Chirps from Center Ice

So to break up the monotony of nothing to write about between games two and three between the Penguins and the Senators, here’s a look at the three other series currently ongoing in the Eastern Conference:

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(6) Portland vs. (3) Syracuse
(SYR leads 2-0)

Game 1 Saturday had the Pirates up 2-0 at one point but the Crunch scored on three of eleven power plays and Richard Panik ended it in overtime and the Crunch went on to win 4-3. The next night the Crunch scored the first four goals and coasted to an easy 4-2 win.

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(8) Hershey vs. (1) Providence
(HER leads 2-0)

To the surprise of no one that works at this blog (read: me) the Providence Bruins are down 0-2 to an East Division counterpart. The Bears have fought and clawed for weeks to get in the playoffs and now that they are in drew the Providence Bruins who haven’t faced competition in Hershey all season long. Part and parcel is because of the eight teams that made playoffs in the Eastern Conference, four came from the East Division. Goaltender of the Year Niklas Svedberg was lit up for four goals on Friday and the Bears won easily 5-2. In Game 2 Sunday, the Bears tied the game late and won in overtime 5-4. Oh, and by the way, the Bears power play is 5/10 in the series. Is the Big Bear Machine getting hot at the right time or did Providence underestimate its opponent? Time will tell.

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(7) Manchester vs. (2) Springfield
(SPR leads 2-0)

All you need to know about this series is that Cody Bass scored both game winning goals in overtime. Have to get a body on him in sudden death, if I was the Manchester coaching staff.

If all the series end in sweeps or, with the teams in the lead winning the series, the Eastern Conference Semifinals will look like this:

(2) Springfield vs. (8) Hershey
(3) Syracuse vs. (5) Wilkes-Barre / Scranton

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves though, shall we?

But for huge breaking news tonight, tomorrow or the lead up to Game 3, look for the next blog update to come in the form of the Game 3 setup for Thursday night’s game vs. Binghamton.

Let’s Go Pens!