Chirps from Center Ice

Could have went a number of different ways with the post game recap headline tonight. “Pens Tame Tigers” or “MacIntyre Smacks Tigers” or something else silly, but just the standard recap headline tonight.

Steve MacIntyre scores his first goal in 125 games, and the Penguins hold on to win 3-2.

Penguins dressed a number of Black Aces tonight as well as Adam Payerl, who impressed in his pro debut. So too, Bridgeport, with goaltender Kenny Reiter seeing his first pro action as well.

Brad Thiessen vs. Kenny Reiter. Brian Gibbons, Ben Street, Zach Sill, Robert Bortuzzo, Bryan Lerg, Geoff Walker among the notables scratched for the Pens tonight.

Before the game, the Penguins held their team awards ceremony. Heres who won what:

Media Award: Colin McDonald
Community Service Award: Paul Thompson
Rookie of the Year: Simon Despres
Most Valuable Defensemen: Brian Strait (accepted by Zach Sill)
Most Improved Player: Alex Grant
Herb Brooks Award: Ryan Craig
Fan Favorite: Zach Sill
Penguin Award: Brandon DeFazio
Leading Scorer: Ben Street
Three Stars Award: Ben Street
Team MVP: a tie between Ben Street and Bryan Lerg

First Period: :22 in, Mike Halmo scored to put the Sound Tigers up 1-0. Then, Steve MacIntyre muscles his way to the front of the net and jammed it in on Kenny Reiter. Primary assist went to Adam Payerl. Late, with Steve Oleksy in the box for interference, Paul Thompson would center a pass to Colin McDonald from behind the net McDonald would cash on.

Second Period: Teams would trade power plays with the Penguins getting a late 5 on 3 with 1:21 to work with but they could not score. Three good chances on the power play though, two by Alex Grant slapshots and one by Jason Williams on the far circle.

Third Period: The aforementioned Williams would skate in and wrist a shot past Reiter using a Sound Tiger as a screen. Tyler McNeely would be the recipient of a tic-tac-toe pass and score to make it 3-2. Pens would clamp down the rest of the way, get a few good chances offensively, but would hold on to win. Bridgeport had an empty net late but never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Jason Williams (goal, +1) 2) Colin McDonald (goal, +1) and 1) Steve MacIntyre (goal, even)

Around the Division: Norfolk wins again. 27 in a row. 3-2 in Binghamton. In other news, the sun will be up tomorrow. Hershey lost 5-1 in Manchester this afternoon. Syracuse wins in a shootout 2-1 at home vs. Connecticut.

Standings: Norfolk 111 / Penguins 95 / Hershey 88 / Syracuse 82 / Binghamton 65

Conference: 1-NOR (111) 2-StJ ( 94) 3-BRI (89) 4-WBS (95) 5-HER (88) 6-CT (86) 7-SYR (82) 8-MCH (81)

Penguins end the regular season on the road back at it again vs. these Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Game is at 3 p.m., so Gameday on the blog will be up at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!