Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Bedeviled — Pens LOSE 6-4

Comments Off on Bedeviled — Pens LOSE 6-4 Posted by on March 6, 2020

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The scoreline was never that close tonight, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins simply didn’t have it Friday in Binghamton and lost 6-4. Losing streak hits five games.

Shots were 15-4, 29-9 Binghamton after the first and second periods respectively. When the Penguins would score, the Devils would score right back. One of the best shorthanded units in the AHL, the Devils struck once. Casey DeSmith should get hazard pay, you could tell he was frustrated as the game went on.

I mean if you didn’t think they were making playoffs a few weeks ago, this performance tonight, coupled with all the other ones in this five game losing streak are glaring indicators that they are. We can get into why at a later date.

Casey DeSmith opposed Gilles Senn.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Jan Drozg up from Wheeling, Chase Berger’s first game since February 8. Zach Trotman was back. If you didn’t hear Riley Barber was injured last weekend, played through it but was ruled out for six weeks. The curse of trades with Wilkes-Barre continue.

First Period: Devils ran amok on the Penguins, outshooting them 14-5 in the period, yet the two teams just scored a goal a side.

Binghamton first with Jesper Boqvist scoring on a rebound that made it 1-0 Devils.

Kevin Roy found Adam Johnson with a rainbow pass that sent Johnson off on a breakaway and Johnson buried it to tie the game at one.

The Penguins were lucky to get out of the period tied at one.

Second Period: Binghamton broke the dam.

They outshot the Penguins 15-4 and scored three times. Ben Street, Jesper Boqvist on a power play and Janne Kuokkanen all scored in the period to break the game wide open for the Devils and it was 4-1 after two.

Third Period: Penguins manage to get more shots at Senn, but they still trailed by three. Kevin Roy scored on a one timer off a Cole Cassels pass but :24 later Ryan Schmelzer scored to reestablish the three goal Devils lead.

Nathan Bastian blew away Casey DeSmith on a shorthanded goal that made it 6-2.

Jordy Bellerive scored a pair of power play goals in garbage time when Binghamton let off to make it 6-4.

Mistakes. Lackadaisical defending. At what point to we start talking about David Warsofsky and his -32 +/- or his 34.15% even strength goals for differential? You may as well call up Emil Larmi up now and let him get his lumps versus having DeSmith get shelled night in and night out.

Lost in all off this is Cole Cassels who is the teams MVP. He’s one guy you lock up the first chance you get this summer.

Three Stars: 3) Janne Kuokkanen (goal, assist) 2) Ryan Schmelzer (goal, two assists) 1) Jesper Boqvist (two goals)

The Good: There are players who want to play, Bellerive, Cassels and Roy come to mind and others who just want to ride. Lead, follow or get out of the away,

The Bad: This is only the second time since the Binghamton Devils have existed that they have defeated the Penguins.

Turning Point: Tons of little things, but Ryan Schmelzer’s goal which came seconds after Cassels in the third basically said that the Devils were going to assert their dominance and there wasn’t anything the Penguins could do about it.

Around the Division: Utica beats Charlotte 2-1. Providence beats Springfield 2-1 in overtime. The Thunderbirds will be affiliated with the St. Louis Blues next season. Silly season is upon us. Hershey beats Hartford 1-0. Bridgeport beats Lehigh Valley 6-4.

Standings: Hershey 78 — Providence 76 — Hartford 73 — Charlotte 68 — Springfield 63 — Penguins 62 — Lehigh Valley 56 — Bridgeport 49

Wheeling Update: Kalamazoo beats Wheeling 4-2.

Video Highlights: Moving on…

Bridgeport in Saturday. They always play the Pens tough so it’s a big task. Gameday here Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

GAMEDAY: @ Binghamton 3/6

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Binghamton 3/6 Posted by on March 6, 2020

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Who: Binghamton Devils

Where: Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena

When: 7:05 p.m.

Last Game: Saturday in Hershey, the Penguins were obliterated 5-1. David Warsofsky scored a power play goal. For Binghamton, the Devils shutout the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1-0. Janne Kuokkanen scored the only goal on a power play and Zane McIntyre had a 36 save shutout.

Last Meeting: The Penguins beat the Devils 2-1 on February 5. David Warsofsky scored both goals on the power play and Casey DeSmith stopped 22 shots. Nick Merkley scored for the Devils.

