Exciting game tonight watching the Penguins run with the Bears tonight. And they did run with the Bears. Keith Aucoin scored a power play goal from the left dot, something he’s done countless times in this league, in the third period and the Bears would hold on and win 3-2.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin.

Ryan Craig wore the C tonight. Alex Picard and Joey Mornina the A’s.

First Period: Early scrums after whistles when goalies made saves and each team would get a chance on the power play. Then, while Eric Tangradi was in the box for a slashing call Bryan Lerg would be denied on a breakaway shorthanded. Right after the Pens killed the penalty, Kyle Greentree would score to make it 1-0 Bears after he got the puck fed to him down low, dekeing Thiessen for the goal. Then, while newcomer Niko Dimitrakos was in the box for a delay of game call, Brian Gibbons would muscle a puck coast-to-coast and past Sabourin to make it 1-1. Really a fantastic individual effort by Gibbons. As the arena was celebrating Matt Ford would score :20 later to put the Bears back up 2-1. A sloppy Penguin turnover led to Thiessen being screened.

Second Period: Pens had carryover time on a power play. With :02 left, Niko Dimitrakos would score to bring things back even at 2. The teams would trade quality chances. Then, the Pens would have to kill off 1:09 of 5-on-3 as Devin DiDiomete and Cody Chupp would sit for boarding and cross checking, respectively. Hershey would use its timeout but not score. The Pens would then get a chance on the power play but not score either.

Third Period: With Philip Samuelsson in the box for slashing, Keith Aucoin would do what he is notorious for and score from the left dot to put the Bears up 3-2. Wilkes-Barre would get two chances on the power play but not convert. If they do on one it may be a different result.

Three Stars: Niko Dimitrakos (goal, -1) Matt Ford (goal, +2) and Keith Aucoin (game winning power play goal, even)

Thoughts: Fun game to watch. Going to be interesting seeing these two teams play 11 times more this year. Not a blowout by any means. A bounce here, a bounce there and maybe a different result.

Around the Division: We don’t have to go too far this year because there are only 5 teams in the division. Toronto dropped Binghamton 3-2. The defending champs are 0-2 to start the season. Norfolk beat Charlotte 4-3. The Admirals are 2-0 to start the year. Syracuse doesn’t play until next weekend.

Standings: Hershey and Norfolk are tied with 4 points. No one else in the division has a point.

Pens get back on the horse tomorrow afternoon vs. Connecticut, which blew a 3-1 lead in Glens Falls tonight vs. the Adirondack Phantoms and lost 6-3. Gameday post will be up on the blog at 12:30.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens get a 3-1 win tonight in the preseason finale. Brad Thiessen was sharp again in net tonight getting beat by a laser beam of a shot late by Olivier Lauredsen with the Phantoms were shorthanded.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jason Bacashihua.

Ryan Craig, Eric Tangradi, Joey Mormina and Colin McDonald were in for the Pens. The line of Tangradi-Craig-McDonald ran the first power play unit and were successful on two power plays tonight.

First Period: Lots of good saves by Jason Bacashihua by robbing Chris Barton on a cross crease pass to Barton. Later in the period he was standing on his head making some ten-bell saves. Really this period was all Penguins, outshooting the visitors 10-5 on the shot sheet.

Second Period: Little bit more of a tightening up by the boys as Cody Chupp toasted a Phantoms defensemen to put the Pens up 1-0. Nice backhand of a goal by Chupp. I really hop Chupp makes the team. Later, the Pens would cash in on a full 2:00 5-on-3 that referee Jon McIsaac handed them when Kevin Marshall slashed a Penguin and Benn Holmstrom was caught roughing post whistle via Paul Thompson to put the Pens up 2-0. Really solid effort by the penalty kill unit tonight and it never hurts having Brad Thiessen back there. He gloved a Cullen Eddy point shot thru traffic.

