Comments Off on Up, Down, All Around!
Posted by nafsnep on December 2, 2013
When they say, “get your scorecards here” they’ll mean it, especially at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
More moves you can shake a stick at today for the Penguins. Here they are….
– They sign Mike Carman to a standard AHL Player Contract for the remainder of the season. Carman had a goal for the Pens Saturday in Hershey, against his old team.
– They send Dustin Stevenson to Wheeling.
– They call up from Wheeling F Anton Zlobin and D Harrison Ruopp.
Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first. Rotating Ruopp and Stevenson is just Coal Street’s way of seeing what they have depth wise and how Ruopp can handle bigger, faster, better competition. For what it’s worth, I liked Dustin Stevenson’s game and didn’t have a complaint about his play at all.
The Pens are adding two forwards in the addition of Severyn and Zlobin. This leads me to believe the following: 1) they want insurance for the St. John’s trip this weekend, 2) it means Pittsburgh isn’t sending back a forward anytime soon. My initial thought on who is Andrew Ebbett. Ebbett played more games in the NHL last year for Vancouver than he did in the AHL for the Canucks’ affiliate at the time, the Chicago Wolves. Or, 3) The diagnoses on Forwards Nick Drazenovic and/or Dominik Uher are more on the side of long term. Update:I was partially right. Jonathan reports today that Nick Drazenovic is out “indefinitely” – not good.
For Severyn, he was in camp with Wilkes-Barre this fall and must have left an impression. He’s 6-11-17, +3 in 19 games for the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, he leads the Solar Bears in scoring and is 19th overall in the ECHL in points.
Boy, talk about a change of scenery for a guy like Severyn. The sunny skies and 70 to 80 degree weather of Orlando, Florida to the overcast and rain forecasted for St. John’s, Newfoundland this week.
Anyway, my Week 9 AHL Power Rankings, originally scheduled to run at 4 p.m., will debut at 5:15 p.m. instead. Come back later to check those out.
Comments Off on Back for More
Posted by nafsnep on December 1, 2013
Blog pal Scott from Norfolk sent me some audio of last night post game media scrum with Norfolk Admirals goaltender Brad Thiessen.
Boy, that feels weird. Putting another name that isn’t “Penguins” in front of Thiessen’s name.
Anyway, Scott was kind enough to send me the audio to use. So here it is, it’s about five minutes. If you like Van Halen and KT Tunstall, you are in for a treat too, as the Admirals had a post game skate last night after their 4-3 loss to the Providence Bruins and those artists were playing at the time loudly in the background.
Here’s the audio:
Just breaking down what was said here, Norfolk was not a target destination. It just happened to be right place at right time. Thiessen got back from Finland last Wednesday with no plan in place. Then, Viktor Fasth gets hurt in Anaheim and his phone rings. It’s Norfolk. They are interested. So he goes there, skates some this week, tells Norfolk Head Coach Trent Yawney he is ready to go and plays Saturday night.
Thiessen last played in a real game a month and a half ago.
He was glad to see a lot of shots by the Bruins (43 total) so it was good for him to get back into things and it did feel good playing after not playing in a while.
Asked about the role on the club, what with John Gibson seemingly as the #1 guy, Thiessen conceded that Gibson is the guy who is a young prospect that has a lot of talent. His job is someone who can help him along and teach him how it is to be a professional. When Thiessen’s services are called upon, he just wants to give the team a chance to win.
Finland was a tough experience for Thiessen and he is glad to be back in North America in the AHL playing with John Gibson and the Norfolk Admirals. He feels more comfortable on the smaller ice compared to the bigger ice in Finland.
Comments Off on A Point in the Can is Worth a Division Lead – Pens LOSE 3-2 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on November 30, 2013
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With the state of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins now, with half of their scoring on recall to Pittsburgh, a dogfight in Hershey was going to be expected. The Bears are underachieving right now, and they did not want to get outclassed by their rivals in Wilkes-Barre by going 0-fer in the season going into December.
They also accomplished this feat by yet another third period comeback, down 2-0 after the second intermission.
