scored his first goal of the season that tied the game at one.

Second Period: If you watched the first you’d agree with me in saying that the Penguins were the better team. While there was no scoring in the second period, the Penguins continued to prove that they were the better team. First, Joel Blomqvist goes post to post to deny Penguins pest Rhett Gardiner, then Tanner Laczynski hit both posts but the puck stayed out. Then the Penguins cycled a puck for a good two minutes in the Phantoms zone but didn’t score. Then finally, Ty Smith was called for a 4:00 double minor and the Penguins killed it, quite easily in my opinion.

Third Period: Just :44 in, Xavier Ouellet scored his second goal of the season with this shot that put the Penguins ahead 2-1.

Joel Blomqvist had a ten bell save, probably his best save in a while, if not the entire season, with this right pad stop on Helge Grans.

Tuo on hyvää*

The Penguins then found a power play after a routine Blomqvist save later on led to pushing and shoving which persisted. In the power play that followed, Radim Zohorna connected with Vinnie Hinostroza who scored to make it 3-1 for Wilkes-Barre.

Ian Lapierriere pulled Parker Gahagen for the extra skater, but the Phantoms were unable to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Adam Brooks (goal) 2) Joel Blomqvist (34 saves) 1) Radim Zohorna (two assists)

The Good: They got scoring from unlikely places from Ouellet and Fedun. Anytime you get that and win you run to the pay winda, daddeh.

The Bad: Honestly can’t think of anything with the way they played as a whole. Nitpicking that Ty Smith had an uncharacteristically quiet weekend. The rest of the expected offense really wasn’t there all weekend, but it’s a net positive.

Turning Point: Take your pick between the Ouellet goal that made it 2-1 or the Hinostroza that made it 3-1. I wouldn’t fault you if you went to the Fedun goal that came 1:16 after the Adam Brooks goal that the Penguins weren’t going to have what happened to them at home against Utica Saturday night replicate on them Sunday afternoon in Allentown.

Around the Division: Hartford finally breaks their seven game losing streak with a 3-1 win in Belleville…Syracuse beats Providence in a shootout 3-2.

Standings: Hershey 97 – Providence 79 – Penguins 73 – Charlotte 72 – Hartford 69 – Lehigh Valley 62 – Springfield 61 – Bridgeport 51

Wheeling Update: Nailers are in action against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Box here.

Video Highlights: If I see them and can work in the edit, it will run here.

Back at it Saturday against Lehigh Valley at home in the only action they will see this week.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – in case you were wondering where the idea of the title of the blog post came from

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Long time readers of the blog know how I am constantly chasing pun headlines. Well, Vicki from the booster club saw me on the way out of the game, a 3-0 Penguins shutout loss to the Utica Comets, and simply told me that she had the headline for the blog tonight.

If you talked with Vicki, they sucked tonight. The Penguins gave up two unassisted rushes to the Comets which resulted in goals and got scored on in a five on three.

I can’t disagree there. But I thought it was a bit milder.

Sure, they lost in front of a sold out crowd on a Saturday. They put 39 shots on first star Akira Schmid, carried play in large parts in the first and second period and but for a few dumb spots where their defense turned the puck over to the other team, were in the game.

What drove the nail in the coffin was a five on three goal against that made it 3-0. Jonathan Gruden hitting a post on a power play is the closest they got to scoring Saturday.

Still haven’t scored a goal at even strength this weekend, but I think that’s being overexposed a bit because they scored two power play goals and lost Friday in Syracuse.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Lukas Svejkovsky for Vasiliy Ponomarev up front, Owen Headrick for Taylor Fedun on defense. Ponomarev’s absence is probably call up related. Won’t know that till Sunday.

First Period: Graeme Clarke makes it 1-0 Comets just 1-0 in.

Can’t really blame Ludovic Waeber here 100%. More like 50/50. Are you expecting the team ahead of you to no show the first two minutes of a game? No. But you should still make the save.

I called it a good period despite the score, they outshot Utica 14-6 and, but for the Clarke goal, controlled the pace of play.

Second Period: More of the same, a defender falls down and Samuel Laberge finds daylight and scores to make it 2-0 Comets.

Just queue the Benny Hill music with this one. Again, 50/50 on the defense and the goaltender.

They failed to score on a power play and gave Utica two chances on the man advantage. What’s troubling about that is they came back to back, giving the Comets :59 of two man advantage.

Utica cashed on it, when Brian Halonen was the last to get a piece of a puck that deflected off Waeber and in.

Third Period: Uneventful for offense for either side. The Penguins outshot the Comets 15-5 in the period, so the effort was there, the finishing was not.

Jonathan Gruden ran over Robbie Russo, cross checking him up high but with no infraction identified by either Mathieu Menniti or Casey Terreri. He also rang iron on a Penguins power play.

Three Stars: 3) Samuel Laberge (goal) 2) Graeme Clarke (goal) 1) Akira Schmid (39 save shutout)

The Good: I’m not going to pile on, but I thought they played decent. They got exposed at the absolute worst times giving up two essentially breakaway goals that you’d like to see your goalie make a stop on, and could not generate anything quality wise offensively.

The Bad: Defense plays too fast and loose, lacks direction most nights. They can get bailed out because they have an AHL All-Star playing goal most nights and can connect for a goal or two, but when it isn’t there, man, it sucks.

Turning Point: The Halonen goal that made it 3-0 made an already steep hill to climb even steeper.

Around the Division: Hershey shuts out Cleveland 5-0 for their 11th shutout of the season, which is a franchise record….Bridgeport beats Lehigh Valley 2-1….Charlotte beats Providence 3-2 in overtime, just what you didn’t want if you are a Penguins fan, both teams getting points…..Springfield beats Syracuse 6-4, so the magic number for the Penguins stays at 11 and Hartford continues its nosedive with a 5-1 loss in Toronto, that’s seven losses in a row for the Wolf Pack.

Standings: Hershey 97 – Providence 78 – Charlotte 72 – Penguins 71 – Hartford 67 – Lehigh Valley 62 – Springfield 61 – Bridgeport 51

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 3-1 at home against Fort Wayne. Jordan Martel had a pair of goals for the Wheeling in the win.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it Sunday at 3:05ish in Allentown. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!