Chirps from Center Ice

Pens come from behind in the third period down 2-1 to win 4-2. That’s what it may take in a playoff series. Speaking on that, the Norfolk Admirals defeated the Connecticut Whale today 6-3 and bump back to fourth place in the division and will face off against the Penguins Friday and Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Binghamton Senators will cross over and face the Manchester Monarchs. The Monarchs will have their hands full as Binghamton received reinforcements from Ottawa today. I actually like this matchup for Manchester, but that’s for another day.

Before the game there were awards. Here is who won what:

Media Award: Chris Collins
Star of the Year Award: Brad Thiessen (awarded to the player who amassed the most three stars of the game)
Rookie of the Year: Ben Street
Community Service Award: Chris Collins
Most Valuable Defenseman: Corey Potter (accepted in street clothes)
Leading Scorer Award: Brett Sterling
Most Improved Player: Keven Veilleux
Herb Brooks Award: Ryan Craig (which player had the biggest AHL / NHL impact)
Booster Club Fan Favorite: Zach Sill
Penguin Award: Ryan Craig
Team MVP: Brad Thiessen

AHL Awards also handed out to Thiessen for his Goalie of the Year Award Hynes for Coach of the Year and the East Division, Eastern Conference and Macgregor Kilpatrick Award which Ryan Craig, Brett Sterling and Andrew Hutchinson went no place near.

Brad Thiessen vs. Johan Backlund. Interesting twist saw Patrick Killeen up from Wheeling backing up. John Curry was give the night off.

First Period: Thiessen was sharp denying Denis Hamel in the slot. Later, Hamel set up Rob Bordson on a nifty one timer which Bordson scored to put the Phantoms up 1-0. Then Michael Ryan hooked Viktor Ekbom into the boards and Ekbom went off and did not return. He was supposed to sign autographs after the game but did not do so as Andy Bathgate signed instead. In the ensuing power play Nick Petersen scored to tie the game at one.

Second Period: Lots of defensive miscues in the game as Brad Thiessen misplayed a puck to a Phantoms player who nearly scored. Later, a failed clear attempt led to a Matt Read goal. I thought this was the turning point of the game. You just let in two bad goals and it looked for the sight of things that Adirondack wasn’t going away. The period would end with the Phantoms ahead 2-1.

Third Period: Big scare to start the period as about four minutes in Brad Thiessen left the ice and Patrick Killeen came in relief. Killeen only lasted about two minutes when Thiessen came back in. Later, Chris Collins would score to tie the game at two. Carl Sneep I thought had a bad game defensively. He had a few give aways that led to quality Adirondack scoring chances. Later, David Marshall continued to make a case for himself when he came in and nearly scores on a neat stickhandle move. Right after that a Joey Mormina point shot would get deflected by Ryan Schnell to put the Pens up 3-2. Right after, Nick Petersen would score his second goal of the night to make it 4-2. Adirondack would pull Backlund to no avail and the Pens would hold on to win 4-2.

The win is Wilkes-Barre’s 58th. Good for second all time in wins in a season behind what Hershey did last year in winning 60. Tomorrow when we wake up, Wilkes-Barre and fifteen other AHL teams all wake up 0-0.

Three Stars: Chris Collins (goal, -1) Nick Petersen (two goals, =1) and Ryan Schnell (game winning goal, =1)

The AHL wasn’t done doling out hardware, as John Curry and Brad Thiessen were named recipients of the Harry “Hap” Holmes Award for allowing the fewest goals in the regular season.

What a season.

Blog side, I am running the Fourth Quarter Grades tomorrow. Final East Division Grades on Tuesday, a Western Conference Playoff Preview on Wednesday and finally the Eastern Conference Playoff Preview on Thursday. All will publish at noon their respective days.

Let’s Go Pens!

EDIT: Below is the playoff schedule for Round 1: