Chirps from Center Ice

What a difference a week makes. Last Saturday night the Pens were on the ropes having lost to the Admirals 2-0. All hope was lost. Best team in the league down 2-0 to a team which went 3-6-1 in their last ten and won on their last day of the season to leapfrog Binghamton for the 4 seed? This isn’t happening right?

But the Pens went on the road and won all three games in Norfolk to recapture home ice and set up a Game 6 tonight in Wilkes-Barre where, capped by a first period natural hat trick from Steve Wagner, won 6-3. The first ever hat trick for a Penguins defensemen in the history of the franchise.

Penguins will either face the 11 time Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears or the extremely resilient Charlotte Checkers who, with a win tomorrow, can send the Bears home packing for the season. Game 1 of Pens vs. CHA / HER is Thursday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dustin Tokarski. No lineup changes from last night. Bryan Lerg took warmups but appeared to be in some pain.

First Period: Vladimir Mihalik took an interference call at :40 of the first period. On the power play, a puck would get to Keven Veilleux who would unleash a slapper which would crumble Mathieu Roy who was right in the lane. The puck would then find its way to Steve Wagner who would put it home to put the Pens up 1-0. Next shift, Mike Vernace would send a puck out from his defensive zone for a delay of game penalty. In the ensuing power play, Steve Wagner again would score and make it 2-0. The crowd was electric and hopping. In my mind these quick leads are great, but woe to the person who thinks that a huge lead early means you win the game automatically. Bombulie noted that the Pens power play for the series went 0 for 16 then 6 for 12 since. Scary moments would ensue as Brett Sterling would sit on the bench for an extended period with an upper body injury. He would return for a power play and would complete the game. Later and late in the period, Steve Wagner would complete a natural hat trick to give the Pens a 3-0 lead going into the first. I thought Zach Sill deflected it but the arena never changed it so it’s good.

Second Period: Norfolk would mount a comeback of sorts which lasted all period. They got a Marc-Antoine Pouliot goal after more failed defensive zone clears befuddled the Pens and then a power play goal by Blair Jones after a Geoff Walker interference call. Then, Ryan Craig would get called for holding at 20:00 to put the Admirals on the power play to start the…

Third Period: Joe Vitale while killing the Craig penalty would break in and earn himself a penalty shot. He would draw iron but not score. If we lose this game his failure to score is the turning point in the game. At some point, Andrew Hutchinson was not spotted on the Pens bench. Astute follower @CxJamesx9 sits across from me and picked this one up. He never came out for the third period and the Pens were don to 5 D. Later, Thiessen made a huge save on yet another Pens failed defensive zone clear. Then, Tim Wallace, Chris Collins and Joe Vitale would come in on a 3 on 1 and Vitale finished it to put the Pens ahead 4-2. Ah, but the Admirals weren’t ready to die yet, with Joe Vitale in the box for a weak slash call, James Wright would score on the power play to make it 4-3. Tensions mounted. Zach Sill and Brett Sterling did a 2 on 1 and didn’t score. Then, with Tokarski pulled the Pens would score an empty netter after a big pad save by Brad Thiessen. Tim Wallace did the honors on the empty net. But the Pens weren’t done scoring empty netters as with Tokarski pulled again Zach Sill would score to make it 6-3 and send the Admirals home.

What a series. My hat is off to the Norfolk Admirals for a hell of a series. They battled hard and every game was a war.

Three Stars: M-A Pouliot (goal, assist, even) Joe Vitale (game winning goal, assist, +2) Steve Wagner (hat trick, +1)

Elsewhere, the Binghamton Senators never said die and won in overtime again to advance to the Atlantic Division Finals via a 6-5 final. Ryan Potulny has like, 13 points in that series alone. The B-Sens are going to be a tough out. They will face the Portland Pirates, who defeated the Connecticut Whale tonight 6-4.

Expect a blog post here tomorrow on the result of the Charlotte / Hershey game and stay with me on Twitter for the very latest regarding the Penguins second round opponent, whoever that may be.

Still a way to go, but a few days to celebrate. LET’S GO PENS!