Chirps from Center Ice

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This is one of those games where I don’t mind the loss because the effort was there. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins battled the Hershey Bears to a scoreless draw early in the third period when the scoring action finally heated up. The two teams finally started taking things out on each other in a penalty filled second, but it was the Bears who scored first, followed by the Penguins on a power play and then Hershey added one with under five to play and then an empty net goal with .3 seconds left to win 3-1 at home Saturday afternoon.

The two teams rematch Sunday evening in Wilkes-Barre.

Tyler had a bit of a foreshadowing tweet.

And wouldn’t you know it the Bears would score on a fluky goal that opened the scoring. Off a skate and in.

Penguins would head to a power play with a gotta have it chance to tie the game and they score when Drew O’Connor connects for a goal that leveled it.

Soon after, Jon Gruden was hauled down and he was awarded a penalty shot. He missed.

(no video here, he skated down the right side, cut across and tried to go five hole on Bears starting goaltender Zach Fucale.)

Alex Alexeyev scored on a dart with 3:30 left to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.

Brian Pinho would hit another empty net, his sixth I think this season, with .3 left to play to make it 3-1 Hershey.

Here is how they lined up. Sometimes I write these stories in reverse.

Three Stars: 3) Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (goal) 2) Alex Alexeyev (goal, assist) 1) Zach Fucale (31 saves)

The Good: It was a competitive game. A young, inexperienced team took one of the better teams in the AHL in Hershey to the edge and nearly won.

The Bad: I have a feelingI am going to be typing up “competitive” a lot here these next few seasons. The Penguins lack a true scorer, and one would have definitely come in handy today.

Turning Point: You can either go the save by Fucale on Gruden which kept it 1-1 or Alexeyev’s go ahead goal with minutes to spare.

They rematch Sunday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre. Different result or more of the same?

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.

This tweet from Pens play by play man Nick Hart summed up tonight’s affair between Wilkes-Barre and Syracuse perfectly:

One step forward and two steps back tonight for the Penguins, who haven;t scored first in a dozen plus games. When you are constantly playing from behind and are a young group at the core, it makes for a long season.

Box here. Alex D’Orio got the start, played well, but there is only so much to do when the team in front of you is so porous.

Someone needs to put an APB out on Pierre Olivier-Joseph. Two penalties tonight, hasn’t really done much since his reassignment from Pittsburgh. The NHL hangover is still lingering with him.

That may be too harsh, they’ve all been poor, collectively.

Back at it next Saturday against Hershey.

A pair of goaltenders made their debuts tonight in Wilkes-Barre. Tommy Nappier from The Ohio State University for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Marek Mitens for tonight’s opponent, the Binghamton Devils.

Mitens would guide his team to victory tonight with 33 saves, only getting scored on twice by the opposition on the power play twice and once short handed.

Josh Currie (1-1-2) Drew O’Connor (2 assists) and P-O Joseph were bright spots for the Penguins in the loss.

Box here. If tonight’s recap feels mailed into you it was, my niece turned three today so we had a get together. I got her one of those toy cars that you sit in and drive. I never was to have one as a child. I was always too big (too tall) for anything like that. She enjoys it. More of the same tomorrow too, the “big party” is tomorrow.

Anyway, that’s it. One of my better pun headlines wasted for a bit of a mail in job but can you do?

Pens back in action Saturday in Syracuse.