Chirps from Center Ice

vs.

3                                    2

–

So here’s the thing, if it’s anyone else other than Joel Blomqvist in the net for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Wednesday night, this is a blowout loss of epic proportions.

Instead, it was a close game throughout, but a game that the Penguins would lose 3-2 in overtime.

Wilkes-Barre carried a 2-1 lead into the third period but it was in this period that Lehigh Valley’s Cooper Marody started to cook. He scored the game tying goal and then in overtime the Penguins won the face-off, turned it over then never got it back and it was Marody at 1:04 of overtime that sent them packing.

Here’s how they lined up…

Lineup Notes: I completely forgot about Matt Filipe’s injury in the segment earlier today for the Weekend Preview. Other than that add Taylor Fedun and Lukas Svejkovsky to the injured list. They returned to the 12/6 format and Jonathan Gruden and Vinnie Hinostroza were back from Pittsburgh, Joona Koppanne was back from his weekend hiatus. Justin Addamo was out, the only lineup change from last game, but took warmups. 200th AHL game for Jonathan Gruden.

Magnus Hellberg was recalled to Pittsburgh earlier in the week. I didn’t mention it in the Weekend Preview because there’s no injury to any goalie (one of team were sick) so I would have thought he would have been back in time. He wasn’t and Taylor Gauthier was recalled from Wheeling.

First Period: Penguins came out flatter than two day old soda. That was foreshadowing on the night. But then Jonathan Gruden rang the post, and Jagger Joshua cleaned up the loose change and scored to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Only blemish of the night from referees Mason Riley and Jim Curtain was when Austin Rueschhoff had the puck but was called for hooking near the Phantoms net. Baffling decision, but these two were stellar tonight I thought and let the players dictate play. I really like Curtain, I think he’s one of the better refs in the AHL.

Second Period: Phantoms had a goal taken away when replay shows it bat off the glove of the player who redirected it in (I didn’t catch a number) and more great stuff from Curtain and Riley, the review on video took all of about ten seconds.

Then the Penguins could not win a face-off. At all. This time, they lose the face-off (again) and Lehigh Valley fumbles it at the blue line and Alex Nylander is set up for a breakaway and scores to make it 2-0 Wilkes-Barre.

But then Lehigh Valley got a legal goal to go when Bobby Brink scored in tight to make it a 2-1 game.

(Lehigh Valley didn’t GIF goals, check video highlights below)

Third Period: Cooper Marody with a slam dunk on the near side left unmarked for a goal at 11:24. No penalties for either side, Curtain and Riley must have work in the morning like I do and kept it moving.

Overtime: Penguins win face-off, I think Ryan Shea turns it over and Lehigh valley takes it, doesn’t relent and Cooper Marody scores his second for the game winning goal that wins it for the Phantoms.

Three Stars: 3) Bobby Brink 2) Alex Nylander (goal) 1) Cooper Marody (two goals)

The Good: They scratched out a point and have 60 on the season. If I didn’t have work in the morning I’d check to see when it was they got 60 last season. Likely late in the season, because they finished with just 66 last year.

I think they will be fine. This loss stinks though.

The Bad: They could have and very well should have won the game, but not for Blomqvist, would have lost badly. Ryan Shea wasn’t good at all either I thought.

Turning Point: Marody’s overtime game winner gets it here as the event of a goal in overtime always does. Pens are 1-7 in overtime this season. That alone may cost them a shot at a bye come playoffs.

Around the Division: Hartford beats Bridgeport clean 2-1….Hershey loses in a shootout 3-2 in Laval.

Standings: Hershey 81 – Providence 65 – Penguins 60 – Hartford 57 – Charlotte 53 – Springfield 51 – Lehigh Valley 49 – Bridgeport 47

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it Friday in Hershey, more then.

Let’s Go Pens!

  vs.

3                                   6

–

Really had to commit to the bit Saturday.

That’s because for one night, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins didn’t exist. Instead, they were the Pittston Tomatoes. So bear with me here.