Record: For WBS: 27-24-3-5 (62 pts., 6th place Atlantic Division) // For BNG: 30-24-4-0 (64 pts., 5th place North Division)

Referees: Jesse Gour / Tim Mayer

Linesmen: Rob Sauda / Tyler Loftus

Why You Should Care: Two teams heading in opposite directions meet on the Southern Tier tonight. It’s the Penguins on the bottom end of the barrel here coming in on a four game losing streak. Binghamton have won three in a row and are 8-2 in their last ten. The Penguins have had decent success against this iteration of the Devils, so we will see how this one goes tonight.

Listen: Nick Hart on the call on WILK.

Watch: AHLTV is back for another season and better than ever.

Other Game to Watch: Springfield visit Providence in another critical Atlantic Division matchup between the two teams.

Next Five Games: vs. BRI 3/7, vs. BNG 3/8, @ LV 3/11, @ LV 3/13, @ HER 3/14

Gameday

AHL Power Rankings: Early March 2020

1 Comment Posted by on March 5, 2020

Some changes and shake ups in the top five this week with a pair of Atlantic Division teams set to battle for the top of the division but it’s Belleville who holds on to their top spot in this weeks version of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings.

Binghamton makes a jump into the top five this week and Iowa hangs around also. Pop past the Wild if you didn’t link in direct to see where your favorite team ended up this week.

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 Last Games: UTI 6 @ BEL 3, MB 4 @ BEL 5 (OT), LAV 4 @ BEL 1, BEL 5 @ CLE 1, BEL 4 @ CLE 1, TOR 4 @ BEL 8
Senators hold the top spot for another go around here on the Power Rankings. Remarkable work done by Troy Mann and his crew to turn the race to the North Division crown into a runaway.

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 Next Games: vs. ROC 3/6, vs. ROC 3/7, @ LAV 3/11, @ UTI 3/13, @ SYR 3/14
Record: 38-17-4-1

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 Last Games: HER 1 @ WBS 2, HER 5 @ BRI 4 (SO), CHA 1 @ HER 6, WBS 1 @ HER 5, CHA 6 @ HER 3
Hershey’s going to get company quick in the form of Charlotte and/or Providence quickly. The race for the lead in the Atlantic may become a three horse race.

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 Next Games: @ HFD 3/6, @ HFD 3/7, @ PRO 3/8, vs. TOR 3/13, vs. WBS 3/14, vs. LAV 3/18
Record: 35-18-3-3

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 Last Games: CHA 1 @ BNG 2, CHA 6 @ BNG 3, HFD 3 @ BNG 5, TOR 4 @ BNG 5, BNG 1 @ BRI 0
Quite the turnaround in the Southern Tier, but the Devils have little room for error still out of the playoff picture.

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 Next Games: vs. WBS 3/6, vs. LV 3/7, @ WBS 3/8, @ ROC 3/11, @ LAV 3/13, @ LAV 3/14, vs. LV 3/18
Record: 30-24-4-0

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 Last Games: SPR 4 @ PRO 7, WBS 1 @ PRO 2, PRO 6 @ WBS 2, PRO 3 @ SPR 1, PRO 3 @ HFD 2
Eight straight wins at a time where playoff jockeying is so important. On this trajectory the next time we do this the Bruins could very well be tops in the Atlantic.

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 Next Games: vs. SPR 3/6, @ SPR 3/7, vs. HER 3/8, @ HFD 3/11, @ CHA 3/14, @ CHA 3/15
Record: 33-18-3-3

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 Last Games: IA 3 @ TEX 4, IA 4 @ TEX 0, CHI 2 @ IA 5, IA 2 @ STK 0, IA 1 @ SJ 2 (OT), IA 1 @ SJ 5
It isn’t out of the realm of the reasonable anymore that Iowa may catch Milwaukee for the best in the Central, but that loss in San Jose Wednesday stinks.

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 Next Games: @ MB 3/7, @ MB 3/8, @ GR 3/11, vs. SA 3/15, vs. SA 3/18
Record: 36-17-4-3

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Power Rankings

Weekend Update 3/1

Comments Off on Weekend Update 3/1 Posted by on March 1, 2020

I took the weekend off because of my cat and stayed off Twitter so I apologize if you rely on me to give you updates about the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Friday night I was in New York State and Saturday night I was home relaxing and decompressing and quite frankly wanting nothing to do with tweeting.

