Chirps from Center Ice

Nine game winning streak comes to an end in Hershey today as the Pens lost 4-3 in a shootout. The Pens do get a point with the shootout loss and are now the outright leaders in the Eastern Conference. The Pens are four points up on the Hershey Bears for the division lead.

But, the St. John’s IceCaps have two games in hand on the Penguins and the Hershey Bears have one.

Scott Munroe vs. Braden Holtby – no lineup changes for the Penguins.

First Period: The Penguins mastery at scoring shorthanded goals would continue as Brandon DeFazio would pick off Chris Bourque at the blue line and skate in and score. This is the 12th shorthanded goal for the Pens this year, good for tops in the AHL. But the Bears continued to pressure as the Pens were too cute in their own defensive zone and Sean Collins scored then Chris Bourque would score about 1:10 later. Zach Sill nearly tied things when he clunked a puck off of the top of Holtby’s net. Then the Bears were being called for a delayed penalty when Cody Wild fired a puck from the blueline which crawled up and over Holtby’s stick. In the process, Bryan Lerg got a stick on it and he got credit. Scott Munroe had to make a few good saves in the final five minutes to keep it at 2-2 into the…

Second Period: Sean Collins trips Brian Gibbons. Pens to the power play. This tweet sums up the power play:

Bears would easily kill it. Later, the Pens would get 1:41 of 5 on 3 power play and with one second left in the two-man advantage, Geoff Walker scored to make it 3-2. Would turn out to be a big goal at the time as the Bears were just pressuring the whole time.

Third Period: More Bears pressure, more Penguin turnovers. Finally, newcomer Mike Carman scored from the slot to even things at three. Brian Gibbons had a breakaway but did not score with under ten minutes. Pens defense held off the Bears charges and we went into overtime.

Overtime: Tomas Kundratek made the save of the game on an Alex Grant shot while Holtby was on the other side of the crease. Munroe never saw a shot in overtime.

Shootout: Geoff Walker was the only player to score for the Pens. Bears Cody Eakin and Ryan Potulny scored for Hershey in the third and fourth rounds.

Three Stars: 3) Sean Collins (goal, +2) 2) Bryan Lerg (goal, assist, -1) 1) Ryan Potulny (assist, shootout game winner, even)

Who does this win benefit more? The Pens or the Bears? If the Pens win outright it’s seven points on the Division. If the Bears lose, major changes come for the Bears most likely on and off the ice. Bears win, what now? Do they storm back and take the division by 13 points?

Around the Division: Springfield beats Norfolk 4-2 in the only action of East Division teams today.

Standings: Pens  63. Bears 59. Admirals 57. Crunch 45. Senators 43.

Conference: 1-WBS (63) 2-StJ (62) 3-BRI (51) 4-HER (59) 5-NOR (57) 6-MCH (56) 7-WOR (51) 8-CT (51)

Pens are off until Saturday when they host the Portland Pirates. The Bears are in Syracuse on Friday. St. John’s takes their two games in hand when they host the Providence Bruins Tuesday and Wednesday.

Next blog update, short of major breaking news, won’t be until Tuesday provided there is enough interesting parts to blog about.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens win a game tonight 5-2 but the score was much closer than the final score suggests, with the Pens getting two goals by Bryan Lerg late seal the win. Pens are not 9-1-1-0 in their last 11 games and now over .500 on home ice this season, a place they flat out struggled earlier pin the year.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jeff Frazee. Philip Samuelsson was in for the injured Carl Sneep.

First Period: Seven minutes or so into the game and the Pens hadn’t a shot on net. Albany was pressuring but the Pens held firm. Then, out of the first television time out Alex Grant fires a shot from the blue line which deflected into the net off of  Albany’s Mike Banwell. Banwell would be then whistled for hooking and the Pens would head to the power play. Pens think they score on the power play, but referee Francis Charron had “intent to blow” and immediately waved off the goal as the puck crossed the line. However, the Pens would cash anyway as Joey Mormina would fire a puck from the blue line which Brian Gibbons deflected in. Then, right after that, Mormina beats Frazee on a clean wrist shot for his sixth goal of the season.

Second Period: All Albany this period as they mounted a comeback from the beginning. This period was all about Albany taking chances and scoring on breakaway. Nick Palmieri scored on a two on none to put the Devils on the board. Then later, Alex Urbom would score on a wrap around attempt to put the score at 3-2. Head Coach John Hynes would use his time out to regroup. It did pay off as no more goals were scored by Albany.

