Penguins win a penalty-fest tonight 4-2 to pull four points ahead of rival Hershey Bears and home ice in Round 1 of the Calder Cup Playoffs in a few weeks. It was head coach John Hynes’ 100th regular season AHL victory.

Regardless, a typical Penguins / Bears game on a Friday night in the AHL. Maybe it’s because I have so much respect for the Bears, but I was on the edge of my seat all night.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin – news du jour was that Steve MacIntyre was recalled to Pittsburgh for tomorrows Penguins / Flyers game.

First Period: Penalties would make this post gamer about 1,000 words.* I’m not going to recap each one obviously, or else you would miss the first period of Penguins / Whale tomorrow by the time you are done reading this. Geoff Walker deflected a Jason Willimas point shot while Julien Brouillette was in the box for hooking. This was predicated by 4:00 of power play the Pens had when Billy Ryan was in the box for Hershey on a high stick double minor.

First period shots on goal were thirteen for the Penguins and four for the Bears. Really a dominating period for Wilkes-Barre despite nearly half of it being on the penalty kill, it seemed.

Second Period: Scary moment as Joey Mormina caught Ryan Potulny up high and shook Potulny up a bit. Julien Brouillette came over to defend his felled teammate and ended top getting an extra minor for roughing. in the ensuing power play, Brandon DeFazio outworked everyone and backhanded it in and past Sabourin to make it 2-0 Penguins. Hershey would use its time out.

What a timeout by head coach Mark French, as the Bears score two goals in the span of :41 and evened things. Both goals scored by Kyle Greentree, even strength and on the power play, respectively.

Third Period: Penguins failed to score on a five-on-three penalty. Then, Zach Sill and David Marshall fought after a hard hit from Marshall on Sill. Marshall would get an extra two for interference and in the ensuing power play Ben Street would tip home a Joey Mormina point shot to put the Pens out in front for good, 3-2. Penguins would then have to kill a Robert Bortuzzo tripping call. Penguins killed it, then Chris Bourque took a slashing call with under two minutes left, Hershey would pull Sabourin and Nick Petersen would score an empty netter to seal it.

Three Stars: 3) Geoff Walker (goal, -1) 2) Kyle Greentree (two goals, +1) and 1) Ben Street (game winning power play goal, assist, even)

Penguins get three power play goals. Not bad, considering the Bears had the third overall best and sixth best road penalty kill unit.

Around the Division: Norfolk wraps up the regular season title with a 3-1 victory against the Binghamton Senators. That’s twenty-four straight wins for the Admirals. Syracuse lost to Bridgeport in my “other game to watch” tonight by a score of 3-1.

Standings: Norfolk 105 / Penguins 91 / Hershey 87 / Syracuse 78 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (105) 2-StJ (90) 3-BRI (87) 4-WBS (91) 5-HER (87) 6-CT (82) 7-SYR (78) 8-MCH (77)

After the game, Dany Sabourin was headed to New York City to join parent club Washington Capitals. He will be back Sunday.

Tomorrow Connecticut is in for a 7:05 face-off. Gameday up at 3. Keep me on your Twitter feeds in case there are more call ups for tomorrow’s meaningless game vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. It’s Pens-Flyers Round 1 up top, so we will see what, if anything, happens tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – only 575 words tonight.

Norfolk runs its win streak to 23 straight after defeating the Penguins 2-1 in Virginia this evening. A tweet from Michael Fornabaio, Sound Tigers beat writer and inspiration for this blog:

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I am hanging my hat on this game, as you should, that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins ran with the Norfolk Admirals tonight. If not for six straight power plays to the Admirals we may be speaking about a streak ending. But when you hand a team with the second best power play in the American Hockey League only behind the juggernaut Hershey Bears six straight power plays, you are bound to get bit.

Norfolk scored both goals tonight on the power play tonight. Even strength, I want to say the Penguins held the edge throughout.

Scott Munroe vs. Dustin Tokarski – Jason Williams returned from his maintenance day and as a result Brandon DeFazio was scratched.

First Period: Michel Ouellet scored on a power play on a two on one. He froze Munroe looking off to the other player (didn’t catch a number) the entire down on the two on one. This was prefaced be a Penguin power play and strong puck possession.

Second Period: No shots at all for the Penguins halfway through the period. Finally, a Paul Thompson wrist shot. That opened the floodgates for the Penguins. Alex Grant would laser a shot on net that Bryan Lerg would get a piece of and past Tokarski to even things. Penguins were getting chance after chance. Coach John Hynes shook up the lines before the game. The one line which stayed intact was the Nick Petersen – Ben Street – Geoff Walker line. This line was absolute dynamite all night. They nearly scored almost every shift they were out for this period.

