There’s a slight difference in this week’s report. I don’t know if any individuals really stood out with the possible exception of Daniel Carcillo and his 5-game goal streak. But, there were 2 lines that were very good this weekend. So we’ll do the observations by line. The games were a Friday night shootout loss to Hamilton where Carcillo scored the only regulation goal for WBS and he and Tyler Kennedy connected in the shootout and also a huge, monstrous, outstanding Saturday win aginst Chicago 5-3. On to the report:
GOOD:
Carcillo – Kennedy – Dixon : Played well on Friday. Carcillo and Kennedy were the lone bright spots in the lineup that really couldn’t put anything in the net. 34 shots in the game and only 1 PP goal to show for it. Saturday, this line was THE story of the game. Chicago’s top line boasts the top 3 scorers in the AHL. This line responded by shutting them out at even strength and even getting the game-winning goal themselves (a trickler through the pads off of a Carcillo coast-to-coast breakaway), making the top 3 scorers in the whole league a -1 for the game. To put that in NHL terms, it would be like taking a line of Ruutu, Moore, and Talbot and shutting out a line of Jagr, Hossa, and Selanne. Absolutely unbelievable!!!!
Jensen – Wallace – McLean : All 3 of them just came up from Wheeling over the past week. The line stayed even on Friday, but scored 2 goals on Saturday. Very impressive for 3 guys without NHL contracts. They really defined the term “energy lineâ€￾.
G Jeff Deslauriers : Stopped 36 of 37 shots to send the game to a shootout. It wasn’t an easy game, but JDD definitely earned the point for this team.
UNDECIDED:
Schremp – Brodziak – Filewich : Schremp finally started a game again on Saturday. He had been bouncing around on different lines. Filewich got a pair, but they were Michel Ouellet-type PP goals (from “the spotâ€￾). Hopefully, this will bounce him out of his mini-scoring slump he was in. Brodziak is playing well as the 2-way guy in this line. Schremp is a pure scorer and you get the sense that the coaches are pressuring him to get back to it.
BAD:
I couldn’t find anyone to complain about this week. Everyone did their jobs and/or stuck to their assignments pretty well, which is what helped earn 3 tough points this weekend. There have been a lot of call-ups and injuries which have forced the lines to be shuffled quite a bit. This team has claimed the top spot in the league, as has been their custom the last couple of years.
AHL all-star game balloting is underway. You can vote for one forward, one d-man, and one goalie on each ballot. Vote early and often! You will find a link to it on a thread in this affiliate section. My personal choices are Filewich or Carcillo up front, Nasreddine or Gilbert (coming on strong lately) on the blue-line, and Deslauriers as the goalie. Realistically, Filewich and JDD have the best chances of being there. Until next week, LET’S GO PENS!!!!!
WBS Pens' weekly report - 12/12
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- AHL All-Star
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- Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 12:19 pm
- Location: on the Professional Noodling Tour