Chirps from Center Ice

Penguins come out in the first period and storm the IceCaps and were pretty relentless all game long and played, to me, their best game of the Calder Cup Playoffs and won in decisive fashion 3-1 tonight evening the best of seven series 1-1 with Game 3 Saturday night.

In sum, the Penguins looked like the IceCaps did last night. They skated the IceCaps in circles tonight and played a really strong sixty minutes of hockey.

Brad Thiessen vs. Eddie Pasquale – no lineup changes either way. The regulars in the lineup did not take a morning skate. Jonathan Bombulie caught up with Jason Williams and Joey Mormina and they both diagnosed last night’s performance to a case of tired legs.

First Period: Penguins came out and stormed the IceCaps. They took the games first nine shots. One of them was an Eric Tangradi goal over a sprawling Pasquale. Then, the momentum the Penguins had shifted to the St. John’s side as Alex Grant took offense to a Garth Murray hit on Brian Gibbons. Grant dropped his gloves as Murray skated away. The IceCaps scored on the power play when Ben Maxwell deflected a Derek Meech shot from the point.

Second Period: Thiessen made a big save on a John Albert breakaway when Philip Samuelsson cheated up on a play. Penguins would then get two consecutive penalties. The first power play was all Penguins buzzing but no scoring. The second power play was no buzzing. Penguins killed a late Samuelsson penalty.

Third Period: Eric Tangradi in the box for a hook, Cal O’Reilly and Joey Mormina come in on a 2 on 1 shorthanded. O’Reilly waited out a man and dished to Mormina who slammed it home to put the Penguins up 2-1. Then, the Penguins would get a power play and Jason Williams would score on the power play which for Williams, is a point in every single WBS playoff game so far. It would be all the Penguins would need to stymie the IceCaps attempts. Wilkes-Barre would kill two penalties late.

Final shots on goal were 38 for the Penguins and 23 for the IceCaps. Really a dominating performance by the Penguins.

First road win for the Pens this postseason, first shorthanded goal and the Penguins have the next three at home which is home ice advantage.

Three Stars: 3) Eddie Pasquale (35 saves on 38 shots) 2) Eric Tangradi (goal, +1) and 1) Joey Mormina (shorthanded game winning goal, +1)

Game Three is Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre. A note from play-by-play man Tom Grace revealed that the clubs will be on the same flight back to Northeastern Pennsylvania tomorrow. Should be an interesting flight!

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: Connecticut wins in overtime off of an Andreas Thuresson shot and the Whale take Game 1 3-2 and a 1-0 series lead. Connecticut got two bang-gang goals :12 apart in the first and held on. Game 2 is Friday.

Let’s Go Pens!

Brock Trotter continues his playoff tear, scoring two goals tonight on breakaways and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins drop Game 1 by a score of 3-1.

Kind of expected this, with the IceCaps off since Friday and the Penguins gutting out a Game 5 victory on home ice vs. the Hershey Bears Saturday night. How the Penguins respond in the first ten minutes tomorrow in Game 2 will be crucial if they want to send this back to Wilkes-Barre even at a game a piece in the series.

Brad Thiessen vs. Eddie Pasquale – Brian Strait was out and Philip Samuelsson was in for him. No other lineup changes.

First Period: Thiessen had to make two saves off of neutral zone turnovers early, and this theme would carry to the end of the period as the IceCaps would blitzkrieg the Wilkes-Barre netminder with 20 shots this period. Cal O’Reilly would score on the power play, but this period was all Thiessen making saves on IceCaps shooters. Penguins would kill two penalties in the period sandwiched by a penalty shot awarded to Jason King which Thiessen made a glove save on. Final tally on shots would be 20-4 for St. John’s.

Did some mining during intermission to learn that the 4 shots the Penguins took was tied for the fewest all season. They took four shots three other times; Nov. 25 vs. Hershey (a 3-2 SO loss), Dec. 13 vs. Binghamton (a 4-2 Penguins win) and March 14 vs. Norfolk (a 4-2 loss). The 20 shots taken by St. John’s was the most taken by them all season. It would also be the most shots the Penguins would allow in a single period. The most allowed was 17 back on Oct. 22, a 3-1 Penguins win.