If Wilkes-Barre somehow loses this game, it goes to note that the fact they could not score on three consecutive power plays ion the second period could have done them in.

Third Period: Tight checking period. Thiessen made some tremendous saves, none better than a Brandon Burlon slap pass to Darcy Zajac who attempted to deflect it past Thiessen on what would have been the tying goal. Before this, Bryan Lerg took a hooking call which needed to be taken or else Albany would have likely scored. Finally, Geoff Walker puts a puck on net which Lerg collects and stuffs past Frazee and in. Then, Albany head coach Rick Kowalsky pulls Frazee and Lerg  scores from center ice to seal it.

Pens have started to salute the fans after every home win. Here is a picture I took:

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (two goals, +4) 2) Alex Grant (goal, assist, even) and 1) Joey Mormina (goal, assist, +2)

Of note, Jason Williams and Bryan Lerg were a +4 and Geoff Walker was a +3. Impressive.

Around the Division: Hershey lost to Connecticut 4-1. The Bears have lost 6 of the last 7 games and three in a row at home. They face off against a Penguins team which has won nine straight in Giant Center. Bears had 40 shots on net to Connecticut’s 21 also. Norfolk thumped Springfield tonight 6-1. Syracuse loses in overtime to Rochester 5-4. Binghamton loses 5-2 in Portland.

Standings: Pens have 62 points to Hershey’s 57. Norfolk is tied with Hershey in points with 57 and lead Syracuse who have 45 points. Binghamton has 43 points in last place.

Conference: 1-StJ (62) 2-WBS (62) 3-BRI (51) 4-HER (57) 5-NOR (57) 6-MCH (56) 7-WOR (51) 8-CT (51)

Pens go to Hershey for a 2 p.m. start and look for ten in a row in Giant Center and more separation between themselves and the rest of the division. With St. John’s idle, the Pens can outright be tops in the Conference with a win of any kind, too. Gameday for the game will be up at a very early 10 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins gut out a 4-3 win on home ice tonight and come from behind 3-0 to start the third and win in grand fashion 4-3.

It was the first win of the season for the Penguins when trailing after two periods.

Huge win, too, as the new look Bears seemed to coast to a 3-0 lead after forty minutes of play, outplaying the Pens at times in the process. New look as in, they traded away Danny Richmond to Lake Erie for Mike Carmen and Matt Ford to Adirondack for Kevin Marshall. Leading scorer Keith Aucoin was called up to Washington.

Brad Thiessen vs. Braden Holtby – Eric Tangradi was a late scratch with back spasms as reported by Jonathan Bombulie. The armchair Twitter GMs were out in force tonight too, thinking Tangradi was traded. While I personally, am not ruling out the fact that Tangradi will get moved at the deadline, he is still a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguin as you read this.

One more personnel note to mention. Brian Day has retired to pursue a career off ice in business, also reported by Jonathan Bombulie of the Citizens Voice.

First Period: After 14:59 of non-stop action, Garrett Mitchell scored off a wonky play by the Bears fourth line. To this point, both teams looked crisp. Looking off was something I worried about for the Pens and wished on for the Bears but it was not to be. What this became was simply the Bears outgunning the Pens on opportunities and cashing, than anything.

Second Period: Christian Hanson scores a dirty goal when Jacob Micflikier throws a puck on net that Thiessen cannot corral. After the Penguins could not convert on a power play, the Bears scored again when the Pens got too cute in their own end. Thiessen made three 10-bell saves but could not do it all and Penguin killer Tomas Kundratek scored to put the game at 3-0 for the Bears.

At this point the game was on the verge of slipping away. What the score is if Aucoin is in the lineup before this point and after is something that may never be answered.

At this point I tweeted, like I normally do teams records leading after two and trailing:

Third Period: Seventeen seconds into the third period, goaltender Braden Holtby nonchalantly clears a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Then, Kevin Marshall boards Bryan Lerg. Ryan Craig fights Marshall. Both get five for fighting. Marshall the extra two for the original board. 5-on-3 for :39. Jason Williams would slap home a shot from the blue line to make it 3-1.

Here’s where I think it comes off of the rails for Hershey, and the Pens then smell blood in the water:

Bears would kill the remaining penalties and then Brandon DeFazio would use Tomas Kundratek as a screen and score to make it 3-2. Hershey would use it’s time out. It proved useless as the next shift Robert Bortuzzo would score from a  bad angle to tie the game at three. That was the end of the night for Braden Holtby, having reared three goals in 4:46.