Third Period: Assisted by the fact that the Penguins took six straight penalties, the Admirals finally broke through when Mark Barberio hammered a shot in from the point in front of Cal O’Reilly, who had a stick break. Penguins would get late chances, with Munroe pulled, but would never find the equalizer.

Thoughts: Meaningless game in the large scope of things. Norfolk was going to get best record in the East. Penguins have the date with the Hershey Bears nearly set in stone for the playoffs in a few weeks, only issue at hand is who gets home ice. John Hynes denied his 100th AHL win. He will get another crack Friday vs. the Bears. Hershey ultimately gets a game in hand vs. the Pens out of this.

I’m rambling, so let’s tighten up.

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Norfolk 103 / Penguins 89 / Hershey 87 / Syracuse 76 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (103) 2-StK (90) 3-BRI (83) 4-WBS (89) 5-HER (87) 6-CT (80) 7-SYR (76) 8-MCH (76)

Pens bus home tonight, probably will have off tomorrow, practice Thursday then the Bears are in for a huge game Friday night. I’ll have what I can get between now and then with any news.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins go perfect for the weekend winning tonight 5-2 in what could be described as a scrambly game at times, but walk away winners regardless buoyed by a two goal game by Alex Grant. 

Brad Thiessen vs. Keith Kinkaid

Lineup Notes: Jason Williams was given what was described by Tom Grace a “maintenance” day. Grace stated that Williams should be good to go vs. Norfolk Tuesday. Brandon DeFazio was in for him. Simon Despres was reassigned from Pittsburgh, so he was in for Philip Samuelsson.

First Period: Alex Grant would score on the power play late. This was predicated by a good fifteen minutes of just messy play by the Penguins, certainly not as crisp as they were 24 hours ago in Hartford vs. the Whale. 

Second Period: Alex Grant would receive a pass from Ben Street off the wall and roofed it past Kinkaid to put the Pens up 2-0. Geoff Walker drew the secondary assist on the Grant goal, and this would be his fifth assist in the season series vs. Albany. Later, Mike Hoeffel received a drop pass and wristed one in past Thiessen to put the Devils on the board at 2-1. Then, with Brian Gibbons in the box for slashing, the Pens would try to clear the puck out of their defensive zone to no avail and Matt Taormina would score to even things at two. More scrambling, Devils come in 4-on-2 and Cody Wild ended up playing goaltender as Thiessen was down and out in denying a Dan Kelly wraparound. Late, Paul Thompson gets a drop pass from Robert Bortuzzo and scores late to put the Pens up 3-2,

Second Period Thoughts: Pens had, before the Thompson goal, eight shots on goal. They made the best of the opportunities afforded them by manufacturing goals. Albany could have put the Pens away this period for good.

Third Period: Pens had a carryover power play from the second period they worked on to open the final period and Ryan Craig made good on it by tapping in a shot from Simon Despres to put the Pens up 4-2. The rest of the period the Penguins would keep the Devils at arm length. Late, with Kinkaid pulled, Nick Petersen would get an empty net goal to seal it.

I have openly questioned the purpose of Steve MacIntyre in the past. Not anymore. Coach John Hynes put him out there late in both games this weekend to diffuse any shenanigans the opposing team may want to pull this late in the season.

Three Stars: 3) Mike Hoeffel (goal, +1) 2) Paul Thompson (goal, even) and 1) Alex Grant (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Norfolk was off tonight. The Hershey Bears lost 3-2 to the St. John’s IceCaps by a score of 3-2. The IceCaps clinch the Atlantic Division title and a berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs and snap the Bears seven game win streak. This means that the Norfolk Admirals win the East Division as well. The Syracuse Crunch get a much needed two points by winning in Binghamton tonight in OT 2-1.

Standings: Norfolk 101 / Penguins 89 / Hershey 86 / Syracuse 76 / Binghamton 60

Conference: 1-NOR (101) 2-StJ (88) 3-BRI (81) 4-WBS (89) 5-HER (86) 6-CT (79) 7- SYR (76) 7-MCH (75)

Penguins travel home tonight and then practice Monday morning then bus to Norfolk Monday afternoon for the showdown in Norfolk Tuesday night looking to end the 22-game win streak. I think they will need to play better than they showed tonight if they want to shock the Admirals. We will see.

Let’s Go Pens!