Why is this important? Could have been the St. John’s game plan to jump on the Penguins and get up early. It worked to a point that Thiessen was true to form and kept them out of his net.

Second Period: Things would settle down a bit. Penguins would be a bit more physical. Brian Gibbons would turn a puck over in the neutral zone and Brock Trotter would come in unabated to Thiessen and score. Penguins would answer with extended time in their offensive zone, but not score. Gibbons would break away from a man but Pasquale made the save.

Third Period: Brock Trotter again. Busted defensive zone play and he would score to push the IceCaps ahead 2-1. Penguins would get a power play but could not get established. Late, Thiessen comes to between the circles to play a puck, misplays it and Garth Murray would pick his pocket and get a feed from John Albert to make the IceCaps lead insurmountable late. Head Coach John Hynes would pull Thiessen but the Penguins could not score.

Three Stars: 3) Jason King (six shots, even) 2) Brad Thiessen (34 saves on 37 shots) and 1) Brock Trotter (two goals, +2)

Game Two is tomorrow at 6 p.m. Wilkes-Barre time.

Overall, I thought the Penguins played decent given the circumstances. But for defensive gaffes, Thiessen was sharp. Have to respond and rebound and even this tomorrow.

Gameday will be up at 2 p.m. here on the blog Wednesday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

The Penguins advance on to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs on probably the most well played game on the season. They will face the Atlantic Division Champion St. John’s IceCaps in the second round.

The Penguins won the game in virtually seven seconds in the second period tonight and held on to win 2-1.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin – Pens Beat Writer Jonathan Bombulie had the lines that head coach John Hynes shook up:

First Period: Both goaltenders had to make ten bell saves. Hits were flying all over the place. Lots of back and forth, high flying, physical hockey. No scoring, no penalties. Shots were 9-6 WBS heading into the…

Second Period: Bryan Lerg had a wide open net that Dany Sabourin somehow got over and made a save on. Teams would trade overlapping penalties and both would get killed. Then, the following:

–

Turns out, it was. Cal O’Reilly would get a centering pass from Colin McDonald he would beat Sabourin blocker side on on the back end of the power play. Then, as I was sitting down, ready to tweet the goal, Zach Sill scored :07 later. I didn’t see it, but it sounded like the goal that David Dziurzynski scored on us in the 3-1 loss to Binghamton on the last weekend of the season. Geoff Walker rimmed a puck on the zamboni door side, it kicked out and right to Sill’s stick and past Sabourin. Just a horrible series of events for the Bears there.

Third Period: With visions of Game 6 in the East Division Finals vs. the Charlotte Checkers last year, the Pens took a lead into the third period in an elimination game. Ryan Potulny scored :23 into the period. More back and forth, tension mounting with every shift. Jason Williams takes an interference call just south of 8:00 left to go in the third. The Bears weren’t able to materialize much and killed it. Head Coach Mark French called time out with under two minutes. Dany Sabourin came to the bench for the extra man but the Bears never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Cal O’Reilly (goal, even) 2) Brad Thiessen (18 saves on 19 shots) 1) Zach Sill (game winning goal, +1)

Thiessen’s finest hour to date. He was sharp when he needed to be and it could be argued won us the hockey game.

The St. John’s IceCaps await. Game 1 is Tuesday. Here is the entire schedule. Games Saturday and Sunday next weekend in Wilkes-Barre.

As far as content goes, I will have the series preview on Monday at noon. With no idea where to start in breaking it down, I now know what I am doing Sunday afternoon.

Stick with me on Twitter for the most up to date stuff and retweets of stuff from the St. John’s side.

One round down, three more to go. Celebrate!

Let’s Go Pens!

I’m no math major, but some numbers for you:

-> The Penguins are 1-12 all time in playoff games at Giant Center
-> The Penguins power play went 0-for-9 tonight.
-> The Bears power play went 3-for-4 tonight.

In minor league hockey, there are franchise defining moments. In some fly by night two-season-and-done teams its attendance, unsustainablility and / or an inept front office.

For the Penguins, for which none of the above applies and a team which has made the AHL playoffs for ten consecutive seasons, the time is now.

