Chirps from Center Ice

In a game that was meaningless in the large scope of things, really a good game to watch as a fan. Back and forth, fluid action with little stoppages. The Penguins lose this one 3-2 and look forward to the “second season” opening Friday in Wilkes-Barre vs. Hershey.

The Penguins and Bridgeport Sound Tigers have had wars in the past with one another when the Sound Tigers once resided in the East Division. I wasn’t around for any of it, but wouldn’t it be fun to see these Sound Tigers again this season?

That paragraph is disrespectful to both Hershey Bears fans and Connecticut Whale fans alike. Both are formidable clubs and will not be pushovers for the two teams which played today.

Scott Munroe vs. Kevin Poulin – laundry list of lineup changes with Black Aces shuffling in for a lot of regulars who weren’t on the trip.

First Period: Lots of good flow, back and forth action to open the game. It appeared to me that both clubs were playing good, conservative hockey. A shot saved by Munroe trickled away from him and very slowly towards the net but was shoved away by Peter Merth. Teams would eventually go 4 on 4 with no scoring in the period.

Second Period: Brandon DeFazio would open things in the scoring department when he picked the pocket of a Sound Tiger at his blue line, skated in and scored top shelf on Poulin falling down. Later, Penguin killer Tyler McNeely would tip home a Steve Oleksy shot from the blue line. McNeely has 4 goals and an assist in the series with the Penguins. Later, Tomas Marcinko scored a really weird goal. He fanned on a shot, didn’t get what he wanted on it and the puck just rolled past everyone and into the net. Then Zach Sill was high sticked and cut open and the Penguins had a 4:00 power play to toy with but soon after Cal O’Reilly took a penalty.

Third Period: All that penalty mess from the second period was killed off then Bryan Lerg scored in a scrum to even things. Then, Robert Bortuzzo high sticks David Ullstrom and in the power play Matt Donovan shot a pass to Rhett Rakhshani and Rakhshani scored from a ridiculously low angle. Penguins had a power play late, best chance coming when Andrew Hotham stickhandles through a couple of guys and dishes to Ben Street who fanned on an open net. Penguins never got Munroe to the bench and the game was over.

Three Stars: 3) Kevin Poulin (31 saves on 33 shots) 2) Tyler McNeely (goal, +1) and 1) Rhett Rakhshani (goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey loses in Worcester 3-2. The Bears finish the season on a 0-6-0-2 streak but none of that matters come Friday. Norfolk finishes off a season with it’s 28th consecutive win. Cory Conacher scores late to push the Admirals to victory over the Adirondack Phantoms 4-2. Syracuse wins and is in, defeating Albany 2-1 this afternoon.

Final East Division Standings go as follows: Norfolk 113, Penguins 95, Hershey 88, Syracuse 84, Binghamton 65.

Playoffs are set in the East. They look like this. 1-Norfolk vs. 8-Manchester; 2-St. John’s vs. 7-Syracuse; 3-Bridgeport vs. 6-Connecticut and 4-Wilkes-Barre / Scranton vs. 5-Hershey.

Four East Division teams make the playoffs. One likely to make it to the Calder Cup Finals. Maybe one to win the Calder Cup?

Schedule for content this week is lively! Original content from me each day with piggybacking any major news from the professionals. Schedule will look something like this:

Monday: Final Grades
Tuesday: Western Conference Calder Cup Preview
Wednesday: Eastern Conference Calder Cup Preview
Thursday: Penguins / Bears Series Preview with a prediction.
Friday: Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Gamday vs. Hershey!

Now the real fun starts. Buckle up.

Let’s Go Pens!

Could have went a number of different ways with the post game recap headline tonight. “Pens Tame Tigers” or “MacIntyre Smacks Tigers” or something else silly, but just the standard recap headline tonight.

Steve MacIntyre scores his first goal in 125 games, and the Penguins hold on to win 3-2.

Penguins dressed a number of Black Aces tonight as well as Adam Payerl, who impressed in his pro debut. So too, Bridgeport, with goaltender Kenny Reiter seeing his first pro action as well.

Brad Thiessen vs. Kenny Reiter. Brian Gibbons, Ben Street, Zach Sill, Robert Bortuzzo, Bryan Lerg, Geoff Walker among the notables scratched for the Pens tonight.

