Pens needed to respond to the 9-5 whooping Charlotte put on them Sunday and they did in grand fashion tonight winning 6-4. They nearly let the game slip away in the second period though. More on that in a minute.

John Curry vs. Justin Pogge. Dustin Jeffrey was back from Pittsburgh, so Carl Sneep was the scratch along with Ryan Schnell. Jesse Boulerice served his last game on suspension and will be available Friday.

First Period: Pens came out flying. Maybe too much, as Brett Sterling was in the box serving a roughing call none other than Dustin Jeffrey scored shorthanded to make it 1-0. Then right after that, Ryan Craig scored and it was 2-0. Then, the Pens would find themselves shorthanded again having to kill off 1:04 of a 5 on 3 penalty. Andrew Hutchinson would interfere with a Checker then Brain Strait would get called on a bush league cross check. Brett Carson needed little time from the point to make it 2-1. The Pens responded right back, however and Joey Mormina would fire a shot from the point that Dustin Jeffrey would deflect while getting cross checked in the back. Soon thereafter, Tim Wallace would chase Justin Pogge with a garbage rebound.

Eric Tangradi was apparently slashed later in the period behind the Charlotte net and referee David Banfield didn’t see it. Eric said something to Banfield that he didn’t like and gave Tangradi an unsportsmanlike penalty. Well, Oskar Osala made the Pens pay to make it 4-2 after one period.

Second Period: John Hynes apparently had enough of Eric Tangradi’s antics and benched him the whole second period. Meanwhile, Riley Nash and Jerome Samson scored for Charlotte to tie the game at 4.

Thoughts this period: The power play is seriously a huge concern going forward for this team. Right after the Samson goal, Brad Herauf of the Checkers said something to the Pens bench Banfield didn’t like and sat him in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Pens couldn’t do anything with it. That single period alone was the worst period we have had all season being well rested and healthy.

Third Period: Old Penguin teams play not to lose and are defeated something like 5-4 or 6-4. Not this team. Jon Matsumoto would sit for slashing and none other than the Captain, Ryan Craig would score to make it 5-4. Then after a face off win late Tim Wallace would score again to make it 6-4 and put the game finally out of reach.

Three Stars: Tim Wallace, Dustin Jeffrey, Ryan Craig.

Thoughts: I said when it was 4-1 that the game was far, far from over. Turns out I was right. Three hat trick watches tonight with Craig, Jeffrey and Wallace all with two goals apiece. The Pens designated me the “Red Robin Season Ticket Holder of the Game.” I got a hat and a gift certificate to Red Robin. Thanks Pens!

Around the Division: Norfolk lost to Manchester 4-2. Adirondack beat Binghamton 4-3. Houston beat Syracuse in overtime 4-3. Hershey’s game with Springfield was postponed until tomorrow because of snow.

Standings: Huge opportunity for Norfolk to step up and get close but they cannot and are now behind Wilkes-Barre by 13 points. 70-57. Hershey is third but can, with a win tomorrow, draw to a tie with Norfolk. They have 55 points. Charlotte has 55 points. Binghamton squanders a chance to get closer to the Bears and are still in fifth with 51 points. Albany is a distant sixth with 39 points. Syracuse has 38 points in seventh. Adirondack has 33 points in last.

Tomorrow and Friday: Hershey plays Springfield in the make-up game. Then they travel to Binghamton to play the Senators on Friday. Charlotte goes to Adirondack. Norfolk hosts Springfield.

Let’s Go Pens!

I said in today’s Gameday post that Zac Dalpe and Zach Boychuk make the Charlotte Checkers legit threats for as long as they are in the minor leagues. I was right.

For Boychuk, a hat trick and an assist. For Dalpe, 4 assists.

Andrew Hutchinson for the Pens was a -3 and so was Joe Vitale. For Hutchinson he is aggregate -6 for the weekend and was virtually invisible all weekend. Eric Tangradi was very undisciplined this game, he had a goal, but took two misconduct penalties in the third and really put his team down.