The Tomatoes gritted out a 6-3 win over the visiting Laval Rocket Saturday and with the win, it marked head coach J.D. Forrest’s 100th in the AHL.

After doing everything right the night before in Rochester but running into a hot goaltender that ate everything they threw at them, the Tomatoes were able to crack Kasimir Kaskisuo, who coming into Saturday’s game against Pittston, was undefeated this season.

It will inch them closer to idle Providence and keep them ahead of fourth place Hartford for now.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: None. Same personnel and 11 forward / 7 defenseman setup from Friday.

First Period: Jan Mysak scored his first of the night win a deflection that put the Rocket up 1-0.

Pittston had the only power play of the period but looked good but were not able to score.

Second Period: Three goals in 94 seconds for the Tomatoes.

Max Cajkovic :26 in, followed by a low angle shot by Jagger Joshua at 1:15 and then called off by a goal from Justin Addamo at 2:00 and the Tomatoes were off to the races.

But the Rocket remained resilient and Mysak scored his second of the night when Joel Blomqvist got ran into by his own teammate.

Seemed like a thrill a minute pace in this period.

Third Period: Tomatoes would cash on the back end of a two man advantage when Jack Rathbone would find some daylight the top of the crease and rifle home a goal on the power play that reestablished Pittston’s two goal lead.

Laval made it interesting late when Xavier Simoneau scored to make it a one goal game again on this goal right here…

Which was a power play goal for the Rocket with Ty Smith in the penalty box for interference.

Pittston would net two empty net goals from Alex Nylander and Corey Andonovski to sauce the game away.

There was a very ridiculous save by Joel Blomqvist on Nathan Legare which are in the full highlight package you have to see to believe.

Three Stars: 3) Jagger Joshua (goal, assist) 2) Austin Rueschhoff (two assists) 1) Jack Rathbone (goal, assist)

The Good: Seemed like they gritted this one a bit, but the issue never seemed in doubt.

The Bad: They gritted this one out and it could have got away from them.

It didn’t though.

Turning Point: Jack Rathbone’s power play goal gets it here. Big goal at the time.

Around the Division: Springfield beats Charlotte 2-1 in overtime….Hershey does the same to Toronto only 3-2….Hartford also, but 2-1 over Bridgeport in overtime and Syracuse beat Lehigh Valley clean 2-1.

Standings: Hershey 78 – Providence – 63 – Tomatoes 59 – Hartford 55 – Charlotte 51 – Springfield 51 – Lehigh Valley 47 – Bridgeport 35

Wheeling Update: Nailers are still out in Utah and are playing their second of three with the Grizzlies. That box is here.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it Wednesday against the Phantoms when the Tomatoes morph back into the Penguins.

Let’s Go Tomatoes!

@

3                                 5

–

So the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins ran into a really good goaltender on Friday night.

I don’t know the whole story, but Devon Levi started the season in Buffalo playing in the NHL, was sent to the AHL to get reps. There was a necessity to make a recall, and Levi wasn’t selected, ex-Penguin Dustin Tokarski was.

I think if Levi keeps playing the way that he did Friday, Buffalo brass will have no choice but to recall him. His day will come, rest assured.

Penguins lose 5-3. I had a few Amerks fans counter me on Twitter when I said that the Pens “ran into a hot goalie” with that this is the way Levi plays. He stopped 41 shots.

The other end of the spectrum is Magnus Hellberg. I think we have to start having a discussion about Hellberg. As I mentioned in this weeks Weekend Preview, he’s only won 2 out of his last now 6 starts. Meanwhile Taylor Gauthier is having a career year in the ECHL. When does Gauthier get a look? I don’t know the answer. He gets all the starts for Wheeling. If they made a move, he wouldn’t get anything like that in Wilkes-Barre. Joel Blomqvist is the number one in these parts. It’s a fine line you have to walk with winning and development. Hellberg, while I won’t pin the loss all on him Friday, wasn’t good enough for the Penguins.

