Chirps from Center Ice

Sometimes you have bad nights. This was one of them. A 7-4 loss on home ice to the Springfield Falcons. Lots of things went wrong tonight. Let’s examine:

1) The first five minutes of the game were a disaster. Springfield scored shorthanded and power play goals. Overall they would go 3 for 5 on the man advantage.

2) Ryan Craig left the game at some point with an injury. No one in the house saw it. This is related to #1, because he is our best penalty killer by far.

3) The defense was no where to be found tonight. But for Brian Strait who was a +3 tonight, there was nothing going on defensively for the Pens. Whenever the Pens answered, Springfield answered right back.

4) Both Springfield goalies (I will get to why both played in a minute) left big, juicy rebounds all night. The Penguins were not able to capitalize on the reality given them.

5) Springfield is just downright a good hockey team and the Pens right now are not.

Enough pontificating for now. Let’s get to the game…

Scott Munroe vs. Allen York

First Period: Brandon DeFazio would get whistled for a ticky-tack hooking call by referee Jon McIsaac and the Falcons would pounce immediately and score when Marty St. Pierre cleaned up a rebound which Munroe left for him. Then, Dane Byers would sit for a hook of his own and Nick Drazenovic would score shorthanded with no one around him. An unmarked man scoring a shorthanded goal is unacceptable. Right after that happened, Paul Thompson would score on a laser shot which handcuffed York. Things would settle down the rest of the period.

Second Period: Paul Thompson crashed the net early and took out goaltender Allen York. Not a dirty play in my eyes as Thompson is not that type of player. He would be replaced by Paul Dainton. Later Dalton Prout would get whistled for a hooking call and in the ensuing power play Eric Tangradi would crash the net and dish off to Geoff Walker who would score to even the game at 2 a piece. Then, Alex Grant would have a gaffe at center ice and turn the puck over to the Falcons which led to Mike Thomas scoring. Right after that, Bryan Lerg would score on a crash the net play to bring things even at three a piece. Then, it all fell apart. After getting whistled for too many men, Alex Picard would get nabbed for a boarding call which set up 1:05 of 5-on-3 time for the Falcons. Springfield would use its time out and score on both power plays, Cam Atkinson and John Moore the culprits putting the score at 6-4 and all of the air out of the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Third Period: Brad Thiessen would replace Scott Munroe in goal. Bryan Lerg would score his second of the night after a nice dish pass from Colin McDonald. Then right after that, Ryan Russell scored a garbage, answer goal. After that, it was all downhill. Defense would get beat on an icing call. One scary moment was a point shot from Simon Despres which would hit Bryan Lerg in the face. Lerg would return to the game, however. Oliver Gabriel would score to make it 7-4 and it would end that way.

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (2 goals, +1) 2) Nick Drazenovic (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Marty St. Pierre (goal, assist, -1)

Around the Division: Hershey pumped Norfolk 7-5. Chris Bourque had a 5 point night (2-3-5) Syracuse beat Binghamton 5-4 in overtime. Nikita Filatov had two goals and an assist for the B-Sens in the loss.

Standings: Hershey 6, Norfolk 4, Wilkes-Barre 3, Syracuse 2, Binghamton 1.

Normally the Pens can get by with 4 goals for and ride solid defense to a victory.

Do you forget this game and start over tomorrow vs. Binghamton or keep it in the memory bank as a sign of things to come? Time will tell.

Gameday for Binghamton will be up at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon. Let’s Go Pens!