Goaltender Scott Munroe wins his 100th AHL game as the Penguins sweep the weekend with a 3-2 comeback win this afternoon against the Binghamton Senators.

Scott Munroe vs. Robin Lehner – Cody Wild was in for Carl Sneep. No other lineup changes.

First Period: Pens came out flat and Binghamton pounced in a big way, making it 2-0 before the game was 15 minutes old. Overall just a sloppy, flat period.

Second Period: Penguins came with a jump this period. On the power play, Ben Street crashed the net and scored to cut the deficit in half. Then, Street again, receiving a pass from Geoff Walker and just slipping the puck under Lehner to even things at two. Fireworks at the end of period with Brandon DeFazio and Jack Downing dropping the gloves and having a spirited scrap.

Third Period: More back and forth this period, although Binghamton didn’t get a shot on goal for a long stretch to open the period. Then, late, Geoff Walker in a scrum lifted the puck up and past a down and out Robin Lehner to push the Pens ahead 3-2. Binghamton pulled Lehner with approximately a minute remaining and were unable to find the equalizer and the Pens held on to win.

This will never get old:

–

Three Stars: 3) Scott Munroe (24 saves on 26 shots and 100th career AHL win) 2) Geoff Walker, game winning goal, assist, +2) and 1) Ben Street (two goals, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Norfolk Admirals refuse to be beaten. They defeat the Charlotte Checkers 5-0. Not only are they scoring a billion goals, but backup goaltender Jaroslav Janus is on fire. Adding fuel to the fire, it appears that Tampa Bay is going to bring in a name familiar with WBS Penguins fans of old, Sebastian Caron. This would most likely bump Dustin Tokarski back to Norfolk. TBL wants Tokarski to log big minutes and under pressure. So he will definitely see that in Norfolk.

Oh yeah, the rest of the division. Hershey beat Albany 4-1.

Magic Number: Adding this here until we clinch, appears to be 9. I am not a math major and would welcome help here in the form of a comment from a reader or a mention on Twitter or an e-mail.

Standings: Norfolk 93 – Wilkes-Barre / Scranton 83 – Hershey 78 – Syracuse 66 – Binghamton 55

Conference: 1-NOR (93) 2-StJ (83) 3-CT (76) 4-WBS (83) 5-HER (78) 6-BRI (72) 7-MCH (69) 8-WOR (67)

Pens will probably be off tomorrow. Which means blog content from here to Friday’s tilt with Adirondack will be piggybacking what I see from the Bombulie’s or the league itself.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins get their first hat trick in 14 months from defenseman Alex Picard as the Penguins roll to a 4-1 win over the Worcester Sharks in front of a sold out crowd at home.

Scott Munroe vs. Tyson Sexsmith

Lineup Notes: Jason Williams was scratched, likely because Joe Vitale was banged up today in New Jersey. Williams will most likely get called up tomorrow morning (officially) as Pittsburgh plays Philadelphia tomorrow in the city of brotherly love. EDIT: In his post game wrap on his blog, Coach John Hynes told Pens beat writer Jonathan Bombulie that Williams was scratched due to personal reasons. Swing and a miss by me!

First Period: Worcester had the early pressure bout Munroe and the Pens defense held them off the scoreboard. It went this way for about seven minutes. Then, out of the TV timeout, the Penguins offense sprung to life. Alex Picard fired a shot on goal that Sexsmith never saw. Then, on the power play, Simon Despres fired a shot on goal that Captain Ryan Craig cleaned up the rebound and potted home to put the Pens up 2-0. Then three consecutive brawls with Brandon DeFazio fighting James Livingston, Carl Sneep fighting Matt Pelech and Geoff Walker fighting Curt Gogol. Penguins would get another power play goal in the period, this time from Alex Picard to make it 3-0. This would spell the end of Tyson Sexsmith who was relieved by backup goaltender Harri Sateri.

Second Period: I said at the time that the Penguins were looking to protect the three goal lead, as I just had the feeling Worcester wasn’t done and they were still in it. Period was really a back and forth battle, with the Pens preserving a three goal lead not really giving Worcester any solid looks on goal.

Third Period: Another power play goal by Alex Picard, and the Penguins had their first hat trick of the season. They also had a hat giveaway this night as part of a ticket deal so there were some extra hats on the ice. Sharks would later score on a power play of their own when John McCarthy busted up the Munroe shutout bid.