Here’s how they lined up. Rochester didn’t post lines:

Lineup Notes: Oh boy, a lot. Pittsburgh recalled Valtteri Puustinen, Jonathan Gruden and Vinnie Hinostroza on Thursday. The Pens recalled Justin Addamo and Max Cajkovic from Wheeling. Those two were in, Joona Koppanen missed the game or personal reasons, per Nick Hart. Because of this, they went 11 forwards. 7 defensemen with Taylor Fedun joining the six defensemen who skated in Toronto on Wednesday afternoon.

First Period: Pens had a bit of jump, could not Devon Levi. Rochester scores when Michael Mersch tipped in a shot from Mason Jobst. It looked borderline high, but was ruled a good goal.

These should be allowed to be reviewed, even if the review takes 10 seconds. Get it right.

I had no issue with the goal, by the way.

They navigated through some penalties, Levi continued to stymie them. But then Ryan Shea and Radim Zohorna scored 31 seconds apart and Wilkes-Barre lead 2-1.

Bit of a reward for them continuing to force the issue and they all of a sudden find themselves ahead.

Second Period: Penguins had 16 shots on goal in the period, all really goo, high danger shots, and Devon Levi stopped them all. Off one of those sequences, Levi would make a save and in transition the other way Michael Mersch would net his second of the game to tie the game at two.

Then a bit of goaltending adventurism by Magnus Hellberg.

Here, Hellberg should know better. He doesn’t stop the puck, falls over and spills everything on the ice while the goal is scored. Rochester takes a 3-2 lead when Tyson Kodak scores.

Devon Levi continued to stymie the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Third Period: Jiri Kulich scores to make it 4-2 at 8:21.

Tough shot. Two Penguin defenders in front of Hellberg may have changed the trajectory. I never played the position, I doubt you have either. Nevertheless it was a goal you didn’t want to see them give up.

Ty Smith scored at half way and the Pens looked like they may have been back in it.

Wilkes-Barre would get a power play that they had some good looks on but they could not solve Levi and continued to trail by a goal. J.D. Forrest puled Hellberg for the extra attacher and Rochester’s Linus Weissbach would score into the empty net to make it 5-3.

Three Stars: 3) Tyson Kozak (goal) 2) Mason Jobst (three assists) 1) Michael Mersch (two goals, assist)

The Good: 5 for 5 on the penalty kill.

The Bad: Seemed like it was death by a thousand paper cuts. 0 for 2 on the power play. Shaky back up goaltending. Yeah, half of their core went up to Pittsburgh and they were missing a forward in Koppanen. They need to regroup, quickly.

Turning Point: Kulich’s goal in the third put a seal on the fate for the Penguins.

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Providence clean 3-2 with a goal by Cole Bardreau with :25 left in regulation….Laval beats Hartford 5-2. Everyone else had Friday off.

Standings: Hershey 76 – Providence 63 – Penguins 57 – Hartford 53 – Charlotte 50 – Springfield 49 – Lehigh Valley 47 – Bridgeport 32

Wheeling Update: Nailers are out in Utah taking on the Grizzlies. That box is here.

Video Highlights: I must direct you to the AHL Video Center once they are uploaded there.

Back at it as they morph into the Pittston Tomatoes Saturday against the Laval Rocket.

Let’s Go Pens!

@

6                                  1

–

The weird thing about an away game in the morning is that you never know what you are going to get.

But the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins played a structured game and go into Toronto and win 6-1 on Wednesday early afternoon. The game was hairy at times, but a strong third period by the Penguins is enough to get them a clean two points against an out of division rival and will keep them ahead of Hartford in fourth place who still have five games in hand on the Penguins and will inch them closer to second place Providence. Nothing more you really could ask for in a road game,

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Raivis Ansons was back up from Wheeling and replaced Matt Filipe up front. Filipe was added to the injury report and is considered week to week. No status changes on the other players. Jack St. Ivany returned from injury and replaced Taylor Fedun.