Before the game, the Penguins held their team awards ceremony. Heres who won what:

Media Award: Colin McDonald
Community Service Award: Paul Thompson
Rookie of the Year: Simon Despres
Most Valuable Defensemen: Brian Strait (accepted by Zach Sill)
Most Improved Player: Alex Grant
Herb Brooks Award: Ryan Craig
Fan Favorite: Zach Sill
Penguin Award: Brandon DeFazio
Leading Scorer: Ben Street
Three Stars Award: Ben Street
Team MVP: a tie between Ben Street and Bryan Lerg

First Period: :22 in, Mike Halmo scored to put the Sound Tigers up 1-0. Then, Steve MacIntyre muscles his way to the front of the net and jammed it in on Kenny Reiter. Primary assist went to Adam Payerl. Late, with Steve Oleksy in the box for interference, Paul Thompson would center a pass to Colin McDonald from behind the net McDonald would cash on.

Second Period: Teams would trade power plays with the Penguins getting a late 5 on 3 with 1:21 to work with but they could not score. Three good chances on the power play though, two by Alex Grant slapshots and one by Jason Williams on the far circle.

Third Period: The aforementioned Williams would skate in and wrist a shot past Reiter using a Sound Tiger as a screen. Tyler McNeely would be the recipient of a tic-tac-toe pass and score to make it 3-2. Pens would clamp down the rest of the way, get a few good chances offensively, but would hold on to win. Bridgeport had an empty net late but never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Jason Williams (goal, +1) 2) Colin McDonald (goal, +1) and 1) Steve MacIntyre (goal, even)

Around the Division: Norfolk wins again. 27 in a row. 3-2 in Binghamton. In other news, the sun will be up tomorrow. Hershey lost 5-1 in Manchester this afternoon. Syracuse wins in a shootout 2-1 at home vs. Connecticut.

Standings: Norfolk 111 / Penguins 95 / Hershey 88 / Syracuse 82 / Binghamton 65

Conference: 1-NOR (111) 2-StJ ( 94) 3-BRI (89) 4-WBS (95) 5-HER (88) 6-CT (86) 7-SYR (82) 8-MCH (81)

Penguins end the regular season on the road back at it again vs. these Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Game is at 3 p.m., so Gameday on the blog will be up at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Wilkes-Barre lays an egg vs. the defending champion Binghamton Senators tonight and Calder Cup MVP Robin Lehner stands on his head in the third period and the Penguins drop this one 3-1.

Depending on what side you come down on the fence, either a bad loss against the 30th out of 30 AHL teams or an insignificant one with the Pens clinching home use with a Hershey loss in Portland tonight. I’ll tend to lean towards a bad loss. Read on.

Brad Thiessen vs. Robin Lehner – no Black Aces warmed up. Philip Samuelsson took warmups but was scratched.

First Period: Off the hop, the Pens think they score but referee Jeff Smith rules the puck was kicked in. On a power play the Penguins score with Ryan Craig on the doorstep jamming one home past Lehner to put the Pens out ahead 1-0. Later, Mike Hoffman carries a puck in all by himself up the wing and backhands it past Thiessen to put the score even at 1 going into the…

Second Period: Patrick Cannone slices through the WBS defense and fires a wrist shot past Thiessen to put the B-Sens up 2-1. Then a scary moment as Ben Blood knocks over Brian Gibbons in the corner. Blood gets assessed a match penalty for a head check and the Penguins went on a 5:00 power play.

This turned out to be the turning point. The Penguins managed ONE shot on goal during the entire power play. Nothing could get established at all. Binghamton easily killed it. Gibbons was non the worse for wear after a brief visit in the locker room with the trainer.

Third Period: Pens would have the better of the chances by Robin Lehner was making save after save after save. Half of my game tweets in the third were all how Lehner would make great save after great save. Penguins would have a power play be negated by an Alex Grant hook. That would pass and late, the B-Sens would dump a puck in along the corner wall. Thiessen would come out to play it as he has a thousand times before. Only, the puck kicks off of an endplate and right to the stick of David Dziurzynski who had nothing but space and wide open net with Thiessen out of the picture behind the net. He buried it to make it 3-1.

The Penguins would pull Thiessen with about 2:45 left and couldn’t do anything with it.

Three Stars: 3) Ryan Craig (goal, -1) 2) Mike Hoffman (goal, +1) 1) Pat Cannone (goal, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Norfolk wins its 26th straight, 5-1 over Albany. Hershey loses in Portland 6-4. Syracuse lost 5-1 in Rochester.

