Today’s game could be summed up by the following: The Penguins were great in the first period, off to a 2-0 start before the period was 7:00 old. The IceCaps were great in the second period, bringing things level at 2-2 when the period ended. Both teams were great in the third period which forced overtime, which didn’t take long. Ben Maxwell scored just :27 in and the IceCaps have a 3-2 win and a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Game 5 will be Tuesday night in Wilkes-Barre. If the Pens want to live to see Wednesday, they will need to win. The IceCaps will want to finish it and rest bodies. They say the toughest game to win is the put away game. You all saw what happened to Hershey when they were down 0-2 in the best of five. They won the next two and lost in a decisive Game Five. The Penguins need to win three straight or it’s another year and no Cup. Can they do it? Absolutely. Will they? Remains to be seen.

These two teams are so evenly matched. It could easily be 3-1 Penguins or dead even and now a best of three.

In reality, it isn’t. The Penguins need to dig deep. Real deep. Deeper than they have ever dug, deep if they want to advance.

Brad Thiessen vs. Eddie Pasquale – no lineup changes either way.

First Period: Colin McDonald shuffled around a man and went high glove on Pasquale and scored on the first shot of the game. Then, Geoff Walker and Eric Tangradi worked a give and go and Tangradi was able to slip it past Pasquale while diving to lunge for the puck on the second shot of the game. Some push back from the IceCaps. The Penguins got a power play they couldn’t score on. Late, a Paul Postma shot struck Thiessen squarely in the mask.

Second Period: Derek Meech scored from the blue line when Brian Gibbons was in the box for a slash call to cut the lead in half. Maxime Macenauer redirected a Paul Postma slap pass past Thiessen when the iceCaps were really pressuring late to even things at two. This was probably the worst period of hockey the Penguins played because they seemed overmatched and tentative. IceCaps took advantage and evened the score.

Third Period: Really back and forth, thrill a minute hockey. Few whistles, lots of hitting, every puck chipped in was earned for. No scoring or penalties and it was off to…

Overtime: I heard Tom Grace in the post game say that the Penguins lost two face-offs, and the latter ultimately costing them in a scrum in front of Thiessen in which Ben Maxwell was able to shoot past Thiessen.

Three Stars: 3) Derek Meech (goal, -1) 2) Maxime Macenauer (goal, +1) 1) Ben Maxwell (overtime game winning goal, assist, -1)

St. John’s outshot the Penguins 29-16.

Not going to recap or mention what Connecticut or Norfolk are doing in Game 3 of that series, which is tied 1-1. If you want, here is the box score.

No idea on content for Monday. Check out Jonathan Bombulie’s blog for updates on that side and me on Twitter, regurgitating what he may have to say about personnel.

Game 5 is Tuesday. Get ready.

Let’s Go Pens!

vs. 

–

–

Eastern Conference Semifinal – Game 4

AHL Game: J4

Who: St. John’s IceCaps

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 4:05 p.m.

Series: STJ leads 2-1 (best of seven)

Media Kit

Last Game: Last night at home, the Pens lost in overtime 2-1. Brock Trotter scored both goals for the IceCaps and Eric Tangradi scored with 1:02 left in the third to force overtime.

What to Watch For: More of the same for the Penguins, just hopefully this time with more offense. I documented last night the slow starts to both Bryan Lerg and Ben Street’s postseason campaigns (1-2-3 between the both of them) – so if the Penguins should happen to win this game and even the series, one or both could play a part in doing so.

Referees: Graham Skilliter / Darcy Burchell

Linesmen: Scott Pomento / Tom George

Twitter: @wbspenguins / @IceCapsAHL

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @telybrendan

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / STJ: Brain Rogers

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For St. John’s: CJYQ 930

Television: AHL Live

When is Game 5?: Tuesday night in Wilkes-Barre at 7:05 p.m.

Brock Trotter is becoming a pest to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. He has four goals in the series. A series which has a total of 8 goals for the IceCaps and 7 goals for the Penguins. He scored the overtime game winner to put the IceCaps out ahead of the Penguins 2-1 and giving St. John’s a 2-1 lead in the series.

Penguins only held St. John’s to 18 shots on goal all game, including zero in the second period. Goaltender Eddie Pasquale was in a word, astonishing for the IceCaps this evening.

Pasquale vs. Brad Thiessen – no lineup changes for the Penguins. For the IceCaps Marco Rosa and Jason DeSantis were out and Maxime Macenauer and Zach Redmond were in.

First Period: Thiessen has to make some saves early, as the IceCaps came out with a bit of a jump in their step. Penguins had a few chances on Pasquale but he held them out. Late, a Zach Redmond slap pass to Brock Trotter beat Thiessen to put St. John’s on the board 1-0.