Things would settle a bit. Carl Sneep would leave the game having been checked into the boards where the Pens enter the ice. He would not return. Then, Paul Thompson would score from a pass from Ben Street behind the net to push the Pens ahead 4-3. Tense moments the way out as the Penguins could not win a face-off, the Bears would get a power play late with Bortuzzo closing his hand on the puck. Thiessen made a huge save on a Cody Eakin chance to keep the game tied at one point.

Three Stars: 3) Ryan Craig (-1) 2) Jason Williams (goal, assist, even) 1) Paul Thompson (game winning goal, even)

Around the Division: Norfolk loses to the Adirondack Phantoms 3-1. Syracuse loses to the Toronto Marlies in Toronto 5-2. Manchester beats Binghamton in OT 3-2.

Great night for the Pens, as the Standings look like this:

Standings: Penguins 60. Bears 57. Admirals 55. Crunch 44. Senators 43.

Conference: 1-StJ (62) 2-WBS (60) 3-BRI (51) 4-HER (57) 5-NOR (55) 6-MCH (54) 7-WOR (49) 8-CT (49)

Albany in town tomorrow for what should be a doozy. Gameday up at 3 p.m. like always.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens get run over by the Binghamton Senators tonight 7-4. They head into the All-Star break on top of the division. But the Hershey Bears won tonight and three out of the next five games are against the 11-time Calder Cup Champs.

Based off of radio play by play Tom Grace, the Pens are no strangers to bad games going into the All-Star game.

Brad Thiessen vs. Mike McKenna. Brian Gibbons was in for Brandon DeFazio. No changes on D.

First Period: Pens jumped to a quick two goal lead early. Ben Street took a puck off a wall and scored then Geoff Walker cleaned up a Ben Street point shot on a rebound. Then, Colin McDonald took a penalty and off of the faceoff Corey Locke scored to cut the B-Sens deficit to 2-1. Pens had a 5-on-3 late in the period but did not score.

Second Period: Jack Downing scored to even things at two. I missed it as AHL Live  dropped the feed as it was happening. Then, Geoff Walker took a high sticking penalty. Brad Thiessen tries to cover the puck, fails, and Mike Hoffman scored to make it 3-2 B-Sens. This was much like what happened last night in Harftord with Thiessen covering, or thinking he covers, a puck. Andre Petersson thne scored while Thiessen was badly screened to push the Binghamton lead to 4-2.

Then a bit of a comeback. Bryan Lerg scored off of his own rebound to bring things to 4-3. Later, Eric Tangradi scored to even things at four a piece. McKenna got a piece of it but not all of it. But not to be out done, while Mike Hoffman sat for a slashing call, Ryan Craig hauled down David Dziurzynski. Referee David Banfield awarded a penalty shot to Dziurzynski and he scored to make it 5-4 heading into the…

Third Period: Scott Munroe replaced Thiessen to open the third. The B-Sens scored 5 goals on 13 shots to this point. Andre Petersson scored his second of the game to make it 6-4 and then Dziurzynski while breaking from the penalty box scofred to push it to 7-4. Game over at this point.

Three Stars: 3) Corey Locke (goal, assist, even) 2) Andre Petersson (two goals, even) and 1) David Dziurzynski (two goals, two assists, +3)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Norfolk 3-2. Syracuse coughs up two goals late, and lose in a shootout to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 5-4.

Standings: Pens have 58 points. Bears have 57. Admirals 55. Crunch have 44 points and the Binghamton Senators have 42.

Conference: 1-StJ (60) 2-WBS (58) 3-BRI (49) 4-HER (57) 5-NOR (55) 6-MCH (52) 7-WOR (49) 8-POR (47)

Colin McDonald heads to Atlantic City for the skills competition tomorrow and the All-Star game Monday. I am debating what content I want to run for this. Probably just recaps of the action on ice and some nuggets of what happen off. It’s always a TON of fun at the All-Star Classic. Can’t wait to get to Atlantic City!

Let’s Go Pens!

Wilkes-Barre runs the road winning record to nine straight with a gritty game in Hartford, a 3-2 overtime win. This win streak eclipses the one set by the Pens in October-November and is currently the longest this season. They go for ten tomorrow in Binghamton.

Don’t look now, but the WBS power play is on fire. All three goals scored on the power play. Indeed, even strength goals are for plugs.

Brad Thiessen vs. Chad Johnson. Same lineup as Wednesday but for Carl Sneep back from injury for Philip Samuelsson.

First Period: I guess when the Pens don’t give up the first goal in the first minute they do well, right? Brandon DeFazio was injured early and did not return. No penalty was called on the play. As soon as that happened, Tommy Grant took a cross checking penalty and the Pens went on the power play. Eric Tangradi centered a pass to Ryan Craig who tapped it in past Johnson to put the Pens up 1-0. Very late, the Whale buzzed but did not score.

Second Period: Sean Avery got a gift when Carl Sneep, who was rusty in his first game back from injury, fell down in the neutral zone which led to an Avery breakaway and a goal for the pest. Trailing, Joey Mormina dove and tried to knock the puck away. After Avery scored he sucker punched Mormina and received a four minute double minor and a game misconduct. After he was available, he was benched by head coach Ken Gernander. Late, Thiessen robbed Jonathan Audy-Marchessault to keep it level at one while the Whale were on a five-on-three power play.

Third Period: Things really got messy as referee Jean Hebert had a very active whistle. This was before Audy-Marchessault scored when Thiessen thought he had the puck covered. Right after, Brendan Bell sat for a hook and Robert Bortuzzo wasted no time and fired one home to even things at two. Back to Hebert, he assessed a five minute boarding penalty to Steve MacIntyre which put the Whale on a five minute major power play. Andre Deveaux soon after took a rough and things went 4 on 4. Then, Bryan Lerg was called for a slash. Pens had to kill off ~1:53 of 5 on 3. Then a goal mouth scrum by Theissen and more penalties. Pens killed it all and got a late power play but could not cash and we’d go to…

Overtime: Carl Sneep was tripped by Ryan Bourque late. Jason Williams unloaded a slapshot from the point which Johnson never saw and the Pens skated away with the extra point.

Three Stars: 3) Jonathan Audy-Marchessault (goal, +1) 2) Chad Johnson (37 saves on 40 shots) 1) Jason Williams (goal, assist, -1)

Around the Division: The Hershey Bears have lost four in a row. This time, to the Norfolk Admirals in an intense 2-1 game. Syracuse blanked Rochester 4-0. Iiro Tarkki had a 31 save shutout. Binghamton beat Albany 3-2 despite being outshot by the Devils 40-24.

Standings: Pens have a three point cushion on Hershey and Norfolk, 58 points to 55 for both the Bears and Admirals. The Bears will have a game in hand at the All-Star break. Syracuse has 43 points and Binghamton 40.

Conference: 1-StJ (58) 2-WBS (58) 3-BRI (47) 4-HER (55) 5-NOR (55) 6-MCH (50) 7-WOR (48) 8-POR (47)

Wow. Connecticut starts the night third in the conference. With an OT loss and a Bridgeport regulation win, they nosedive out of a playoff spot.

I will not be making the trip to Binghamton tomorrow, rather electing to spend time in New Jersey with family and simply shuffling to Atlantic City for the All-Star festivities Sunday morning. Gameday will be up here at three as always and the tweets will come at you from the Garden State.

Let’s Go Pens!

Just a weird night from radio to the ice for the Pens as the Providence Bruins come into Mohegan Sun Arena and win 4-3 in overtime. It’s the P-Bruins first win against an East Division team this season (previous were 0-5) Even the radio broadcast was weird, with in house issues even with Grace and O’Brien on the live action.

But the saying of “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade” rang true tonight as the radio broadcast finally got going and the Pens get two goals in the third to even things at three to at least get a point out of the night and into sole possession of first in the division.

Scott Munroe vs. Anton Khudodin – Tons of roster moves made today. Steve MacIntyre and Eric Tangradi returned from Pittsburgh, Peter Merth, Cody Chupp and Nick Petersen sent to Wheeling.

First Period: The Pens give up a goal in the first minute of the game again. For like the fifth time this season. This time Josh Hennessy centered a pass to Jordan Caron who tipped it past Munroe to put Providence on the board :42 in. Pens would then pressure Khudobin in the offensive zone but he made some nice saves, when he had to. At the tail end of a successful penalty kill, David Warsofsky scored to make it 2-0 Bruins off a blast from the point. However, Colin McDonald drove to the net and scored to make it 2-1.

Second Period: P-Bruins captain Trent Whitfield scored to make it 3-1 4:13 in, and that was the end of Munroe, having given up three goals on ten shots. After Thiessen came in, things settled. The Pens responded with about a three minute stretch of offensive zone time which saw them make a full change. Providence, however, blocked many shots on the way to Khudobin. I cannot recall the last time I saw a team get sticks in passing and shooting lanes like the Bruins. Teams traded extended periods of 5-on-3 with neither team scoring a power play goal.

