Chirps from Center Ice

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,