Chirps from Center Ice

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.