I didn’t watch a second of the Syracuse game Friday because of my travels, but watched a good portion of Saturday’s game. I can tell you that the Penguins were more competitive just based off of what I read on Twitter and elsewhere on Friday than they were on Saturday. I don’t think it’s a situation of giving Hershey the division and the odds on lock in the Calder Cup Finals, but when you constantly turn the puck over and don’t look like a cohesive unit 50+ games into the season, any team will look like a Cup contender.

They lost Friday 4-3. The Penguins were up 2-1, then got it to 3-3 before Alexander Volkov’s goal with under four minutes to play in the third period gave the Crunch the lead for good. Alex Barre-Boulet stole the show, scoring :11 into the game and netting a hat trick with two other goals.

Here’s how they lined up Friday.

Phil Varone made his debut and immediately made an impact. The power play clicked twice and Varone assisted on both goals. Varone had a goal taken away on account of a kick in that was taken away on video review.

Riley Barber had a nice goal that put the Penguins up 2-1 in the first on a power play goal.

Cole Cassels and Phil Varone had the assists there.

Saturday, they were expecting a different result. They played good Friday in Syracuse and were looking to carry the momentum into Hershey Saturday.

It didn’t work.

Here’s how they lined up first and foremost.

No Niclas Almari for both games this weekend. He’s been a sore spot, but I don’t think it would have mattered Saturday. They were on a whole, bad in every way Saturday night.

They went down 4-0. Garret Pilon scored on a breakaway goal off of a gaffe. Daniel Sprong made his Bears debut and scored on a fluke of a goal that clattered around in the air before going in the net. Mike Sgarbossa scores into an empty net when Sprong hit him with a no look behind the back pass. Sgarbossa’s first game back in a while too which made it 3-0. Philippe Maillet scored to make it 4-0 before David Warsofsky connected with a power play goal that made it 4-1 with and assist to Phil Varone before Sgarbossa and Sprong connected again to make it 5-1. Hershey let off from there and protected it’s four goal lead.

That’s basically it in one paragraph. Everything that could go wrong went wrong Saturday.

They have a week to get it together. They head to Binghamton Friday before returning home to face Bridgeport who always plays them tough and host the Devils again for a Sunday matinee.

Some solace as Springfield is struggling just as much and have lost two straight and are on 62 points with the Penguins.

The bad news is fourth place Charlotte is at least four points up with two games in hand after Sunday’s game in Hershey.

We will get back to regularly tweeting the games next weekend dependent on the health of the little guy who is improving.

AHL trade deadline is Monday. I don’t expect the Penguins to be active, but stranger things have happened. Check in Monday for an update there if there is one to be had.

AHL Power Rankings this Thursday but for anything breaking before.

About Me, The AHL, WBS

GAMEDAY: @ Hershey 2/29

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Hershey 2/29 Posted by on February 29, 2020

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Who: Hershey Bears

Where: Giant Center

When: 7:00 p.m.

Last Game: Last night in Syracuse, the Penguins were defeated 4-3. Phil Varone made his highly anticipated debut and had two assists. For Hershey, the Bears hosted the Charlotte Checkers on Tuesday and won 6-1. Joe Snively had the hat trick and also had an assist.

Last Meeting: The Penguins beat the Bears 2-1 at home on February 21. Kevin Roy and Kevin Czuczman scored goals, Casey DeSmith had 35 saves.

Record: For WBS: 27-23-3-5 (62 pts., 6th place Atlantic Division) // For HER: 34-17-3-3 (74 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division)

Referees: Conor O’Donnell / Reid Anderson

Linesmen: Jonathan Deschamps / Colin Gates

Why You Should Care: Penguins, losers of three straight, head to Hershey to take on a Bears team who have been unstoppable of late and lead the Atlantic. Wilkes-Barre’s playoff chances are at a critical phase and the Penguins need to find a way to get the two points tonight on enemy ice.

Listen: Nick Hart on the call on WILK.

Watch: AHLTV is back for another season and better than ever.

Other Game to Watch: Springfield hosts Providence in another critical Atlantic Division matchup between the two teams.

Next Five Games: @ BNG 3/6, vs. BRI 3/7, vs. BNG 3/8, @ LV 3/11, @ LV 3/13

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Special Note: No in game tweets tonight, no post game recap either. More on why here. I’ll be back with a Weekend Recap Sunday night.

Gameday

GAMEDAY: @ Syracuse 2/28

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Syracuse 2/28 Posted by on February 28, 2020

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Who: Syracuse Crunch

Where: Upstate Medical University Arena

When: 7:00 p.m.

