Pens come from behind in the third period down 2-1 to win 4-2. That’s what it may take in a playoff series. Speaking on that, the Norfolk Admirals defeated the Connecticut Whale today 6-3 and bump back to fourth place in the division and will face off against the Penguins Friday and Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Binghamton Senators will cross over and face the Manchester Monarchs. The Monarchs will have their hands full as Binghamton received reinforcements from Ottawa today. I actually like this matchup for Manchester, but that’s for another day.

Before the game there were awards. Here is who won what:

Media Award: Chris Collins
Star of the Year Award: Brad Thiessen (awarded to the player who amassed the most three stars of the game)
Rookie of the Year: Ben Street
Community Service Award: Chris Collins
Most Valuable Defenseman: Corey Potter (accepted in street clothes)
Leading Scorer Award: Brett Sterling
Most Improved Player: Keven Veilleux
Herb Brooks Award: Ryan Craig (which player had the biggest AHL / NHL impact)
Booster Club Fan Favorite: Zach Sill
Penguin Award: Ryan Craig
Team MVP: Brad Thiessen

AHL Awards also handed out to Thiessen for his Goalie of the Year Award Hynes for Coach of the Year and the East Division, Eastern Conference and Macgregor Kilpatrick Award which Ryan Craig, Brett Sterling and Andrew Hutchinson went no place near.

Brad Thiessen vs. Johan Backlund. Interesting twist saw Patrick Killeen up from Wheeling backing up. John Curry was give the night off.

First Period: Thiessen was sharp denying Denis Hamel in the slot. Later, Hamel set up Rob Bordson on a nifty one timer which Bordson scored to put the Phantoms up 1-0. Then Michael Ryan hooked Viktor Ekbom into the boards and Ekbom went off and did not return. He was supposed to sign autographs after the game but did not do so as Andy Bathgate signed instead. In the ensuing power play Nick Petersen scored to tie the game at one.

Second Period: Lots of defensive miscues in the game as Brad Thiessen misplayed a puck to a Phantoms player who nearly scored. Later, a failed clear attempt led to a Matt Read goal. I thought this was the turning point of the game. You just let in two bad goals and it looked for the sight of things that Adirondack wasn’t going away. The period would end with the Phantoms ahead 2-1.

Third Period: Big scare to start the period as about four minutes in Brad Thiessen left the ice and Patrick Killeen came in relief. Killeen only lasted about two minutes when Thiessen came back in. Later, Chris Collins would score to tie the game at two. Carl Sneep I thought had a bad game defensively. He had a few give aways that led to quality Adirondack scoring chances. Later, David Marshall continued to make a case for himself when he came in and nearly scores on a neat stickhandle move. Right after that a Joey Mormina point shot would get deflected by Ryan Schnell to put the Pens up 3-2. Right after, Nick Petersen would score his second goal of the night to make it 4-2. Adirondack would pull Backlund to no avail and the Pens would hold on to win 4-2.

The win is Wilkes-Barre’s 58th. Good for second all time in wins in a season behind what Hershey did last year in winning 60. Tomorrow when we wake up, Wilkes-Barre and fifteen other AHL teams all wake up 0-0.

Three Stars: Chris Collins (goal, -1) Nick Petersen (two goals, =1) and Ryan Schnell (game winning goal, =1)

The AHL wasn’t done doling out hardware, as John Curry and Brad Thiessen were named recipients of the Harry “Hap” Holmes Award for allowing the fewest goals in the regular season.

What a season.

Blog side, I am running the Fourth Quarter Grades tomorrow. Final East Division Grades on Tuesday, a Western Conference Playoff Preview on Wednesday and finally the Eastern Conference Playoff Preview on Thursday. All will publish at noon their respective days.

Let’s Go Pens!

EDIT: Below is the playoff schedule for Round 1:

Pens win a crazy game tonight 4-2. Hershey came out guns blazing to start the game and played one good period then probably the worst period I have ever witnessed the Bears play in the second to lose 4-2 to the Pens tonight.