Standings: Norfolk 107 / Penguins 93 / Hershey 88 / Syracuse 80 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (107) 2-StJ (92) 3-BRI (87) 4-WBS (93) 5-HER (88) 6-CT (84) 7-SYR (80) 8-POR (79)

First round matchup is set. It’s Wilkes-Barre / Hershey. Game 1 will be next Friday. Game 2 will follow Saturday. The whole schedule will be announced by the League at 11 am Saturday morning.

Bridgeport in tomorrow at 7 for the final regular season home game. The Sound Tigers wrapped up the Northeast Division Championship tonight. Gameday for this will be up at 3 p.m. on the blog.

I’d expect a better effort from the Penguins, but with these final two games pretty much meaningless, they may dress an all Black Aces squad tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!

Scott Munroe shuts out the Connecticut Whale for the season, winning this game tonight 3-0. Munroe went 184:56 of shutout hockey against the Whale and will not be on their Christmas Card list. Woe to the Whale if they cross paths with the Penguins in playoffs.

(But Game 1 of that series would be a 5-1 waxing by the Whale on the Penguins, with Munroe probably giving up 4 goals in the first period, as fate may have it)

Scott Munroe vs. Chad Johnson – Philip Samuelsson was recalled earlier in the day and took Joey Mormina’s spot on the blue line.

First Period: After an extended time of back and forth, green flag hockey as I like to call it, Simon Despres scored on a feed from Cal O’Reilly to make it 1-0. After, Alex Grant and Scott Tanski dropped the gloves, then Grant dropped Tanski with a few rights.

Second Period: Bryan Lerg scored on a breakaway about :50 into the start of the period. It was a daft back hander Johnson had no chance on. Then, on the power play, Jason Williams fed Geoff Walker a pass Walker slammed home on the backdoor.

In hindsight, the game was won in the first five and a half minutes of the second for the Penguins. I never got the sense tonight that the Whale were truly into the game, like into it as in “they may score here” into it. Come out in the first five minutes, get a breakaway goal and finish a power play goal before it even starts and you deflate a lot of teams hopes.

Helping much, was a point in the game that I noticed that for the period, the Whale had only two shots on goal. They ended the period with four. That is a great way to ensure you protect the lead and insulate your goaltender.

Third Period: Uneventful but for the moment at 8:26 of the period when Simon Despres was trying to dig a puck out from behind Connecticut’s net in the corner while getting cross checked in the back by Jared Nightengale multiple times. Referee Graham Skilliter is right on top of the play and calls nothing. In flies Colin McDonald who jumps Nightengale. Huge scrum. Robert Bortuzzo pulls Nightengale out of the scrum and fights him. Somewhere in there Andre Deveaux was involved. He got tossed with McDonald.

Connecticut tried to get something going late but never got one behind Munroe, who when called upon, did make some fantastic saves.

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (goal, +2) 2) Simon Despres (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Scott Munroe (27 save shutout)

Around the Division: Syracuse beats Hershey 3-2 in a shootout. The Bears lose the game in hand against the Penguins when they host the Whale Easter Sunday. Norfolk wins its TWENTY-FIFTH game in a row 4-1 vs. the Binghamton Senators. Stop me if you have heard this tune before: The Admirals are in a tight game late, until they get one goal, then the floodgates open. Most playoff games are like this.

Standings: Norfolk 107 / Penguins 93 / Hershey 88 / Syracuse 80 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (107) 2-StJ (90) 3-BRI (87) 4-WBS (93) 5-HER (88) 6-CT (82) 7-SYR (80) 8-MCH (77)

Elsewhere, in the ECHL the Wheeling Nailers season is over. They lost 3-2 to the Kalamazoo Wings in Michigan tonight and 3-1 in the series. I would expect at some point after meetings and such that we get a ton of reinforcements in from Wheeling. But that’s another blog post for another day.

Pens are off until next Friday. Have no idea what I am going to do with myself until then. I will try to run what I can based on allowable content. As always, we can mix it up on the Twitter side.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins win a penalty-fest tonight 4-2 to pull four points ahead of rival Hershey Bears and home ice in Round 1 of the Calder Cup Playoffs in a few weeks. It was head coach John Hynes’ 100th regular season AHL victory.

