Chirps from Center Ice

Wilkes-Barre comes out to an electric Mohegan Sun Arena in Game 1 and run the Bears 3-1 to take a 1-0 series lead in the best of five. Game 2 is tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre.

Strong performance by Brad Thiessen. Strong performance by the Penguins power play, going 2-for-5. Strong performance by the Penguins defense, limiting the Bears to just 7 shots on goal halfway through the game and keeping the big guns off the scoresheet. Strong performance from Colin McDonald, who had two goals. Just strong performances everywhere you looked.

In hindsight, I should have used “Strong Performance” as my headline. Meh.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin, reassigned by Washington this morning to the surprise of no one.

First Period: :45 in, the Pens had to kill a too many men on the ice call. They did. In fact they didn’t allow a single Bears shot on net. Late, Zach Sill was entering the Penguins offensive zone and Tomas Kundratek stuck his leg out and tripped him. In the ensuing power play, Alex Picard fires a shot deflected by Colin McDonald and in :10 into the power play to put the Pens up 1-0.

Second Period: Hershey would take two consecutive penalties. Sabourin would snuff out most attempts. Finally with Kyle Greentree in the box for boarding Joey Mormina, Jason Williams would slap a pass to Cal O’Reilly who slammed home past Sabourin to put the Pens up 2-0. Then, Alex Picard fails to clear a puck and gives Hershey a two on one but Thiessen made the save which really was a big one at the time. He hadn’t seen many pucks to that point. Bears would really pick up the offense after this. In fact they would even up the shots at twelve for this period.

Third Period: Bears had 1:58 of power play to work with. Graham Mink boarded Robert Bortuzzo to put the side at 4×4 for :23. Nothing would come out of it, however. Bears would continue to pressure. Then, Colin McDonald would come down the wing and absolutely rifle a shot past Sabourin to put the Pens up 3-0. Mike Carman scored on a deflection with 1:56 left to bust up the Thiessen shutout. The Bears would pull Sabourin with under a minute left to play, Kundratek would be the only Bears defensemen out with five Hershey forwards but the Bears never scored a second.

Three Stars: 3) Alexandre Picard (2 assists, +1) 2) Cal OReilly (goal, even) and 1) Colin McDonald (two goals, +1)

I have to say, the most electric that the Mohegan Sun Arena was in my history of going start to finish, I think. Maybe the Calder Cup run in 2008 when Tim Brent scored in Game 6 vs. the Portland Pirates matched the electricity.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: All Game 1’s. Norfolk staved off a Manchester run to hold on and win 3-2. St. John’s comes back 2-1 in the third to win 3-2 in Syracuse.

Game 2 is tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre. This is the most important game in the series. If the Pens win, the Bears are on the brink of elimination. If the Bears win, it’s a 1-1 series and a best of three with Hershey with home ice advantage. I wouldn’t expect lineup changes for Wilkes-Barre.

Gameday will be up here on the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!