If they went ahead and never kept score, you would think that the Penguins dominated parts of, if not all of, this game tonight. If there is anything to be taken from a 5-2 loss on home ice tonight by a very well put together St. John’s IceCaps team it is this: The Penguins can bang with anyone and run with them too.

However when your starting goaltender lets in the first three shots he sees and you don’t have your star player and leading point getter in Bryan Lerg in the lineup, you get what you got, a hard fought game in the end, decided by goals which matter.

Scott Munroe vs. Eddie Pasquale

Lineup Notes: Bryan Lerg was out again with an injury. He played Sunday in Adirondack and missed the Norfolk game last Sunday, so whatever it is that he has, is nagging him. Matt Rust took his spot. I blogged earlier in the day about Clear Day rosters. You can click here or just scroll down if you are on the main page of the blog.

First Period: Penguins were on a power play when John Albert scored on a 2-on-1 pass from Garth Murray. Nothing really Munroe could do about that one. Penguins were buzzing all about the place, narrowly missing chance after chance. Then Brandon DeFazio took an inopportune roughing penalty and in the ensuing St. John’s power play, Paul Postma turned his stick into a rifle and picked off both Matt Rust and Zach Sill with shots and then ultimately fired a puck on net that Carl Klingberg got a stick on and the IceCaps were up 2-0 on two shots. Sill went to the locker room and returned later, Rust never missed a shift. Later, Ex-Penguin Jason DeSantis scored from the blue line and that was the end of Munroe, rearing three goals on three shots. Patrick Killeen came on in relief. Still, the Penguins were gravely outplaying the IceCaps and finally, with :31 left, Simon Despres scored from the blue line to make it 3-1.

Shots were 11-4 in favor of the Penguins and again, the IceCaps were being outplayed.

Second Period: Really a rough sequence for referees T.J. Luxmore and Francis Charron. The NHL wants to develop referees in the AHL to be full time someday in “the show” – they use a four man officiating system in the NHL. The AHL is slowly implementing a four man system as well. Tonight, you could have have ten referees out there and they would have still missed both Carl Sneep and Paul Thompson getting sliced wide open on sticks from the opposing team. Both Sneep / Thompson left the ice for repairs with no calls of penalties.

To game action, Brian Gibbons snuck behind the defense and scored to make it 3-2. Really a big goal in the moment cause you could feel the comeback coming.

Third Period: St. John’s would take a too many men on the ice call and Arturs Kulda would score shorthanded on a blue line snipe which eluded Killeen. Really a deflating goal in hindsight because later Ray Sawada would score after Killeen comes out square to stop a shot, drops the rebound, realizes he is out too far when Sawada pounced on it and scored it.

After that, nothing big happened.

Three Stars: 3) Jason DeSantis (goal, +1) 2) Ray Sawada (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Arturs Kulda (goal, assist, +3)

Around the Division: They all watched us as no one skated.

Standings: Norfolk 81. Penguins 73. Hershey 71. Syracuse 56. Binghamton 50.

Conference: 1-NOR (81) 2-StJ (77) 3-BRI (70) 4-WBS (73) 5-HER (71) 6-CT (68) 7-ALB (63) 8-WOR (61)

Don’t want to be too wordy, but the Penguins needed this game and these points if they wanted to be serious about a comeback for East Division leaders. Hopefully Coach Hynes uses this as a learning tool and the guys learn from it and adjust. I think we are past the “crumble it up and forget it” phase. Especially when the home record is a sour 12-13-2-2. Maybe this three game road trip shakes some sense into them.

Late Edit: One thing I wanted to mention was that Lightning goaltender Mathieu Garon left the game vs. Ottawa tonight with an injury. Look for Dustin Tokarski to get the call. Aftermath, Garon will need an MRI.

Depending on content, I will try to keep the content on the blog fresh. I am planning on chasing the Pens this weekend, so there’s that.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins get two bang bang goals :20 apart from Paul Thompson and Brandon DeFazio to surge ahead late in the third period down 2-1 to win their only game of the weekend in comeback fashion 3-2.

Scott Munroe vs. Michael Leighton

Lineup notes: This was Leighton’s fourth straight start for the Phantoms in where he was 3-0 with a 1.33 GAA and a 0.962 save percentage. Steve MacIntyre, Cody Wild and Philip Samuelsson were not on the trip. Scratched was Matt Rust for Bryan Lerg and Carl Sneep for Alex Grant. Grant is 19th in defensemen scoring.

First Period: You couldn’t tell that the Phantoms played two prior games and that the Pens were off all weekend. The Phantoms jumped on the Pens early but Munroe held the fort early. Then Oliver Lauridsen fired a puck on the goal line from the corner at goal which popped to Matt Ford which he nudged in to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead.

Second Period: Brandon Manning put a hook in on Nick Petersen. In the ensuing power play, Ben Street would backhand one home past Leighton to even the score at 1. Phantoms would later come in two on none on a slow developing play and I tweeted at the time that Munore had been sharp. Well, next sequence with Brian Strait breaking his stick trying to clear the puck out of his zone, Matt Ford would score from the slot to put the Phantoms back out ahead 2-1.

Third Period: Penguins would get two power play chances but did not score on any of them. Then, Paul Thompson scored in a scrum to tie the game then Brandon DeFazio would score on Leighton’s doorstep to push the Pens up 3-2. The Phantoms were then denied by a spawling save by Scott Munroe on his back from a Shane Harper shot from the low left circle. Adirondack would pull Leighton but were unable to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Garrett Roe (two assists, +1) 2) Ben Street (goal, -1) and 1) Matthew Ford (two goals, +1)

Notes: Adirondack was undefeated leading at home after one period (10-0-0-1) Penguins get their overall third come from behind and AHL leading 21st road victory. O’Reilly on faceoffs is amazing. Mark my words him in the dot come late in the season is going to be an enormous asset to have. Penguins missed Alex Grant in power play situations I think today, going only 1 for 5.

Around the Division: The Hershey Bears win in overtime 2-1. Ryan Potulny netted his 22nd goal at :22. He also wears number 22. The St. John’s IceCaps avenge their loss to the Bingahmton Senators last Tuesday by winning 5-2 in the Southern Tier of New York. Syracuse beats Albany 2-1. Norfolk is idle till this Friday.

Standings: Norfolk leads the Division, Conference and League with 81 points. Penguins are second in the Division with 73 points. Bears draw two back with 71. Crunch have 56 points and the B-Sens 50.

Conference: 1-NOR (81) 2-StJ (75) 3-BRI (68) 4-WBS (73) 5-HER (71) 6-CT (68) 7-ALB (63) 8- WOR (61)

Tomorrow is Clear Day, or the AHL’s equivalent of the trade deadline. Depending on moves, I will probably have something here in the form of a blog post tomorrow evening. Of course, for immediate reactions, please follow me on Twitter @nafsnep

Pens most likely will have off or a light skate tomorrow. St. John’s in town for the first time ever as the IceCaps Tuesday.

Let’s Go Pens!