Last Game: Last night in Adirondack, the Pens won in overtime 3-2. Alex Grant scored the overtime game winner. For Albany, they hosted the Providence Bruins and lost 4-1. Jon Merill scored the only goal for the Devils in the loss.
Last Meeting: March 2 in Wilkes-Barre, the Pens won in a shootout 2-1. Adam Payerl was named first star of the game with the game winning shootout goal.
Record: For WBS: 38-28-2-2 (80 pts., 3rd place East Division) For ALB: 29-27-1-11 (70 pts., 3rd place Northeast Division)
Why you should care: Penguins continue the weekend three in three against what should be a sellout crowd tonight. They need another strong start and a 60 minute finish to snuff out the Devils tonight. If they can do this, they will be assured a playoff berth in days, not weeks.
Promotion(s): Girl Scout Night – Bobblehead #2 presented by Dodge (first 5,000 fans)
Other Game to Watch: Two games. Keep an eye on Syracuse at Hershey and Binghamton at Norfolk. With a Bears and Admirals win the Pens can, with a win of their own, get to within five points of the division lead.
Next Five Games: HER 4/7, @ STJ 3/13, @ STJ 3/14, WOR 3/19, MCH 3/20
Joining the club is F Chris Barton, the Wheeling Nailers second leading scorer this year with 23-20-43 in 47 games this season. Barton has played four games for the Penguins this season.
Also coming in is D Harrison Ruopp, who was part of the trade this past offseason with the Phoenix Coyotes. Ruopp completed his junior season with the Prince Albert Raiders of the Ontario Hockey League and plays a very physical game. He was 1-15-16 in 65 games for the Raiders.
Goalies Scott Darling, who was 13-12-3 in 31 games for the Nailers with a 2.80 GAA and a .906 save percentage and Matt Murray from the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League who posted 26-19-4 record in 53 games with a 3.67 GAA and a .894 save percentage round out the additions made today.
Barton and Darling signed professional tryout agreements (PTOs) and Ruopp and Murray signed amateur tryout agreements (ATOs)
A name not on the list is Keven Veilleux. The often injured Veilleux was sent to Wheeling when he finally got healthy then found himself in trouble when he used a racial slur in a game that got him suspended 10 games. I would assume that his playing days for the Penguins organization are over.
So that’s that. Penguins take host the Albany Devils tonight at 7 p.m. Gameday for that affair will be up here at 3 o’clock.
Comments Off on Fight the Ghosts Off With the Broom – Pens WIN 3-2 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on April 5, 2013
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In a few years when the Lehigh Valley Phantoms bud to life, this will be a heck of a rivalry.
The Penguins sweep the season series against the Phantoms and win 3-2 in overtime cutting the magic number to clinch playoffs to at least 9 points. Basic mathematics are not my strong suit (automotive care and women the others) so it could be 10 points, 9 points or 8 points. I don’t honestly know.
Jeff Zatkoff vs. Brian Boucher. Chris Collins was out for Steve MacIntyre
First Period: Had the look and feel of a pickup game, with the long stretch passes and the back and forth swapping in and out of each teams offensive zones. Teams would trade power plays, but the Phantoms obviously wanted to get the jump on the Pens and led shots at one point 7-1. The Penguins only had one shot at even strength.
Second Period: Period transitioned to a wide open first, to a second filled with defensive zone turnovers by the Penguins and penalties. I noted the following:
Almost as soon as Cignoli tweets that, the Penguins fail to clear the defensive zone, Jason Akeson feeds Garrett Roe who scores.
Pens get the goal back when Joey Mormina sends one in from the blue line that Jayson Megna gets a stick on on the way in for a tie game.
Continual defensive zone turnovers. More than usual. How many times this year have you seen the other team score when the Penguins fail to clear? Happens a lot.
Bobby Farnham fights Jeff Dimmen after Dimmen throws a legal center ice check on him. The Pens were steaming up ice on a two on one. That was wiped away when Farnham and Dimmen started engaging. Farnham took and extra 2:00 for unsportsmanlike. Wouldn’t you rather a guy like Keven Veilleux out there in lieu of Farnham? I know Veilleux is right handed, but it seems that most nights Farnham is a bit of a liability more often than not.
Defensive stalemate, see point number one.
