Chirps from Center Ice

Pens move the road record this year to 8-0 and the winning streak to eight straight winning in overtime 4-3 in another chapter in the Penguins / Bears rivalry.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin. With Eric Tangradi on recall to Pittsburgh, Paul Thompson was back after being scratched for the past two games.

First Period: Early, a Julien Brouillette point shot would get in the goal as Thiessen was screened. Then, right after, Philip Samuelsson would score his first pro goal after Paul Thompson crashed the net. Then a scary moment as a Robert Bortuzzo blind drop pass to no one saw Keith Aucoin and Chris Bourque come in alone but was saved by Thiessen. Then late with Jason Williams in the box for interference, Jacob Micflikier would score at 19:59 to make it 2-1.

I though that the late, late, late goal was a backbreaker for the Pens. They gambled on the PK and got burned, badly. But they regrouped.

Second Period: Really a flat period I thought for Wilkes-Barre. Both teams really clamped down defensively and didn’t want to make a mistake. In doing so, it really made for boring hockey to me. With under a minute, the Pens get two bang-bang goals within :16 after a Sneep point shot deflected by Paul Thompson. Then, Thompson picked off a Hershey pass, crashed the net and Ryan Craig scored it.

The goals really came after a late Hershey ice which caught the Bears really tired. The second goal in the period was all Thompson’s work.

Third Period: Pens came out buzzing, but the Bears would even the score again when Julien Brouillette would fire a shot at Thiessen he would have trouble controlling and Keith Aucoin would clean up the rebound. Later, Colin McDonald would score to make it 4-3 after Philip Samuelsson kept the puck in, fired it on net and Sabourin would have his own problems controlling the rebound and McDonald would do the rest. Hershey would then buzz, buzz and buzz and Keith Aucoin would come down the right side and dish a pass right to Mattias Sjogren to tie the game late.

Overtime: Simon Despres, :57 in, would have all day at the top of the slot and would wrist home his third game winning goal of the year.

Three Stars: 3) Patrick McNeill (two assists, -1) 2) Ben Street (4 assists, +4) and 1) Simon Despres (game winning goal, +3)

Pens kept up with the Bears tonight despite to me, looking a step off. Tim Leone tweeted that John Hynes is perfect as a head coach at Giant Center. I certainly would say that it could have been a game which came down to coaching.

Around the Division: Albany beat Norfolk 2-1. Binghamton lost again, this time to Rochester 3-1 and Syracuse beat Adirondack 3-2. And outside of the division, since we are talking “eight is great,” check out what Grand Rapids did to Hamilton tonight in the Steel City.

Standings: WBS has a small window of breathing room now up 20 points to Hershey and Norfolk’s 17 points respectively. Syracuse is fourth with 15 points and Binghamton sits last with 12 points.

Tom mentioned the Conference standings, so from here on, I am going to start running it. So off we go.

Conference: St. John’s sits atop the conference with 21 points. WBS has 20 points for second. Northeast Division leader Connecticut have 17 points. The rest goes: 4-HER (17) 5-NOR (17) 6-ADK (15) 7-SYR (15) and 8-ALB (15) The top eight teams in the conference make the playoffs. I’ll start looking at 9, 10 and deeper later in the season if the points are close enough.

Pens get home for a Saturday TV game vs. Norfolk. Gameday will be up at 3 p.m. here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens win in Norfolk tonight 4-2 to move the road record to an impeccable 7-0 and reclaim first place in the East Division with some games in hand.

Dustin Jeffrey and Steve MacIntyre were in the lineup tonight on their conditioning stints from Pittsburgh. Ryan Craig returned from knee injury. Pens had the top defense in the league against Norfolk and its top offense.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dustin Tokarski.

First Period: Eric Tangradi scored a garbage rebound goal while Norfolk’s Tyler Johnson was in the box for a hook on Simon Despres. Norfolk would then get a power play with Philip Samuelsson in the box for a cross check. The Admirals would hit the post twice but Cory Conacher would pot a goal on a similar greasy rebound type ala Tangradi a few minutes before to tie the game. Later, Tokarski would get his pocket picked by Ben Street as Dustin went behind his net to handle a puck. Then, almost right after that, Wilkes-Barre would come in 4 on 2 and Ryan Craig would just lob a puck at Tokarski which Simon Despres would slam home.