John Curry vs. Justin Pogge. Hutchinson in, Schnell scratched, WBS rolled 7 D again.

First Period: Charlotte threw things at us that we either 1) never seen before 2) were just not ready for. Before the game was 10 minutes old the Pens were down 2-0 with goals from Boychuk and Micflikier. The cranked down defensively, and on the power play used slap passes and misdirection plays to befuddle Curry. The Pens just appeared flat (tired) and late Jon Matsumoto was left all alone in front for the easy deflection goal. Hockey players spend hours deflecting pucks in and world class players like Matsumoto are not going to miss with time and space. Luckily, two minutes later, Chris Collins came in unassisted and scored to make it 3-1. But, :35 later, Zach Boychuk scored again to make it 4-1. It was a bouncing puck Curry should have covered. I think at this point if Thiessen is in the tunnel he comes out in relief. Jacob Micflikier would get caught high-sticking at with 4.2 seconds and Brett Sterling would score with 0.3 left on the clock to make it 4-2.

Shots, irrelevant 13-12 in my opinion. Pens had all the momentum in the world going into the second.

Second Period: The bad blood between the two teams boiling, Tim Wallace would bat a puck  out of mid-air at center ice, skate in all alone and score to make it 4-3. He bunted the puck in after whiffing on his stomach. What an effort. Justin Pogge then started to rile up the crowd by holding onto Vitale after he crashed the net. Then, he gets away with a delay of game call. Brett Bellemore would sit for hooking and Eric Tangradi would cash in to tie the score at 4.

At this point I am thinking to myself that nothing can hold this team down. Not a thing. If we came back to win the game after being down 4-1, it would be a shot across the bows of all the teams in the league that nothing can stop us.

Well the comeback died after that as Charlotte would go one to score five unanswered goals. More lackadasical defense by Corey Potter led to a Riley Nash goal, this coming after he let Zach Boychuk skate by him. Then at 19:38 of the second Oskar Osala and Keven Veilleux would get matching Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties. While the referees were trying to sort it out, Pogge started chirping our bench. Out of it, we got a bench minor for Unsportsmanlike Conduct and a Checker power play. After the period would end, Justin Pogge took a run at Robert Bortuzzo, then started fighting Joe Vitale! Out of it, Pogge would get 4 minutes for roughing and Joe Vitale would get 2 for roughing but I thought it should have been more for Pogge. Recently he went off in Hershey and was turfed. Regardless, the period would end 5-4 Checkers. Shots that period were 12-4 Penguins.

Third period: Thought Charlotte / Pogge would get destroyed. Nope. Tangradi would sit for a slash, Bryan Rodney would convert to make it 6-4. After Michal Jordan scored to make it 7-4, Patrick Killeen would relieve Curry. Joe Vitale would get caught hooking, Eric Tangradi said something to Ian Croft he didn’t like, and was taken in for a 10:00 misconduct, and Zach Boychuk would get his hat trick to make it 8-4. Wilkes-Barre timeout. Drayson Bowman would score to make it 9-4.

Everyone in white stopped playing. Not Brett Sterling, who wristed a shot past Pogge to make it 9-5. Time would run out and that was it.

Three stars: Sterling, Dalpe and Boychuk.

Thoughts: Don’t blame Curry. Blame fatigue on Curry. Not his fault we lost this game. We scored 5 goals which on any given night means you win. Charlotte came in rested, after bussing up from North Carolina. They are legit with Boychuk and Dalpe in the lineups. Look for a completely different game Wednesday.

Around the Division: Don’t look now. That sound you hear in the distance is the Big Bear Machine warming up. Bears beat Adirondack today 5-1 and sweep the weekend’s games by going 18-5 in aggregate. Quite impressive without Braden Holtby in town on recall to parent Washington. However, while sweeping the weekend, the Bears opponents are a combined 48-74-5-8.

