Chirps from Center Ice

I hope there isn’t a theme to be had here in that subject line. Pens shutout by one of the teams on the up and up with a ridiculous goaltender in Michael Leighton who, in 4 games, is 2-1 with a 1.16 GAA, .968 SV% and a shutout streak of 1:35:14. (thanks Tim)

One shot is all the Pens needed, but they could not find it and lost 1-0. Veilleux, Lerg and Walker all had chances.

Micheal Leighton vs. Brad Thiessen. No idea was Hynes is thinking going with Thiessen two nights in a row. I suppose you continue to ride the hot hand and give your team it’s best chance to win.

First Period: Pens were given an early power play but could not convert. Erik Gustafsson would score at 14:54 to put the Phantoms ahead. The Pens would have to kill off a Geoff Walker trip, then on the ensuing faceoff a Cach Sill trip to give the Phantoms 1:55 of 5 on 3 time. Then, while killing the 5 on 3, Robert Bortuzzo would get called for slashing. Then when the two trip penalties expired, the penlaty box attendant let the wrong guys out! It was mass chaos.

Second period: What was left of the Bortuzzo slash was killed off. What I liked about the 5 on 3 kill was it was a block party of shots. I would see tons of communicating back and forth between the guys which was good to see. Lots of big hits this period. Zach Sill would catch Denis Hamel in open ice and J.P. Testwuide would board Boulerice. Everyone was fine. Lerg would get a great chance on the backhand in close but couldn’t elevate the puck. Wilkes-Barre would throw the kitchen sink at Leighton but could not crack him this period.

Third period: Quick moving period. Dan Jancevski would get nailed for hooking and the Pens couldn’t do anything with it. That was the only penalty call all period. There would then be about 5 minutes of green flag hockey. Pens would pull Thiessen and with the empty net not manage maybe more than two shots on goal.

Final SOG were 28-18 WBS.

Thoughts: Maybe “not enough horses” isn’t the right term here. After all, Adirondack only had 18 shots on goal. Defense was stout. Just didn’t get that one goal to force overtime or a shootout.

Three Stars: Brad Thiessen (17 saves), Erik Gustafsson (game winning goal, +1), Michael Leighton (28 save shutout)

Around the Division: Oppurtunity lost for Wilkes-Barre as Hershey lost for the first time since 1986 it seems 4-3 to Binghamton. An angry Bears team is a dangerous Bears team, regardless if they will be tired from playing 5 in 7 or whatever it’s been. Albany beat Charlotte in overtime 4-3. Norfolk shuts out Syracuse on back to back nights, this time by a score of 4-0.

Standings: Nothing lost, nothing gained for WBS on Hershey. It’s still 78-70. Norfolk gets to 5 of the bears with 65 points. Charlotte loses a point in the OT loss and is now in fourth with 64 points. Binghamton now has 60 points in fifth. Syracuse / Albany / Adirondack are all withing three points of each other, 42 /41 /39 respectively.

Tomorrow: Only games that matters is Wilkes-Barre / Hershey. I want to see what this current team can do against a great team in Hershey. Albany and Charlotte rematch and Binghamton goes to Adirondack.

Let’s Go Pens!