Call that extended 5-on-3 set there for both teams a turning point, if you will. If the Bruins score, it’s 4-1 and maybe it’s out of reach and no point is manufactured. If the Penguins score, it’s 3-2 going into the third instead of 3-1 and maybe, just maybe, the Pens win the game outright.

Third Period: Joey Mormina of all people stick handles past a P-Bruin and fires a puck past Khudobin to make it 3-2. About two and a half minutes later, Geoff Walker scores to even things at three. Things would settle to about the final minute when a late flurry by the Pens attempted to win the game, but Khudobin made good saves to send it to overtime.

Overtime: Robert Bortuzzo turnover in front of Thiessen’s net to Craig Cunningham ended it when Cunningham basically took it off of Bortuzzo and scored the game winner.

Three Stars: 3) David Warsofsky (goal, assist, even) 2) Colin McDonald (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Craig Cunningham (game winning goal, assist, even)

Around the Division: They all watched us tonight. No one else skated.

Standings: WBS has 56 points, Hershey has 55, Norfolk 53. Then Syracuse with 41 and Binghamton 38.

Conference: 1-StJ (56) 2-WBS (56) 3-CT (46) 4-HER (55) 5-NOR (53) 6-MCH (50) 7-WOR (48) 8-POR (47)

Pens bus to Hartford tomorrow for a Friday game vs. Connecticut. They will then most likely bus to Binghamton after that for Saturday’s game.

Limited content between now and 3 p.m. Friday for the next Gameday post Perhaps I will take a look at how many times the Pens have given up an opening goal in a game in the first minute. Stay tuned.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens with their eight game on the road today, tying a record they themselves set earlier this year. They score two power play goals and two shorthanded goals and win this game against Syracuse by the score of 4-3.

Alex Grant continued his hot hand. Two assists on the two power play goals. This give Grant a sum total of eight points this weekend. The AHL usually puts out who the Player of the Week is around noontime Monday on it’s PR feed, so watch for that or just follow me on Twitter for reactions around lunchtime tomorrow.

Brad Thiessen vs. Iiro Tarkki. Kyle Palmieri returned for Syracuse and Jason Williams was re-assigned by Pittsburgh today and both skated.

First Period: A Luca Caputi hook on the aforementioned Jason Williams gave the Pens a power play a little over seven minutes in. The Pens must have worked on power play in practice because it looks like a completely different unit out there. They scored when Colin McDonald scored his 11th goal of the season. Then, the Crunch got one back when Bryan Rodney scored from the high slot on a shot that Thiessen never saw. Ben Street would get whistled for holding late and Zach Sill picked off a pass in the neutral zone and scored a shorthanded goal with 4.3 seconds left to put the Pens up 2-1 heading into the…

Second Period: Penguin killer Kyle Palmieri scores for the Crunch from the high dot to even things at two. Later, J-F Jacques hooks Cody Wild and the Pens headed back to the power play again. The Pens would work with four forwards and one defenseman. The one defenseman? Alex Grant. He passed to Williams at the point who rifled it home to put the Pens up 3-2. At the end of the period, the Pens would find themselves defending a 5-on-3 with Brian Strait and Joey Mormina in the box. The Pens would kill the Strait penalty and as he broke from the box, Ryan Craig hit him in stride and he would score on a breakaway. Huge goal at the time.

Third Period: About five minutes into the game and the Pesky Crunch came guns blazing. A failed clear by the Pens found its way to, who else? Kyle Palmieri and the Crunch had life at 4-3. The Pens held off the charge however and the Pens skated off with the two points.

Three Stars: 3) Alex Grant (two assists, even) 2) Kyle Palmieri (two goals, even) and 1) Jason Williams (goal, -2)

Around the Division: Manchester comes to Hershey and sweeps the Bears in a two game series and wins 4-2. The Bears have lost three straight and for the first time under the Washington Capitals affiliation, have gone winless in three-in-three weekend. With the loss, that moves the Penguins into the top spot in the Conference. In the other division game, Binghamton beat Adirondack 4-3.

Standings: Penguins at the top of the division with 55 points. Bears have 55 but the Pens own the tiebreaker (overall wins) Norfolk has 53 points in third.  Crunch have 41 points, Senators have 38 points.

Conference: 1-WBS (55) 2-HER (54) 3-CT (46) 4-HER (55) 5-NOR (53) 6-WOR (48) 7-MCH (48) 8-POR (47)

Pens have off tomorrow, practice Tuesday and host the Providence Bruins Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Let’s Go Pens!