Chirps from Center Ice

Pens win a crazy game tonight 4-2. Hershey came out guns blazing to start the game and played one good period then probably the worst period I have ever witnessed the Bears play in the second to lose 4-2 to the Pens tonight.

John Curry vs. Braden Holtby. Ryan Craig, Andrew Hutchinson given the night off. Keven Veilleux was suspended the final two regular season games by the AHL for last night’s shenanigans. Viktor Ekbom, Andy Bathgate (Pens debut) and Ryan Schnell all played tonight.

First Period: All Bears to open. They enjoyed a good six minutes on the power play with Ryan Schnell on a delay of game, Ben Street for interference when Bryan Lerg broke in shorthanded. John Curry was on his game all night, denying the Bears on the power play. Then Roboert Bortuzzo would get whistled for a blatant cross check and the Bears would go on yet another power play. Pens would kill it then have to kill a Paul Thompson penalty for delay of game. They’d kill it, then in the final minute the Pens would buzz and bizz in the offensive zone and David Marshall would score on the back door to make it 1-0 Pens with :13.7 left in the first. After that, I felt like all the air had left the GIANT Center and the crowd stunned.

Second Period: Pens continue to carry the momentum. Joe Vitale plays with reckless abandon always. He cycles a puck behind Holtby’s net to Brett Sterling who slams the puck home to make it 2-0. Then nearly a minute later, Nick Petersen scores when a Sterling point shot caromed to Petersen’s stick and in. Later, while Vitale was in the box for goalie interference Bryan Lerg would score shorthanded to make it 4-0 Pens.

Third Period: One thing which was noticed by me and also stated on radio was Viktor Ekbom’s performance tonight. He had a great game for himself. Not to be outdone, John Curry played on a different planet this evening, robbing Maxime Lacroix on a break. Pens basically clamped down and controlled Hershey until the final minutes where Andrew Gordon scored to break the Curry shutout bid and then Max Lacroix scored shortly thereafter to make it interesting. Pens win 4-2.

That’s a sweep in Hershey in case you did not know and a 8-2 record against Hershey this year. We dressed basically 5 guys on tryouts and controlled and beat Hershey in Hershey in front of a sellout crowd. Bring on Norfolk. Bring on Binghamton. Bring them all on at this point. Message received from the Pens side too, as Hynes was not thrilled with the lackluster performance last night.

Three Stars: Bryan Lerg: (goal, assist, +2) Brett Sterling (goal, assist, +2) and David Marshall (goal, assist, +2)

Lerg left the game with a lower body injury. Did not return. This was when the Pens were up 4-0 so perhaps precautionary?

In the NHL: The Carolina Hurricanes lost, so they will not be making the playoffs so Charlotte will be getting Drayson Bowman back when they open in Hershey on Thursday.

Playoff Implications: Binghamton lost to Adirondack 2-1. Norfolk loses 5-4 in Syracuse. The B-Sens still have a 1 point lead over the Admirals with no games left. Simply, if Norfolk wins in Connecticut vs. the Whale tomorrow they are play WBS Friday at Mohegan. If they lose in regulation, in OT or a shootout, Binghamton wins the tie breaker and it’s the B-Sens Friday in Wilkes-Barre Township. Connecticut literally has nothing in the regular season left to play for. Portland wrapped up the Atlantic Division tonight with a 3-2 win in Albany so the Whale will face the Pirates Round 1 on Thursday.That game tomorrow starts at 5 p.m.

Adirondack tomorrow at home to close out the regular season then everyone who made the playoffs are back on even ground. Let’s Go Pens!