Chirps from Center Ice

I was debating running “looking for tail but getting the horns” as a title tonight but the blog is supposed to be family friendly so I scrapped it entirely.

Oh wait.

Anyway, the Pens lost this game 3-0 to the Albany Devils and ran into a hot goaltender in Jeff Frazee who was played out of his mind this evening. This is two shutouts in three games for the Pens. In this game, the Pens seemed to have the effort all night, outshooting the Devils 9/7, 11/8 and 12/8 in the periods and  32-23 overall. The Pens power play went 0-for-6 tonight including not scoring on five straight power plays handed to them by referee Jon McIsaac.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jeff Frazee. No lineup changes for the Pens tonight.

First Period: A back and forth period between the clubs with the teams committing two penalties a side. Eric Tangradi had a good chance on a power play late, parked at the top of Jeff Frazee’s net but completely missing the net.

Second Period: Frazee’s great play in net was on display all night. He denied a Ryan Craig chance when Nick Petersen centered a pass to him to open the second. Geoff Walker was snakebit all night. He fanned on an open net. More back and forth. Then Eric Gelinas scored on a wrist shot which beat Thiessen blocker side. It appeared as if Brad was screened. Then Tim Sestito takes an unsportsmanlike penalty. Devils kill it and Sestito gets the puck in alone on a breakaway. Joey Mormina is behind him, doesn’t appear to do anything to interfere with his scoring attempt, and McIsaac calls a penalty shot which Sestito cashed on. Penguins then come back and Robert Bortuzzo shoots a puck which eludes Frazee but dies on the line and does not go in.

Third Period: Frazee was really the star of the show, holding off all attempts by the Penguins. I called the penalty shot circumstance a turning point on the Twitter call and it turned out to be. It had the feel all night of playoff intense hockey. Pens would get a power play late but fail to score then Geoff Walker would take a late slashing call that resulted in Eric Gelinas scoring an empty net power play goal.

Three Stars: Eric Gelinas (two goals, +1) 2) Tim Sestito (goal, +1) 1) Jeff Frazee (32 save shutout)

Around the Division: Bears win in Manchester 2-1 on two power play goals. Binghamton rebounds from the 6-1 loss the Penguins laid on them by beating the Portland Pirates 6-2 tonight. Norfolk wins in a nine round shootout to win at home in front of a sold out Scope Arena 3-2. The Admirals had trailed 2-0 to open the third but came back, tied it and won in the shootout.

Standings: Norfolk 69 points, 54 games played. Wilkes-Barre 67 points, 53 games played. Hershey 66 points, 52 games played. Syracuse 47 points, 51 games played. Binghamton 45 points, 52 games played.

Conference: 1-StJ (72) 2-NOR (69) 3-CT (62) 4-WBS (67) 5-HER (66) MCH (58) 7-BRI (57) 8-WOR (55)

Hershey can leapfrog us as they play the Bridgeport Sound Tigers tomorrow in Connecticut. I will likely have a RT of a final score tomorrow afternoon.

Pens will bus to Portland tomorrow. Game will be at 1 p.m. Monday so it’s a super early Gameday at 10 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!