Chirps from Center Ice

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So there’s a lot of things I didn’t like about this one.

Penguins race out to a 1-0 lead after the first period, but the Syracuse Crunch adjust and counter punch in the second period and absolutely run circles around the Penguins in the third to turn a 2-2 game coming into the final period into a 5-2 laugher and win for Syracuse on Friday night.

The Crunch scored two empty net goals, but the damage was done earlier.

Syracuse regains the top spot in the North Division and the Penguins fail to make up ground on idle, second place Providence. The Bruins will now have two games in hand on the Penguins for the remainder of the weekend while Wilkes-Barre plays two more games.

Here’s how they lined up…

Lineup Notes: Jonathan Gruden was in for Jagger Joshua. I didn’t hear what the explanation was from Nick Hart in pregame sadly. Justin Addamo for Lukas Svejkovsky was the other forward lineup change. Taylor Fedun for Owen Headrick and Ryan Shea for Jack St. Ivan was the other change.

On St. Ivany:

First Period: Wilkes-Barre jumped out to a hot start but failed to score on their first two power plays but the third time was indeed the charm when Austin Rueschhoff tipped in a shot from Xavier Ouellet from the point.

I liked the pace and the hot start.

Second Period: You were kind of expecting a push from the Crunch, and it happened quickly, as ex-Penguin Felix Robert scored with a deflection off of his head that tied the game at one for the Crunch.

The Penguins would respond in kind with their second power play goal of the game when Joona Koppanen, playing in his 300th AHL game, scored to push the Penguins ahead 2-1.

But then Philippe Myers, who had the shot the deflected off of Robert’s face, scored a more conventional, safer goal, that tied the game up again for the Crunch.

Better push for the Crunch in the period but it was the Penguins power play carrying the day, to this point.

Third Period: Wilkes-Barre limited to just three shots in the period, Syracuse was really taking it to them and scored on a rush where a prone Ty Smith does more harm than good as the Crunch score a fluky goal that puts them ahead by one.

But then the Penguins fell in a deeper hole having to kill back to back penalties late, then got desperate and pulled Blomqvist. When that didn’t work, the Crunch scored two empty net goals.

(I’m not going to show them here)

Three Stars: 3) Cole Koepke (three assists) 2) Felix Robert (goal, two assists) 1) Philippe Myers (goal, two assists)

The Good: Two power play goals.

The Bad: Didn’t like the response in the second period onward. They got steamrolled in the third. Other teams as good or better than the Crunch are going to do this to this team the deeper they hope to get in the playoffs.

Turning Point: That third goal was scored by Waltteri Merelä. It’s that goal that gets it here. It was trending badly for the Pens to that point in the period and went downhill quickly from there.

Around the Division: All not totally lost for the Penguins as Charlotte beats Springfield 2-0. That should drop the Penguins magic number to 11 I believe. We will find out in Saturday’s AHL Playoff Primer. Hershey beat Cleveland 6-3 and Bridgeport beat Utica 2-1 on a shootout.

Standings: Hershey 95 – Providence 77 – Penguins 71 – Charlotte 70 – Hartford 67 – Lehigh Valley 62 – Springfield 59 – Bridgeport 47

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose a close one at home against Kalamazoo 4-3.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it Saturday at home against Utica. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I hope Mr. Leonard doesn’t read my blog because I have no idea if ‘Quattour Zeta’ translates from Latin to English to “Four Z” or not.

Where am I going with this? Simple. Radim Zohorna had a hat trick and an assist as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins comeback after Sunday afternoon’s disappointing overtime loss with a big 5-2 win Monday night.

The Penguins magic number will drop to 15. They will now be six points off second place Providence with one more game in hand and three points clear of fourth place Charlotte with the same amount of games played (60)

Good win, they get 3 out of 4 points out of a good, yet depleted Cleveland team.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Nick Hart mentioned pregame that Cleveland was actually going with 10 forwards and 8 defensemen with ex-Penguin Billy Sweezey jumping in and playing forward.

For the Penguins, Jack St. Ivany was back down from Pittsburgh. The Penguins didn’t recall anyone but you’ll notice that Jonathan Gruden was out of the lineup, so expect him to be recalled Tuesday. Lukas Svejkovsky was in for Jonathan Gruden and Matt Filipe for Justin Addamo at forward and the aforementioned St. Ivany was in for Ryan Shea and Owen Headrick was in for Taylor Fedun.

First Period: Penguins get a goal on what was thought to be a double deflection of a St. Ivany shot that was last touched by Jagger Joshua that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

The Monsters would respond in kind with a power play goal that tied it at one off the stick of Jake Gaudet.

But the Penguins would respond about a minute and a half later when Radim Zohorna unleashed a hell of a shot that beat Malcolm Subban.

Second Period: They outshoot the Monsters 18-6 in the period, yet they only still led by one goal despite going up two in the period off of this shot from Jack Rathbone which was tipped by Vasiliy Ponomarev for his first as a Penguin.

Again, the boxscore has the goal credited to Ponomarev.

The Monsters only had four shots on goal fifteen minutes into the period but it was one breakdown defensively that saw James Malatesta find himself alone on the left side and he picked a corner to bring the Monsters back within one.

Too close to call for the Penguins, up one, after being in control for large stretches of this game against team dressing 10 forwards.

Third Period: This was one of those grit your teeth hide your eyes periods for Penguins fans after being in control for much of the game to this point. We have all been here before, right?

A Jack St. Ivany shot was deleted in by Radio Zohorna but initially washed out on account of a possible high stick, but after a conference between the officials, it was awarded as a clean goal and a goal that re-established the Penguins two goal lead.

Good goal and the correct call. But they still should make it reviewable via video replay. Justin Kea was one of the referees tonight and he does NHL games, You don’t think he could use development in reviewing a possible goal on a cozy Monday AHL game in Cleveland?

Make these reviewable, is what I am saying.

Penguins continued to remain in control, Cleveland pulled their goaltender with around 3:45 left to play and then took a penalty. Instead of running the clock out they got a power play goal when Zohorna tipped in his third of the game off a shot from Xavier Ouellet.

That’s one way to make a statement.

Three Stars: 3) Jagger Joshua (goal, assist) 2) Jack St. Ivany (three assists) 1) Radim Zohorna (three goals, assist)

The Good: Complete game for the Penguins, despite the blemishes and lapses. Despite what it appeared, the Penguins were in control and the issue was never really in doubt.

The Bad: A stretch, but Cleveland dressed ten forwards and still had a chance to pull upset and were, by rights, in it till the end. A better Penguins team has this team down three goals.

Turning Point: Zohorna’s second goal which was initially waved off which gave the Penguins a two goal lead gets it here. If the goal was ruled illegal and the Monsters come back and win, this sequence still likely gets it so let’s just go with it.

Around the Division: Penguins at Cleveland was the only game in the AHL on Monday.

Standings: Hershey 93 – Providence 77 – Penguins 71 – Charlotte 68 – Hartford 67 – Lehigh Valley 60 – Springfield 59 – Bridgeport 47

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: I didn’t see any last night, so the AHL VideoCenter may be your best bet if you are so inclined.

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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!