Jeff Deslauriers vs. David Leggio
Peter Merth was in for Dustin Stevenson. Dominik Uher needs “further evaluation” per Mike O’Brien on the pre game show from his upper body injury suffered Wednesday in Adirondack.
First Period: Pierre-Luc Letourneau Leblond and Joel Rechlicz fought in a dandy of a fight. Then, the Pens took a penalty and Stan Galiev scored to put the Bears ahead 1-0. Pens go 0-for-2 on the power play the rest of the way. The Bears really did a nice job of bottling up the Pens all period long.
Second Period: Pens fail to score on extended 5:00 major for charging on Garrett Mitchell on a hit from Brain Gibbons. Pens couldn’t do anything with it. Tempers flared as custom between these teams. Dave Leggio makes a nice save on Scott Harrington, Harry Zolnierczyk had about five chances all game to score but did not. Bears double the lead on a backhander just as a power play for them expires from Jeff Taffe.
Penguins really owned the period, but could not solve Leggio and gave up a goal to Taffe for a 2-0 deficit heading into the….
Third Period: Pierre Leblond scores his first goal for the Penguins on a firecracker of a shot from below the blue line to cut the Bears deficit in half. Hershey would then play full on prevent defense but Mike Carman would score in a scrum to tie the game late. Brian Gibbons and Harry Zolnierczyk were magic all night but just could not connect all night and missed one late. Deslauriers with a save on a Bear from the point. Penguins ice the puck three times in the final third seconds and it was onto…
Overtime: Mike Carman strips a Bear of a puck, feeds a streaking Kostopoulos but the captain misses. Then the Bears score with 6.6 left as David Kolomatis would receive a pass from the corner after Deslauriers directed a puck there. The Penguins goaltender was out of position as Kolomatis let loose and the Bears would take this one in overtime.
Three Stars: 3) Casey Wellman (two assists, +1) 2) Mike Carman (goal, +1) and 1) David Kolomatis (game winning OT goal, even)
Around the Division: Brad Thiessen loses in his 2013-14 AHL debut with the Norfolk Admirals 3-2 as the Providence Bruins sweep the weekend series with the Admirals. The Binghamton Senators lose 4-3 in a shootout to the St. John’s IceCaps and remain tied with Wilkes-Barre in points, but remains second in the division due to tiebreakers. The Syracuse Crunch bus broke down and arrived late for a game with the Adirondack Phantoms in Glens Falls but the Crunch still won 1-0 anyway.
Wheeling Update: The Nailers shutout the hapless Toledo Walleye 3-0 tonight in West Virginia. The Walleye have been shutout in three straight game. Anton Zlobin had a goal for the Nailers in the win.
SendToNews Highlights: Here they are. Or, alternatively, watch this…
Content wise, if anything breaks Sunday, I will have it here. If not, the Week 9 AHL Power Rankings will be here Monday afternoon at 4 p.m.
Last Game: Last night in Wilkes-Barre, the Pens won 1-0 vs. the Binghamton Senators. Eric Hartzell had the 25 save shutout and Harry Zolnierczyk scored for the Penguins. For Hershey, Wednesday they hosted St. John’s and lost 4-2. Ryan Stoa and Peter Leblanc scored for the Bears in a losing effort.
Last Meeting: November 16 in Wilkes-Barre the Penguins won 3-1.Brian Gibbons had a goal and an assist.
Record: For WBS: 13-5-0-2 (28 pts., 1st place East Division) For HER: 6-7-2-2 (16 pts., 5th place East Division)
Why you should care: The Bears are rested post Thanksgiving, having not played last night. The Penguins are coming off of a 1-0 shutout at home vs. Binghamton last night. I get the feeling that the Penguins will need more than one goal to get by the Bears tonight.
Other Game to Watch: Will ex-Penguin Brad Thiessen get the start for the Norfolk Admirals vs. the team he eliminated last season, the Providence Bruins? Norfolk hosts Providence tonight.