First Period: Breezy start, few whistles. Penguins carried offensive play and finally got a goal with a nice give and go between Jonathan Gruden and Joona Koppanen. It was on one of those, “oh no, what are you doing why don’t you shoot the — oh! I see what you are doing! Yess they scored!!” moments….

Pretty quick period by standards. No penalties, few offsides.

Second Period: Not the best start for the Penguins as an innocuous shot is blocked but then put gun by Dylan Gambrell to tie the game at one just 65 seconds into the period:

Penguins had a five on three man advantage for over 90 seconds but a giveaway leads to a breakaway for the aforementioned Dylan Gambrell and Joel Blomqvist comes out of his crease near the far face-off dot for a poke check. The Pens managed just one or two shots on goal up two men and didn’t score.

Here’s that Blomqvist sequence…

Wilkes-Barre reestablishes its lead when Jack St. Ivany steps into a shot off of a face-off win that beats Keith Petruzzelli off the glove and in.

Feeling in the game was that the Penguins controlled it in parts and the parts they didn’t was a puff out your cheeks moment on every Marlies chance.

Third Period: I will never complain when the Penguins get scoring from their fourth line.

Corey Andonovski, with friends and family in attendance for the game, scores at 3:37 to make it a two goal Penguins lead.

Penguins continued to pile on when Peter Abbandonato stuck to a puck like white on rice along the boards and shuffled a pass to Jack Rathbone who found Alex Nylander across the ice. Nylander had time and space and scored to make it at three goal lead for the visitors.

Really nifty, team setup on that one.

Then Toronto pulls Petruzzelli in a home run attempt to get some goals and Radim Zohorna scores on the empty net to ice the game away essentially and made it 5-1. But then rubbing salt in the wound, with Petruzzelli re-established firmly in net, Jack St. Ivany rips another for a goal that made it 6-1. Here are each of the goals.

Three Stars: 3) Corey Andonovski (goal) 2) Alex Nylander (goal) 1) Jack St. Ivany (two goals)

The Good: They bottled up Toronto and were the better team at even strength and came away with a very business like two points.

The Bad: Game in the balance, you gotta get a goal on th two man advantage. I heard play by play man Nick Hart say that Petruzzelli had given up something like 20 goals in his last five starts, you have to find a way to put pucks at him to force him to stop it no matter how bad your look is. The power play is slowly starting to be one of the weaker points with this team and the lack of success is going to cost them the further we go into this 25th season.

Turning Point: So many to pick from, but Corey Andonovski’s goal in the opening moments of the third period gave the Penguins the momentum to coast down the hill and into a cool two points and out of Toronto with a blowout win.

Around the Division: Weird that on a Wednesday in the AHL that no other Atlantic Division team was in action.

Standings: Hershey 76 – Providence 63 – Penguins 57 – Hartford 53 – Charlotte 50 – Springfield 49 – Lehigh Valley 47 – Bridgeport 32

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

They are back Friday in Rochester. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

@

4                                  5

–

No, it’s not a poop joke. Matt Brown, a call up from the ECHL affiliate of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms the Reading Royals and the Royals leading scorer, used a trick move and beat Joel Blomqvist in the top of the fourth inning in the shootout on Friday, the Penguins first shootout of the season and Wilkes-Barre loses 5-4.

Brown only has 5 AHL games, total, under his belt. That’s 5 more than you or I, and that move took some stones man. Nothing you could do but just stare in awe.

Anyway, it’s a game that they battled back from two goals on in the third period and they get another point and have the rest of the weekend off and will be back at it Wednesday morning in Toronto.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Jesse Puljujarvi signed an NHL contract with Pittsburgh. The Penguins sent Raivis Ansons to Wheeling on Thursday and recalled Dillon Hamaliuk and Lukas Svejkovsky. Reason? Marc Johnstone and Sam Poulin are injured:

They can live with Poulin and St. Ivany being day to day. You can manage that. They will miss Marc Johnstone. The kid did everything. Played with his hair on fire every shift. If it’s a separated shoulder (he was tripped hard into the boards) it’s a 3 month (May 2024) recovery period. If it’s a broken collarbone it could be sooner, but you have to immobilize. I’m not going to play doctor.

