Chirps from Center Ice

Felt like after being down 4-1 five minutes in the game this afternoon to the Connecticut Whale like I was watching a thriller. You know, those movies where all the bad stuff happens at the beginning, then you go all the way to the end and the good guys come out on top. That kind of stuff. Really felt like that when it at the end of the second period when the Pens just scored with under 10 seconds left to make it 4-3.

But that stuff is made in Hollywood. This is the real world and the reality of the situation here is that the Pens were never really in this game. They lost 6-3.

I am sure the rest of the Pens opponents will be calling Hartford tomorrow for a look at the game tape. I can “what if” you till Tuesday, but I am just going to stick to facts. That being, there was a stretch in this game where the Pens were handed four straight power plays in the second period but failed to score or establish anything in all four. That is going to be the waterloo in the playoffs because if you do not score with the man advantage you do not go far.

Anyway, Brad Thiessen vs. Cameron Talbot. Dustin Jeffrey was sent back by Pittsburgh and was in the lineup. Ryan Schnell was scratched as well as Carl Sneep with Jason DeSantis skating in his place on defense.

First Period: Evgeny Gratchev would sit at :34 for delay of game but then the Pens would get scored on shorthanded by Chad Kolarik. High glove on Thiessen. Less than :15 later, Steve Wagner would tie the game at one. Later, Gratchev would score to make it 2-1. Then with Brett Sterling in the box for a hooking call, Jeremy Williams would score while the teams were 4 on 3. Things would then appear to settle down a bit for Wilkes-Barre as it appeared as if we were controlling the play. Then the Whale would take three straight penalties, a Stu Bickel hook, a Jeremy Williams trip and a Sam Klassen slash, all killed by the Whale. Wagner and Corey Potter were manning the points and it was just giveaway after giveaway after giveaway. Radio said in pre-game that Andrew Hutchinson will be back by Friday the absolute latest. I honestly hope it is sooner than that. In the Klassen slash, Chad Kolarik would score shorthanded again. He at this point was 2-2-4. Kolarik must have had a book on Thiessen as he beat him high glove both times. Shots on Goal to this point were 10-10 after 1.

Second Period: John Curry relieved Brad Thiessen in net. Dustin Jeffrey would fire a puck on net that Keven Veilleux would tip home to make the score 4-2. The rest of this period did look like something out of a Hollywood movie with the Pens hitting the Whale posts two or three times and the bouncing puck always finding a Connecticut stick. The Pens could not capitalize on a 5 on 3 for :47. In that penalty kill for the Whale, Cameron Talbot robbed Tim Wallace right in front with the glove. Finally, as the teams were four a side, Geoff Walker scored with five seconds to go in the second to make it 4-3.

As they were going off to the dressing rooms, I tweeted that Connecticut looked stunned. You could see it in their eyes.

Third Period: Evgeny Gratchev left all alone right in front of Curry and roofed a pretty shot into the net 5:53 to kill all momentum Wilkes-Barre had built up and make the score 5-3. The Whale went into lockdown mode after that. Radio mentioned that with 7:50 left in the game, the Pens did not have a single shot on goal. That was all she wrote after that, then Pens would pull Curry and roll six forwards, Jeffrey, Tangradi, Wallace, Craig and Johnson (thanks to @CxJamesx9 for tweeting this observation) and then Tim Kennedy would score and empty net goal from about 100 feet away to seal the deal for the Whale. The Pens only managed 4 shots on goal the entire third period.

Thoughts: Well, a lot. I knew that this game vs. the Whale was going to be the toughest of the weekend just because of the inferior opponents that Wilkes-Barre faced this past weekend in last place Adirondack and Providence. The Whale lost both of their games this weekend. They needed to win this game for their psyche and the standings in the tight Atlantic Division. The power play is a joke right now. With all of the talent on this team and we cannot execute with the man advantage, really a bad thing. The Captain, Ryan Craig was a -5 tonight. Ouch.

Around the Division: Norfolk beat Charlotte 4-2 for sole possession of second. The bigger story in that could be the loss of Cedrick Desjardins, who left the game in the second when Jerome Samson landed on his hip. It looked bad (I was watching on AHL Live after the Pens game). Binghamton beat Hershey 2-1. Bingo draws to withing three points of the Bears. Adirondack beat Syracuse 5-2. The Phantoms are 4-0 vs. the Crunch this year.

Standings: WBS only up 11 on Norfolk now, 64 points to 53. Charlotte is in third with 51 points. Hershey is fourth with 49 points. Binghamton is fifth with 46 points. Idle Albany remains sixth with 37 points. Syracuse is seventh with 35 points and Adirondack is last with 28 points.

This week: Norfolk is up in Syracuse Tuesday. Wednesday we get the Crunch, Bingo plays in Albany and Charlotte hosts Springfield.

Reminder that tomorrow my second quarter grades drop here on the blog at high noon. The stats you will see do not include this game. Here is a preview for you, everyone got B-‘s or better. Perhaps I will grade the east on Tuesday.

Syracuse in town Wednesday so hopefully we start a new streak.

Let’s Go Pens!