Here is all you need to know for tonight’s game:

John Hynes ripped the team a new one after a sub par performance versus the Connecticut Whale on Tuesday and the Pens responded with a 4-0 win tonight in Abbotsford, British Columbia this evening.

Brad Thiessen vs. Leland Irving. Nick Petersen was in the lineup for the Pens for the first time since the Albany make up game in Atlantic City. Jason DeSantis was also in as the sixth defenseman. Bombulie reported Tuesday that Carl Sneep did not make the trip. Joey Mormina and David Marshall were the healthy scratches.

First Period: Off the hop, Geoff Walker got the goal scoring going off a nice feed from Keven Veilleux who had a very good game. Then, the Pens looked like they scored again but referee Andy Thiessen (no relation to Brad) lost sight of the puck and blew the play dead. Later, Thiessen would whistle goaltender interference on Geoff Walker when it appeared that Andrew Hutchinson scored. Pens would kill it and then get a power play on a Matt Keith slash and hit two posts in the process. Later, Zach Sill would score to make it 2-0 on a nice feed from Jesse Boulerice.

Second Period: Ben Street’s work would set up a Bryan Lerg goal. Lerg dug a puck off of the far wall and wristed a shot on net that Lerg deflected. Late in the second Brett Sterling would score to make it 4-0 even strength. All four lines scored for WBS.

Third Period: Irving would be replaced by JP Lamoureux. Lamoureux would not allow a goal this period. Don’t be surprised if he gets the start tomorrow. Robert Bortuzzo and Macgregor Sharp would fight this period. Nick Petersen would have a good period keeping his feet moving and drawing a high stick call. Really liked what I saw out of him this game. Brad Thiessen would remain sharp as ever and would earn the shutout and the 4-0 win.

Three Stars: Ben Street (assist, +1, local boy from nearby Coquitlam), Zach Sill (goal, assist, +2) and Brad Thiessen (26 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Connecticut in Hartford tonight 2-1. Norfolk absolutely destroyed Binghamton 8-3. Syracuse beat Texas in a shootout 1-0. Albany beat Adirondack 2-1.

Manchester lost to Worcester 3-1. Portland beat Springfield 5-3. The Pirates leapfrog the Monarchs 85-84 in points and the Pirates have four games in hand on ManchVegas. Manchester has played the most games in the division by at least two games over everyone else.

Standings: WBS 92, HER 85, Wilkes has 3 games in hand and will have 4 after this weekend. CHA 80, NOR 79, BNG 73, ALB 56, SYR 53, ADK 51.

Tomorrow: Hershey visits Adirondack, Binghamton visits Charlotte, Providence is in Portland and Bridgeport is in Manchester.

Rematch tomorrow in Abbotsford. Let’s Go Pens!

Pens lost this penalty filled game (puppet show) 5-2 tonight in which it saw about five 5 on 3 penalty periods. Rather than me spout off on how bad I feel referee Jamie Koharski is, I am just going to recap as best I can and move on.

Cameron Talbot vs. Brad Thiessen. Carl Sneep was scratched and David Marshall dressed. The Pens went with 12 forwards and 6 defensemen. Sneep was seen in the players box with a cast on his left hand, and ace bandage over what appeared to be a removable splint.

First Period: Off the hop, Connecticut’s Pavel Valentenko sat for interference then Kris Newbury for hooking. In the 5 on 3 that ensued Tim Wallace would score from the left faceoff dot to put the Pens up 1-0. Later, John Mitchell deked around Corey Potter to put the Whale on the board ant tie the game at 1-1. To this point the Pens were dominating the shots on goal to a tune of something like 8-2. Soon after, Andrew Hutchinson would slap a pass to Chris Collins to make it 2-1 Pens. Collins was everywhere the first period. Then, Kris Newbury would put a puck on net which would dribble past Thiessen to make the score 2-2. Shots on goal in the first would be 20-7 Penguins.

Somewhere in the first intermission the wheels would come off because the Pens would only manage 11 more shots the rest of the game. 5 in the second and 6 in the third.

Second Period: Tim Wallace would start the second in the penalty box for 1:55 of carryover time from the first for slashing. Later, Joe Vitale would get nabbed for tripping giving the Whale a 5 on 3 for 1:39. Wade Redden would score with :02 left on the 5 on 3 to put the Whale up 3-2. At this point, Coach John Hynes would replace Brad Thiessen with John Curry. Nothing against Thiessen, the move was really to shake up the team more than anything, like the game against Norfolk at home two weeks ago when he pulled Curry for Thiessen. Then the Pens would get a chance on the power play but would not score. Evgeni Grachev hold then a Blake Parlett hold. Nothing. Then David Marshall would sit for a hook and Jamie Koharski would nab Joe Vitale for slashing handing the Whale 1:11 of 5 on 3. Pens would kill it all and go to the locker room down 3-2.

