Chirps from Center Ice

           vs.            

1                                                      2

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On a lazy Wednesday night in a low scoring game, the captain of the hockey team and the star goaltender carried the mail and got the home team the win.

In a bit of a perfect storm of a contest, the Penguins beat the Binghamton Devils 2-1 exactly how I described. No trap game here. David Warsofsky scores both goals on the power play and Casey DeSmith stopped 22 shots to pick up the win.

Casey DeSmith opposed Gilles Senn.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Chris Brown for Jordy Bellerive. Macoy Erkamps took warmups as the extra. Bellerive was listed among the injured pregame. If anyone heard Nick Hart mention what it was that happened to Bellerive, drop a comment below.

First Period: Nondescript first fifteen or so minutes. Both teams killed a penalty then Binghamton found itself on the wrong end of a two man advantage and David Warsofsky scored through a crowd with under five seconds left on it to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Second Period: Binghamton had 1:30 of two man advantage and could not score. Then Brett Seney wheels around the net at full speed and centers to Nick Merkley for an easy tap in which tied the game at one.

Close game to this point.

Third Period: David Warsofsky, again, six seconds in on the power play, puts the Penguins ahead 2-1.

DeSmith and the Penguins defense held on from there.

Three Stars: 3) Cole Cassels with two assists, 2) Casey DeSmith with 22 saves and 1) David Warsofsky with two power play goals.

The Good: Leadership and special teams win the day. Exactly how it should be.

The Bad: I don’t know about you, but I don’t like these close games against non-playoff teams. Also giving away six power plays to the opponent isn’t a recipe for success, no matter what day it is.

Turning Point: Warsofsky’s third period power play goal is the obvious choice.

Around the Division: Two other games in the Atlantic. Bridgeport and Syracuse played a kids game in Connecticut this morning. Syracuse gets a late goal and beats the Sound Tigers 3-2 and Springfield and Hartford connected for their third game in three straight meetings and Hartford takes sole possession of the Atlantic Division with a 7-4 win. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Hartford 63 — Hershey 61 — Providence 57 — Penguins 56 — Springfield 54 — Charlotte 53 — Lehigh Valley 44 — Bridgeport 37

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Power Rankings hit the blog Thursday at 11, barring unforeseen delays. Check them out then.

Let’s Go Pens!