Regardless, a typical Penguins / Bears game on a Friday night in the AHL. Maybe it’s because I have so much respect for the Bears, but I was on the edge of my seat all night.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin – news du jour was that Steve MacIntyre was recalled to Pittsburgh for tomorrows Penguins / Flyers game.

First Period: Penalties would make this post gamer about 1,000 words.* I’m not going to recap each one obviously, or else you would miss the first period of Penguins / Whale tomorrow by the time you are done reading this. Geoff Walker deflected a Jason Willimas point shot while Julien Brouillette was in the box for hooking. This was predicated by 4:00 of power play the Pens had when Billy Ryan was in the box for Hershey on a high stick double minor.

First period shots on goal were thirteen for the Penguins and four for the Bears. Really a dominating period for Wilkes-Barre despite nearly half of it being on the penalty kill, it seemed.

Second Period: Scary moment as Joey Mormina caught Ryan Potulny up high and shook Potulny up a bit. Julien Brouillette came over to defend his felled teammate and ended top getting an extra minor for roughing. in the ensuing power play, Brandon DeFazio outworked everyone and backhanded it in and past Sabourin to make it 2-0 Penguins. Hershey would use its time out.

What a timeout by head coach Mark French, as the Bears score two goals in the span of :41 and evened things. Both goals scored by Kyle Greentree, even strength and on the power play, respectively.

Third Period: Penguins failed to score on a five-on-three penalty. Then, Zach Sill and David Marshall fought after a hard hit from Marshall on Sill. Marshall would get an extra two for interference and in the ensuing power play Ben Street would tip home a Joey Mormina point shot to put the Pens out in front for good, 3-2. Penguins would then have to kill a Robert Bortuzzo tripping call. Penguins killed it, then Chris Bourque took a slashing call with under two minutes left, Hershey would pull Sabourin and Nick Petersen would score an empty netter to seal it.

Three Stars: 3) Geoff Walker (goal, -1) 2) Kyle Greentree (two goals, +1) and 1) Ben Street (game winning power play goal, assist, even)

Penguins get three power play goals. Not bad, considering the Bears had the third overall best and sixth best road penalty kill unit.

Around the Division: Norfolk wraps up the regular season title with a 3-1 victory against the Binghamton Senators. That’s twenty-four straight wins for the Admirals. Syracuse lost to Bridgeport in my “other game to watch” tonight by a score of 3-1.

Standings: Norfolk 105 / Penguins 91 / Hershey 87 / Syracuse 78 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (105) 2-StJ (90) 3-BRI (87) 4-WBS (91) 5-HER (87) 6-CT (82) 7-SYR (78) 8-MCH (77)

After the game, Dany Sabourin was headed to New York City to join parent club Washington Capitals. He will be back Sunday.

Tomorrow Connecticut is in for a 7:05 face-off. Gameday up at 3. Keep me on your Twitter feeds in case there are more call ups for tomorrow’s meaningless game vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. It’s Pens-Flyers Round 1 up top, so we will see what, if anything, happens tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – only 575 words tonight.

Norfolk runs its win streak to 23 straight after defeating the Penguins 2-1 in Virginia this evening. A tweet from Michael Fornabaio, Sound Tigers beat writer and inspiration for this blog:

–

I am hanging my hat on this game, as you should, that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins ran with the Norfolk Admirals tonight. If not for six straight power plays to the Admirals we may be speaking about a streak ending. But when you hand a team with the second best power play in the American Hockey League only behind the juggernaut Hershey Bears six straight power plays, you are bound to get bit.

Norfolk scored both goals tonight on the power play tonight. Even strength, I want to say the Penguins held the edge throughout.

Scott Munroe vs. Dustin Tokarski – Jason Williams returned from his maintenance day and as a result Brandon DeFazio was scratched.

First Period: Michel Ouellet scored on a power play on a two on one. He froze Munroe looking off to the other player (didn’t catch a number) the entire down on the two on one. This was prefaced be a Penguin power play and strong puck possession.

Second Period: No shots at all for the Penguins halfway through the period. Finally, a Paul Thompson wrist shot. That opened the floodgates for the Penguins. Alex Grant would laser a shot on net that Bryan Lerg would get a piece of and past Tokarski to even things. Penguins were getting chance after chance. Coach John Hynes shook up the lines before the game. The one line which stayed intact was the Nick Petersen – Ben Street – Geoff Walker line. This line was absolute dynamite all night. They nearly scored almost every shift they were out for this period.