Third Period: Kelsey Tessier would fire a rocket of a slap shot from the right face off circle past John Curry even strength to give the Whale a 4-2 lead. The Pens would then get 1:32 of 5 on 3 when Stu Bickel would trip a Penguin and Brodie Dupont later elbowed someone. Would the Pens score? No. The Pens would get another chance of 5 on 3 for :18 after a Derek Couture hold and a Wade Redden hook. No scoring. Highlight of the night was Zach Sill bloodying Blake Parlett. I think Sill broke his nose. Rather than resorting to full blown thuggery, the Pens tried to even the score to no avail with an empty net which Kris Newbury took advantage of. Final score was 5-2.

Three stars: Andrew Hutchinson (2 assists, +1) Kris Newbury (2 goals, assist, +1) Wade Redden (game winning goal, 2 assists, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey lost in a shootout to Portland 3-2. Charlotte beat Binghamton in regulation 2-1. Bears sit 7 back of the Pens right now.

Standings: WBS has 90 points to Hershey’s 83. Charlotte sits 3rd with 80 points. Norfolk (idle) has 75. Binghamton could not tie the Admirals for 4th and have 73 points. Albany has 52 points in sixth and Adirondack and Syracuse has 51 points tied for last in the division.

Portland ties Manchester for the Atlantic Division lead and is in a three way tie with the Bears for second best in the AHL. Hershey, despite a rash of call-ups and injuries still is the second best team in the AHL? Amazing. Just amazing. The Bears are going to be again heavily favored to win it all for a third year in a row.

Tomorrow: Hershey plays in Worcester in a game I will keep my eye on. The other game of interest is the Binghamton / Charlotte rematch in Charlotte. I will have a quick blog post about the games tomorrow night.

Today the AHL released the Clear Day Rosters which you can view here. Tony Androck from Pensburgh had an excellent blog post breaking it all down and what it all means from a WBS Penguins perspective. Because of Tony’s fine work, I don’t have to break anything down here on the blog. I will direct you his work. You can also follow Tony on Twitter at @TonyAndrock

Go Penguins.

Defense wins Championships.

It’s the old adage that gets tossed around all the time. Well, it was the Pens Defense that held Hershey to 16 shots on goal and only 1 goal in a 4-1 win at GIANT Center this evening.

Brad Thiessen vs. Nolan Schaefer – Bears PxP John Walton tweeted that the Penguins are without three of the top five scorers and the Bears are without three of their top 6. Neither team was at 100%.

First Period: Off the hop, Ryan Craig slipped the puck under Schaefer to give the Pens a 1-0 very early. Pens really clamped the Bears down to only 4 SOG this period and none in the first 10 minutes or so. Both teams would trade a Joe Vitale hook and a Sheldon Souray cross check but neither team would score on the man advantage. SOG were 9-4 Penguins.

Second Period: Zach Sill would sit for tripping, what I thought was a ticky tack call from referee Marcus Vinnerborg and Brian Fahey would fire a puck from the point that Boyd Kane would deflect in past Thiessen to tie the game at 1. Do the Pens come unraveled? No. Kyle Greentree would get nabbed for hooking, then :13 later on the power play Maxime Lacroix would board Carl Sneep and the Pens would get 1:47 of a 5 on 3. But, they would not score. That certainly had the looks of a momentum changer there. Geoff Walker must not believe in momentum because later he scored to make it 2-1. Huge goal. Huge, huge, HUGE goal there by Walker. After two periods, 2-1 Penguins and 17-10 shots on goal.

Third Period: Bears would buzz and buzz and buzz. Shots would creep to 18-15 WBS, but with about 6 minutes to go in the game, I don’t think the Penguins allowed the Bears a single shot on goal. Joey Mormina would fire a puck in from the blueline to make it 3-1, then Ryan Craig with Schaefer pulled would score the empty net goal from center ice. Final SOG would be 26-16.

Three Stars: Boyd Kane (goal, -2), Brad Thiessen (15 saves on 16 shots), Geoff Walker (game winning goal, assist, +2)

The Pens by my math are 14-6 at GIANT Center this season. A complete 180 from what they were last year.

Around the Division: Charlotte beat Manchester 3-2. Bingo beat Norfolk 4-1. Adirondack beat Albany 4-3.

Standings: Division lead back to 8, 2 games in hand on Hershey. 90-82. Charlotte has 78 points in third. Norfolk-Binghamton are 75-73 for fourth and fifth. Albany-Adirondack-Syracuse are 52-51-49. Manchester has 83 points. We will also start tracking Portland, who have 81 points in second in the Atlantic. Hamilton leads the North with 74 points and Milwaukee leads the West with 81. The Admirals are my Calder Cup pick as opponent in the Finals vs. the Pens.

This week: Hershey travels to Portland, Wilkes-Barre hosts Connecticut and Binghamton and Charlotte square off in North Carolina all on Tuesday.

Tomorrow I will probably have a late evening post on the Clear Day rosters. Gonna be fun breaking down the East. Until then, Let’s Go Penguins!