Chirps from Center Ice

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This one felt like a playoff game.

It has to be for Laval, who sit second in a razor thin North Division and the Penguins, trying to chase down a faltering Hershey team for the fifth spot in the Atlantic Division and stave off being chased by the Bridgeport Islanders.

Saturday afternoon’s results was a 5-3 Laval Rocket win over the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

A late goal by Nate Schnarr from a tight angle gave the Rocket a 4-3 lead after the Penguins battled back to tie the game at three off of a Chris Bigras goal. It looked like they were headed to overtime, but Schnarr and the Rocket had other ideas.

Louis Domingue opposed Cayden Primeau.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Corey Andonovski for Kasper Bjorkqvist was the only lineup change. Bjorkqvist was recalled at 5 p.m. Saturday.

First Period: These two teams don’t play each other often, but this was an explosive start.

1:19 in, Louie Belpedio bullrushes Domingue and Kevin Roy puts the puck in the net.

Referees Mike Campbell and Mackenzie Nichol briefly discussed it but let the goal stand.

I don’t know. No one pushed Belpedio into Domingue and initiated contact. From the angle of the camera looked like Domingue was in his crease. What’s goaltender interference? No one knows.

Pens get the goal back when Michael Chaput scored to tie the game at one.

But then ex-Penguin J-S Des finds Cedric Paquette with a tape to tape pass that Paquette easily taps past Domingue for a 2-1 Rocket lead.

Ridiculous pass but a better finish.

Things settled down from there, a bit. There was about 1:20 of straight three-on-three action which spilled over to the…

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre couldn’t get anything going offensively because they were killing penalty after penalty after penalty.

But late in the period, J-C Beaudin takes a path toward the net, takes a shot which is blocked, then he gets the puck back and wheels around the net and finds Gabriel Bourque who scores to make it 3-1 Rocket.

One of those, “look out! damn!” moments watching it in real time.

But the Penguins get it back about 1:15 later when Sam Poulin scores to bring it back to one for the Pens.

Third Period: Wilkes-Barre had a chance on a power play and it was a good effort but a better kill by the Rocket getting out of it clean.

Chris Bigras scored to tie the game at 3 at even strength.

Kinda felt there was another goal out there with a lot of time left to play.

Sadly, the other team scored that goal. Nate Schnarr scores from a stupid angle and lifts the puck over the shoulder of Louis Domingue to score and make it 4-3 for Laval.

Pens, with Domingue pulled, see Rafael Harvey-Pinard score an empty net goal.

Three Stars: 3) Cedric Paquette (goal) 2) Rafael Harvey-Pinard (goal, two assists) 1) Kevin Roy (goal, assist)

The Good: Nice way to battle back to 3-3 midway through the game. It did truly feel like a playoff game.

The Bad: I don’t like scoreboard watching, and with this result that is what we will be doing the remainder of the weekend.

Turning Point: Nate Schnarr’s marker late in the third gets it here. Obvious choice.

Around the Division: Bridgeport pounds Toronto 5-1…Hershey loses in a shootout in Hartford 4-3…Providence beats Springfield in a heavyweight battle 3-2…Belleville beats Lehigh Valley 3-2 in a shootout.

Standings: Hershey five up on the Pens for the fifth spot. Bears aren’t in action until next Friday. Pens burn off their last game in hand on Hershey Wednesday against Hartford. Bridgeport is .008 percentage points off the Pens for the final playoff spot (the Pens have .516 percentage points)

Who plays who tomorrow: Hershey is off, Bridgeport comes back across the border and travels to Rochester.

Wheeling Update: Indy beats the Nailers 5-4 in overtime. Matt Alfaro and Patrick Watling score.

Video Highlights: If I see one I will run it here.

Pens will travel back to USA Sunday, figure to have a few days off and will host Hartford Wednesday at 7. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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That’s more like it.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins after getting shelled and obliterated in Toronto 48 hours before, play a stay at home type game against the Belleville Senators and win 3-1.

It was a close game throughout, and if I am a Belleville fan I say that I deserved a better fate, but the Penguins are in win now mode and it went their way Friday.

Good news for the Penguins out of town too, more on that later.

Tommy Nappier opposed Mads Sogaard.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Felix Robert and Nathan Legare for Jamie Devane and Corey Andonovski up front and Cam Lee for Matt Bartkowski on defense.

First Period: Nothing of substance, Robert and Drew O’Connor had a shorthanded chance that ex-Bear Colby Williams gets back to break up.

Second Period: Valtteri Puustinen finishes off a nice tic tac toe play to put the Penguins on the board first.

But soon after Logan Shaw scored on a backdoor play to bring the Senators back even with the Penguins.

(Belleville didn’t GIF the goal)

Shots were an even 19 each for both sides.

Third Period: Alex Nylander scores a rebound goal from a Sam Poulin shot for his first road goal for the Penguins.

Belleville had a late power play, but didn’t really get a good look at a Grade A scoring chance.