Up two games to none against a Bears team without Christian Hanson, Keith Aucoin, Braden Holtby or Dmitry Orlov and with NHLers Eric Tangradi, Simon Despres and the injured Brian Strait layed an absolute goose egg tonight and lost 4-1. The Penguins were never in it tonight at all and now, face elimination tomorrow on home ice, at 7:05 p.m. Saturday night.

If the Penguins do not win tomorrow for whatever reason, the season could then be best described with the following two words:

Choking Dogs.

You have to win three games in the first round. The entire season and depending on if your are a pessimist or optimist, franchise defining moment, comes down to tomorrow night.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin. Matt Rust was in for Nick Petersen, attending to a family matter. Philip Samuelsson was in for Brian Strait. Radio said that if this was Game 5 he would be in.

First Period: Could best be described as a preseason game. Bears forechecked. Penguins looked lost. Penguins got two power plays they did not score on. Jason Williams hit a post on a four on two. While the teams were four on four, Alex Picard fanned on an open net, Bears come back in the other way and Cam Schilling scores to make it 1-0.

Second Period: Penguins get another power play and do nothing with it. Bears get a power play and Chris Bourque blasts a puck Thiessen mishandles that Boyd Kane blindly shoots into the Penguins net to make it 2-0. Off the faceoff Penguins get another power play and don’t score. Late, Jason Williams scores off of a perfect feed from Alex Grant to make it 2-1 going into the…

Third Period: Penguins had a carryover power play they would not score on. Brandon DeFazio would get bloodied on a high stick but no call would be made. DeFazio would go to the locker room then the bench but I didn’t hear his name called the rest of the night. Penguins would get another power play and not score (sense a trend?) then Eric Tangradi would take an unnecessary unsportsmanlike penalty and Ryan Potulny would rip a shot from the point that Boyd Kane would tip home to make it 3-1 Bears. Pens would get another power play and wait for it….would not score. The Pens would pull Thiessen late and Chris Bourque would score from center ice to seal it for the Bears making it 4-1 and forcing a deciding Game 5 tomorrow.

Three Stars: 3) Cameron Shilling (goal, even) 2) Dany Sabourin (22 saves on 23 shots) 1) Boyd Kane (two goals, +1)

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: St. John’s and Norfolk are onto the next round. Both needed overtime to do so. Both won 4-3. Norfolk’s boxscore here. St. John’s boxscore here.

Winner of the game tomorrow gets the St. John’s IceCaps. The Norfolk Admirals will faceoff against the Connecticut Whale next week.

I’ve lived by the mantra of, “if you don’t believe, you don’t belong” in playoffs. Only problem that I absolutely fear, is that there are twenty men boarding a bus back to Wilkes-Barre that may not share that same idea.

Whatever happens, Gameday will be here for you at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon and I will have the live tweets for you.

To the end…

Let’s Go Pens!

Well, at least I predicted this last Thursday.

Pens lost this game pretty much in the first period against the Bears fourth line. They chased it the remainder of the way and lost in overtime 4-3 in overtime off a Ryan Potulny shot on a Bears power play.

Game 4 is Friday in Hershey.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin – Simon Despres, Brian Strait and Eric Tangradi were in for Cody Wild, Philip Samuelsson and Matt Rust.

First Period: Penguins open the game with puck possession for the first eight minutes and Thiessen gets burned on what can best be described as a fluke goal by DJ King, who hasn’t scored a goal since 2007-08. Penguins were unable to chip pucks deep as the Bears did a fine job in taking the wall away. After the King goal the Pens really looked shattered. Then Colin McDonald was robbed point blank by Sabourin on his doorstep on a power play. Then, Cameron Schilling scored from the blue line to push the Bears ahead 2-0.

Second Period: Cal O’Reilly would score on a carryover power play from the first period which would be the first playoff goal scored by WBS in Hershey since 2009 (Alex Goligoski) – then both teams would trade power plays and kill them. Brian Strait was checked hard into the boards behind Sabourin’s net and did not return the rest of the game.

Third Period: Eric Tangradi scored to even things after a Bears clear hit a referee’s skate. Paul Thompson received it and fed Tangradi who scored it. Then, Kyle Greentree would get open and push the Bears ahead 3-2. Right after, Boyd Kane slashed Ben Street and the Pens headed to the power play which Alex Grant scored on to even things at three a piece.