Standings: A push weekend for Wilkes-Barre. They started 11 points up on the Admirals and it remains that way. WBS has 68 points, Norfolk 57, Charlotte and Hershey 55, Binghamton 51, Albany 37, Syracuse 37 and Adirondack 31.

This week: Norfolk is in Atlantic leading Portland Tuesday in a game I am looking forward to watching on AHL Live. Rematch Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre vs, the Checkers. Bingo is in Adirondack and Hershey hosts the Springfield Falcons while Norfolk is in Manchester. Big week ahead before the All-Star break.

Let’s Go Pens!

First things first, Brad Thiessen left the game in the first period with an apparent injury. People said he tweaked his knee, radio said he could be sick. Regardless I didn’t see him leave the ice because I was looking elsewhere but he did not return. John Curry took the 6-2 Pens win in front of a sold out crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena.

For the Devils in net, Mike McKenna. Jason DeSantis was sent to The Nail today, and Andrew Hutchinson did not take warmups. Scuttlebut was they didn’t want to just throw Hutch into a 4 in 5 after coming off a bad knee injury. There were no “injuries” to report, so I would expect him in tomorrow vs. Charlotte. Steve Wagner returned also.

First Period: Very quickly, the Devils scored. Brad Thiessen went out to play a puck, lost it, got tangled with a player and Patrick Davis scored on the empty net. Right after that happened, Brett Sterling went on a mission. Off the post, all alone, off another post, just everywhere. The shots were 14-5 at one point in favor of Wilkes-Barre and finally Sterling scored to tie the game.

Second Period: Keven Veilleux took a Geoff Walker shot off the knee and went into the dressing room for a look but came back. Soon after, Geoff Walker uncorked a bomb from in between the circles to make it 2-1. Seven minutes in and Albany did not have a single SOG the period. Ryan Schnell fought twice. If he is going to make the penalty box his second home, it better be for fighting and not bone head penalties. Later Keven Veilleux scored top shelf with McKenna down to make it 3-1. After that with Rob Davidson in the box for an elbowing penalty, Nick Johnson would score with :03 in the power play. After two periods the Devils only had 13 shots on goal.

Third Period: Corey Potter fires a shot from the blue line which completely misses the net. It bounces off the board, up into the air and over McKenna’s head. He swats at it, and the puck goes in. A few minutes later, Brett Sterling scores again to make it 6-1. Pens played to protect the 5 goal lead (I know, it sounds stupid) but they took a bone head too  many men penalty and Adam Henrique score on the power play to make it 6-2. Ballgame.

Late update on Thiessen from the Bombulie Postgamer:

Coach John Hynes said Thiessen was kept out of the rest of the game for precautionary reasons. He won’t dress tomorrow against Charlotte, but the injury is not believed to be serious.

In the comment section it was mentioned that Patrick Killeen did not dress. He’ll be fresh if needed. Expect John Curry vs. Justin Pogge tomorrow.

Around the Division: Norfolk lost in Syracuse 3-2. Hershey beat Rochester 5-1. Don’t look now but the Bears are third in the division and playing some ridiculously good hockey right now. Binghamton beat Atlantic Division leading Manchester 4-2 in front of a sold out Verizon Wireless Arena in ManchVegas and Adriondack lost in a shootout to Hamilton 4-3. The Bulldogs scored two third period goals to come back and win. There were no penalties in the game. God bless you, Jeff Smith.

Standings: WBS with the win jumps back to an 11 point lead over the Admirals, 68-57. Hershey and Charlotte are tied with 53 points. Binghamton has 51 points in fifth. The B-Sens would get the Atlantic Division crossover knocking Worcester out if the playoffs started today. The rest of the division drops way off after that. Albany and Syracuse are tied with 37 points. Adirondcack creeps ever so closer with 31 points in last.

Tomorrow: Norfolk is idle. Hershey hosts Adirondack. The Admirals do not play till Tuesday in Portland.

Let’s Go Pens!