Chirps from Center Ice

          @          

1                                             2

–

I used to dread when the Penguins played the Bears, It used to be one way traffic with the team in Chocolate and White usually having all the fun.

Not anymore.

Face it, the Penguins play their best hockey when they play the Bears. Undermanned or not, call ups be damned, these games between these two teams are fun to watch.

Yesterday, it was all about Norfolk goaltender John Gibson getting the two points for the opposing Admirals. Tonight, Eric Hartzell ground out at least a point and lost his first ever pro shootout, and the Bears skate away with the 2-1 shootout win Saturday night at home.

Eric Hartzell vs. David Leggio, who has appeared in 13 of the last 14 Bears games.

On the blue line, Dustin Stevenson was a scratch, Reid McNeill was back from injury for the Pens so Nick D’Agostino sat in his place. The Pens returned to the more formal 12F-7D format, so Tom Kuhnhackl was back in the lineup.

First Period: More penalty minutes (54) in this period than in all last nights game vs. Norfolk (52). Pens subdue an offensive bombardment by Hershey, then all of a sudden are 2-on-1 the other way and hit a post. Then, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond skates in on a breakaway about six feet behind center ice. In between the fights and fisticuffs in this period, the game had nearly a powder keg feel to it.

Second Period: Mike Carman seems to score some big goals against his former team. He cashed on a rebound from a blast from the point to put the Pens up 1-0.

All of a sudden though, it seemed that the a penguins seemed disinterested in pursuing further action against the Bears. Hershey felt the opposite, and scored from a David Kolomatis boms from the point to make it 1-1. Then the Pens get two power plays handed to them in a row and are unable to convert.

Third Period: Felt like it was all Bears. Both Leggio and Hartzell made some ten bell saves on shooters. Both teams fail to score on power plays and it was onto…

Overtime: For as much as it was all Hershey in the third period, in the overtime period it was all Wilkes-Barre, outshooting the Bears 6-0 at one point. No scoring, so it was onto the…

Shootout: Tom Kostopoulos scores the only goal for the Pens, who roll with Zack Torquato, Brendan Mikkelson, Drazenovic and Anton Zlobin with half their big guns in the NHL. Bears win the shootout 3-1 and get the extra point in the standings.

Three Stars: 3) Mike Carman (goal, even) 2) David Kolomatis (goal, even) and 1) David Leggio (30 saves on 31 shots)

Around the Division: Norfolk beats Syracuse 6-3. Binghamton was off. Big time meeting between the Admirals and Senators looming on New Years Eve.

Standings: Binghamton 39 — Penguins 38 — Norfolk 37 — Hershey 31 — Syracuse 30

Conference: 1) MCH (47) 2) SPR (46) 3) BNG (38) 4) ALB (41) 5) WBS (38) 6) NOR (37) 7) PRO (36) 8) STJ (35)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were shutout tonight by the South Carolina Stingrays 3-0.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Content wise, bodies are finally starting to heal up top in Pittsburgh, so I am expecting some help for the Pens New Years Eve game vs. Syracuse. We will see. If anything major happens, I will have a blog about it when it does. If not, Week 13 AHL Power Rankings will be up Monday at 4. Then the Gameday setup vs. Syracuse Tuesday at 1 p.m., for the 5:00 special start at Mohegan Sun Arena on New Years Eve.

Let’s Go Pens!