Well, at least I predicted this last Thursday.

Pens lost this game pretty much in the first period against the Bears fourth line. They chased it the remainder of the way and lost in overtime 4-3 in overtime off a Ryan Potulny shot on a Bears power play.

Game 4 is Friday in Hershey.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin – Simon Despres, Brian Strait and Eric Tangradi were in for Cody Wild, Philip Samuelsson and Matt Rust.

First Period: Penguins open the game with puck possession for the first eight minutes and Thiessen gets burned on what can best be described as a fluke goal by DJ King, who hasn’t scored a goal since 2007-08. Penguins were unable to chip pucks deep as the Bears did a fine job in taking the wall away. After the King goal the Pens really looked shattered. Then Colin McDonald was robbed point blank by Sabourin on his doorstep on a power play. Then, Cameron Schilling scored from the blue line to push the Bears ahead 2-0.

Second Period: Cal O’Reilly would score on a carryover power play from the first period which would be the first playoff goal scored by WBS in Hershey since 2009 (Alex Goligoski) – then both teams would trade power plays and kill them. Brian Strait was checked hard into the boards behind Sabourin’s net and did not return the rest of the game.

Third Period: Eric Tangradi scored to even things after a Bears clear hit a referee’s skate. Paul Thompson received it and fed Tangradi who scored it. Then, Kyle Greentree would get open and push the Bears ahead 3-2. Right after, Boyd Kane slashed Ben Street and the Pens headed to the power play which Alex Grant scored on to even things at three a piece.

Overtime: Nick Petersen high sticks Boyd Kane digging a puck off the wall and Ryan Potulny, no stranger to overtime playoff goals, extended the series to a Game 4 on Friday.

Three Stars: 3) Alex Grant (goal, even) 2) Kyle Greentree (goal, +1) and 1) Ryan Potulny (game winning overtime power play goal, assist, +1)

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: All Game 3’s where series were tied 1-1. The Syracuse Crunch are on the brink losing to the St. John’s IceCaps 5-1 with Game 4 Friday. The Norfolk Admirals have the Manchester Monarchs on the brink also after a 5-2 win in New Hampshire with that series going to Game 4 Friday as well.

Depending on what happens with Washington / Boston, a tipping point in this Hershey / Wilkes-Barre series. The Bears power play, dormant all series long, comes alive at the point to win them a game to keep them alive. Look for an edit here and a tweet from me on Twitter on the final outcome of that game.

EDIT: Washington wins in Game 7 in overtime via Joel Ward. Caps are on to next round. Braden Holtby, Keith Aucoin and Dmitry Orlov remain in Washington for at least one more series.

Game 4 Friday. See you there.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens ride a four goal first period to roll the Hershey Bears 7-2 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Colin McDonald scored two more goals upping his Calder Cup Playoff goal total to four. The St. Gregory’s Academy men were in attendance tonight again, firing up the crowd. Just a perfect night, altogether.

Celebrate tonight, but do not look past an important Game 3 Wednesday vs. the Bears at Giant Center. You need to win three games in a best of five. The Pens have dominated the first two games, yes, but Hershey is a proud franchise and will not go down without a fight.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin – Cameron Schilling and DJ King were out for Hershey. Barry Almieda and Julien Brouillette were in for them. Brian Gibbons was out for Matt Rust the Penguins way.

First Period: Colin McDonald bats down a Bears clearing attempt and scores to put the Pens up 1-0 early on. Brad Thiessen misplayed a puck that Boyd Kane nearly scored on. Then, a goal for the highlight reel. Zach Sill, falling down, roofs a shot over Sabourin to put the Pens up 2-0. The goals would keep coming. A Wilkes-Barre rush would see Cody Wild pot a rebound to make it 3-0. Head Coach Mark French would call a time out to settle his troops. Last time he did this in Wilkes-Barre, Kyle Greentree scored two bang bang goals. Not this time. A routine offside call would spoil into a scrum and Bears captain Boyd Kane in the box for a roughing call. Jason Williams would blast a shot from the point that Geoff Walker would tip home to put the score at 4-0.

Second Period: Bears came out and dominated this period. It started with Patrick McNeill scoring on a shot that Thiessen bobbled. You could sense the Bears ready to break the dam. Shift after shift, the Bears were coming. Then, Matt Rust breaks in and backhands one past Sabourin. Big goal. Big, big goal at the time. The Penguins weren’t going to cough up a lead on home ice again. Garrett Mitchell scored on a deflection to make it 5-2 going into the…

