Chirps from Center Ice

          vs.          

2                                              4

–

Maybe too early to call it a breakout game for Radim Zohorna, who had a pair of goals and assisted on another in this 4-2 Wilkes-Barre win Wednesday night, but more games like this from the rookie and you can probably point back to this night as to where it all started.

The Penguins deal the Bears their first regulation loss of the season in probably their most complete game of the 2021 campaign. They were close Saturday when the last played against these Bears, but they didn’t get any offense and one player, Connor McMichael, supplied all of the offense for the Bears. Tonight, I didn’t hear play by play man Nick Hart say McMichael’s name very much and the Penguins get a good win against a hated rival.

Max Lagace opposed Ilya Samsonov.

Here is how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: 

First Period: Pens killed 1:06 of five on three quite effectively with some nice stick work by Will Reilly who broke up a pass attempt.

Bears got on the board first with a goal from Will Graber.

(the Bears didn’t GIF any goals and Taylor took the night off)

Radim Zohorna answered right back with a goal that tied it.

Nice play here. Guy riding him, he keeps control of the puck and scores the goal.

Second Period: Anthony Angello stuffed in a rebound of a Freddy Gaudreau shot to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.

Which didn’t really last long because Mike Sgarbossa inadvertently blocked a teammates shot, collected the puck and shot it in for a goal that tied the game at two,.

Radim Zohorna scores his second goal of the night with a very nice crossover move that put the Pens ahead. Just look at this…

Nifty move.

Third Period: Zohorna would set up Nick Schilkey for his first goal of the season with this nice pass and better shot that gave the Penguins a two goal cushion.

Penguins played it cool from there but not without some close calls. Mike Sgarbossa hits the post twice on one shift, for example.

The Bears would pull Samsonov but never found any success. Zohorna missed a chance at the wide open net and his hat trick bid.

Three Stars: 3) Nick Schilkey (goal, assist) 2) Anthony Angello (goal, assist) 1) Radim Zohorna (two goals, assist)

The Good: As I mentioned in the open, probably the most complete game of the young campaign. Seems like the wheels are chugging in the right direction.

The Bad: Can’t really come up with anything other than the start, taking three straight penalties to start the game and giving the Bears a five on three says to me that you weren’t prepared to play the right way. Thankfully, they came away unscathed.

Turning Point: Schilkey’s goal that gave the Penguins the two goal lead gets the nod here. Play an almost perfect game and get a goal to go up two, the opponent probably isn’t coming back from that.

Lehigh Valley and Binghamton also played Wednesday. Box here. They are ranking the teams by percentage because the Bears have more points than the Phantoms, but the Phantoms are ahead of the Bears coming into Wednesday’s action.

Wilkes-Barre’s next game is another televised deal on Friday against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, at 5 pm.

If Coal Street runs a video package, it will go in this spot.

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.

     @    

1                                        3

–

This one was a tough one to figure out on this Saturday afternoon. After an offensive explosion last week against Syracuse, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins go for 35 shots on goal against ECHL lifer Zach Fucale for the Bears and only come away with one goal to show. They only allow one player on the other team to score, but that player is quickly becoming the proverbial stone in the shoe for the Penguins.

A Connor McMichael hat trick, albeit on an empty net late, is all the Bears need Saturday afternoon as they beat the Penguins 3-1.

The aforementioned Fucale opposed Max Lagace.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Anthony Angello, Frederick Gaudreau and Max Lagace all made their WBS debuts. Angelo and Gaudreau went to the top line displacing Josh Currie (who was recalled) and Nick Schilkey. Schilkey dropped down to the second line. Chase Berger moved up to center the third line for Jordy Bellerive who was recalled. Jan Drozg down from the second line to this line. Nastasiuk slid over and centered the fourth line and Kyle Olson moved down from the third line to the fourth.

Defense pairs unchanged.

First Period: Teams trade power play goals. Zach Nastasiuk for the Pens to open the scoring:

Redirects for days on this shot. Nastasiuk was the last to touch it.

Hershey later responds on a give and go, shot, rebound score by Connor McMichael who scored his first of the contest.

Second Period: I think one of the keys to beating the Penguins this season is forcing the rookie defensemen to make mistakes.

😬💆‍♂️

Even game, tight contest, mistakes like these get magnified.

