Chirps from Center Ice

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Let’s review the weekend, shall we?

Drew O’Connor is sent down from the Pittsburgh Penguins and on the very first power play the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins go on in Springfield on Friday, Drew O’Connor knocks one home for a power play goal which breaks a 0/36 drought coming into the contest.

Louis Domingue, fresh off a trip up to the NHL club, stops 35 of 39.

On Saturday, Drew O’Connor scores two goals and Louis Domingue stops 42 of 43 as the Penguins beat the Providence Bruins 3-1.

There are a few players in Wilkes-Barre lore that, “stirred the drink” so to speak. Stefan Noesen comes to immediate mind. Drew O’Connor was the best player, far and wide, on the ice wearing an oversized muscular penguin on his chest. He’s probably not long for this AHL world as soon as another Penguins forward goes down with injury he’s on a fast track straight back up again.

Credit Domingue, too. 80+ shots in back to back games on back to back nights is a hell of a work load.

Can they sustain it, can they ride the momentum into Charlotte Tuesday and Wednesday next week?

Domingue opposed Kyle Keyser. I speculated yesterday that with the 40 shots faced in Springfield it may be Tommy Nappier’s game. Well, I was wrong. Here’s how they lined up:

Bruins didn’t post lines. They never do.

Lineup Notes: Forward shuffling below the top line, but no lineup changes.

First Period: Penguins kill two penalties, start to push back a bit and forecheck, a Valtteri Puusitinen shot is saved by Keyser but the rebound spills to Drew O’Connor and is swept in.

Bruins would get another power play but the Penguins remained perfect in the period.

Second Period: Penguins tack on to their lead when a shot from Cam Lee double deflects in off of Kyle Olson and in that gives Wilkes-Barre a 2-0 lead.

Penguins didn’t take any penalties, played a disciplined period and had a few other chances to add on but Kyle Keyser was there to make a stop. Memorable chance was a stop on O’Connor off a 2-on-1 rush.

Third Period: Bruins put the screws to the Penguins and came out of the blocks hot putting immense pressure on the Penguins and Domingue. Finally, Jakub Lauko scores a power play goal on the fifth try of the game for the Bruins special teams unit.

Providence by rights weren’t getting any bounces. Their leading scorer Oskar Steen uncharacteristically whiffed on some shots for one time feeds which could have lead to Penguins danger.

Penguins were on their heels a bit for the final moments but with time dwindling Keyser vacated for the extra attacker and Drew O’Connor connected with the empty net.

Three Stars: 3) Jakub Lauko (goal) 2) Drew O’Connor (two goals) 1) Louis Domingue 42 saves

The Good: They played about as a complete game as you could ask for and won, on the road, against a good opponent.

The Bad: It’s been a while since their last shutout. It will come, but you have to wait a bit longer.

Turning Point: With all the love for O’Connor and Domingue and rightfully so, Kyle Olson’s second period goal took the air out of the sails a bit for the Bruins because what they were doing to that point didn’t work, causing the Bruins to re-work the game plan entirely. That’s when the Penguins handed the reins over to Domingue.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley loses in overtime in Toronto this afternoon 3-2….Hershey was up 3-2 heading into the third in Hartford and lost 7-3….Springfield beats Bridgeport 2-1.

Standings: Springfield .800 percentage points / Hartford .750 / Charlotte .536 / Providence .536 / Hershey .536 / Penguins .533 / Bridgeport .406 / Lehigh Valley .344

Wheeling Update: Nailers are in Fort Wayne. Box here.

They are back in action Tuesday in Charlotte looking to carry the momentum from this weekend into a two game set in North Carolina. Power Rankings will hit some where in between. I just don’t know when or where.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I don’t know if there is such a thing as a good loss, but this game, a 5-4 shootout loss to the Atlantic Division leading Springfield Thunderbirds, sure felt like one.

The Penguins finally scored a power play goal, two of them in fact and back to back and raced out to a 3-0 lead on the Thunderbirds but it was Springfield scoring late in the first.

Then in the second.

Then twice in the third to take a 4-3 lead before Cam Lee scored to tie the game at 4.

Penguins have to kill about :33 of two man disadvantage but get the game to overtime.

They scored once in the shootout and we did not.

It’s a good performance because the Penguins raced ahead of the Thunderbirds and managed to eke out a point in a shootout loss. They caught a good Springfield team flat footed and tried to fend off a furious rush by the Atlantic leading Thunderbirds. It’s a lot to build off of.

Louis Domingue opposed Joel Hofer. I mentioned in the Weekend Setup that if Domingue didn’t face a big workload you may see him Saturday in Providence again. He faced 40 shots tonight, so expect Tommy Nappier from THEE Ohio State University Saturday.

