Chirps from Center Ice

Another day, another afternoon left scoreboard watching in the AHL’s Eastern Conference. There were five teams playing all close to the Penguins in the standings of the Eastern Confernence Sunday afternoon. The Penguins were in the 8th and final spot of playoffs coming into Sunday morning…

…Sunday evening, the Penguins are back on the outside looking in but a point.

Here’s the scores and some blurbs on the games….

     1
     2

It was a perfect six point weekend for the Albany Devils who downed the Utica Comets, seeking their own perfect weekend themselves by a score of 2-1.

     1
     2

Sound Tigers do a favor for the teams in the Eastern Conference chase with a 2-1 win at home. But, Bridgeport draws within eight points of the ninth place Penguins.

     3
     2

Ol’ buddy Brad Thiessen stops 28 of 30 and the Norfolk Admirals are back in the playoff hunt with a 3-2 win in Springfield. The win for the Ads stops a two game slide.

     6
     5

St. John’s explode for five goals in the third period and win in Portland 6-5 for their fourth win in a row.

     2
     5

Well, the Crunch certainly wish they saw more of the Bears on the schedule. They defeat Hershey in the home of the Capitals 5-2 in a “home” game for the Crunch in the AHL Showcase.

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So here is what the Conference looks like: 1) MCH (80) 2) SPR (71) 3) BNG (70) 4) STJ (68) 5) ALB (66) 6) PRO (65) 7) HER (64) 8) NOR (64) 9) WBS (63)

The Penguins have games in hand on St. John’s and Providence now and Norfolk and Hershey have a game in hand on the Penguins.

The Pens have a big week this week. A game Tuesday against Hershey, then on the road again with Syracuse Friday and in Atlantic City with Albany Saturday.

Week 21 AHL Power Rankings will be up Monday at 4 p.m.