Second Period: No goals would come in this period and the Pens would clamp down on Norfolk this period by only allowing the Admirals three shots on goal. I expected a more focused effort by Norfolk but the Penguins just shut them down. Outside of the defensive clampdown the period was highlighted by a clean bodycheck by Carl Sneep which led to a linebrawl of sorts.

Third Period: Steve MacIntyre would hit Scott Jackson along the boards at center ice which Jackson took offense to. He had to fight MacIntyre in given the situation but was outmatched the entire way. MacIntyre had his way with him. Radio mentioned that since the beginning of the second period and through 37:30 since, the Admirals only took 10 shots on goal. But, the pesky Admirals would score on a Pierre-Cedric Labrie goal which went very slowly in the net. A pile of bodies in front of Thiessen kept Brad from making the save. After that, the Admirals would pull Tokarski but in doing so were not allowed into their offensive zone. Eric Tangradi would pick off a pass and lob it into the empty net to seal the 4-2 win.

Three Stars: 3) Pierre-Cedric Labrie (goal, even) 2) Simon Despres (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Ben Street (goal, two assists, +2)

Around the Division: Syracuse was idle. Hershey played Binghamton in Chocolatetown and allowed the B-Sens 15 shots and won easily 3-0.

Standings: WBS goes to the top with 18 points to Norfolk’s 17. Hershey sits in third with 16 points. Syracuse, idle, has 13 points and Binghamton 12 points.

Pens will drive overnight home then travel Friday to Hershey. Rematch Saturday at home against Norfolk.

Let’s Go Pens!

(my more mature audience may remember the acronym “LSMFT” meaning “Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco” – well, let this headline stand for “Lucky Seven (wins on the road) Makes For (fine) Tweeting”) Can’t fit that all in a headline and make it look good so there you go…

Everyone was aware that earlier this week that Alex Picard got called up to Pittsburgh because the defense there was banged up. Last night, defenseman Ben Lovejoy went into the boards hard in San Jose and broke his wrist. I did not think that a recall from WBS would come but it did in the form of Robert Bortuzzo getting called up this afternoon. This left things lean back on the farm with the defense basically down to six healthy bodies.

Well, tonight Brad Thiessen decided that he was still going to play lights out and did so, shutting out the high octane Bears by a score of 4-0. 

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin. Ray Shero took in the game tonight from the WBS suite.

First Period: Fluky goal to start the game when an Alex Grant pass to Colin McDonald batted off of a Bears defensemans skate and into the net to give the Pens a 1-0 lead early. They would continue to clamp down on the Bears offense, not allowing much in the way of quality chances. Then, Joey Mormina would pinch in and stuff a goal home to put the Pens up 2-0 late in the first.

Second Period: Colin McDonald would feed Jason Williams a puck and Williams was in all alone and roofed it home via backhand. This would be the end of the night for Sabourin, who would be replaced by Braden Holtby. I don’t think Sabourin played bad. I think that head coach Mark French was trying to send a message to his team by yanking Sabourin for Holtby. It seemed to work, as WBS was only allowed two shots on goal the entire period. Later in the period however, French called his timeout and had the entire team on the ice and he was on the bench speaking to them.

Third Period: Thiessen made some big, big saves all night but none bigger it seemed robbing both Chris Bourque and Keith Aucoin much to the delight of the crowd. The Bears would get handed three straight power plays this period but were unable to cash on any of them. Late with Holtby pulled, Joey Mormina would wrist a 195-footer into the Bears open net. Mormina matched his goal scoring from all last year in this one game. Amazing!

Three Stars: 3) Colin McDonald (goal, assist, +2) 2) Joey Mormina (two goals, +2) and 1) Brad Thiessen (19 save shutout)

Around the Division: Albany blanked Norfolk 1-0 and Rochester defeated Binghamton 3-2.

