I was debating running “looking for tail but getting the horns” as a title tonight but the blog is supposed to be family friendly so I scrapped it entirely.

Oh wait.

Anyway, the Pens lost this game 3-0 to the Albany Devils and ran into a hot goaltender in Jeff Frazee who was played out of his mind this evening. This is two shutouts in three games for the Pens. In this game, the Pens seemed to have the effort all night, outshooting the Devils 9/7, 11/8 and 12/8 in the periods and  32-23 overall. The Pens power play went 0-for-6 tonight including not scoring on five straight power plays handed to them by referee Jon McIsaac.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jeff Frazee. No lineup changes for the Pens tonight.

First Period: A back and forth period between the clubs with the teams committing two penalties a side. Eric Tangradi had a good chance on a power play late, parked at the top of Jeff Frazee’s net but completely missing the net.

Second Period: Frazee’s great play in net was on display all night. He denied a Ryan Craig chance when Nick Petersen centered a pass to him to open the second. Geoff Walker was snakebit all night. He fanned on an open net. More back and forth. Then Eric Gelinas scored on a wrist shot which beat Thiessen blocker side. It appeared as if Brad was screened. Then Tim Sestito takes an unsportsmanlike penalty. Devils kill it and Sestito gets the puck in alone on a breakaway. Joey Mormina is behind him, doesn’t appear to do anything to interfere with his scoring attempt, and McIsaac calls a penalty shot which Sestito cashed on. Penguins then come back and Robert Bortuzzo shoots a puck which eludes Frazee but dies on the line and does not go in.

Third Period: Frazee was really the star of the show, holding off all attempts by the Penguins. I called the penalty shot circumstance a turning point on the Twitter call and it turned out to be. It had the feel all night of playoff intense hockey. Pens would get a power play late but fail to score then Geoff Walker would take a late slashing call that resulted in Eric Gelinas scoring an empty net power play goal.

Three Stars: Eric Gelinas (two goals, +1) 2) Tim Sestito (goal, +1) 1) Jeff Frazee (32 save shutout)

Around the Division: Bears win in Manchester 2-1 on two power play goals. Binghamton rebounds from the 6-1 loss the Penguins laid on them by beating the Portland Pirates 6-2 tonight. Norfolk wins in a nine round shootout to win at home in front of a sold out Scope Arena 3-2. The Admirals had trailed 2-0 to open the third but came back, tied it and won in the shootout.

Standings: Norfolk 69 points, 54 games played. Wilkes-Barre 67 points, 53 games played. Hershey 66 points, 52 games played. Syracuse 47 points, 51 games played. Binghamton 45 points, 52 games played.

Conference: 1-StJ (72) 2-NOR (69) 3-CT (62) 4-WBS (67) 5-HER (66) MCH (58) 7-BRI (57) 8-WOR (55)

Hershey can leapfrog us as they play the Bridgeport Sound Tigers tomorrow in Connecticut. I will likely have a RT of a final score tomorrow afternoon.

Pens will bus to Portland tomorrow. Game will be at 1 p.m. Monday so it’s a super early Gameday at 10 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins make up for scoring only one goal in two games by scoring six in sixty minutes and winning 6-1 in Binghamton.

Scott Munroe vs. Robin Lehner. I tweeted earlier in the day Munroe’s stats vs. the B-Sens vs. Thiessen’s stats vs. the B-Sens. Nick Petersen was in for Brandon DeFazio. Simon Despres is on the trip, but did not play either.

First Period: Binghamton has the AHL’s worst penalty kill. The Penguins took advantage of it by scoring early when Alex Grant did so from the blue line to put the Pens up 1-0. Then the goals came in a bang bang fashion as Ben Street would score a rebound goal and Matt Rust would score a goal on a delayed penalty. The B-Sens would answer with a one-time goal from Corey Locke when they were on a 5-on-3 to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Second Period: Alex Grant broke up an Andre Petersson breakaway chance. Defense then fails to clear twice leading in chances for the Sens but no goals. Then, on the power play again, Alex Grant would score another power play goal to make it 4-1. Geoff Walker had the screen in front of Lehner on both of Grant’s power play goals.

Third Period: Alex Picard point shot resulted in a Matt Rust tip in goal to essentially squelch any chances of a comeback by the defending champs. Teams would trade hooking penalties and Nick Petersen would score a late rebound goal in his return to make the score the final, 6-1.