Jonathan Gruden hits an empty net to seal it away and that was the ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Logan Shaw (goal) 2) Valtteri Puustinen (goal) 1) Alexander Nylander (goal)

The Good: Nice way to bounce back after that pounding the Marlies laid on Wednesday. We don’t see Belleville as much as we should and they beat the Penguins last time, so this was a good win.

The Bad: 0/4 on the power play. But that may be nitpicking.

Turning Point: The goal by Nylander, his first road goal for the Penguins, puts the B-Sens in a hole they were never able to climb out of.

Around the Division: That out of town good news I mentioned at the open? Hershey loses 2-0 in Providence…Cleveland beats Charlotte 1-0….Springfield beats Hartford 3-2….Laval piledrives Lehigh Valley 5-1.

Standings: Pens four points back of Hershey with a game in hand for fifth in the division. Pens four up on idle Bridgeport.

Who plays who tomorrow: Hershey travels to Hartford and Bridgeport is in Toronto.

Wheeling Update: Nailers beat the Kalamazoo Wings at home 4-1. The K-Wings only had 14 shots. Justin Almeida had a pair of goals.

Video Highlights:

More tomorrow afternoon after the 3 p.m. start in Laval.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Toronto Marlies are not a team I would want to face in the playoffs. Reason? A result like you saw tonight, after watching them yesterday. They blast the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 6-1 Wednesday.

This is the Toronto Marlies, a team that can look like the best team in the AHL one night and the worst team in the AHL the next. It’s a volatile problem to have playing in a volatile division such as the North Division, where you can go from second to sixth place in a weekend.

Louis Domingue, starting his sixth straight game, opposed Keith Petruzzelli.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: None for the Penguins, lots for Toronto.

First Period: No penalties, pretty even otherwise, until Josh Ho-Sang who was scratched last night did this:

That was disgusting. He takes it out of his own zone, splits two defenders in the neutral zone, then gets away from FOUR DEFENDERS and scores. Just wow.

Second Period: The Marlies continued to pummel Louis Domingue with goal after goal after goal. They scored three straight and outshot the Pens 2:1 with 16 shots to Wilkes-Barre’s 8. Domingue was keeping the Penguins in the game as best he could, but he was literally on an island out there. Toronto Marlies Head Coach Greg Moore’s 3,000 lineup changes seemed to be working. Here were all the goals.

That goal there was a power play goal.

Immediately after this goal, Michale Chaput came out and hit a post. It was something considering they were getting flattened in the period.

Then Toronto was called for a penalty, their first of the game, with :05 left in the period and Juuso Riikola unleashed a shot that Drew O’Connor got a piece of and it got past Petruzzelli to break up his shutout bid and Wilkes-Barre was on the board.

Third Period: Any faint hope of a Penguins comeback was smashed to bits when Nick Robertson found Josh Ho-Sang for yet another power play goal that made it 5-1.

This is silly. Ho-Sang is ALL ALONE right next to Domingue.

To make matters worse, the Marlies scored yet another power play goal when Bobby McMann scored this goal right here.

The Marlies called off the dogs after that.

Three Stars: 3) Josh Ho-Sang (two goals, assist) 2) Keith Petruzzelli (32 saves) 1) Nick Robertson (goal, three assists)

The Good: Moving on….

The Bad: Can’t go 2/5 on the penalty kill. But Toronto scored two power play goals in the third and the game was already decided, so it can’t be that.

Turning Point: Bobby McMann’s first goal, the one that made it 4-0, was the back breaker. The Pens could score one goal which leads to another which would then lead to another, but not a four goal deficit when the Marlies are a freight train running downhill.

Around the Division: Absolutely no help on the out of town scoreboard. Hershey wins 5-1 over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms….Bridgeport beats Utica 4-1.

None of anything else which follows matters, but Springfield beat Hartford 3-1.

Standings: Hershey in fifth with .557, Pens in sixth at .517 and Bridgeport in seventh at .500.

Who Plays Who: Hershey is in Providence Friday, Islanders are off.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are beat by the Indy Fuel 4-1.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are in Belleville Friday. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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So this was a game in hand on idle Hershey that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have on the Bears. They have two. They now have one. Games in hand don’t mean anything if you don’t win them.

They won this one. Considerably.

After going down 1-0 in the first, the Penguins rattle off five straight and roll the Marlies 5-1 Tuesday night. The teams rematch Wednesday.

Louis Domingue opposed Michael Hutchinson.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Jamie Devane for Filip Hallander. who is on the trip and day to day with a lower body injury. Jordy Bellerive went to the top line in Hallander’s place. Juuso Riikola was back in the lineup for Cam Lee. Taylor Fedun is not on the trip.

First Period: Pens trailed 1-0 on a Joey Anderson power play goal, the only power play of the period. They outshot the Marlies 13-11 in the period but seven of those shots were taken from just inside the blue line.

Easy, easy work for goaltender Michael Hutchinson, especially when you aren’t putting any traffic in front of the net an either screening or tipping pucks in front of the net.

Here’s the Joey Anderson goal. The Pens couldn’t win a faceoff and it cost them.

That’s a shot from just inside the blue line and a player screening the goaltender and tipping a shot for a goal. That’s how you do it.