Overtime: Nick Petersen high sticks Boyd Kane digging a puck off the wall and Ryan Potulny, no stranger to overtime playoff goals, extended the series to a Game 4 on Friday.

Three Stars: 3) Alex Grant (goal, even) 2) Kyle Greentree (goal, +1) and 1) Ryan Potulny (game winning overtime power play goal, assist, +1)

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: All Game 3’s where series were tied 1-1. The Syracuse Crunch are on the brink losing to the St. John’s IceCaps 5-1 with Game 4 Friday. The Norfolk Admirals have the Manchester Monarchs on the brink also after a 5-2 win in New Hampshire with that series going to Game 4 Friday as well.

Depending on what happens with Washington / Boston, a tipping point in this Hershey / Wilkes-Barre series. The Bears power play, dormant all series long, comes alive at the point to win them a game to keep them alive. Look for an edit here and a tweet from me on Twitter on the final outcome of that game.

EDIT: Washington wins in Game 7 in overtime via Joel Ward. Caps are on to next round. Braden Holtby, Keith Aucoin and Dmitry Orlov remain in Washington for at least one more series.

Game 4 Friday. See you there.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens ride a four goal first period to roll the Hershey Bears 7-2 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Colin McDonald scored two more goals upping his Calder Cup Playoff goal total to four. The St. Gregory’s Academy men were in attendance tonight again, firing up the crowd. Just a perfect night, altogether.

Celebrate tonight, but do not look past an important Game 3 Wednesday vs. the Bears at Giant Center. You need to win three games in a best of five. The Pens have dominated the first two games, yes, but Hershey is a proud franchise and will not go down without a fight.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin – Cameron Schilling and DJ King were out for Hershey. Barry Almieda and Julien Brouillette were in for them. Brian Gibbons was out for Matt Rust the Penguins way.

First Period: Colin McDonald bats down a Bears clearing attempt and scores to put the Pens up 1-0 early on. Brad Thiessen misplayed a puck that Boyd Kane nearly scored on. Then, a goal for the highlight reel. Zach Sill, falling down, roofs a shot over Sabourin to put the Pens up 2-0. The goals would keep coming. A Wilkes-Barre rush would see Cody Wild pot a rebound to make it 3-0. Head Coach Mark French would call a time out to settle his troops. Last time he did this in Wilkes-Barre, Kyle Greentree scored two bang bang goals. Not this time. A routine offside call would spoil into a scrum and Bears captain Boyd Kane in the box for a roughing call. Jason Williams would blast a shot from the point that Geoff Walker would tip home to put the score at 4-0.

Second Period: Bears came out and dominated this period. It started with Patrick McNeill scoring on a shot that Thiessen bobbled. You could sense the Bears ready to break the dam. Shift after shift, the Bears were coming. Then, Matt Rust breaks in and backhands one past Sabourin. Big goal. Big, big goal at the time. The Penguins weren’t going to cough up a lead on home ice again. Garrett Mitchell scored on a deflection to make it 5-2 going into the…

Third Period: Pens had to kill a carryover Bryan Lerg high stick. They would. They would have to kill an Alex Grant high stick. They would. They would have to kill a Robert Bortuzzo hook. During the kill, Ben Street jumps around Chris Bourque. Bourque hooks him, and referee Francis Charron called a penalty shot. Street would score on the first ever postseason penalty shot goal in team history. At this point it was 6-2 with about five minutes left. Then Patrick Wellar came unglued. Paul Thompson jostles with Dany Sabourin while play goes on. Patrick Wellar takes offense. He cross checked Thompson, then while linesmen are trying to break up the scrum, Wellar takes three whacks at Thompson. Out of all this, Wellar would get 2:00 for roughing and 5:00 for slashing putting the Pens on a 7:00 power play. He would also get a game misconduct. As would Kyle Greentree (also two for elbowing) and Philip Samuelsson (two for roughing) – then Kevin Marshall would put the Pens on a 5-on-3 for a slash. Pens couldn’t score on that, but did when Alex Grant shot a puck from the blue line Colin McDonald deflected home for his second of the night to make it 7-2.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Rust (goal, +3) 2) Jason Williams (three assists, +3) and 1) Colin McDonald (two goals, assist, +3)

As noted by Bears beat writer Tim Leone, the Penguins have held the Hershey Bears top two lines pointless. Also, final shots on goals this game were 27-16 Penguins. Wilkes-Barre holds Hershey to an 0-fer on the power play this weekend. The Penguins scored four times on the man advantage so far in the series.