Last Game: Wednesday at home, the Penguins were humbled by the Providence Bruins 6-2. Riley Barber scored his first goal as a Penguins since being acquired in a trade with the Laval Rocket. For Syracuse, the Crunch were defeated in overtime Sunday 3-2. The Crunch were up 2-0, but Springfield chipped away and won in overtime.

Last Meeting: The Penguins won 2-0 November 9 in Wilkes-Barre. Andrew Agozzino and Zach Trotman, two players currently not on the team, scored the goals. Casey DeSmith made 35 saves.

Record: For WBS: 27-22-3-5 (62 pts., 6th place Atlantic Division) // For SYR: 26-22-4-5 (61 pts., 4th place North Division)

Referees: Brandon Blandina / Tyson Stewart

Linesmen: Jason Brown / Adam Tobias

Why You Should Care: Penguins have got to do something to break out of this three game slump they are on. Wednesday showed no signs of that stopping, but Syracuse is a different team who has struggled at times with consistency. Good litmus test here against an opponent Wilkes-Barre doesn’t see that often anymore these days.

Listen: Nick Hart on the call on WILK.

Watch: AHLTV is back for another season and better than ever.

Other Game to Watch: I mean all eyes have to be on Springfield who host last place Bridgeport tonight.

Next Five Games: @ HER 2/29, @ BNG 3/6, vs. BRI 3/7, vs. BNG 3/8, @ LV 3/11

Gameday

Mauled – Pens LOSE 6-2

Comments Off on Mauled – Pens LOSE 6-2 Posted by on February 26, 2020

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Tonight was just the second home game I missed in the ten or so years that I have been a season ticket holder. I have a sick cat. My buddy Barry hasn’t been eating, and a long story short is a likely diabetic which is causing pancreatitis which is causing his liver to fail on him. He was at the vet today and goes back Thursday. I am hoping that with supportive care that he pulls out of this and gets back to a semi normal lifestyle again.

Based off of that, this blog recap is going to be a bit on the fly.

Maybe it’s good that I missed the game. The Penguins lose 6-2. They look nothing like a playoff team right now. Providence wins their sixth straight and the Penguins, with an injection of Anthony Angello back from Pittsburgh, couldn’t do anything to look competitive after the second period.

Casey DeSmith opposed Dan Vladar.

They lined up like this.

No Varone yet. Lafferty was recalled Tuesday.

First Period: Missed all of it. Here’s the timeline.

Shot from the point. Vladar leaves loose chance and Sam Miletic smacks it in.

Josiah Didier charged at a puck left in the high slot off of a face-off draw and stepped into one and scored to make it 1-1.

Seemed like an even period from the vibe off of the Twitter feed.

Second Period: It wasn’t an even period.

:41 in and Cameron Hughes scored to make it 2-1.

About 65 passes on that play in a phone booth walking through the teeth of the defense.

Cameron Hughes picks a corner and it’s 3-1.

Niclas Almari caught watching again. He should sit next to me in Section 104 next game. I don’t move my legs much either when I’m at a Penguins game.

Riley Barber opened his scoring account and scored to make it 3-2. Miletic stripped Jack Studnika and he and Barber were off on a two on none.

Bruins respond in kind a few minutes later and Cooper Zech scored on a weird looking shot which beat DeSmith up high that made it 4-2.

Bruins controlled play, outshooting the Penguins 18-7 in the period.

Third Period: Bruins connect at the tail end of a power play as it expires and then later on a 5-on-3 to go up 5-2 then 6-2. The Penguins had a 5-on-3 that they could have had chance to score a goal on but made far too many passes and the time expired.

Penguins don’t connect on their five on three, the Bruins connect on theirs.

Three Stars: 3) Josiah Didier (goal, assist) 2) Cooper Cech (goal, assist) 1) Brendan Gaunce (two assists)

The Good: Good start, going up 1-0 and then only 1-1 at the end of one.

The Bad: That second period where they got steamrolled where they had the game essentially taken from them, doesn’t show me any signs that this team is anything close to a playoff team. Phil Varone isn’t going to fix this. They have a lot of issues which Providence exposed these past two games.

Turning Point: Failing to score on that five on three with time left in the third is a glaring miss.

Around the Division: Strange, but the Pens and Bruins were the only game in the division.

Standings: Hershey 74 — Hartford 71 — Providence 70 — Charlotte 64 — Springfield 62 — Penguins 62 — Lehigh Valley 54 — Bridgeport 45

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off tonight.

Video Highlights: I doubt they are going to want to cut up highlights of this dumpster fire.

Postgamer

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