Second Period: Hah. The Penguins must have gotten the message because they exploded for four goals. Two of the goals came off of tips.

Here’s the first, a Will Reilly shot that Kasper Bjorkqvist deflected for a goal that tied it at one.

Anthony Angello let a shot go that caught Hutchinson off guard, and I think he needs to take that shot more often.

:25 later, Jamie Devane put in a rebound and it was 3-1 Penguins.

Later, Kyle Olson deflected a Mitch Reinke shot and it was 4-1. The second deflected goal of the period.

Also Olson’s 23rd birthday. Birthday biscuits.

Third Period: Toronto started kicking the door down, but Domingue kept them out with some acrobatic saves. You kind of got the feeling that if Toronto scored one, they would likely score another.

Well, it didn’t happen. The Penguins only took one penalty in the period and then Michael Chaput created a turnover and scored off of said turnover.

If it wasn’t hugely evident leading up to it, it was clear after. Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Kasper Bjorkqvist (goal) 2) Will Reilly (two assists) 1) Louis Domingue (30 saves)

The Good: I’m assuming I wasn’t the only one that caught the points I raised in the first period recap. The Pens needed to generate more traffic in front of Hutchinson and in the second period and beyond they did. The second period effort won them the game because of lessons learned from the first.

The Bad: I couldn’t really find anything. Toronto is so Jekyll and Hyde. It was painfully evident in this game alone.

Turning Point: The goal :25 after the Pens made it 2-1, the one scored by Devane on a rebound made a tough night for the hosts even tougher and rougher.

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Hershey in fifth with .550. Pens in sixth with .525. Bridgeport in sixth with .492.

Who Plays Who Tomorrow: Pens are in a rematch against the Marlies….Hershey hosts Lehigh Valley and Bridgeport is in Utica.

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights:

More tomorrow for the rematch.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It’s isn’t really, but just go with it. The real translation for horse in French can be found in the slug. The slug is the last bit of the web page when you click in directly to this blog piece or, if you are on the main webpage, clicking on the headline will bring you into the page where this game story resides, if you are really interested in the true definition of French for horse.

Louis Domingue started this game, a 3-2 Penguins win over the Eastern Conference’s best Utica Comets, and has stared every game but for one, since returning from injury.

The Penguins are far and away a better team with him in goal. They hold Syracuse to just one goal Friday night (and lose 1-0) then methodically take down the Eastern Conference’s best team in Utica who has been the best team in the Conference since the start of the season.

Akira Schmid started in goal for the Comets.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Jordy Bellerive and Kyle Olson in for Felix Robert and Nathan Legare.

First Period: Frederick Gauthier strips a puck and races inn and beats Domingue for a 1-0 Utica lead with about three minutes to play.

(Utica didn’t GIF any goals)

Second Period: Sam Poulin and Jordy Bellerive score about three minutes apart from one another and the Pens were all of a sudden ahead 2-1. Poulin tipped a Cam Lee shot and then Drew O’Connor setup Bellerive for his goal. Here they are:

Seemed like a complete reversal from the first, where the Penguins were controlling much of the play and had the bounces to go with it.

Third Period: They made it 3-1 with another tip of a shot, this time belonging to Chris Bigras and tipped by Filip Hallander.

Utica didn’t get any closer as time wore off the clock. Penguins took three penalties in the period so not doing themselves any favors in that regard. The Comets did cash with the goalie pulled for a late 6-on-4 goal scored by Robbie Russo, but they never were able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Louis Domingue (26 saves) 2) Sam Poulin (goal) 1) Jordy Bellerive (goal)

The Good: Taking down the top team in the Conference should be the shot in the arm this team needs that propels them into the playoffs and beyond.

The Bad: Can’t bet taking penalties, undisciplined ones at that (high sticks) in the third period while you are defending a two goal lead against the Conference’s best team.

Turning Point: Seemed innocent at the time, but the Hallander goal in the third period gave the Penguins the breating room needed to escape with the win.

Around the Division: Hershey lost in Laval 5-1…Bridgeport thumped Syracuse 7-4. Pens will gain on Hershey and stay even with Bridgeport…Lehigh Valley sweeps Springfield with a 7-4 win…Hartford is back in the win column with a 5-2 win in Belleville, Charlotte takes down Providence 3-2 in a shootout.

Standings: Hershey in fifth at .550, or 66 points to the Pens 60. Wilkes-Barre has two games in hand. Pens with .517 percentage points in sixth. Bridgeport in seventh with .483 or 56 points. Same amount of games played as the Pens, but I think the Islanders are playing 72 this year and not 76.

Who Plays Who Tomorrow: Hershey is off till Wednesday, Bridgeport is too. More on these teams Tuesday.

Wheeling Update: Nailers win in Indiana over the Indy Fuel 4-1. Tim Doherty with a pair of goals and Justin Almeida added another. Alex D’Orio with 24 saves.

Video Highlights: 

Back Tuesday for the Weekend Preview, although I may chop it up this week, I am not sure, against Toronto Tuesday and Wednesday.

Let’s Go Pens!