Chirps from Center Ice

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St. John’s IceCaps goaltender Eddie Pasquale has been a thorn in the side of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins for some time now.

Dating back to 2012, in the Eastern Conference Semifinals agains these same IceCaps, Pasquale’s heroics in that series propelled the St. John’s IceCaps to a Eastern Conference Finals berth.

Tonight, it was the same magic.

Pasquale stops 31 of 32 and his St. John’s IceCaps squeak by the Penguins tonight 2-1. Rematch tomorrow.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. the aforementioned Eddie Pasquale

Lineup was pretty much the same from Wednesday. Bobby Farnham was eligible to return but did not. Zach Sill was sent down by Pittsburgh at around 5 and was snot in time for the game.

First Period: Pens came out and flew all around the ice and threw shots on net that Pasquale saved. Finally, Jayson Megna set up Harry Zolnierczyk on a pass that Zolnierczyk buried past Pasquale for the Pens only goal of the game. Later, after a successful penalty kill, Travis Ehrhardt zipped one past Deslauriers for a tie game.

Second Period: This period was where Pasquale shone brightly. The score could have been and should have been 5-1 Penguins if not for stellar, and I mean stellar saves by the IceCaps net minder. Especially shorthanded. It appeared that there was some kind of forcefield around the net that Pasquale guarded. I remember a sequence in particular where he stoned Jayson Megna and Harry Zolnierczyk on sure goals on the same shift.

Later, Patrice Cormier gets around Brian Dumoulin and puts one past Deslauriers to put the IceCaps out front for good.

Third Period: Tom Kostopoulous thinks he scores. I do too. Only problem is, he didn’t. Puck hits the top of the crossbar, straight down and not in. Referee Trent Knorr reviewed it on replay and confirmed what I just described.

More Pasquale saves. It was his night. Nothing was getting by him. Even with some power play time late and even a 5-on-3, the Pens were not able to get one by Pasquale.

Three Stars: 3) Travis Ehrhardt (goal, +1) 2) Patrice Cormier (goal, +1) and 1) Eddie Pasquale (31 saves on 32 shots)

Around the Division: Binghamton obliterates Adirondack 6-2 in my game to watch tonight. Norfolk fights back and wins in overtime 3-2 over the Portland Pirates down in Virginia and the Syracuse Crunch lose in Montreal to Hamilton 4-1. Hershey was off.

Standings: Binghamton 24 — Penguins 24 — Norfolk 21 — Syracuse 20 — Hershey 14

Conference: 1) MCH (27) 2) BNG (24) 3) SPR 23 4) WBS (24) 5) ALB (21) 6) NOR (21) 7) SYR (20) 8) PRO (19)

Wheeling Update: Nothing to say here, the Nailers were off.

SendToNews Highlights: For you Eddie Pasquale fans, I offer the following…

These two teams rematch tomorrow. Gameday for this will be up at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!