Chirps from Center Ice

Oof. Pens drop this game 4-0 and have now lost to the Hershey Bears and Norfolk Admirals in back to back games by a combined 9-1. Tonight’s affair included a limp effort which resulted in a 4-0 whitewashing.

Scott Munroe vs. Dustin Tokarski – Eric Tangradi and Cody Wild were both in while Nick Petersen remained a healthy scratch.

First Period: Robert Bortuzzo and Scott Jackson fought very early. I questioned Bortuzzo, one of our better defensemen, going off for 5:00 on a fighting major so early on in the game. Mike Angelidis and Geoff Walker fought afterwards. No one had the advantage on either player in either fight. Penguins would get 4:00 of power play to work with later in the period erased by Joey Mormina roughing after a whistle. All of it would get killed and it was scoreless after one.

Second Period: Weird opening sequences. Penguins would get a power play to work with. Trevor Smith scored shorthanded. Then, Carter Ashton would get awarded a penalty shot while the Pens were still on the same power play but he would not score. Then later, the Penguins think they score when the puck crosses (or does it?) the line. The play would continue a good four minutes later until referee Jon McIsaac went over to the goal judge to see if the goal had been scored. It had not. Later, Ondrej Palat bats a puck in the net after Scott Munroe fails to corral the rebound to make it 2-0.

I went over to the patrons who sit in Section 223 which is an end section overlooking the WBS net. The fans I spoke to told me that the puck was in the net in the corner of the net and over the line. They also told me that the goal light above was inoperable.

Officials saw it different, obviously.

Third Period: Pierre-Cedric Labrie scores after a nice cross crease pass from Richard Panik set him up to make it 3-0. Then, the Pens would take an Alex Picard rough and a Robert Bortuzzo high stick soon after to put the Admirals on a 5-on-3 for 1:34. Trevor Smith banged home his own rebound to put the Ads up 4-0. Robert Bortuzzo would be awarded a penalty shot and not score in an attempt to break up the Tokarski shutout bid.

Three Stars: 3) Trevor Smith (goal, +2) 2) Ondrej Palat (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Dustin Tokarski (24 save shutout)

Around the Division: Syracuse beat Albany 7-1 in the only division action. The Crunch halt the Devils three game winning streak.

Standings: Color me shocked. AHL Standings has Wilkes-Barre still in first place. I thought this game was for first. (edit: No, it wasn’t the Pens still have a game in hand on the Admirals which is why it is seeded higher, for now. Thanks to all who corrected me on the Twitter side) League standings still have Wilkes-Barre in first with 65 points, then Norfolk “technically” second with the same 65 points. Hershey is third with 64 points. Syracuse has 47 points and Binghamton 43.

Conference: 1-StJ (70) 2-WBS (65) 3-CT (58) 4-NOR (65) 5-HER (64) 6-MCH (58) 7-BRI (55) 8-WOR (55)

Pens will practice tomorrow in preparation for the three game road trip to Binghamton, Albany and Portland. I will be with them for 2/3 of the trip, making Binghamton and Albany and watching the Portland game from home.

Let’s Go Pens!