Chirps from Center Ice

With Charlotte losing in regulation and Norfolk and Hershey both losing in overtime, the Pens are starting to distance themselves from the rest of the East Division. Bears beat writer Tim Leone tweeted something which made me smile:

http://twitter.com/#!/timleone/status/23944743452938242

Anyway, to the matter at hand. Stick tap tonight to goaltender Nolan Schaefer tonight for keeping the last place Providence Bruins relevant tonight in a 2-1 Penguins win in overtime. Schaefer would turn aside 50 shots tonight in the P-Bruins defeat. He was opposed by Brad Thiessen who only turned away 18. More on this in a minute,

First period: Providence would score on its first shot of the game, Jeremy Reich through the five hole :39 seconds in. About midway, Joe Vitale would get like three shots in one shift on Schaefer and the third time was the charm through his five hole. At this point though, Providence was throwing everything they had at us. What is scary though is the fact we only limited them to 19 shots all game.

I don’t even feel like talking about the special teams. Providence has the leagues worst power play and ours wasn’t much better.

Second period: Thiessen made an enormous save on Trent Whitfield on a breakaway. I thought the P-Bruins captain was going to score but Thiessen got the pad over. That was about all for the action in the second. Brett Sterling had a 2 on 1 with Jeffrey but did not score.

Third period: Pens came out flying. Just absolutely smothered the Bruins this period. Schaefer was on his game though, denying chance after chance. The Pens had two power plays but could not convert. The stat which was shocking to me though was that the Bruins only were allowed one shot on goal the entire third period. One. That is shut down hockey. I suppose that if you can’t score on a power play, you don’t allow the opposing team many shots and just overwhelm the other teams goaltender with shot after shot after shot, and the law of averages will catch up with you and you will win.

Overtime: Dustin Jeffrey all alone on Schaefer at 2:58. Ballgame.

Around the Division: Really great night for Wilkes-Barre points wise. Charlotte got smoked by the Springfield Falcons 7-3. The Falcons were up 6-0 at one point. Connecticut beat Norfolk 3-2 in overtime. Hershey lost to Manitoba 4-3 in overtime. The Moose went 3 for 12 on the man advantage. Yikes. Albany beat Syracuse 2-1 Binghamton beat Rochester 2-1 and Adirondack lost in a shootout 3-2 to Abbotsford.

Standings: WBS first to 30 wins, 60 points. Closest team points wise is the stingy Peoria Rivermen with 53 points out West. Their head coach Jared Bednar will co-coach the West All-Stars at the All-Star Classic later this month in Hershey. Norfolk is in second with 47 points, Charlotte is in third with 47 points. Hershey is fourth with 45 points. Binghamton has 40 points in fifth. Syracuse has 32 points in sixth, Albany has 31 points in seventh, and Adirondack has 26 points.

Pens get a week off before playing Providence again in a rematch. Week to work on the power play, for one thing and get guys healthy. I have heard that Veilleux, Strait and Andrew Hutchinson are all close to returning.

Go Pens.