Chirps from Center Ice

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Hey, it was an off night for me too in the catchy headline writing department.

Pens lose this game to Manchester 3-1. It was by all accounts one of the more duller games of recent that the Pens played. They didn’t look sloppy or disinterested more so than they looked careless. Manchester scores early in the third period when Bobby Farnham has a puck skip on him to David Kolomatis who scores. Then Andy Andreoff scored on the power play about half way through the period. Paul Thompson scored a power play goal on a hack and whack job late then the Monarchs score on an empty net when Tanner Pearson scores from center ice that sealed it.

That’s pretty much it there. There’s no way I can dress up this game more for you.

The Pens end the 2012-2013 regular season with a 42-30-2-2 record good for 88 points and third in the division. They start the “second season” on the road.

The fate of seeding is still in the air however, here’s what the scenario looks like:

– The Penguins are the five seed and Portland is the six as of Saturday night.

– Portland plays Bridgeport tomorrow. A win by the Pirates and they leapfrog the Pens for fifth. A loss by the Pirates, and it’s a Round 1 playoff matchup with the Binghamton Senators next Saturday night.

– Syracuse is the East Division Champion. But they could still get to the second seed with a regulation or overtime win of their own tomorrow vs. the B-Sens. They would then be seeded second, dropping Springfield back to the three seed. Again, this matters only if the Pirates win tomorrow and drop the Pens to sixth.

Manchester clinched a playoff berth tonight. Meanwhile, there are three teams for the eight seed. They are Hershey, Norfolk and Connecticut. Here’s how each qualify:

Hershey: Win Sunday vs. Manchester.

Norfolk: Finish with a point more than Hershey. The Admirals play the Providence Bruins tomorrow.

Connecticut: Idle tomorrow, could still get in if Hershey and Norfolk both lose in regulation.

There you have it. I will have it all tomorrow for you on the blog Sunday afternoon along with who we play Round 1. If you don’t want to wait for me to type it all up, follow me on Twitter, @nafsnep.

Let’s Go Pens!