Third Period: Pens kill a penalty and then get two power plays late and can’t cash. With Lagace pulled for an extra attacker, they make a great play for Nick Schilkey who hits the post. An errant pass to no one is gobbled up by (who else) Connor McMichael who shoots from about 120 feet away and scores to complete his hat trick.

Three Stars: 3) Garrett Pilon (assist) 2) Zach Fucale (34 saves) 1) Connor McMichael (hat trick)

The Good: They scored one power play goal on six opportunities.

The Bad: They scored one power play goal on six opportunities.

Turning Point: Tight contest, McMichael’s goal 1:19 into the second period is enough for the Bears to ride out and grit out a win behind the rookies stellar play and the play in goal by Fucale who stopped 34.

Around the Division: I don’t know about you, but I kind of like these 1 pm away Saturday starts. Now I have the rest of the afternoon to myself. Anyway, Binghamton and Lehigh Valley play later at 7.

Video Highlights: 

Wilkes-Barre and Hershey rematch Wednesday evening at 5 in Wilkes-Barre. More then, if not sooner.

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.

     @    

5                                        4

–

Couple of first goals for a few guys, first assists, first win for J.D. Forrest behind the bench, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win their first game of the 2021 season 5-4 up in Syracuse Saturday night.

It wasn’t without a few puff out your cheeks moments, most especially in the third, where they have struggled the most.

After controlling play for the first forty minutes, it was a frenetic, nearly goal a minute pace in the third.

Things settled though without much more incident and the Pens have their first win of the season.

Emil Larmi opposed Sam Montembeault.

Before the game, the Penguins tweeted this…

Don’t want to speculate. Times are weird. Family, always first.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Felix Robert and Luke Stevens made their AHL debuts. Robert took Jordan Nolan’s spot, Stevens was in Justin Almeida’s spot. D pairs shuffled, Dylan MacPherson for Josh Maniscalco. 300th AHL game for Josh Currie.

First Period: I liked the way they played in the period. Syracuse is a dangerously offensive team that like to run you and gun you.

40 seconds out of the gate, Radim Zohorna drives to the net and Jan Drozg sweeps the puck in to give the Penguins an early 1-0 lead.

Penguins would work out of a double minor penalty. They tiptoed in and out of trouble on the kill.

Emil Larmi continued with his on point play, stopping Gabriel Fortier point blank then Alex Barre-Boulet after this ridiculous pass which sprung him for a scoring opportunity.

Barre-Boulet finally got a goal to go when he picked a corner on Larmi and tied the game at one.

Second Period: They clamped down in the second, went on three power plays and scored two goals in the period.

Good to see Berger get going early.

They kept grinding away at Syracuse and got a late goal from Kyle Olson on this dart that gave Wilkes-Barre a two goal lead.

Play by play man Nick Hart mentioned it in the intermission, but Felix Robert was getting under the skin of the Crunch skaters.

Shots were 13-6 Wilkes-Barre in the period.

But the big test was navigating the third period, which hasn’t been kind to them in the first two games.

Third Period: Four goals in the first forty minutes, then four in the games first 4:40.

2:10 in, Grigori Denisenko scored to bring the Crunch to within one.

About 1:40 later, Gabriel Fortier scored to tie the game at three.

Not this again.

Will Reillly scored to push the Pens ahead again.

That was :16 later, by the way. A hell of a response.

But :29 after that…

Chaos indeed.

Wilkes-Barre goes on the first power play of the period.

They scored on it.

And they settled things down from there. No more scoring and the pace of the game stayed quick as the Crunch, with Montembeault pulled for an extra attacker, never found the equalizer.

Those firsts I mentioned at the open?

Three Stars: 3) Grigori Denisenko (goal) 2) Alex Barre-Boulet (two goals) 1) Kyle Olson (goal, assists)

The Good: They stayed step for step with an offensively gifted Syracuse Crunch team when they were running and gunning. They did, for large stretches, control the pace as well.

The Bad: Why all of a sudden after an overall quiet first forty minutes did we get four goals in the first 4:40 of the third?

Turning Point: That power play that they scored on after all of that scoring deflated the Crunch after the frenetic push they made. Penguins hung on from there.

Around the Division: Utica clips Binghamton 6-5 in a shootout.

They are off for a whole week before they meet up with Hershey again. More likely then, no Power Rankings this year or anything like that. News and notes as it warrants.

Video Highlights:

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.