Chirps from Center Ice

A 2-1 Penguin overtime victory tonight in what should have been a 1-0 Penguins shutout. Another quick recap tonight because no one pays me to do this.

John Curry v. Matt Keetley tonight. Leland Irving is the goaltender of the future for the Calgary Flames organization, but he’ll likely play when these two team tangle again Friday.

First Period: Off the hop, Keven Veilleux scored off of a Joey Mormina deflection at 3:43. Wilkes-Barre would then take three straight penalties in the first. A Jason DeSantis high stick at 10:21, a Brett Sterling trip at 13:01 and a Joey Haddad hold at 18:29. Abbotsford is in the bottom third in the league on the power play. You can really see why because it looks like, at least to me, that no one know what they are doing out there. It really to me at times looked like a Chinese Fire Drill. The first period would end with Wilkes-Barre up 1-0.

Second Period: The Pens had to kill off :28 of left over Haddad hold time from the first but that was easily disposed of. The second period would be all about Wilkes-Barre on the power play three times but no scoring. Both teams officially would be 0 for 5 on the powerplay. Our special teams looked just as bad, which can spell danger if the injuries and call-ups continue to pile up.

Third Period: I tweeted something about 15 minutes into the third period on how this was the sloppiest Penguins game I could recall in recent memory. I can’t put my finger on what the Pens were doing or trying to do the second half of the game. Finally Keith Seabrook tied the game at 18:17 while Curry was screened as John didn’t even flinch. After that, it was like the Heat woke up a sleeping giant or something because the Pens just jumped to life. Regulation would end tied at 1.

Overtime: Back to the twitter feed, I mentioned that if WBS had played the last 5 minutes of game time the entire game, I am in my truck heading home a winner. Finally a Steve Wagner point shot was deflected in by Nick Johnson and the Pens won it in overtime.

Final shots on goal would end up 30 for Abbotsford and 22 for the Penguins with the Penguins not allowing a shot in overtime and taking two.

The three stars were Keven Veilleux, John Curry and Nick Johnson.

Thoughts: Keven Veilleux had a solid game in my opinion. Really looked like the best player for Wilkes-Barre this evening. Call-ups Jason DeSantis and Ben Street didn’t look out of place to me much and weren’t really liabilities out there. It should be interesting to see what happens Friday when these two teams play again and with Leland Irving the likely starter for the Heat.

Around the Division: Only three other games on the docket tonight. One of the them saw the Adirondack Phantoms mount a comeback but ultimately lose again, this time to the Connecticut Whale 6-4.

Standings: WBS, Norfolk and Charlotte have all played 28 games apiece. The Pens are in first place with 44 points, Norfolk is in second with 39 points, Charlotte has 34 points in third. Hershey has played 27 games and has 33 points in fourth. Binghamton has played 28 games and is in fifth place with 28 points and Albany and Syracuse have played 27 games and have 22 points apiece, good for sixth and seventh respectively in the division. Adirondack has 29 games played and has only 10 points good for last in the division.

If I heard the postgame radio show correctly the next win for the Penguins would be its 450th all time. Boulerice and Bortuzzo return from suspension Friday and will be back in the lineup. Should be interesting to see if Jason DeSantis and / or Ben Street play or get scratched or sent back to Wheeling.

Let’s Go Pens!