Chirps from Center Ice

Goaltender Scott Munroe wins his 100th AHL game as the Penguins sweep the weekend with a 3-2 comeback win this afternoon against the Binghamton Senators.

Scott Munroe vs. Robin Lehner – Cody Wild was in for Carl Sneep. No other lineup changes.

First Period: Pens came out flat and Binghamton pounced in a big way, making it 2-0 before the game was 15 minutes old. Overall just a sloppy, flat period.

Second Period: Penguins came with a jump this period. On the power play, Ben Street crashed the net and scored to cut the deficit in half. Then, Street again, receiving a pass from Geoff Walker and just slipping the puck under Lehner to even things at two. Fireworks at the end of period with Brandon DeFazio and Jack Downing dropping the gloves and having a spirited scrap.

Third Period: More back and forth this period, although Binghamton didn’t get a shot on goal for a long stretch to open the period. Then, late, Geoff Walker in a scrum lifted the puck up and past a down and out Robin Lehner to push the Pens ahead 3-2. Binghamton pulled Lehner with approximately a minute remaining and were unable to find the equalizer and the Pens held on to win.

This will never get old:

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Three Stars: 3) Scott Munroe (24 saves on 26 shots and 100th career AHL win) 2) Geoff Walker, game winning goal, assist, +2) and 1) Ben Street (two goals, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Norfolk Admirals refuse to be beaten. They defeat the Charlotte Checkers 5-0. Not only are they scoring a billion goals, but backup goaltender Jaroslav Janus is on fire. Adding fuel to the fire, it appears that Tampa Bay is going to bring in a name familiar with WBS Penguins fans of old, Sebastian Caron. This would most likely bump Dustin Tokarski back to Norfolk. TBL wants Tokarski to log big minutes and under pressure. So he will definitely see that in Norfolk.

Oh yeah, the rest of the division. Hershey beat Albany 4-1.

Magic Number: Adding this here until we clinch, appears to be 9. I am not a math major and would welcome help here in the form of a comment from a reader or a mention on Twitter or an e-mail.

Standings: Norfolk 93 – Wilkes-Barre / Scranton 83 – Hershey 78 – Syracuse 66 – Binghamton 55

Conference: 1-NOR (93) 2-StJ (83) 3-CT (76) 4-WBS (83) 5-HER (78) 6-BRI (72) 7-MCH (69) 8-WOR (67)

Pens will probably be off tomorrow. Which means blog content from here to Friday’s tilt with Adirondack will be piggybacking what I see from the Bombulie’s or the league itself.

Let’s Go Pens!