Chirps from Center Ice

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I guess the sadistic side of me won out this time.

I had this headline already picked out Sunday. If the Penguins did not win tonight, then “Dark Daze” would be the headline that would run.

Dark Days or Daze, or whatever play on words you want to make of it, indeed.

The Penguins lose this game 2-1 in overtime and now are on the brink of elimination, down 0-3 in this best of seven.

The Penguins played a mighty fine game tonight, and gave the regular season champion Providence Bruins a great run and just did not come out winners this time.

The problem with that, and going forward in the series is that the Penguins have no margin for error. Lose one more and it’s another Spring of disappointment leaving Wilkes-Barre with another sense of what might have been.

Brad Thiessen got the net tonight. He was opposed by Niklas Svedberg. Both netminders played a solid game.

The opening period saw a measured period of hockey by both teams. For it being the third game in a seven game series, neither team wanted to or made a mistake.

Jared Knight would stuff home a shot from the far side after the Penguins had a tired group on the ice to open the scoring in the second period. Initially, I thought this was a good thing, being as though that the team that scored first in the series had gone on to lose both games. Providence really bottled up the Pens in the first half of the second period. They parlayed that into pressure but Thiessen and the Penguins defense kept them out. Then all of a sudden, coming back from a radio timeout, the Pens win the faceoff back to Cody Wild who puts a puck on net that caroms around to finally the stick of Trevor Smith. Tie game. Adam Payerl the next shift nearly makes it 2-1 and just like that the Penguins are the ones getting all the chances and all the offensive zone puck possession.

Both clubs would go into the locker rooms at the end of the third deadlocked at 1-1. It certainly looked like the top two defensive teams in the AHL were duking it out.

Penguins would get their best kill of the series when nabbed for too many men on the ice. Both netminder trade ten bell saves. Penguins nearly score on a fluke after more Providence offensive zone time. Pens get a late power play but don’t score.

Overtime lasts all but :31. A Penguins turnover at their own blue line sees Carter Camper pass to Jordan Caron who dishes to Carter Cunningham. Cunningham shoots, Camper pots the rebound. Ballgame.

I don’t think there is anything necessarily different that the Penguins could have done to win this game. It comes down to puck luck. The Penguins didn’t have it. The Bruins did and they have the 3-0 series lead.

Game 4 is Friday in Wilkes-Barre.

The Boston Red Sox did it in baseball in 2004.
The Philadelphia Flyers did it in hockey in 2010.
Will the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins do it in 2013?

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

To the end….

Let’s Go Pens!