Third Period: Penguins played this period almost like they were not going to allow the Phantoms to beat them. Seemed that the Phantoms tried to rile up the Penguins, going after Steve MacIntyre and Zach Sill, but the Pens looked past that. Riley Holzapfel would lead a rush, drop a pass to Brian Gibbons, peel off and Gibbons would find him and Holzapfel smoked one home to make it 2-1. Adirondack would eventually get one back when ATO Kyle Flanagan sets up Shane Harper on the power play. Brian Dumoulin would get a good look late but it was on to…
Overtime: Pens opened up on a power play. They do not score on it, but seconds later Alex Grant shoots from the blue line and wins it for the Pens.
Three Stars: 3) Brian Boucher (22 saves on 25 shots) 2) Jeff Zatkoff (27 saves on 29 shots) and 1) Alex Grant (game winning overtime goal, +1)
Around the Division: Two teams in the Division make playoffs tonight, both being defeated by other teams in the division not currently in, but looking to get in. Norfolk beats Binghamton 2-1 and Hershey subdues Syracuse 4-1.
Conference: 1) PRO (89) 2) SPR (87) 3) SYR (87) 4) SYR (87) 5) POR (81) 6) WBS (80) 7) CT (76) 8) HER (75)
SendToNews Highlights: I don’t know that Adirondack has them. I will check again in the morning though.
Albany comes in tomorrow for a 7:05 start. Gameday for that will be up at 3, if some Black Aces from Wheeling get assigned, look for all that on Twitter tomorrow.
Last Game: Tuesday in Norfolk, the Pens won 3-2. Chad Kolarik had two assists. For Adirondack last Saturday they hosted the Bridegport Sound Tigers and won 4-1. Kyle Flanagan had a goal and an assist and was named first star of the game.
Last Meeting: February 22 in Philadelphia, the Pens won 2-1. Brad Thiessen stopped 29 of 30 shots and was named first star of the game.
Record: For WBS: 37-28-2-2 (78 pts., 3rd place East Division) — For ADK: 28-34-2-3 (61 pts., 5th place Northeast Division)
Why you should care: The beginning of the final three in three of the regular season find the Penguins in Glens Falls, where they face an Adirondack Phantoms team playing for pride at this point. Could be a trap game for the Pens if they get complacent.
Comments Off on NHL Trade Deadline Wrap
Posted by nafsnep on April 3, 2013
The NHL trade deadline came and went Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Here’s how things affect the AHL’s East Division:
Washington / Hershey
– D Garrett Stafford for LW Dane Byers. Byers comes over from Oklahoma City. It’s an AHL vet for an AHL vet, so the Bears will remain one over the legal limit to dress each game. Byers was 6-4-10 in 58 games with the Barons this season. Moving Stafford left a hole on the Bears back end but later in the day Washington sent back Dmitry Orlov and Tomas Kundratek.
– Prospect Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. Latta will report to Hershey. He comes over from Milwaukee, where he was second on the Admirals in points and first in assists. Latta is a non-vet and a physical, aggressive player. Latta was a fan favorite in Milwaukee, too.
– Jeff Deslauriers for future considerations to the Minnesota Wild. The one time WBS Penguin Deslauriers was buried in the Anaheim goaltending system. He’ll join AHL Houston.
Ottawa / Binghamton
– Ben Bishop for Cory Conacher. What this means for Binghamton is Robin Lehner stays up for good as Craig Anderson’s backup and the AHL nets belong to Nathan Lawson and Marc Chevrie.
– Patrick Killeen to Columbus for future considerations. Killeen fell off the radar way back in the beginning of the season when he wasn’t even invited to Pittsburgh’s prospect camp. He’ll likely join the Springfield Falcons as a Black Ace.
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Analysis
I don’t see a clear winner here. I also don’t see a huge loser either. Hershey got better, but nothing that makes you say, “wow.” Maybe you can say that Binghamton lost more in having Lehner graduating full time. You also would not be wrong in asserting that Syracuse is structurally stronger in getting their number one goalie back for the playoff run. Time tells all.
There were other, “paper” moves to get players assigned to the AHL for the purposes of playing in the postseason. A notable name not on that list was Simon Despres, which means that he is with Pittsburgh for the duration.(edit:Jonathan tweets that Despres indeed has been sent to WBS to make him eligible for AHL playoffs if by chance Wilkes-Barre lasts longer than Pittsburgh in the postseason)
Comments Off on Upon Further Review – Pens WIN 3-2
Posted by nafsnep on April 2, 2013
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Penguins get two goals confirmed on replay and win what would end up being a tight one, 3-2. Cardiac Penguins forever!