The Penguins can finish things Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: Ding dong, the winning streak is dead. The Manchester Monarchs do what twenty-nine teams could not do, and that is defeat the Norfolk Admirals tonight 5-2 evening that series at 1-1 with the series shifting to New Hampshire for Game 3 on Wednesday. Goaltender Cameron Talbot shuts out the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 3-0 tonight to put the Sound Tigers on the brink with Game 3 tomorrow. Talbot has not allowed a single goal in the series, as Bridgeport lost by the same 3-0 score on Thursday. And it is all even between Syracuse and St. John’s, as the Crunch beat the IceCaps 4-3 with Game 3 of that series on Wednesday in Newfoundland.

Content will be scarce I think the next few days. Penguins will probably be off tomorrow. They may practice Monday, if not, Tuesday. Depending on content I may have things, I don’t know. Washington is guaranteed a seventh game, as they lead their series with defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins 3-2. Game 6 is Sunday, Game 7 if necessary Wednesday. Pittsburgh needs to win tomorrow in Philly in Game 6 or else their season is over. Those are things to watch for.

Let’s Go Pens!

Wilkes-Barre comes out to an electric Mohegan Sun Arena in Game 1 and run the Bears 3-1 to take a 1-0 series lead in the best of five. Game 2 is tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre.

Strong performance by Brad Thiessen. Strong performance by the Penguins power play, going 2-for-5. Strong performance by the Penguins defense, limiting the Bears to just 7 shots on goal halfway through the game and keeping the big guns off the scoresheet. Strong performance from Colin McDonald, who had two goals. Just strong performances everywhere you looked.

In hindsight, I should have used “Strong Performance” as my headline. Meh.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin, reassigned by Washington this morning to the surprise of no one.

First Period: :45 in, the Pens had to kill a too many men on the ice call. They did. In fact they didn’t allow a single Bears shot on net. Late, Zach Sill was entering the Penguins offensive zone and Tomas Kundratek stuck his leg out and tripped him. In the ensuing power play, Alex Picard fires a shot deflected by Colin McDonald and in :10 into the power play to put the Pens up 1-0.

Second Period: Hershey would take two consecutive penalties. Sabourin would snuff out most attempts. Finally with Kyle Greentree in the box for boarding Joey Mormina, Jason Williams would slap a pass to Cal O’Reilly who slammed home past Sabourin to put the Pens up 2-0. Then, Alex Picard fails to clear a puck and gives Hershey a two on one but Thiessen made the save which really was a big one at the time. He hadn’t seen many pucks to that point. Bears would really pick up the offense after this. In fact they would even up the shots at twelve for this period.

Third Period: Bears had 1:58 of power play to work with. Graham Mink boarded Robert Bortuzzo to put the side at 4×4 for :23. Nothing would come out of it, however. Bears would continue to pressure. Then, Colin McDonald would come down the wing and absolutely rifle a shot past Sabourin to put the Pens up 3-0. Mike Carman scored on a deflection with 1:56 left to bust up the Thiessen shutout. The Bears would pull Sabourin with under a minute left to play, Kundratek would be the only Bears defensemen out with five Hershey forwards but the Bears never scored a second.

Three Stars: 3) Alexandre Picard (2 assists, +1) 2) Cal OReilly (goal, even) and 1) Colin McDonald (two goals, +1)

I have to say, the most electric that the Mohegan Sun Arena was in my history of going start to finish, I think. Maybe the Calder Cup run in 2008 when Tim Brent scored in Game 6 vs. the Portland Pirates matched the electricity.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: All Game 1’s. Norfolk staved off a Manchester run to hold on and win 3-2. St. John’s comes back 2-1 in the third to win 3-2 in Syracuse.

Game 2 is tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre. This is the most important game in the series. If the Pens win, the Bears are on the brink of elimination. If the Bears win, it’s a 1-1 series and a best of three with Hershey with home ice advantage. I wouldn’t expect lineup changes for Wilkes-Barre.

Gameday will be up here on the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!