Third Period: Lots of good chances by both teams about 6:12 in. Then, Alex Grant and Benn Holmstrom fought when Holmstrom was whistled by McIsaac for a head check. About :30 later, Kevin Marshall would get a cross-checking penalty and that would put the Pens back on the 5-on-3 again. This time with the McDonald-Craig-Tangradi unit on, Eric Tangradi slammed home a goal to put the Pens up 3-0. Penguins never let off as Bacashihua made save after save. Olivier Lauredsen scored to ruin the shutout on a laser beam of a goal that went in and out as quick as it went in. It would end up being too little, too late as the Pens would hang on and win 3-1 to improve to 3-1 in preseason.

Three Stars: Colin McDonald, Cody Chupp and Brad Thiessen.

You can now throw all of this away, as when we wake up tomorrow there will be 6 days to the real hockey season.

Can’t go without acknowledging and welcoming Wilkes-Barre’s new Public Relations Director Mike O’Brien to Twitter. You can follow Mike on Twitter @MikeOBrienWBS and it looks like he will be live-tweeting all of or parts of the games. Welcome Mike!

Housekeeping: AHL Previews start again tomorrow. West Division rolls out tomorrow at noon Wilkes-Barre time. In fact, they all roll out each day at noon all the way up to Friday.

Let’s Go Pens!

Little bit more of an established group for the Bears tonight and less so for WBS but the Pens still managed to scrape out a win at GIANT Center tonight winning 2-1.

Scott Munroe vs. Dany Sabourin. News out of Hershey this afternoon is that Braden Holtby is on his way back to the Bears.

Before the game, Tom Grace gave listeners an update on Keven Veilleux. He has a knee injury. They don’t know the extent of it yet because his knee was too swollen for diagnostic tests. From the sound of Grace and the tone he was trying to set forth, it did not sound good. The term “indefinitely” was used re: how long it would be until Veilleux could return.

First Period: 90 seconds in a Wilkes-Barre turnover led to a Matt Pope backhand goal on Scott Munroe. I’d give a prize to one of my readers if they could leave a comment for me on whether this was the first goal allowed by Munroe since being back in North America. Then a bit of a scare with Zach Sill fighting Christian Hanson. Sill went to the locker room with Patrick Steidle but just for stitches and returned later. There were gobs of fights. Last night it was pretty much Andrew Carroll for the Bears fighting three times for Hershey. Guys, literally, fighting for positions on the team. There was a penalty shot with Chris Barton being hauled down on a mini-breakaway. The Pens are 2-for franchise history all time in penalty shots so Barton did not score. I listened on radio tonight but could tell you that it just sounded like a discombobulated period.

First Intermission: Cuts in Wilkes-Barre will happen after tomorrows game in Wilkes-Barre vs. Adirondack.

Second Period: The radio feed went out about halfway though. Before that, Danny Richmond was caught interfering then Ben Street put the teams at 4-on-4. Zack Miskovic had a chance but the puck went over Miskovic’s net. Then the radio feed went out. The aforementioned Miskovic was then elbowed by Zach Sill and bloodied. Sill got a 5 minute elbow major. Wilkes-Barre would kill it. Paul Thompson had a nice chance shorthanded. Then the goalies made themselves the show with each making some great saves. The Sill penalty for the elbow falls under 45.4 in the rulebook which carries a $100 fine and a review by the League for a possible suspension.

Third Period: Carl Sneep threads a pass to Ben Street right off the hop to ties the game. Pace picked up a bit this period. Bears had a goal waved off because of a puck going in off of a high stick. Both Munroe and Sabourin made great saves in this period. Later, Brian Gibbons got a step on Keith Aucoin and scored on a daft backhand that beat Sabourin to put the Pens up 2-1. Bears would ramp up the pressure and Munroe made some money saves. They call Munroe “Money” as a nickname, so get used to me tossing it around the blog and on the Twitter feed. After a Danny Richmond icing call with Sabourin on the bench the Pens would hold on and win.

Three Stars: Dany Sabourin (23 saves on 25 shots) Scott Munroe (34 saves on 35 shots) and Brian Gibbons (game winning goal)

Pens wrap up the preseason tomorrow vs. the Adirondack Phantoms at 5 p.m. in Wilkes-Barre. Again, no Gameday post so the next post you see may be the postgamer on that game tomorrow evening.

Go Pens!