Chirps from Center Ice

The ramifications of tonight’s 5-2 Penguins victory in Charlotte will be heard league wide tonight. Here are some stats to chew on I tweeted earlier as to why I feel this way:

• Charlotte is the second highest team in the league. They were shut down tonight by the Pens, who are second in the league in defense.
• Charlotte’s PP is ranked 6th in the league at a 20.9% success rate. Their PK is 2nd in the league, killing penalties at a 87.2% rate.
• Charlotte’s home PP is 3rd in the league, at 25.6%. WBS road PK is 16th in the league, 82.4%. Charlotte’s home PK ranks them 8th at 86.4% and WBS road PK is 16th with a 81.0% rate.

Stats were good up to this game, but none of it mattered to WBS. In my opinion, a dominating performance by the Penguins.

Brad Thiessen vs. Justin Pogge tonight. Joe Vitale played tonight. Keven Veilleux did not make the trip. Ben Street was the scratch.

First period: Very early, Charlotte came out firing with something like 5 straight shots on goal to start the game, but Brad Thiessen was up to the challenge. Then, Brett Sterling dispossessed a Checker trying to make a clear attempt and passed to Tim Wallace for the 1-0 lead. The Pens would get two power play chances in the first with a Drayson Bowman unsportsmanlike after a whistle and Oskar Osala interference. Lots of back door play by the Pens but no scoring. For the evening, WBS would go 0 for 4 on the man advantage.

Second period: The acting by Charlotte instead of reacting would continue. Joey Mormina really had a great game tonight. Was shut down island. Nothing would really materialize this period until late, Eric Tangradi would throw a knuckle puck at Justin Pogge at 19:45 of the second for a 2-0 lead. At this point the shots were 16-12 WBS.

To this point really a dominating performance by the road team against an up and coming Checkers team. Charlotte is ranked 2nd in the East, 3rd in the Eastern Conference and 8th overall in the league. For WBS to come in and just set up shop and set the tone really sent, in my opinion, a shot across the bow of all the other teams who think they can get close to WBS. You still have to play the games and all, but the mindset in the opposing players minds is such that a game vs. WBS is just not going to come easy.

Third period: Nothing much in the first half of the period. At 9:06, Dustin Jeffrey and Nick Johnson break in on a 2 on 1 and Johnson scores. 40 seconds later Jeffrey comes in on a 3 on 1 and Steve Wagner scores. At this point it is 4-0 and the rout is on. Justin Pogge got the hook and Mike Murphy relieved Pogge in net. Tim Wallace would get whistled for slashing and with :03 left in the penalty Jacob Micflikier would score. Then, Brett Sterling would get tagged for a high stick and Michal Jordan would score his first ever AHL goal to cut the lead to 4-2 at 18:10. It would prove to be too little, too late as Charlotte would pull Murphy and Tangradi would get an easy empty netter at 19:02 to secure the 5-2 win.

Three stars were Dustin Jeffrey, Jacob Micflikier and Eric Tangradi in that order.

Late, Bombulie chimed in on Twitter that he hadn’t seen hide nor hair (no pun intended) of Brian Strait. For what it is worth radio didn’t mention anything and I really didn’t see him out there for the third. We’ll have to see.

We were the only teams in the Division skating. The win puts us 10 points to the good on second with 54 points to Charlotte and Norfolk’s 44. Hershey sits in fourth with 43 points. Binghamton sits in 5th with 36 points. Syracuse and Albany sit six-seven with 32 and 28 points respectively. Adirondack is surging out of the cellar and have 22 points.

Rematch tomorrow. Would love to leave Charlotte with a 12 point lead up on the East. Breathing room. It isn’t going to be easy because Charlotte is going to adjust. But the good thing is so will Wilkes-Barre.

One more thing before I go, congrats to head coach John Hynes on being named co-coach of the Western Conference All-Stars later this month in Hershey.

Let’s Go Pens!