Next Five Games: @ STJ 12/6, @ STJ 12/7, SPR 12/11, HER 12/13, UTI 12/14
Comments Off on Hart Throb – Pens WIN 1-0
Posted by nafsnep on November 29, 2013
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It took 20 games, but the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have their first shutout.
Against a divisional foe.
By a rookie goaltender starting his second ever AHL game.
For first place.
Anchored by a 25 save performance by Eric Hartzell, the Penguins get a goal from Harry Zolnierczyk in the second period and ride solid defense the rest of the way to win 1-0 over rival Binghamton and are now in first place in the division.
Nathan Lawson vs. Eric Hartzell
Dominik Uher was listed as out with an “upper body” injury. Carter Rowney made his WBS debut for Uher. Peter Merth took warmups but was the lone healthy scratch.
Pre-game, the Pens announced that Jeff Deslauriers was signed to an AHL contract for the rest of the year. This should surprise no one. It wasn’t a matter of if they were going to sign Deslauriers, it was a matter of when.
First Period: Penguins went 0-for-7 on the power play and it showed early, especially with the second one of the night in the first period where the Penguins couldn’t get a single thing going. Late, shorthanded, Brian Gibbons hits the top of the goal post and the puck goes in at the buzzer. Only problem is, the puck went down and not in then was pushed in but after time expired. Replay confirmed the call.
Second Period: Eric Hartzell must have had six eyes and eight legs this period because he had every puck hit him this period. A redirect from in close? Saved. Penguins defensive turnover? Dial 555-BAIL – Eric is there to bail you out. A shot that goes through nine bodies on the ice that mere mortal goaltenders never see? Insured by Hartzell, we keep pucks out of the net! He saw everything and let everything hit him, closed his angles and was on money all period.
Then, Brian Gibbons takes a puck off the near low corner, sweeps it to Harry Zolnierczyk for the backhander to put the Pens up 1-0. Pens kill a 4:00 Brian Dumoulin high stick call, thanks in large part to the stout penalty kill and one Eric Hartzell.
Third Period: More terrible power play by the Penguins. A scary moment when Hartzell goes down and doesn’t move. The arena was quiet because most fans knew there wasn’t another goaltender in Wheeling for a call-up. Turns out, by my eyes, it was nothing but a cramp, as I saw trainer Kyle Moore mouth “cramp” while walking to the bench. Binghamton would have a power play to mess with after, but Hartzell and the stellar Wilkes-Barre penalty killing unit would deny all chances.
Three Stars: 3) Nathan Lawsn (25 saves on 26 shots) 2) Harry Zolnierczyk (goal, +1) and 1) Eric Hartzell (25 save shutout)
Last Game: Wednesday in Glens Falls, the Pens lost 3-1. Tom Kostopoulos had the lone goal for Wilkes-Barre in the loss. For Binghamton, the B-Sens won 5-1 at home Wednesday. Three Senators registered a +4, while two registered a +3.
Last Meeting: October 25 in Binghamton, the Penguins lost in a shootout 4-3.
Record: For WBS: 12-5-0-2 (26 pts., 2nd place East Division) For BNG: 14-5-0-0 (28 pts., 1st place East Division)
Why you should care: It’s Black Friday, and the Pens host division rival Binghamton for first place in the division. The B-Sens have been rolling of late and the Pens have lost more than they’ve gained in call ups recently. However, with the right effort, Wilkes-Barre can beat this team. Should be a fun one.
Blogger Note:In case you missed it, Brad Thiessen is back in North America and back in the East Division. Find out where here.
Welcome to the Chirps from Center Ice First Quarter Grades. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins passed the quarter pole last night with a 3-1 loss last night up in Glens Falls. The Pens boast a 12-5-0-2 record, good for 26 points and second place in the East Division behind the Binghamton Senators.
So, as tradition here on the blog, here goes my best effort at passing out grades.
This is how it works. Anyone who skated for the team gets a grade. Results based off of first quarter only.
Here we go…
(as soon as you click through the jump if you didn’t link in from somewhere else…)
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 