Here’s how they lined up…

Lineup Notes: All four big guns (O’Connor, Riikola, Joseph and Domingue) from Pittsburgh were in the lineup replacing Sam Houde and Dylan MacPherson (who aren’t even in town anymore because they were sent to Wheeling) and Chris Bigras.

It was mentioned before the game that goaltender Filip Lindberg is week to week with a lower body injury.

First Period: It took all of 63 seconds for the Penguins to get on the board with Radim Zohorna scoring to put Wilkes-Barre up 1-0.

Then, back to back power play goals. What team is this?

Oh, yes. A team that got help from a healthy Pittsburgh Penguins team.

Drew O’Connor on a rebound of a Juuso Riikola shot.

Then Filip Hallander off a nice setup from Valtteri Puustinen on the second power play goal in a row.

That sound you may have head was me hitting the floor as all of this was occurring in real time.

Some notes on these goals. First, it’s the quickest goal scored by the Penguins so far this season and Juuso Riikola had the secondary assist on all three goals.

The Penguins would see the Thunderbirds push back at all three ties that Springfield would get scored on. Nathan Todd had a few quality shots on Domingue.

Alexey Toropchenko goes up the ice and scored to get the Thunderbirds on the board.

I didn’t like the way that the period ended for the Penguins. Seemed like they let off a bit.

Second Period: It carried over into the second period. Seemed like the Penguins were getting flattened every shift. Domingue bailed them out on a three against one shorthanded bid and then Matt Peca scored here to cut the Penguins lead to one:

It seemed like the Penguins didn’t have a big danger scoring opportunity at all in the period until the last minute of the period where they started to pepper Hofer for some shots he was able to turn away.

Third Period: Alexey Toropchenko and Tanner Kaspick score :41 apart to give the Thunderbirds a 4-3 lead.

Hardly ideal, but not like you couldn’t see it coming with the run of play the Pens were on in the second period.

On top of that, the Pens found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-on-3 situation but were able to get out of that OK.

But not before Cam Lee scores to tie the game up again.

They were outshot by a 2:1 clip (12-6 for the period) but managed to get the game to…

Overtime: They went end to end without a whistle in a ferocious, frenetic 5 minute race, but no one scored.

Shootout: Hugh McGing scores in the top of the second round for the Thunderbirds and Drew O’Connor, Radim Zohorna and Valtteri Puustinen all missed on their chances, in that order.

Here’s McGing’s shot:

Three Stars: Juuso Riikola (three assists) 2) Mackenzie MacEachern (two assists) 1) Alexey Toropchenko

The Good: They scored a pair of power play goals and were perfect on the penalty kill.

The Bad: They figured out special teams tonight, but seemed to forget everything else five on five, where Springfield was the better team tonight.

Turning Point: Could go a lot of places here. The kill on the 5-on-3 in the third or the Cam Lee shot that forces OT. Give it to McGing and his goal in the second round of the shootout which put the heat on the Pens for good.

Around the Division: Utica has set an AHL record at the expense of the Charlotte Checkers winning their twelfth straight game to start the season. The Comets are 12-0 after beating the Checkers 4-1….Providence beats Hartford 2-1 in overtime after Oskar Steen’s goal just :26 into the extra period for the P-Bruins. Lehigh Valley loses again, this time in a shootout in Rochester 5-4.

Standings: Springfield .786 percentage points / Hartford .733 / Providence and Hershey .577 / Charlotte .536 / Penguins .500 / Bridgeport .433 / Lehigh Valley .333

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were out in Indy tonight and lost 5-2. Chris Ortiz and Matt Alfaro had the goals. Alex D’Orio stops 26 of 30.

If the Thunderbirds or Penguins post highlights I’ll see if I can run the edit here.

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Really nothing to this one tonight.

Cole Schwindt bags a natural hat trick, Wilkes-Barre / Scranton’s power play woes continue and they give up a league high fourth shorthanded goal and make Christopher Gibson and his sub .900 save percentage and +4 goals against average look like Ed Belfour and the Penguins lose 4-0.

Turning point of the game was when Schwindt scored his first of the game shorthanded on what was the Penguins third power play of the first period to give the Checkers a 1-0 lead.

Remember how we talked last night about how when the Penguins would go down early in a game and get buried after that and how it didn’t happen on Friday? Well, it happened tonight. Three straight power plays to start the game, they don’t score AND they get scored on another power play?

Schwindt would score at 2:52 of the second on what could have been a too many men on the ice call on Charlotte. Big hit which dislodges a Checkers player helmet and it is laying on the ice. That player has to get off of the ice for Schwindt who comes on. Penguins head coach J.D. Forrest thinks Schwindt jumped on too early thus too many men, but referees Mason Riley and Mike Sullivan disagree and Schwindt and the Checkers are off to a 2-0 lead.

Schwindt completes his hat trick when he’s set up nicely by Henry Bowlby later in the second period and it’s 3-0.

The AHL was nice enough to capture all three of his goals.