Second Period: You already know that the IceCaps did not have a single registered shot on goal on Thiessen. But this is not where the game was won for the Penguins. The IceCaps took three consecutive penalties, including two which put the Penguins on two separate 5-on-3’s. Cal O’Reilly had a sure goal which Pasquale somehow made a save on. Eric Tangradi and Geoff Walker got blown down on an offsides where they were attacking 2-on-1.

Third Period: Eric Tangradi was robbed by Eddie Pasquale when Pasquale somehow got a leg out across of where Tangradi was going to put the puck in the net. But, with 1:02 left in the game and with Thiessen on the bench, he would finally tuck one past Pasquale to even the score at one heading into…

Overtime: Penguins got the better of the chances. But, St. John’s would come in on a two on one crash and score. Guess who? Brock Trotter again.

The eventual St. John’s game winner was set up by the pinching of Philip Samuelsson. He let a man get by him and then the Penguins chased the length of the ice and got scored on. Need to be more disciplined than that, especially in overtime.

Three Stars: 3) Brad Thiessen (16 saves on 18 shots) 2) Eddie Pasquale 28 saves on 29 shots and 1) Brock Trotter (two goals, +2)

St. John’s has a 2-1 series lead in the best of seven with Game 4 coming tomorrow afternoon in Wilkes-Barre at 4:05.

I’ll end this recap with a game I just made up called “Pessimist / Optimist”

Pessimist: Anytime that Ben Street (8 GP, 1-0-1, -1) and Bryan Lerg (8 GP, 0-2-2, -2) want to show up in these Calder Cup Playoffs would be fine by this writer. They have pretty much been offensively invisible this postseason.

Optimist: Hold a team to 18 shots on goal, with none in the second period, and you will wear them down. One question which begs answering is whether or not Eddie Pasquale played his best game of the series tonight or not?

We find out I guess tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. Gameday up here on the blog at 12:05 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins come out in the first period and storm the IceCaps and were pretty relentless all game long and played, to me, their best game of the Calder Cup Playoffs and won in decisive fashion 3-1 tonight evening the best of seven series 1-1 with Game 3 Saturday night.

In sum, the Penguins looked like the IceCaps did last night. They skated the IceCaps in circles tonight and played a really strong sixty minutes of hockey.

Brad Thiessen vs. Eddie Pasquale – no lineup changes either way. The regulars in the lineup did not take a morning skate. Jonathan Bombulie caught up with Jason Williams and Joey Mormina and they both diagnosed last night’s performance to a case of tired legs.

First Period: Penguins came out and stormed the IceCaps. They took the games first nine shots. One of them was an Eric Tangradi goal over a sprawling Pasquale. Then, the momentum the Penguins had shifted to the St. John’s side as Alex Grant took offense to a Garth Murray hit on Brian Gibbons. Grant dropped his gloves as Murray skated away. The IceCaps scored on the power play when Ben Maxwell deflected a Derek Meech shot from the point.

Second Period: Thiessen made a big save on a John Albert breakaway when Philip Samuelsson cheated up on a play. Penguins would then get two consecutive penalties. The first power play was all Penguins buzzing but no scoring. The second power play was no buzzing. Penguins killed a late Samuelsson penalty.

Third Period: Eric Tangradi in the box for a hook, Cal O’Reilly and Joey Mormina come in on a 2 on 1 shorthanded. O’Reilly waited out a man and dished to Mormina who slammed it home to put the Penguins up 2-1. Then, the Penguins would get a power play and Jason Williams would score on the power play which for Williams, is a point in every single WBS playoff game so far. It would be all the Penguins would need to stymie the IceCaps attempts. Wilkes-Barre would kill two penalties late.

Final shots on goal were 38 for the Penguins and 23 for the IceCaps. Really a dominating performance by the Penguins.

First road win for the Pens this postseason, first shorthanded goal and the Penguins have the next three at home which is home ice advantage.

Three Stars: 3) Eddie Pasquale (35 saves on 38 shots) 2) Eric Tangradi (goal, +1) and 1) Joey Mormina (shorthanded game winning goal, +1)

Game Three is Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre. A note from play-by-play man Tom Grace revealed that the clubs will be on the same flight back to Northeastern Pennsylvania tomorrow. Should be an interesting flight!

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: Connecticut wins in overtime off of an Andreas Thuresson shot and the Whale take Game 1 3-2 and a 1-0 series lead. Connecticut got two bang-gang goals :12 apart in the first and held on. Game 2 is Friday.

Let’s Go Pens!