Three Stars: 3) Scott Munroe (27 saves on 28 shots) 2) Cal O’Reilly (three assists, +1) and 1) Alex Picard (hat trick, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Albany 3-2 in a shootout. Syracuse beat Adirondack 5-2 and Binghamton lost in overtime to the Rochester Americans 4-3.

Standings: Admirals 91, Pens 81, Bears 76, Crunch 66, Senators 55

Conference: 1-NOR (91) 2-StJ (83) 3-CT (74) 4-WBS (81) 5-HER (76) 6-BRI (72)  7-MCH (67) 8-SYR (66)

The battle for seventh and eighth in the Conference is a tight one all the way to fourteenth, with the Providence Bruins there with 61 points.

The Binghamton Senators are in tomorrow for a 3 p.m. start, Gameday will be up on the blog here at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

No silly headline tonight. Sorry. Pens lose this game 4-1.

Let’s just go on and crown the Norfolk Admirals the 2011-2012 East Division Champions and the odds on favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the Calder Cup Finals. The Admirals winning streak is now old enough to drive, they have won SIXTEEN straight.

Funny game tonight. Fans on one side will say that referees Steve Patafie and Jason Rollins were downright awful. Fans on the other will say that the Pens just looked flatfooted all night. Others will say that the Admirals are just that good at this juncture. Some may add a potpourri of other random observations such as Norfolk’s speed, Munroe’ having an off night, etc. I will tend to agree with all thought processes.

Before I get into the game recap, hats off to Norfolk. The 15 wins in a row before this would have been enough to SWEEP through the ENTIRE Calder Cup Playoffs (emphasis added)

Scott Munroe vs. Jaroslav Janus

Lineup Notes: Joey Mormina was under the weather and scratched. So too Cody Wild yielding to Brian Strait and Simon Despres, down from Pittsburgh. Matt Rust took warmups but was scratched. Bryan Lerg returned to the lineup.

First Period: Brian Gibbons took a trip call. Pens killed it then a second later, Cal O’Reilly dropped a pass to Bryan Lerg who scored what would end up being the only Pens goal of the night, a slick wrister which handcuffed Janus. Then the Pens took another penalty in the form of a Bryan Lerg elbow. The Admirals wasted little time in evening the score at 1 when Mark Barberio fired a slap pass to Richard Panik who tipped it past Munroe. Then, next shift Radko Gudas scored from the top of the circles to make it 2-1 Admirals. They then came in 2-on-1 and didn’t score. Pens were juyst standing around.

Second Period: Admirals were on a carryover power play from the first period which Tyler Johnson wasted no time on scoring making it 3-1 before you were able to settle in for the second. After that, the Admirals just held the Pens at arm length the rest of the night really. Munroe made a stop on a two on none with Ondrej Palat and Richard Panik. Pens killed off a late Norfolk 5-on-3.

Third Period: Evan Oberg, fresh out of the box on an interference call, was sprung and beat Munroe clean to make it 4-1. Penguins only managed two shots on goal this period as the Admirals really did a nice job, I don’t want to say insulating Janus, but protecting the lead.

Final shots on goal were a robust 33 for the Admirals and a paltry 13 for the Penguins.

Thoughts: Not going to be discouraged by this result. The Admirals are as hot as hot can be. The pessimist in me will call this an out and out dismantling of the Penguins tonight. The optimist in me says it’s a learning experience for pretty much everyone.

Three Stars: 3) Radko Gudas (goal, +1) 2) Richard Panik (goal, assist, even) 1) Tyler Johnson (goal, two assists, +1)

Around the Division: Syracuse came back to beat Adirondack in Glens Falls 2-1.

Standings: Norfolk leads by 10 points, 89 to the Pens 79. Hershey has two games in hand on the Pens and sit five back at 72 points. Syracuse is 10 back of Hershey and the B-Sens are twenty behind Hershey and ten behind Syracuse.

Conference: 1-NOR (89) 2-StJ (83) 3-BRI (72) 4-WBS (79) 5-HER (72) 6-CT (72) 7-MCH (65) 8-ALB (64)

I heard Grace mention practice Friday in advance of Saturday home vs. Worcester then Sunday vs. Binghamton. Fodder between now and then may be scarce.

Let’s Go Pens!