Charlotte would bag a meaningless empty net goal scored by Matt Kiersted. Yippee.

Penguins power play drought is 0/36. 0/7 tonight after not scoring on the first three and the last four. Wilkes-Barre didn’t allow a power play goal, if you are looking for a silver lining.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Alex D’Orio was recalled from Wheeling earlier Saturday. I heard Taylor Haase in the postgame show ask Forrest the status of Lindberg and he gave her some scrambled answer that they don’t even know where the injury is yet on Lindberg. Malarky. Ask him to point to where it hurts. He’s going Monday to get evaluated.

Not that it matters, goalies stop goals, they don’t score them.

Cam Lee returned from his two game suspension and drew in for Niclas Almari. When a Wheeling guy like Dylan MacPherson is getting reps over you, call home.

Up front, Jamie Devane wasn’t going to play back to backs after coming back from injury so Sam Houde jumped in for him.

These 6:05 stars are great when you are home by nine. Not so good when you are finished with the blog piece at 9:30 and there are other teams in the division and their games are just going final.

Maybe in 2022 and when we are closer to the end of the season I’ll add boxes to the finals around the division. If you are really interested, here’s the page for the day. Here’s the standings page too. Pens are on .500 percentage points and seventh in the division, currently out of a playoff spot (six teams in the division make it this year) but it is still early.

Here’s the highlights for posterity.

Pens are back in action next Friday in Springfield. Power Rankings Tuesday.

Woof.

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Oh boy, a lot happened Friday.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins recalled Tommy Nappier from THEE Ohio State University earlier in the day. The reason is because the Pittsburgh Penguins play a back to back with one of the games in Canada (Saturday) so they recalled Louis Domingue to have him back up Casey DeSmith because Tristan Jarry will start Sunday in Washington.

Got all that? Good.

Filip Lindberg was the starter Friday night against the Charlotte Checkers, played two periods, stopped all but one shot but was no where to be seen for the third period.

Enter Tommy Nappier.

Nappier turns aside all 10 shots faced, the Penguins get a big goal by Chris Bigras late in the third period and edge past the Charlotte Checkers 2-1 Friday night.

Nappier may be sticking around for a while.

“Currently being evaluated” is coach speak for, “we really don’t know how bad it is yet.” So expect Nappier to play second fiddle to Louis Domingue once he gets back from his trip to Ottawa Saturday.

Shame, too, considering this was one of Lindberg’s better games of late.

Joey Daccord opposed for Charlotte. Here is how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Taylor Fedun was sent back Thursday with Juuso Riikola but Riikola turned around and went right back up Friday because of Canada and their COVID rules. Fedun and Dylan MacPherson were in for Will Reilly and Chris Ortiz on defense. Jamie Devane returned form injury and replaced Justin Almeida.

First Period: Gregori Denisenko threw a changeup at net and it went in.

It may have deflected off of Bigras there. Still counts.

Penguins were getting squashed in their own zone, with Lindberg there to bail them out. Also, they had one paltry shot on goal more than halfway through the period.

Late, Pens get a goal from Valtteri Puustinen on this one timer:

Gotta get him going again if you want to have success.

Second Period: No scoring, roles reversed. Charlotte went a long stretch without a shot on goal, Penguins forechecked the hell out of the Checkers and got great goaltending from their guy.

Third Period: Out came Nappier, no where to be found was Lindberg.

There was one penalty a side in the first two periods. You didn’t want to see the game end decided by special teams. Seemed like the third period was full of it. Thankfully, they navigated through it all and it looked like they were headed to overtime.

Forecheck. Get good goaltending. And a little bit of luck.

Enter Chris Bigras.

They held on from there.

Three Stars: 3) Tommy Nappier (10 saves, first AHL win of the season) 2) Valtteri Puustinen (goal) 1) Chris Bigras (game winning goal)

The Good: Looked like it was another night of the game going off the rails from the get go, with Charlotte scoring early. Thankfully the goaltending was there from both players wearing oversized pads tonight.

The Bad: Pens were lucky to win tonight. Fall in a hole, get out in the same period, don’t score at all until late. Hang on to win. I don’t like that recipe.

Turning Point: Bigras’ goal is the clear, obvious choice.

Around the Division: Laval takes down Bridgeport in overtime 5-4…Providence obliterates Lehigh Valley 6-3…Hartford surges past Springfield 6-4.

Standings: Springfield .750 / Hartford .708 / Hershey .591 / Providence .545 / Penguins .542 / Bridgeport .500 / Charlotte .450 / Lehigh Valley .333

Wheeling Update: The Nailers go to Toledo and take down the Walleye 3-2. Alex D’Orio went the distance and is probably on a plane right now, stopping 24 shots.

Video Highlights:

Don’t forget Saturday’s game begins at 6:05.

Let’s Go Pens!