John Curry vs. Braden Holtby. Ryan Craig, Andrew Hutchinson given the night off. Keven Veilleux was suspended the final two regular season games by the AHL for last night’s shenanigans. Viktor Ekbom, Andy Bathgate (Pens debut) and Ryan Schnell all played tonight.

First Period: All Bears to open. They enjoyed a good six minutes on the power play with Ryan Schnell on a delay of game, Ben Street for interference when Bryan Lerg broke in shorthanded. John Curry was on his game all night, denying the Bears on the power play. Then Roboert Bortuzzo would get whistled for a blatant cross check and the Bears would go on yet another power play. Pens would kill it then have to kill a Paul Thompson penalty for delay of game. They’d kill it, then in the final minute the Pens would buzz and bizz in the offensive zone and David Marshall would score on the back door to make it 1-0 Pens with :13.7 left in the first. After that, I felt like all the air had left the GIANT Center and the crowd stunned.

Second Period: Pens continue to carry the momentum. Joe Vitale plays with reckless abandon always. He cycles a puck behind Holtby’s net to Brett Sterling who slams the puck home to make it 2-0. Then nearly a minute later, Nick Petersen scores when a Sterling point shot caromed to Petersen’s stick and in. Later, while Vitale was in the box for goalie interference Bryan Lerg would score shorthanded to make it 4-0 Pens.

Third Period: One thing which was noticed by me and also stated on radio was Viktor Ekbom’s performance tonight. He had a great game for himself. Not to be outdone, John Curry played on a different planet this evening, robbing Maxime Lacroix on a break. Pens basically clamped down and controlled Hershey until the final minutes where Andrew Gordon scored to break the Curry shutout bid and then Max Lacroix scored shortly thereafter to make it interesting. Pens win 4-2.

That’s a sweep in Hershey in case you did not know and a 8-2 record against Hershey this year. We dressed basically 5 guys on tryouts and controlled and beat Hershey in Hershey in front of a sellout crowd. Bring on Norfolk. Bring on Binghamton. Bring them all on at this point. Message received from the Pens side too, as Hynes was not thrilled with the lackluster performance last night.

Three Stars: Bryan Lerg: (goal, assist, +2) Brett Sterling (goal, assist, +2) and David Marshall (goal, assist, +2)

Lerg left the game with a lower body injury. Did not return. This was when the Pens were up 4-0 so perhaps precautionary?

In the NHL: The Carolina Hurricanes lost, so they will not be making the playoffs so Charlotte will be getting Drayson Bowman back when they open in Hershey on Thursday.

Playoff Implications: Binghamton lost to Adirondack 2-1. Norfolk loses 5-4 in Syracuse. The B-Sens still have a 1 point lead over the Admirals with no games left. Simply, if Norfolk wins in Connecticut vs. the Whale tomorrow they are play WBS Friday at Mohegan. If they lose in regulation, in OT or a shootout, Binghamton wins the tie breaker and it’s the B-Sens Friday in Wilkes-Barre Township. Connecticut literally has nothing in the regular season left to play for. Portland wrapped up the Atlantic Division tonight with a 3-2 win in Albany so the Whale will face the Pirates Round 1 on Thursday.That game tomorrow starts at 5 p.m.

Adirondack tomorrow at home to close out the regular season then everyone who made the playoffs are back on even ground. Let’s Go Pens!

Never fool yourself when “meaningless game” falls into a sentence with Penguins and Bears into it. This game tonight, a 2-1 Bears win, had all the makings of a playoff game with the way it was contested. However, referee Andy Thiessen completely spoiled this game. No harmony whatsoever in the beginning, and in the end he completely loses control of it and all hell breaks loose.

Bodies are getting healthy in Wilkes-Barre, as Joey Mormina, Joe Vitale and Brett Sterling all returned from injury.

Before we begin, Brad Thiessen did NOT win MVP today. The award went to Binghamton’s Corey Locke. Jonathan Bombulie again brings the immaculate analysis on his thoughts.