Standings: With Syracuse idle, Wilkes-Barre gains points on the entire division. 1) Norfolk (15 pts.) 2) Wilkes-Barre (14 pts.) 3) Hershey (14 pts.) 4) Binghamton (11 pts.) 5) Syracuse (10 pts.)

I will start examining the Conference Standings probably by the end of this month. Never too soon to start that thought process (playoffs)

Pens travel to Binghamton tomorrow. I will be there. Expect Brad Thiessen to get the start despite it being Scott Munroe’s turn. You go with the hot hand. Gameday will be up at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

They call the Verizon Wireless Arena “The Jungle” and I have been waiting ever since I started my blog to run this headline. I would have run this regardless if the Pens won or lost tonight.

Well, the Pens did win tonight 4-1. Really a dominating performance tonight for the Pens as they allowed Manchester only 18 shots on goal all night.

Brad Thiessen vs. Martin Jones.

First Period: In front of the majority of the Pittsburgh Penguins front office minus Ray Shero who could not make it because of snow, the Penguins started the game mesmerized by the fierce forechecking by the Monarchs. Bryan Lerg and Colin McDonald broke off and had a 2 on 1 but could not score. Then, Eric Tangradi shot a puck that dies behind Jones and somehow did not go in. Manchester would answer by buzzing big by hitting a post and getting robbed by a diving Thiessen with the blocker. The Pens would hold firm and then Brandon Kozun for Manchester would go off  for interference and the Pens would cash on a Brian Gibbons backhander. Right after, Geoff Walker would leave the game with an injury and not return.

Seemed like that first period was all Manchester early and late with the Gibbons goal sandwiched in between.

Second Period: Eric Tangradi would receive a nice feed and score to make it 2-0 from Colin McDonald while Manchester had its fourth line out. Then the Pens would go back on the power play and Nick Petersen would score when a puck would bat in off of a Manchester skate. This would be the end of Martin Jones as he’d be replaced by Jeff Zatkoff. Zatkoff would make a nice save on Bryan Lerg late.

Third Period: Niko Dimitrakos was everywhere this period as he backhanded a puck past Zatkoff but not in then get a pass from Brian Gibbons off of a faceoff to score to make things 4-0. Brandon Kozun would ruin the shutout bid for Thiessen scoring a power play goal late. Manchester would continue to buzz but the Pens defense and Brad Thiessen held firm to remain perfect on the road with a record of 5-0 and an aggregate score of 20-6.

Three Stars: Colin McDonald (two assists, +2) Brad Thiessen (17 saves on 18 shots) and Brian Gibbons (goal, two assists, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey lost in regulation to the red hot Adirondack Phantoms 2-1. The Phantoms lead the newly formed Northeast Division with 13 points. I don’t think the Phantoms got 13 points last year until December. Binghamton beat Rochester 3-1 and division leader Norfolk beat Syracuse 6-2.

Standings: Norfolk 15, Penguins 12, Hershey 12, Binghamton 12, Syracuse 11. With this division and how tight things are, drop two or three in a row and you could go from the penthouse to the outhouse quickly.

Penguins are off until hosting Hershey Friday at home. Blog wise, I may have a few feature pieces this week depending on what is available. Booster Club meet and greet dinner is this Tuesday. I may have something afterwards.

Go Penguins!

Pens win a strange one tonight 5-3 but not before a nearly 10 minute delay with less than a minute to play in the third period when the lights at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter went dim. Pens are perfect on the road this season so far.

Brad Thiessen vs. Iiro Tarkki.

First Period: With Mak Bell in the box for a holding the stick call, Jason Williams would score his first of the year through traffic. Later, Geoff Walker would absolutely just walk right past a Crunch defenseman and dish off to Colin McDonald to make it 2-0. It was all Penguins this period.

Second Period: Crunch would buzz, buzz and buzz and finally breakthrough at 9:33 of the second via a shot from Peter Holland which came on the power play with Robert Bortuzzo in the box on a tripping call in his first game of the year after suffering a knee injury in preseason. While AHL Live was in technical difficulties, Holland scored again. I have no idea how as I never saw it or never heard the description on radio. The second period was all Crunch.

