Chirps from Center Ice

Penguins traveled to Western Canada today for Friday and Saturday’s games vs. the Abbotsford Heat. Meanwhile, I kept tabs on two East Division games on AHL Live:

• The Hershey Bears lost 3-2 to the Worcester Sharks in regulation. The seven point lead is intact and the Penguins have three games in hand over the Bears.
• The Norfolk Admirals beat the Binghamton Senators tonight in Hampton Roads by a score of 5-1. The top ranked B-Sens power play went 0 for 5 tonight and the Sens were held to 22 shots on goal.

Elsewhere, in games which indirectly affect Wilkes-Barre:

• The Manchester Monarchs earned a point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Providence Bruins. If you had the under at 13 rounds in a shootout tonight you lost. It went 14 rounds! The Monarchs reclaim first in the Atlantic and overall second in the AHL with 84 points. The Pens also have three games in hand on the Monarchs.
• The Portland Pirates were idle tonight. It is also worth mentioning so too was the Charlotte Checkers.
• The Checkers parent team, the Carolina Hurricanes, were in action tonight and lost in overtime 3-2. They earn a point and are in the playoffs right now as the 8 seed in the NHL Eastern Conference (the playoff format between AHL and NHL is different) The Hurricanes are battling the Buffalo Sabres for the last spot. The Sabres have two games in hand. Why is this important? We here at Chirps from Center Ice want to see the Hurricanes make the NHL playoffs so as not to send down all of their prospects to load up the Charlotte Checkers. Go Canes Go!

Can’t promise a Thursday post. So if not, look for the late Friday night Gameday post to publish around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. as the Pens game is not until 10 p.m. Wilkes-Barre time. If you are wondering if I am going to live tweet and recap it the answer is yes.

Check out this cool AHL Playoff Primer the League is going to make a daily feature. Very informative. Act like you know come playoff time.

Go Pens!