Thiessen vs. Braden Holtby

First Period: Patrick Wellar would open things with a cross checking penalty. Nothing doing from the Pens side on the power play. I don’t know if Hynes was working hybrid things in or trying different stuff. Later, while four on four, Patty McNeill and Mathieu Perreault would work a nifty slap pass tip shot that nearly beat Thiessen. Then, while Andrew Hutchinson was trying to walk the puck out of the zone, Andrew Kozek dispossessed him and scored to make it 1-0 Bears even strength. Then more calls from the referee. Despite all of this craziness, I thought the period was all Hershey.

One piece of information on Andy Thiessen. I am a self-proclaimed referee geek. I love to know who they are and how they call games. That said, Thiessen worked the games in Abbotsford with Zac Wiebe. He works a better two man game than he does by himself. He’s lost out there by himself. He also has been stationed in Manitoba / Abbotsford all year so I have no idea what he’s doing here. He’s working the Binghamton / Adirondack game Saturday.

Second Period: Andrew Kozek scores again to make it 2-0 Bears. Turned Sneep inside out on a play and roofed it on Thiessen (the goalie) and after that happened Geoff Walker went off with an injury to his upper body. They gave out “shirts off their backs” and Walker did not come out to give his. Bombulie reports that Walker left the arena with a sling but it’s nothing serious per Coach John Hynes. Mathieu Perreault would sit for hooking and Brett Sterling would score to cut the deficit in half. Then, Brett Sterling would be awarded a penalty shot. He tried the same toe drag move he used to beat Holtby in a shootout a long time ago but Braden read it well and denied him. Afterwards, Keith Aucoin was given a 10 minute misconduct for mouthing off to Thiessen (the referee) and the period would end 2-1.

Third Period: Mathieu Perreault would go hard into the boards and hurt what appeared to be his left knee as he was helped off by two teammates. Then, Bryan Lerg would appear to tie the game but the goal was immediately waved off as the referee ruled that Brett Sterling interfered with Holtby attempting to make the save. But, he also whistled Holtby for roughing as Holtby punched Ryan Craig with his glove. Then later, Keven Veilleux would get a match penalty for slashing and in retaliation fought Steve Pinizzotto. Holtby jumped into the fight and would come out of it only with a slashing penalty. Bombulie with what a match penalty means:

http://twitter.com/#!/CVBombulie/status/56532579024773120

http://twitter.com/#!/CVBombulie/status/56532797908713472

Nevertheless, the game completely had come off the rails. Thiessen lost control of it. It’s two teams already cemented in their positions for playoffs not even meeting in the first round. Let them play.

Last four minutes of the game would see a power plays in the form of a Kyle Greentree rough post whistle with 4 minutes left and a Ryan Craig rough with 2 minutes left. Biggest event to occur was Bryan Lerg shorthanded on the breakaway all alone and denied by Holtby who played, I thought, an outstanding game this evening. With Thiessen pulled the Pens could not score and the game would end. Final SOG were 25 a side.

Three Stars: Maxime Lacroix (assist, +2) Brett Sterling (goal) and Andrew Kozek (two goals, +2)

Playoff Update: Charlotte beat Worcester 2-1. This means that Hershey faces off against the Checkers in Round 1 of their playoffs beginning Thursday. Manchester beats Adirondack 4-1 while Portland loses to Providence 5-4. The Pirates still don’t clinch the Atlantic Division. The Connecticut Whale are the last Eastern Conference team to make the playoffs with a 4-1 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Binghamton beats Rochester 4-2 to leapfrog the idle Norfolk Admirals into fourth and a tentative date next Friday in Wilkes-Barre. Binghamton may be short a few players though according to Joy Lindsay’s tweet.

Tomorrow: Rematch in Hershey. Rematch in Syracuse for the Admirals. Binghamton plays Adirondack at home. It’s Bingo’s last regular season game. Norfolk has a game Sunday in Hartford vs. the Whale.

Go Pens.