Chirps from Center Ice

Penguins score five power play goals and defenseman Alex Grant has a hand in all five as Wilkes-Barre beats Syracuse tonight before a sold out crowd 6-2.

For Grant, he was 2-3-5 for the game. His five points is a season high for a Penguin and ties him with Hershey’s Chris Bourque twice, Syracuse’s Dan Sexton and Portland’s Andy Miele for league highs in points in a single game this season.

Scott Munroe vs. Marco Cousineau – Peter Merth was scratched for Philip Samuelsson.

First Period: Alex Grant would open things up at 11:46 of the first on a bomb from the point to put the Pens up 1-0. However, :24 later ex-WBS Penguin Luca Caputi would score to tie things at 1. The Pens outshot the Crunch 14-5 but despite this, the Crunch were everywhere. This is a really pesky hockey team.

Second Period: Patrick Maroon would score and the Crunch would be up 2-1. This was the point of the game which I felt things could get weird quick. However, the Crunch just continued the parade to the penalty box and Bryan Lerg would score on a 5×3 to tie things. Then, Ben Street would score on the back end of the second power play after slipping by the Syracuse defense to make it 3-2.

At this point the period ended with the shots 30-14 in favor of the Penguins. Despite this, these pesky Crunch were still in this game.

Third Period: More than nine minutes in and the Penguins did not have a shot on goal. I remember in my head that Syracuse to that point had six to our none. Somehow, Syracuse took two penalties to open the period with the 5’11, 185 pound Brandon MacMillan boarding the 6’6, 230 pound Joey Mormina. The second penalty was a Rick Schofield trip which Geoff Walker scored on. Then, while on yet another 5-on-3, Alex Grant would rip a howitzer from the point past Cousineau to put the Pens up 5-2.

To this point, five power play goals. Unheard of with the anemic power play that existed prior to his. Alex Grant figures in on all five. New power play quarterback? I would like to think so

Zach Sill would score the sixth and final goal after getting a nice pass from Brian Gibbons who cycled around the net and passed to him. This was an even strength goal Alex Grant was not on the ice for.

Three Stars: 3) Ben Street (goal, even) 2) Geoff Walker (goal, assist, even) and 1) Alex Grant (two goals, three assists, even)

Thoughts: What atmosphere tonight with 8,172 in the house tonight and a TV game. If you frequent the blog and aren’t a season ticket holder, come out to a game. It’s really a fun time for all. Syracuse plays on an edge that either makes them wildly successful or horribly not.

Around the Division: Hershey loses to Manchester on home ice 5-4 which ended the Monarchs 7 game losing streak. Those two go at it again tomorrow. Norfolk goaltender Dustin Tokarski gives up goals on the first three shots he sees, yet the Admirals skate away with two points anyway winning 5-4 after relief goaltender Jaroslav Janus stops 9-of-10 Whale shooters in the shootout.

Standings: Bears have 55 points, Wilkes-Barre and Norfolk creep up with 53 points. Syracuse and Binghamton have 41 and 36 respectively.

Conference: 1-HER (55) 2-StJ (52) 3-CT (46) 4-WBS (53) 5-NOR- (53) 6-WOR (47) 7-POR (47) 8-MCH (46)

Wow, looking at Conference Standings now the Atlantic Division would send four teams if the playoffs started now. The Northeast Division, the tightest division in all of the AHL, would only send one.

Tomorrow the Crunch and Pens rematch at 3 p.m. The Pens bussed up tonight. Gameday will be right here on the blog for you at 11 a.m. Sunday morning.

Let’s Go Pens!

Note: The “rickroll” part of the subject line was part of a  joke that I have running with the team. The Pens allow you to tweet your favorite song to them to play in second intermission. I have tried since the season started to get them to play Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” to no avail. Whenever you hear that being played anywhere it’s commonly referred to as a “Rickroll.” Well, I finally got my wish tonight!