Three Stars: 3) Joey Mormina (two assists, +2) 2) Matt Rust (two goals, +2) and 1) Alex Grant (two goals, +1)

I would have given a star to Nick Petersen who had a goal and two assists and was a +3 but sadly, fan bloggers don’t have a say in who is chosen.

Around the Division: Norfolk beats Syracuse at home 7-4. The Admirals are simply rolling right now. The Bears get shut out in Providence 6-0 by the Bruins.

Standings: Pens and Admirals have 67 points. Pens have the game in hand so they are slotted above the Admirals, who have more wins. Hershey has 64 points. Then Syracuse with 47 and Binghamton with 43.

Conference: St. John’s lost to the Hamilton Bulldogs in regulation tonight 4-3 so they remain at 70 points. The rest goes like this: 2-WBS (67) 3-CT (60) 4-NOR (67) 5-HER (64) 6-MCH (58) 7-BRI (55) 8-WOR (55)

Pens are in Albany tomorrow night. I had planned on going up, but the uncertainty of weather coupled by the fact that I am currently chasing my running nose and stiffing a cold, I decided to stay behind. Gameday for the affair will be up here Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Oof. Pens drop this game 4-0 and have now lost to the Hershey Bears and Norfolk Admirals in back to back games by a combined 9-1. Tonight’s affair included a limp effort which resulted in a 4-0 whitewashing.

Scott Munroe vs. Dustin Tokarski – Eric Tangradi and Cody Wild were both in while Nick Petersen remained a healthy scratch.

First Period: Robert Bortuzzo and Scott Jackson fought very early. I questioned Bortuzzo, one of our better defensemen, going off for 5:00 on a fighting major so early on in the game. Mike Angelidis and Geoff Walker fought afterwards. No one had the advantage on either player in either fight. Penguins would get 4:00 of power play to work with later in the period erased by Joey Mormina roughing after a whistle. All of it would get killed and it was scoreless after one.

Second Period: Weird opening sequences. Penguins would get a power play to work with. Trevor Smith scored shorthanded. Then, Carter Ashton would get awarded a penalty shot while the Pens were still on the same power play but he would not score. Then later, the Penguins think they score when the puck crosses (or does it?) the line. The play would continue a good four minutes later until referee Jon McIsaac went over to the goal judge to see if the goal had been scored. It had not. Later, Ondrej Palat bats a puck in the net after Scott Munroe fails to corral the rebound to make it 2-0.

I went over to the patrons who sit in Section 223 which is an end section overlooking the WBS net. The fans I spoke to told me that the puck was in the net in the corner of the net and over the line. They also told me that the goal light above was inoperable.

Officials saw it different, obviously.

Third Period: Pierre-Cedric Labrie scores after a nice cross crease pass from Richard Panik set him up to make it 3-0. Then, the Pens would take an Alex Picard rough and a Robert Bortuzzo high stick soon after to put the Admirals on a 5-on-3 for 1:34. Trevor Smith banged home his own rebound to put the Ads up 4-0. Robert Bortuzzo would be awarded a penalty shot and not score in an attempt to break up the Tokarski shutout bid.

Three Stars: 3) Trevor Smith (goal, +2) 2) Ondrej Palat (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Dustin Tokarski (24 save shutout)

Around the Division: Syracuse beat Albany 7-1 in the only division action. The Crunch halt the Devils three game winning streak.

Standings: Color me shocked. AHL Standings has Wilkes-Barre still in first place. I thought this game was for first. (edit: No, it wasn’t the Pens still have a game in hand on the Admirals which is why it is seeded higher, for now. Thanks to all who corrected me on the Twitter side) League standings still have Wilkes-Barre in first with 65 points, then Norfolk “technically” second with the same 65 points. Hershey is third with 64 points. Syracuse has 47 points and Binghamton 43.

Conference: 1-StJ (70) 2-WBS (65) 3-CT (58) 4-NOR (65) 5-HER (64) 6-MCH (58) 7-BRI (55) 8-WOR (55)

Pens will practice tomorrow in preparation for the three game road trip to Binghamton, Albany and Portland. I will be with them for 2/3 of the trip, making Binghamton and Albany and watching the Portland game from home.

Let’s Go Pens!