Off the hop, Brett Sterling left the game in the third with an injury. He was boarded by Vladimir Mihalik and lay motionless on the ice for 20-30 seconds. He went to the bench then to the locker room with Steidle and did not return. Observers said the following:

http://twitter.com/#!/Wranglersm/status/53264711755640832

Regardless, it was a 4-3 Penguins win tonight in regulation in Norfolk. With Bridgeport beating Portland 2-1 in regulation in Maine tonight the magic number for WBS goes from 7 to 3 for clinching home ice throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs at least.

John Curry vs. Dustin Tokarski. Brad Thiessen was returned to WBS yesterday. I tweet this stuff so if you don’t already, follow me on Twitter.

First Period: Blair Jones would open the period on a penalty for tripping and Andrew Hutchinson would fire a puck at Tokarski which Sterling would collect and rebound on and score to make the score 1-0. Later, Carl Sneep, fresh from injury, would have to be escorted off the ice due to a snafu on the lineup cards. From what radio mentioned, Steve Wagner was listed as available for the game and Sneep was not so he was told to leave the game. Then, a Corey Potter turnover led to a 2 on 1 for Norfolk which saw Blair Jones tie the game at 1. Then, after Tim Wallace hit Scott Jackson into the boards he fought Radko Gudas. Gudas got 5 for fighting and an additional 2 for roughing. In the ensuing power play Keven Veilleux scored on the power play. After that, Blair Jones would sit for hooking and Brett Sterling again would score to make it 3-1. As soon as that happened a Norfolk defender blew a tire which led to Ryan Craig scoring to make it 4-1.

At this point the Pens had scored three power play goals. I was stunned, because the Pens power play was anemic to say the least. Rare that they ever score on the power play. Rare that they ever score two power play goals and it might as well snow on the sun because you never see Wilkes-Barre score three power play goals in one period.

Second Period: Norfolk tried rough stuff as Andrew Hutchinson and Mike Angelidis fought and Keven Veilleux and Alex Berry did the same. Then on a power play, Troy Milam took a cross ice pass to make it 4-2 on the backdoor. Then, the Pens needed to kill of a full two minutes of a 5 on 3 as David Marhsall would sit for a bench minor for too many men and Corey Potter for interference. Huge kill here.

Third Period: Brett Sterling was boarded by Vladimir Mihalek. He did not return. He went to the bench then the locker room. Follower Scott tweeted me this information:

http://twitter.com/#!/Wranglersm/status/53265980436131840

Then, Norfolk scored to make it interesting and made it 4-3. Mattias Ritola off of deflections. Admirals would pressure, pull Tokarski but never find the equalizer and the Pens would hold on.

As stated previously, the magic number on the conference is three.

Speaking of three, the three stars were: Brett Sterling (two goals, +1) Mattias Ritola, (goal, two assists, +1) and Ryan Craig (game winning goal)

Around the Division: Syracuse played and beat Toronto in an 11:00 a.m. game in Toronto today 4-3.

Standings: WBS 107 – HER 94 – CHA 91 – NOR 88 – BNG 87 – SYR 69 – ALB 67 – ADK 62.

Friday: WBS hosts Charlotte. Hershey visits Norfolk, Bingo is in Syracuse. I don’t think Manchester can catch us but regardless they are in Worcester. Portland is off on Friday.

Keep me queued up on Twitter for the latest on Sterling. Let’s hope he is fine.

Go Pens,

Exhale.

I have pretty much lived in fear of the Hershey Bears Hockey Club all season long. Despite the winning record against them, the Bears are what you want you minor league franchise to be. Top to bottom they are run like an NHL team. I have said from the very beginning of this year that the road to the Calder Cup runs through Hershey, PA. Beat Hershey, and you can beat any team. Win something Hershey can’t, and you are the favorite.

Tonight, before, 10,653 fans in GIANT Center, the Pens won a gritty, playoff like atmosphere game 3-2 in overtime, shorthanded, via Bryan Lerg. With the win and a Charlotte 8-2 win against Norfolk today, your Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are the 2010-2011 East Division Champions.

John Curry vs. Braden Holtby, fresh off of a cleansheet in the NHL last night.

First Period: Mathieu Perreault tripped Tim Wallace very early and Andrew Hutchinson scored :04 later on the power play. Bears would get three consecutive power plays afterwards but the Pens would kill them all. What a performance by John Curry between the pipes tonight.

First Period Intermission: Hershey media voting for Brad Thiessen for MVP and John Hynes for Coach of the Year.

Second Period: Keven Veilleux had a good game, stickhandling past three Bears on a shift and fighting Bears newcomer Andrew Carroll later. About midway through, the Bears were carrying the pace. Brian Strait goes to routinely clear out a puck and his stick breaks! In the melee, Francois Bouchard scores after a Brian Willsie point shot. Then later, with Dmitri Orlov in the box for slashing, Ben Street would fire a puck in from the right dot to put the Pens up 2-1. The guys over at Sweetest Hockey on Earth jinxed us sort of by tweeting that the Pens power play was lethal. To this point, it was, but afterwards…well read on.

Third Period: Pens carry the pace again, but as color guy Scott Stuccio stated on radio, if you gave the Bears an inch, they took a mile. Brian Willsie would sit for a penalty and as the Bears killed it they hooked up with Willsie who came in alone and Curry made a glove save. Later, Boyd Kane would sit for elbowing, none other than Keith Aucoin would skate in shorthanded and score to tie the game at 2.

Overtime: The Pens would get a powerplay with Steve Pinizzotto off for tripping but not score. Then, at the tail end Brett Sterling would take a silly roughing penalty while the Pens were in the offensize zone. Bears got the power play. Then, Bryan Lerg would come in shorthanded down the right lane and would fire a puck past Holtby stick side to send the Pens to the East Division title, a record for wins in a season, and John Curry’s 100th win.

