Chirps from Center Ice

AHL Live had technical difficulties so I did not see one second of live action today. The problem was not just me, but anyone who wanted to see the game.

Regardless, a gritty, hard fought 4-2 Penguins win this afternoon in Springfield.

Brad Thiessen vs. Gustav Wesslau. Bryan Lerg made his return to the lineup over Joey Haddad.

First thing I will say is that Tom Grace on radio this afternoon really gave high marks to the play of Keven Veilleux. In the first, Keven worked a puck to Ryan Craig and Craig cashed in to give the Pens a 1-0 lead. Later, Jesse Boulerice took a cross checking penalty and Tomas Kubalik scored for the 22nd ranked Springfield power play. The Pens penalty kill unit used to be tops in the league, I will have to check this week to see where they fall in now.

Second period: Pens have all the momentum in the world, overwhelming the Falcons at times, when all of a sudden out of the blue Tomas Kubalik scores again to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead. Again, I didn’t get to see a second of the game, but from what Tom Grace was telling us, it looked like you were just waiting for the Pens to explode on the Falcons and run away with it.

Well, with about five minutes left in the game, the bomb went off. Nick Johnson scored after he crashed the net. Tie game. The ensuing faceoff saw Steve Wagner fire a dart to the tape of Dustin Jeffrey who fired a wrister past Wesslau to put the Pens up 3-2. More praises for Veilleux, calling the game his most complete to date. Bryan Lerg then potted an empty netter to seal the deal for the Penguin and send the Falcons home disappointed in defeat.

Ryan Craig was the third star, Tomas Kubarlik the second for Springfield and Nick Johnson was the first. Really should have been Dustin Jeffrey the first star but it doesn’t matter. Wilkes-Barre is 17-4 and 5-0 vs. non-divisional opponents.

Around the East: Norfolk was shut out by Bridgeport, 3-0. Syracuse beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2. The Hartford WolfPack er, Connecticut Whale, defeated the Adirondack Phantoms 3-0 and the Charlotte Checkers stormed back from a 2-1 deficit to beat Hershey 5-2.

Standings look like this: Wilkes-Barre leads the division with 34 points. Charlotte jumps over Norfolk and has 29 points to the Admirals 28. Hershey stays put in fourth with 25 points. The idle Senators remain in fifth with 23 points. Albany has 18 points in sixth, Syracuse in seventh with 18 points and Adirondack stays at 8 points in the East Division basement.

Pens get the day off Monday. I’ll have my First Quarter Grades ready for you tomorrow at 10 a.m. sharp. Please note they do not take into account the stats in this game, they only take into account the first 20 games. Should be fun for you all to read.

Go Pens.