First Period: One thing I noticed off the jump was that the power play was immediately better with Lukas Svejkovsky on it.

It was Wade Allison opening the scoring late while they were four on four.

Off the bar and in.

:33 later, while the Penguins were on a power play, Vinnie Hinostroza had an immediate response and tied the game at one.

Couple seconds after that, Peter Abbandonato would whiff o a wide open net but would get himself in position to tip in a shot and give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

Three goals in 1:43. A frenetic finish.

Second Period: Penguins got jumped for three goals in a 112 second span.

On a power play, Bobby Brink wheels around the net and connects with teammate Rhett Gardner for a tap in goal that tied the game at two.

Then Xavier Ouellet was covering Brandon Furry in front, falls down and Furry continues to hack and whack for a goal that makes it 3-2 Phantoms.

Then the Phantoms put on the three man weave like in basketball and JR Avon scores to make it 4-2.

Remember how I kept banging the drum on when the Penguins would be  down in a  game and would benefit from cashing on a power play?

They had two opportunities in the period and looked good. They generated shots, but weren’t able to crack Felix Sandstrom.

Third Period: At the expiration of a power play, Vinnie Hinostroza scores to bring the Penguins to back within one.

1:10 later, it was Ty Smith with a bomb from the point that tied the game.

Relentless forecheck from Austin Rueschhoff to set the whole damn thing up.

They went back and forth some more then the Penguins found themselves in more penalty trouble with 3:29 left to play but got out of it OK. No scoring the rest of the way and it was off to…

Overtime: They never seemed to get out of the chute the right way and I thought it was curtains on them a few times but Joel Blomqvist made a hell of save that preserved the deadlock. It was then off to the…

Shootout: First of the season for WBS. Here’s where they miss a guy like Puljujarvi or Poulin.

– JR Avon with a nifty pull the string backhand roof job in round one.
– Alex Nylander made too many moves.
– Bobby Brink made a hundred moves and didn’t get a good shot off.
– Lukas Svejkovsky had a neat stutter step and scored.

Then Wade Allison makes a move in Round 3, falls and bumps into Blomqvist and the puck goes in. After a brief conference by the officials, Patrick Hanrahan and Jackson Kozari consulted video review and ruled no goal.

After all that waiting, Vinnie Hinostroza stepped up and lost the handle.

Then Matt Brown stepped up and did his thing. Scroll back up and watch that again. Peter Abbandonato had to score and couldn’t. Phantoms win.

Three Stars: 3) Matthew Brown (disgusting shootout goal) 2) Vinnie Hinostroza (goal, two assists) 1) Wade Allison (goal, assist)

Honorable Mention: Jonathan Gruden had three assists.

The Good: Dug deep and gritted out a point when they were down two goals coming into the third.

The Bad: They did this against the seventh place team in the division, Hershey or Providence doesn’t allow this to happen.

Turning Point: The Ty Smith goal that gets them the point gets it here. The Shootout is a circus act that just guarantees a winner.

Around the Division: Charlotte with a big 4-3 OT win in Cleveland….Hartford wins 4-1 in their 2,000th AHL game over Bridgeport who they have played 1750 times out of those 2000 it seems….Hershey beats Providence in a battle of division heavies 3-1.

Standings: Hershey 76 – Providence 61 – Penguins 55 – Hartford 53 – Charlotte 48 – Springfield 47 – Lehigh Valley 45 – Bridgeport 31

Wheeling Update: Nailers have 11 straight wins. Justin Addamo scores the overtime game winner and the Nailers beat the Reading Royals 2-1. Taylor Gauthier with another win.

Video Highlights: Not up yet. AHL VideoCenter is likely your bets bet.

Weekend Preview returns to its regular scheduled slot likely Tuesday night to get it out front of the Wednesday morning game in Toronto. Talk to you then.

Let’s Go Pens!