Three Stars: Mathieu Perreault (two assists, +2) Andrew Hutchinson (goal, -1) and Bryan Lerg (game winning overtime goal, assist, +1)

The Pens limited the Bears to only 13 shots on goal in the second and third periods. But for Brian Strait’s stick breaking (he broke three in the game alone) and some puck luck late, we very well could have been looking at a 2-0 win. What a defensive shutdown on the tail end of a three in three, all on the road.

Around the Division: You know about the Checkers and Admirals game from the open. The Binghamton Senators defeated the Springfield Falcons 4-1. Syracuse and Bridgeport were postponed due to ice issues at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Like what happened when the Pens were in Atlantic City.

Standings: Pens clinch the Division and will finish first no matter what happens with points. We have recapped points all year here so I am not going to stop now. WBS 105 – HER 94 – CHA 91 -NOR 88 – BNG 87. The Admirals have two games in hand on the Senators. With the way the B-Sens have played the Pens this year, we are cheering for anyone but Binghamton. You want them to cross over into the Atlantic, ultimately. SYR 65 – ALB 65 and ADK 62.

Wilkes-Barre’s magic number to clinch home ice throughout the Calder Cup playoffs is 7 over the Portland Pirates. The Pirates have two games in hand on Wilkes-Barre, so it looks like that race will come down to the wire.

* – I am so proud of what this team has accomplished so far. Celebrate the East Division crown today and tomorrow and get back to work Tuesday to be ready for Norfolk on Wednesday. The prize is not a Division Championship or a Conference Championship, it’s that big silver shiny thing that Hershey has 11 of. Maintain focus and Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins lose a special teams battle to the Adirondack Phantoms tonight. All of the goals in a 3-2 loss this evening were scored with a man or men down somewhere. Pens usually pride themselves on having a strong PK but the Phantoms score two goals on the 5 on 3 and get a power play goal and that would ultimately be all she wrote.

John Curry vs. Micheal Leighton – we at Chirps from Center Ice figured that Patrick Killeen would get the start in net. Brad Thiessen is still in Pittsburgh with no sign of coming back down as of yet as Brent Johnson is still day to day with an upper body injury. You would have to expect that Killeen gets the start tomorrow vs. Hershey. Braden Holtby is on recall to Washington and Nolan Schaefer has started two straight games so you would have to figure it will be Todd Ford vs. Patrick Killeen tomorrow afternoon.

Steve Wagner went home with Scott Stuccio last night and will not play tomorrow, and his status is in question Wednesday in Norfolk. Joe Vitale and Joey Mormina are still out and are not on this trip.

First Period: Michael Ryan took an interference penalty about 10 minutes in and Bryan Lerg converted on the power play. Then, Robert Bortuzzo and Andrew Hutchinson would sit for penalties and Ben Holmstrom would tie the game with a left dot snipe. Tons of penalties would ensue and the period would end 1-1.

Second Period: Geoff Walker crashed the net and Cullen Eddy trips him. In the ensuing power play, Ben Street would score off of a nifty Bryan Lerg point shot Street would deflect past Leighton. Off of the faceoff the Pens would have a four on two and not score due to too many passes. Later, Keven Veilleux would be on the ice too long and Nick Petersen had to play two guys out there and in doing so held a Phantom so the Phantoms would get a power play. In it, Brian Strait would get whistled for boarding and the Phantoms would have a 5 on 3. In that, they’d score to even the game at two via Ben Holmstom. Later, the Pens would have a three on one with Nick Petersen and Dave Marshall in the rush and would not score.

Third Period: Michael Leighton with perhaps the save of the year on the Pens as Geoff Walker had him all alone, had him drop, then fired it high but somehow Leighton got the glove up to just absolutely rob Walker win what probably can be top 5 saves of the year league wide. Later, Pens would get a power play and John Hynes mixed things up by putting the top power play line out for the second minute of the power play. No dice. Then, with Zach Sill in the box for hooking, Matt Read would get his first ever AHL goal to give the Phantoms the lead for good.

http://twitter.com/#!/PSPhantoms/status/51816231715618816

Yikes.

Later, Tim Wallace would fire a puck off of a faceoff off of the crossbar which fell straight down and not in. Other than that, the Pens would pull Curry but not find the equalizer and lose.

Three Stars: Matt Read (game winning goal), Michael Leighton (24 saves on 26 shots) and Ben Holmstrom (two goals)

Around the Division: Hershey wins a wild one 7-4 in a game that saw it delayed an hour due to ice issues. The Bears clinch a playoff spot. Make room. Charlotte beats Portland 5-4 in regulation. Norfolk scores two goals in :38 to beat Manchester 2-1. Both the Pirates and the Monarchs clinch playoff berths as well. Binghamton beat Providence 4-1 and Syracuse beat Rochester 6-4.

Standings: Bears draw to 10. Wilkes-Barre, barring an implosion, is going to clinch the East Division. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. It’s 103-93 over the Bears with two games in hand. Charlotte sits third with 89 points. The Pens have two games in hand over the Checkers too who are mathematically eliminated from winning the East. The Norfolk Admirals are fourth with 88 points. Binghamton lurks in fifth with 85 points. Then Syracuse, Albany and Adirondack bring up the rear with 65-65-62 points respectively.

Tomorrow: Head to head with the Bears. Check the AHL’s playoff primer tomorrow for WBS’ clinching scenarios. Norfolk plays Charlotte in Charlotte. Portland and Manchester are off.

Go Pens.