Third Period: Assisted by the fact that the Penguins took six straight penalties, the Admirals finally broke through when Mark Barberio hammered a shot in from the point in front of Cal O’Reilly, who had a stick break. Penguins would get late chances, with Munroe pulled, but would never find the equalizer.

Thoughts: Meaningless game in the large scope of things. Norfolk was going to get best record in the East. Penguins have the date with the Hershey Bears nearly set in stone for the playoffs in a few weeks, only issue at hand is who gets home ice. John Hynes denied his 100th AHL win. He will get another crack Friday vs. the Bears. Hershey ultimately gets a game in hand vs. the Pens out of this.

I’m rambling, so let’s tighten up.

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Norfolk 103 / Penguins 89 / Hershey 87 / Syracuse 76 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (103) 2-StK (90) 3-BRI (83) 4-WBS (89) 5-HER (87) 6-CT (80) 7-SYR (76) 8-MCH (76)

Pens bus home tonight, probably will have off tomorrow, practice Thursday then the Bears are in for a huge game Friday night. I’ll have what I can get between now and then with any news.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins go perfect for the weekend winning tonight 5-2 in what could be described as a scrambly game at times, but walk away winners regardless buoyed by a two goal game by Alex Grant. 

Brad Thiessen vs. Keith Kinkaid

Lineup Notes: Jason Williams was given what was described by Tom Grace a “maintenance” day. Grace stated that Williams should be good to go vs. Norfolk Tuesday. Brandon DeFazio was in for him. Simon Despres was reassigned from Pittsburgh, so he was in for Philip Samuelsson.

First Period: Alex Grant would score on the power play late. This was predicated by a good fifteen minutes of just messy play by the Penguins, certainly not as crisp as they were 24 hours ago in Hartford vs. the Whale. 

Second Period: Alex Grant would receive a pass from Ben Street off the wall and roofed it past Kinkaid to put the Pens up 2-0. Geoff Walker drew the secondary assist on the Grant goal, and this would be his fifth assist in the season series vs. Albany. Later, Mike Hoeffel received a drop pass and wristed one in past Thiessen to put the Devils on the board at 2-1. Then, with Brian Gibbons in the box for slashing, the Pens would try to clear the puck out of their defensive zone to no avail and Matt Taormina would score to even things at two. More scrambling, Devils come in 4-on-2 and Cody Wild ended up playing goaltender as Thiessen was down and out in denying a Dan Kelly wraparound. Late, Paul Thompson gets a drop pass from Robert Bortuzzo and scores late to put the Pens up 3-2,

Second Period Thoughts: Pens had, before the Thompson goal, eight shots on goal. They made the best of the opportunities afforded them by manufacturing goals. Albany could have put the Pens away this period for good.

Third Period: Pens had a carryover power play from the second period they worked on to open the final period and Ryan Craig made good on it by tapping in a shot from Simon Despres to put the Pens up 4-2. The rest of the period the Penguins would keep the Devils at arm length. Late, with Kinkaid pulled, Nick Petersen would get an empty net goal to seal it.

I have openly questioned the purpose of Steve MacIntyre in the past. Not anymore. Coach John Hynes put him out there late in both games this weekend to diffuse any shenanigans the opposing team may want to pull this late in the season.

Three Stars: 3) Mike Hoeffel (goal, +1) 2) Paul Thompson (goal, even) and 1) Alex Grant (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Norfolk was off tonight. The Hershey Bears lost 3-2 to the St. John’s IceCaps by a score of 3-2. The IceCaps clinch the Atlantic Division title and a berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs and snap the Bears seven game win streak. This means that the Norfolk Admirals win the East Division as well. The Syracuse Crunch get a much needed two points by winning in Binghamton tonight in OT 2-1.

Standings: Norfolk 101 / Penguins 89 / Hershey 86 / Syracuse 76 / Binghamton 60

Conference: 1-NOR (101) 2-StJ (88) 3-BRI (81) 4-WBS (89) 5-HER (86) 6-CT (79) 7- SYR (76) 7-MCH (75)

Penguins travel home tonight and then practice Monday morning then bus to Norfolk Monday afternoon for the showdown in Norfolk Tuesday night looking to end the 22-game win streak. I think they will need to play better than they showed tonight if they want to shock the Admirals. We will see.

Let’s Go Pens!