Chirps from Center Ice

Pesky Crunch get us again. This time, 2-1 in front of a sold out crowd.

Bigger news which could potentially be a huge blow is the loss of Scott Munroe tonight due to injury. Something in the lower body and a tweak of something. I have no idea what and I would anticipate that the Pens won’t say. Which means that Patrick Killeen is almost certain to get the nod tomorrow against the absolute white hot Norfolk Admirals.

Brad Thiessen is still up in Pittsburgh and may start tomorrow vs. Columbus. Wilkes-Barre may have to sign a goalie in the ECHL to a PTO. If I had time, I would take looks at goalies on ECHL only deals in the nearby ECHL towns.

Scott Munroe vs. Antero Niittymaki – Cal O’Reilly saw his first action in Wilkes-Barre. Nick Petersen was scratched.

First Period: O’Reilly had an early chance in on Niittymaki but did not score. So too Ryan Craig. The teams traded penalties but there was no score heading into the…

Second Period: O’Reilly is a playmaker, and he setup Geoff Walker for a chance Walker fired wide on. Then Munroe was injured. From what people told me he was injured during play then had to remain in goal until a stoppage. Patrick Killeen replaced him. Alex Grant boarded Dan Sexton and in the ensuing power play, he came back and scored on a beautiful cross ice pass that no goaltender in this league could have stopped. Then ex-WBS defenseman Nate Guenin took an elbowing call and the Pens scored on the power play. This time Ryan Craig from his stomach. Things would pick up, then with under ten seconds left (7.5 exactly) Patrick Maroon lasered a shot over Killeen and in to put the Crunch ahead going into the second intermission.

Huge goal for the Crunch, as they were undefeated (17-0-3-3) leading after two periods.

Third Period: Crunch would continue to jam the Pens and looked to play defense all period and just jam up the Pens whenever they tried to get offense going. Scary moment when Killeen was crashed into by the Crunch but he would stay in the game. Robert Bortuzzo had a chance on a one time opportunity but could not convert. Matt Smaby would get whistled for tripping late, lip off to referee Ryan Fraser and get tossed. The Pens would pull Killeen but would never find the equalizing goal with time expiring.

I don’t think goaltenders would have mattered in this game. The game was tight to begin the game and stayed that way all game long. This loss is not to be pinned on Patrick Killeen in my opinion. When you do not score, you lose. It matters not who is in goal.

Three Stars: 3) Dan Sexton (game winning goal, even) 2) Ryan Craig (power play goal, even) 1) Antero Niittymaki (35 saves on 36 shots)

Around the Division: The Norfolk Admirals are the hottest team in the American Hockey League right now. Hands down. They win a crazy back and forth game against the Hershey Bears in Hershey by the score of 4-3. Newly acquired Brandon Segal had two goals for the Admirals in the win. Jaroslav Janus stopped 25 of 28 shots almost guaranteeing that the Penguins see Dustin Tokarski tomorrow. Adirondack beat Binghamton in a shootout, 2-1.

Standings: Norfolk has 73 points now to the Penguins 71. The Bears are stuck on 67 points. The Crunch have 52 and the B-Sens, 46.

Conference: 1-StJ (73) 2-NOR (73) 3-BRI (64) 4-WBS (71) 5-HER (67) 6-CT (64) 7-ALB (60) 8-MCH (59)

Check me out on Twitter regarding who, if anyone, the Pens bring in on a likely PTO. I won’t have time to put up a blog.

Norfolk is in for a 3 p.m. start Sunday afternoon. Gameday will be up at 11 am.

Let’s Go Pens!