Chirps from Center Ice

Pens ride physicality, defense and solid goaltending out of Brad Thiessen and shutout the high-powered Charlotte Checkers 3-0 to even the best of seven series at a game apiece with Game 3 on Monday from Charlotte.

Brad Thiessen vs. Mike Murphy. Bombulie had a pregame write-up on all the lineup moves. Bryan Lerg in, Ben Street out (injured) Paul Thompson in, Jesse Boulerice out and Carl Sneep in at the 7th defenseman and Nick Petersen out. Rumblings of a minor injury were heard in my section, but with the game on your tape with 5.7 seconds left in Game 1 and you get nary a shot off, coach is going to sit you.

First Period: Opening period penalties would continue to woe the Checkers as Oskar Osala was whistled to cross checking. :30 later, Chris Collins sits for tripping. Teams would go back and forth, Bryan Lerg would leave the game and then return. Keven Veilleux would take one of his many boneheaded penalties tonight with a board call to put the Checkers on the power play. Chris Collins would come in shorthanded but the puck would slide through the crease. Pens would kill it but would immediately have to kill another as Ryan Craig tripped Chris Terry. Scary moment as Brian Strait would lose his stick in the defensive zone, go to retrieve it and let Jacob Micfliker get a shot off in close unmarked. Thiessen was really on his game all night long. Pens were really throwing the body all night too, big hits a plenty in this game. Then there would be a bevy of penalties: Brett Bellemore would get 2 for roughing, Zac Dalpe would get 2 for roughing, Zach FitzGerald would get 4 for roughing, Veilleux also and Ryan Craig just 2 for roughing. Pens would get a power play. Then Brett Sterling would get called for a cross check. We’d go back to five a side and the period would end scoreless.

That thing I was saying on the Twitter side about the ref pairing of Vinnerborg / Fraser being decent? Yeah, not so much. They were awful all game.

Second Period: Pens and Checkers would trade some shots off the post. Joey Mormina would have a big shift. He would fire a puck through bodies off of the post. There would be a neutral zone turnover and he would get back and block a shot on his stomach to keep the game scoreless. More turnovers would haunt the Penguins, this time Chris Terry came in and rang one off the post. Charlotte had a bunch of missed opportunities tonight. Then, Paul Thompson fights to keep a puck onside, passes to Corey Potter who fires it which rebounds to Brett Sterling and in to put the Pens ahead 1-0.

Third Period: WIth the Pens having to kill off a 4×3, a big period loomed. After killing off all of the penalties Ryan Craig would set up shop right in front of Mike Murphy and Chris Collins would fire one past and in to make it 2-0. Pens played protect after that. They would get two consecutive power plays and not score then Joey Mormina would get nabbed for slashing to put the Checkers on the power play. Pens would kill that too. They were 7 for 7 on the PK tonight. Checkers would pull Murphy and call a time out but it would be futile as Ryan Craig would fire an empty netter from center red to seal it and send it back to Charlotte tied at a game a piece.

Three Stars: Chris Collins (goal, +1) Brett Sterling (game winning goal, +1) and Brad Thiessen (34 save shutout) – unsung hero was Ryan Craig who set screens on the Sterling and Collins goals and was a +3.

Game Three is Monday in Charlotte at 7.

Elsewhere, the Binghamton Senators cough up a 2-1 lead and lose 3-2 to the Portland Pirates with 12.7 seconds left via a Tim Conboy shot. Bingo still leads the series two games to one.

Pens came out and just grinded the Checkers down with the physical hits. They really made that part of their game plan tonight and it worked. Game 3 will be fun to see if it’s sustainable and if the Checkers adjust.

Let’s Go Pens!