Chirps from Center Ice

Wilkes-Barre wins a big road game to put the first win of the year in the can tonight in Rochester by a score of 5-1. Both Brian Gibbons, Brian Strait and Bryan Lerg had huge nights, all going 2-4-6 and a +7 combined. Really a coming out party of sorts for Brian Gibbons who has been, at least to me, Wilkes-Barre’s best player in the three games played thus far.

Brad Thiessen vs. Drew MacIntrye.

First Period: First five minutes of the game WBS was giving away too many cutesy passes and playing lackadaisical defense. Rochester had its chances but Thiessen held firm. Then, Eric Tangradi stole a puck from an Amerks player and simply waited out MacIntyre to make it 1-0 Pens. Later, Geoff Walker would sit for goalie interference and Brain Gibbons would come in shorthanded with breakneck speed but not score. Later in the period Gibbons would set up Brian Strait on the point who would rifle one home while MacIntyre was screened to put the Pens up 2-0. Gibbons was everywhere this period.

Second Period: Colin McDonald would get in the goal column after a nifty Lerg pass to Philip Samuelsson pass to McDonald for the slam dunk. At this point Wilkes-Barre was in control. It really looked as if the Amerks were skating in sand this period but the shot chart would prove otherwise as Thiessen faced a ton of shots and made saves when he needed to.

I’m giving what happened next in the second period its own paragraph simply for what I am about to describe. Brian Gibbons would get whistled for a slashing call. 6 seconds later, Zach Sill would get called for delay of game, clearing the puck over the glass. What happened next is a thing out of a story book. Down 5 on 3, Joey Mormina loses his stick. Then, Brad Thiessen would lose his. 10-bell save after 10-bell save, the puck would find its way to Bryan Lerg who toasted the Rochester power play to score a shorthanded 3×5 goal. It was an absolute thing of beauty.

Third Period: Riding the wave of tremendous momentum, the Pens would get a goal from Niko Dimitrakos on a nice setup from (who else) Brian Gibbons. After that it was prevent everything but to no avail as Marcus Foligno scored late to spoil the Thiessen shutout. At the very end, Brandon DeFazio would buckle Travis Turnbull in a fight at the buzzer.

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (1-1-2, +2) 2) Brad Thiessen (29 saves on 30 shots) and 1) Eric Tangradi (1-1-2, +2)

We were the only game on the AHL slate, so there are no other games to examine.

Standings: Hershey and Norfolk are your division leaders with 4 points each. The Bears and Admirals play a home and home starting tomorrow in Norfolk which I will keep my eye on. Wilkes-Barre has 3 points, Binghamton none and Syracuse none but the Crunch open their season tomorrow.

Wilkes-Barre busses home tonight for a 7:05 game vs. Springfield tomorrow. Gameday will be up here on the blog at 3:30 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!