Chirps from Center Ice

Brock Trotter continues his playoff tear, scoring two goals tonight on breakaways and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins drop Game 1 by a score of 3-1.

Kind of expected this, with the IceCaps off since Friday and the Penguins gutting out a Game 5 victory on home ice vs. the Hershey Bears Saturday night. How the Penguins respond in the first ten minutes tomorrow in Game 2 will be crucial if they want to send this back to Wilkes-Barre even at a game a piece in the series.

Brad Thiessen vs. Eddie Pasquale – Brian Strait was out and Philip Samuelsson was in for him. No other lineup changes.

First Period: Thiessen had to make two saves off of neutral zone turnovers early, and this theme would carry to the end of the period as the IceCaps would blitzkrieg the Wilkes-Barre netminder with 20 shots this period. Cal O’Reilly would score on the power play, but this period was all Thiessen making saves on IceCaps shooters. Penguins would kill two penalties in the period sandwiched by a penalty shot awarded to Jason King which Thiessen made a glove save on. Final tally on shots would be 20-4 for St. John’s.

Did some mining during intermission to learn that the 4 shots the Penguins took was tied for the fewest all season. They took four shots three other times; Nov. 25 vs. Hershey (a 3-2 SO loss), Dec. 13 vs. Binghamton (a 4-2 Penguins win) and March 14 vs. Norfolk (a 4-2 loss). The 20 shots taken by St. John’s was the most taken by them all season. It would also be the most shots the Penguins would allow in a single period. The most allowed was 17 back on Oct. 22, a 3-1 Penguins win.

Why is this important? Could have been the St. John’s game plan to jump on the Penguins and get up early. It worked to a point that Thiessen was true to form and kept them out of his net.

Second Period: Things would settle down a bit. Penguins would be a bit more physical. Brian Gibbons would turn a puck over in the neutral zone and Brock Trotter would come in unabated to Thiessen and score. Penguins would answer with extended time in their offensive zone, but not score. Gibbons would break away from a man but Pasquale made the save.

Third Period: Brock Trotter again. Busted defensive zone play and he would score to push the IceCaps ahead 2-1. Penguins would get a power play but could not get established. Late, Thiessen comes to between the circles to play a puck, misplays it and Garth Murray would pick his pocket and get a feed from John Albert to make the IceCaps lead insurmountable late. Head Coach John Hynes would pull Thiessen but the Penguins could not score.

Three Stars: 3) Jason King (six shots, even) 2) Brad Thiessen (34 saves on 37 shots) and 1) Brock Trotter (two goals, +2)

Game Two is tomorrow at 6 p.m. Wilkes-Barre time.

Overall, I thought the Penguins played decent given the circumstances. But for defensive gaffes, Thiessen was sharp. Have to respond and rebound and even this tomorrow.

Gameday will be up at 2 p.m. here on the blog Wednesday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!