Chirps from Center Ice

What, you thought I was going to come up with a witty headline for a game which was meaningless? Nope.

Pens beat the Bears 5-2 tonight. Hershey dressed a bunch of guys who will probably spend most of their time at the Caps / Bears ECHL affiliate South Carolina. Goalies Dany Sabourin and Philipp Grubauer split the time in net for the Bears. Brad Thiessen went the whole game and was backed up by Patrick Killeen.

Before we get going on the postgamer, welcome to the team Mike O’Brien. Mike did play-by-play and handled the public relations for the now defunct Lowell Devils and is filling the role for the departed Scott Stuccio in doing color commentary for the Penguins with Tom Grace. I don’t listen to home games, so I have no idea how he sounded. I will be listening tomorrow as I will not be making the trek to Hershey for the rematch.

Ryan Craig is our captain. That won’t change. Craig was scratched tonight so Bryan Lerg, Joey Mormina and Zach Sill wore the “A’s” for WBS this evening.

First Period: Nearly off the hop, Sabourin cleared a puck into the stands for a delay of game. Pens had plenty of chances on the power play but could not score. Later, Zach Miskovic would trip Bryan Lerg and the Pens would get another crack at the power play and not score again. About halfway through the first it was all WBS. Then, Jacob Micflikier, late of the Charlotte Checkers from last season, skated down the right side and fired a shot which was blocked by Joey Mormina who laid on the ice to block it. The deflection caromed back to Micflikier who rifled it over Thiessen’s shoulder to put the Bears up 1-0. Both teams would trade power plays, there was some rough stuff with Garrett Mitchell and Ryan Schnell and the period would end 1-0 in favor of the Bears with the Pens leading 10-4 in shots. Sabourin’s knee is a non-issue (he missed a good chunk of the second half of last season with the knee ailment)

First Intermission: Sought Tom Grace out in the hallway and asked him what he was planning on with his Twitter account. He told me that he wants to give fans the “behind the scenes” looks when he can. Tom Grace is anti-social media. He likes to play his cards “close to the vest” per his words. He told me he won’t tweet lineups or things like that, so we will have to see where his account goes. He is @TGracePens if you want to lend him a follow.

Second Period: Just like the first, the Bears had to kill a delay of game to start the period. Pens would fail to score on it and right after Ryan Schnell and Phil Oreskovic fought. Schnell had some good shots in. Then, Brian Day would score for Wilkes-Barre on a goal that looked like it was kicked in. Sabourin was irate but referee Chris Cozzan immediately signaled good goal. Pens really locked the Bears down this period not allowing a shot till about 10:00 in. Then the Pens went on another power play and just as that expired Geoff Walker scored on a great cross crease pass from Brian Gibbons. Late, Keven Veilleux left the game with an injury. He limped off down the tunnel. Phil Oreskovic may have got him. Bombulie’s postgamer stated that he will be evaluated tomorrow. As that was happening, Francois Bouchard completed a rush and beat Thiessen blocker side to even things at 2 a piece. Shots to this point were 25-10 WBS.

Third Period: Brandon DeFazio made a case for him after he got a goal to make it 3-2. Philip Grubauer made two great stops and then Andrew Carroll and Ryan Schnell fought again. Shots with 8:27 left in the third were a staggering 36-11 for Wilkes-Barre. Later, Brian Gibbons deflected a Ben Street shot to make it 4-2. To add insurance, Bryan Lerg split the Hershey defense and sniped a dandy of a shot on Grubauer. That was goal of the game, in my opinion. What a move and first step by Lerg to dust the Hershey defense. Then, Devin DiDiomete and Andrew Carroll (his third fight) fought with DiDiomete blooding Carroll. Pens would win 5-2 and out gun Hershey 41-16.

Three stars were Brian Gibbons, Geoff Walker and Brandon DeFazio. The AHL doesn’t release game sheets to the public so I have no idea who took what shots, what anyone’s +/- is, anything. (EDIT: Tim Leone has his game story here complete with box score) 

Always good to beat Hershey no matter if it counts or doesn’t. Rematch tomorrow from Hershey. I will be radio only. There will be no “Gameday” as info I gather prior to these games isn’t made available to me.

Let’s Go Pens!