Third Period: Pens had to kill a carryover Bryan Lerg high stick. They would. They would have to kill an Alex Grant high stick. They would. They would have to kill a Robert Bortuzzo hook. During the kill, Ben Street jumps around Chris Bourque. Bourque hooks him, and referee Francis Charron called a penalty shot. Street would score on the first ever postseason penalty shot goal in team history. At this point it was 6-2 with about five minutes left. Then Patrick Wellar came unglued. Paul Thompson jostles with Dany Sabourin while play goes on. Patrick Wellar takes offense. He cross checked Thompson, then while linesmen are trying to break up the scrum, Wellar takes three whacks at Thompson. Out of all this, Wellar would get 2:00 for roughing and 5:00 for slashing putting the Pens on a 7:00 power play. He would also get a game misconduct. As would Kyle Greentree (also two for elbowing) and Philip Samuelsson (two for roughing) – then Kevin Marshall would put the Pens on a 5-on-3 for a slash. Pens couldn’t score on that, but did when Alex Grant shot a puck from the blue line Colin McDonald deflected home for his second of the night to make it 7-2.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Rust (goal, +3) 2) Jason Williams (three assists, +3) and 1) Colin McDonald (two goals, assist, +3)

As noted by Bears beat writer Tim Leone, the Penguins have held the Hershey Bears top two lines pointless. Also, final shots on goals this game were 27-16 Penguins. Wilkes-Barre holds Hershey to an 0-fer on the power play this weekend. The Penguins scored four times on the man advantage so far in the series.

The Penguins can finish things Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: Ding dong, the winning streak is dead. The Manchester Monarchs do what twenty-nine teams could not do, and that is defeat the Norfolk Admirals tonight 5-2 evening that series at 1-1 with the series shifting to New Hampshire for Game 3 on Wednesday. Goaltender Cameron Talbot shuts out the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 3-0 tonight to put the Sound Tigers on the brink with Game 3 tomorrow. Talbot has not allowed a single goal in the series, as Bridgeport lost by the same 3-0 score on Thursday. And it is all even between Syracuse and St. John’s, as the Crunch beat the IceCaps 4-3 with Game 3 of that series on Wednesday in Newfoundland.

Content will be scarce I think the next few days. Penguins will probably be off tomorrow. They may practice Monday, if not, Tuesday. Depending on content I may have things, I don’t know. Washington is guaranteed a seventh game, as they lead their series with defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins 3-2. Game 6 is Sunday, Game 7 if necessary Wednesday. Pittsburgh needs to win tomorrow in Philly in Game 6 or else their season is over. Those are things to watch for.

Let’s Go Pens!

Wilkes-Barre comes out to an electric Mohegan Sun Arena in Game 1 and run the Bears 3-1 to take a 1-0 series lead in the best of five. Game 2 is tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre.

Strong performance by Brad Thiessen. Strong performance by the Penguins power play, going 2-for-5. Strong performance by the Penguins defense, limiting the Bears to just 7 shots on goal halfway through the game and keeping the big guns off the scoresheet. Strong performance from Colin McDonald, who had two goals. Just strong performances everywhere you looked.

In hindsight, I should have used “Strong Performance” as my headline. Meh.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin, reassigned by Washington this morning to the surprise of no one.

First Period: :45 in, the Pens had to kill a too many men on the ice call. They did. In fact they didn’t allow a single Bears shot on net. Late, Zach Sill was entering the Penguins offensive zone and Tomas Kundratek stuck his leg out and tripped him. In the ensuing power play, Alex Picard fires a shot deflected by Colin McDonald and in :10 into the power play to put the Pens up 1-0.

Second Period: Hershey would take two consecutive penalties. Sabourin would snuff out most attempts. Finally with Kyle Greentree in the box for boarding Joey Mormina, Jason Williams would slap a pass to Cal O’Reilly who slammed home past Sabourin to put the Pens up 2-0. Then, Alex Picard fails to clear a puck and gives Hershey a two on one but Thiessen made the save which really was a big one at the time. He hadn’t seen many pucks to that point. Bears would really pick up the offense after this. In fact they would even up the shots at twelve for this period.

Third Period: Bears had 1:58 of power play to work with. Graham Mink boarded Robert Bortuzzo to put the side at 4×4 for :23. Nothing would come out of it, however. Bears would continue to pressure. Then, Colin McDonald would come down the wing and absolutely rifle a shot past Sabourin to put the Pens up 3-0. Mike Carman scored on a deflection with 1:56 left to bust up the Thiessen shutout. The Bears would pull Sabourin with under a minute left to play, Kundratek would be the only Bears defensemen out with five Hershey forwards but the Bears never scored a second.

Three Stars: 3) Alexandre Picard (2 assists, +1) 2) Cal OReilly (goal, even) and 1) Colin McDonald (two goals, +1)

I have to say, the most electric that the Mohegan Sun Arena was in my history of going start to finish, I think. Maybe the Calder Cup run in 2008 when Tim Brent scored in Game 6 vs. the Portland Pirates matched the electricity.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: All Game 1’s. Norfolk staved off a Manchester run to hold on and win 3-2. St. John’s comes back 2-1 in the third to win 3-2 in Syracuse.

Game 2 is tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre. This is the most important game in the series. If the Pens win, the Bears are on the brink of elimination. If the Bears win, it’s a 1-1 series and a best of three with Hershey with home ice advantage. I wouldn’t expect lineup changes for Wilkes-Barre.

Gameday will be up here on the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!