Jeff Zatkoff vs. Frederik Andersen
Cody Wild slotted in for the recalled Robert Bortuzzo. Clark Seymour is on the trip. Reid McNeill was not, attending to a personal matter. Steve MacIntyre took warmups but was scratched.
First Period: All Norfolk to open the period, who had three shots on goal. Then, Trevor Smith corrals a loose puck, catches the Norfolk defensemen flatfooted and gets space, shoots and corals his own rebound and the puck goes in. Referees reviewed for a possible kicking motion, but the goal stood.
Then the Pens get the benefit of three straight power plays and are unable to score on them. If the Pens have even a marginal power play, it’s a 2-0 or even 3-0 lead.
Second Period: Penguins would have to kill off two power plays by Norfolk to open the period. They do. Then, late, Riley Holzapfel scores on a wired wrist shot that hits the inside top of crossbar and out. Referee Mar Lemelin took a look and confirmed his call. Later, Pens come in four on one, shoot, and Chris Collins is there in the slot pouncing on a rebound. Collins’ first WBS goal since his return.
Third Period: They ain’t the Cardiac Penguins for nothing, Norfolk cuts it to 3-2, Newcomer Kyle Bonis scores his first AHL goal on a Hail Mary pass from deep in the Norfolk offensive zone from Josh Brittain, slows down a bouncing puck and wires it past Zatkoff to put the Admirals on the board. All Admirals this period. Cody Wild takes a delay of game call. Hampus Lindholm winds up from the point, Devante Smith-Pelly tips it on the way home.
John Hynes then calls a time out. Huge time out in retrospect. Pens lock down the Admirals from there. Tom Grace says postgame that Norfolk maybe had two shots on goal after the timeout, with 5:36 remaining in the third.
Miscellany: I said four games ago that the Pens needed to go 3-1 in these last four games to cement themselves in playoffs. This after a terrible showing against these very Admirals two Saturdays ago when things looked, at least to me, bleak as bleak could be. 3-0-0-1 ain’t too shabby, which is 5 out of 6 points and one back of Portland for the five seed.
And how about Chad Kolarik? Three points off of the overall AHL point lead with 59 points. Something worth watching as the season winds down.
Three Stars: 3) Kyle Bonis (goal, even) 2) Chad Kolarik (two assists, +2) and 1) Riley Holzapfel (goal, +2)
Conference: 1) SPR (87) 2) PRO (87) 3) SYR (87) 4) BNG (87) 5) POR (79) 6) WBS (78) 7) CT (74) 8) HER (73)
Pens have 69 games played, which is most out of all of what you see above. Portland has 67. Binghamton, if things get really weird, have 67 games played.
SendToNews Highlights: I have something even better than this, YouTube highlights which are the same thing! I’d love to see WBS put the SendToNews package up on YouTube every night. For your viewing enjoyment…
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Pens stay in Norfolk tonight then will bus ten and a half hours straight to Glens Falls, NY tomorrow for Friday’s tilt vs. Adirondack.
Trade deadline is tomorrow. Syracuse and Hershey made some moves and transactions today. There may or may not be more tomorrow. I would love to see Pittsburgh land a scorer for Wilkes-Barre. Twitter will have it first, then Facebook then later the blog. I will have a recap of all the transactions tomorrow.
Last Game: Saturday in Binghamton, the Pens beat the B-Sens 3-2 in a shootout. Trevor Smith scored his twentieth goal of the season. For Norfolk, Saturday they hosted the Syracuse Crunch and won 2-0. Frederick Andersen had a 41 save shutout.
Last Meeting: March 23 in Wilkes-Barre, the Pens lost 4-1. Alex Grant had the only Penguins goal in the contest.
Record: For WBS: 36-28-2-2 (76 pts., 3rd place East Division) For NOR: 33-29-4-1 (71 pts., 5th place East Division)
Why you should care: This should shape up to be an interesting matchup between two teams battling for the playoffs. The Penguins presently are in, but as we have seen, play down to teams below them in the standings. The Norfolk Admirals are coming off a weekend sweep of the first place Syracuse Crunch. The Admirals are not to be taken lightly.
Other Game to Watch: Going to go Bridgeport and Worcester, two teams that have their playoff window slowly closing. The winner keeps those hopes alive while the loser sees what little hope there is diminish more.
Next Five Games: @ ADK 4/5, ALB 4/6, HER 4/7, @ STJ 3/13, @ STJ 3/14
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 