Third Period: If you missed the opening two minutes, you missed two Penguins goals. Ex-WBS Penguin J-F Jacques was in the box from a hold over hook from the second period when Nick Petersen scored on the power play. Then, Brandon DeFazio scored to make it 4-3. Then, with the Pens on the power play, Jacques scored shorthanded. He picked off a pass from center ice and walked in all alone. Crunch would try to even the score but could not find the equalizer. The lights went dim with :48.5 left in the game and after about a ten minute delay play would resume. Tarkki would vacate his net for the extra attacker and Eric Tangradi would score the empty netter to seal the victory.

Three Stars: 3) J-F Jacques (goal, assist, +1) 2) Peter Holland (two goals, even) and 1) Nick Petersen (goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Springfield battles back to beat Hershey 4-3 in overtime. Binghamton beat Albany 4-2 at home and Norfolk doubled up Providence in the Divine City 4-2.

Standings: Norfolk 13, Hershey 12, Penguins 10, Syracuse 10, Binghamton 9. I sense a tight trend here.

Wilkes-Barre travels to Manchester overnight for a game tomorrow in New Hampshire. Gameday will be up here on the blog at 4 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins roll into Hershey tonight and win 3-1. A place that used to stymie the Penguins before in the past and look, eight straight wins in Giant Center if you go back to last year. Big win for Wilkes-Barre too. Statement win I think.

Brad Thiessen vs. Braden Holtby

First Period: Zach Miskovic held Ben Street and in the power play Jason Williams set up Brian Gibbons for the goal. Really the first half of the period was all Wilkes-Barre just dictating the pace and play. Then a scary moment with Eric Tangradi getting what looked like blindsided by Sean Collins. Long and short of this would see Tangradi go to the locker room but have no ill effects. First time this season that the Bears would be held scoreless in the first period.

Second Period: Pens would get a brief period of 5-on-3 hockey but the Bears would shake it off. Then, during four-on-four action, Simon Despres would score his first pro goal on a slapshot which beat Holtby. Bryan Lerg assisted on the goal and this is a five game point streak for Mr. Lerg. Then, Lerg would score to make it 3-0 after a nice tic-tac-toe pass from Paul Thompson. Bears would continue the undisciplined hockey with Patrick McNeill taking a cross checking penalty which the Bears would kill off. Then later after a whistle the Bears would try more rough stuff with Keith Aucoin and Philip Samuelsson being featured on the AHL Live feed.

Third Period: Pens would just puck possess the period to death. Not without Keith Aucoin getting robbed by a sitting Brad Thiessen and Christian Hanson ringing it off of two goal posts in on a breakaway. Matt Ford would finally break 100+ minutes of Brad Thiessen shutout hockey with a goal. Hershey would pull Holtby but not score and the Pens would deal the Bears their first regulation loss of the weekend and get four out of a possible four points this weekend.

Really a dominating performance by the Penguins. Radio was talking about the video scout for the Pens breaking down four hours of Bears tape on the ride in from Springfield last night. Give that man a raise!

Three Stars: Colin McDonald (2 assists, +2) Brad Thiessen (27 saves on 28 shots) and Bryan Lerg (goal, assist, +2)

If Lerg is not in the conversation for AHL Player of the Week or Player of the Month there is something amiss. Lerg has played five straight games where he has scored multiple points.

Around the Division: Binghamton beats Norfolk 3-2 in a shootout despite being outshot 15-5 in the third period. Lake Erie finally gets in the win column in overtime beating Syracuse in the Salt City 3-2.

Standings: Tight. Hershey and Norfolk have 9 points each. Syracuse and Wilkes-Barre have 8 points each and Binghamton has 7 points in last place.

Seven games in, if you are telling me I am going to be one point out of first, I take it. No matter how we get there.

Tomorrow: Wilkes-Barre and Binghamton are off. Norfolk travels to Charlotte and Syracuse to Hershey.

Pens play again next Friday in Syracuse. Updates this week as they come.

Let’s Go Pens!