Chirps from Center Ice

Norfolk takes Game 1 of the best of seven series tonight 2-1 and takes home ice with it as the series is a 2-3-2 format. Pens frustrated by what Norfolk was throwing at them. I don’t know if it was the 1-3-1 that the Admirals employ or what but it was just one of those nights where nothing went right. Defense didn’t look itself either, two Robert Bortuzzo turnovers lead to the Admirals scoring.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dustin Tokarski. John Curry was not back yet so Patrick Killeen backed up Thiessen. Paul Thompson was a scratch as was Carl Sneep. Tim Wallace did not dress. Steve Wagner and Bryan Lerg both returned to the line ups.

First Period: Good pace to start, Brett Sterling and Ben Street nearly connected on a goal. Then, Mark Barberio hooked Lerg as Bryan was breaking in. The Admirals killed it and then the Pens forechecked in the Norfolk zone for about a minute after the penalty expired. The teams would trade goalie interference calls and the first period would end scoreless.

Second Period: Bryan Lerg and Mike Vernace would get too heated in a shoving match and both would sit for roughing. In the 4 on 4 that would ensue, Robert Bortuzzo would turn a puck over in the neutral zone to Mattias Ritola who would roof it over Thiessen. It actually was a pretty goal. Later, Ryan Craig would clank one off of the post. Then, Blair Jones would sit for goalie interference. During this, Tokarski would make some amazing saves while down in a two pad stack on Bryan Lerg. Then, Bortuzzo would fail to clear the puck and Mattias Ritola was fire it at the net and Marc-Antoine Pouliot would score to make it 2-0.

Third Period: Pens would have :58 of carryover power play time on a Vladimir Mihalik elbow call from the first period they did not convert on. They had two good chances and that was it. Later, David Marshall would get high sticked in the neutral zone by Blair Jones. This was a crucial power play for the Pens. The Pens went 0 for 6 on the man advantage tonight. This needs to change. Very late, with 2:41 left A Geoff Walker point shot would rebound to Keven Veilleux to make it 2-1 and the place would finally come alive. But, Admirals coach Jon Cooper smartly took his time out. The Pens would pressure and get one good opportunity on Tokarski but not score even with Thiessen pulled. Too little. Too late.

Observations: The Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza had NO energy tonight. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. What the heck? The Pens are the best team in the AHL and I could hear the guy in Section 219 across from me phone ring. Get loud people. Second, what aided the Pens to the best record in the league failed them tonight, which is the defense. I’m not pinning this loss on any one particular person because you lose as a team.

Game 2 is a relative must win for this reason alone from Jo, loyal Twitter follower from North of the Border:

http://twitter.com/#!/africanbookrat/status/59066799576186880

Interesting.

Three Stars were all Admirals: Marc-Antoine Pouliot (game winning goal, +1) Mattias Ritola (goal, assist, +2) and Dustin Tokarski (32 saves on 33 shots)

Game 2 is tomorrow night.

Elsewhere in the AHL of interest to Wilkes-Barre directly or indirectly, Binghamton evened its series with Manchester 1-1 on a Derek Grant overtime game winner, 4-3. If you didn’t already know, Charlotte is up 1-0 o Hershey having defeated the Bears Thursday night in Hershey 5-4 in a run and gun game. If you follow me on Twitter you already knew this. If you don’t follow me on Twitter, what are you waiting for?

No time to panic. Why? One game does not a series make.

If you are wondering what the etiology of my headliner for the postgamer is, click here, then eat an orange.

Go Pens!

Pens come from behind in the third period down 2-1 to win 4-2. That’s what it may take in a playoff series. Speaking on that, the Norfolk Admirals defeated the Connecticut Whale today 6-3 and bump back to fourth place in the division and will face off against the Penguins Friday and Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Binghamton Senators will cross over and face the Manchester Monarchs. The Monarchs will have their hands full as Binghamton received reinforcements from Ottawa today. I actually like this matchup for Manchester, but that’s for another day.

Before the game there were awards. Here is who won what:

Media Award: Chris Collins
Star of the Year Award: Brad Thiessen (awarded to the player who amassed the most three stars of the game)
Rookie of the Year: Ben Street
Community Service Award: Chris Collins
Most Valuable Defenseman: Corey Potter (accepted in street clothes)
Leading Scorer Award: Brett Sterling
Most Improved Player: Keven Veilleux
Herb Brooks Award: Ryan Craig (which player had the biggest AHL / NHL impact)
Booster Club Fan Favorite: Zach Sill
Penguin Award: Ryan Craig
Team MVP: Brad Thiessen

AHL Awards also handed out to Thiessen for his Goalie of the Year Award Hynes for Coach of the Year and the East Division, Eastern Conference and Macgregor Kilpatrick Award which Ryan Craig, Brett Sterling and Andrew Hutchinson went no place near.

Brad Thiessen vs. Johan Backlund. Interesting twist saw Patrick Killeen up from Wheeling backing up. John Curry was give the night off.

First Period: Thiessen was sharp denying Denis Hamel in the slot. Later, Hamel set up Rob Bordson on a nifty one timer which Bordson scored to put the Phantoms up 1-0. Then Michael Ryan hooked Viktor Ekbom into the boards and Ekbom went off and did not return. He was supposed to sign autographs after the game but did not do so as Andy Bathgate signed instead. In the ensuing power play Nick Petersen scored to tie the game at one.

Second Period: Lots of defensive miscues in the game as Brad Thiessen misplayed a puck to a Phantoms player who nearly scored. Later, a failed clear attempt led to a Matt Read goal. I thought this was the turning point of the game. You just let in two bad goals and it looked for the sight of things that Adirondack wasn’t going away. The period would end with the Phantoms ahead 2-1.

Third Period: Big scare to start the period as about four minutes in Brad Thiessen left the ice and Patrick Killeen came in relief. Killeen only lasted about two minutes when Thiessen came back in. Later, Chris Collins would score to tie the game at two. Carl Sneep I thought had a bad game defensively. He had a few give aways that led to quality Adirondack scoring chances. Later, David Marshall continued to make a case for himself when he came in and nearly scores on a neat stickhandle move. Right after that a Joey Mormina point shot would get deflected by Ryan Schnell to put the Pens up 3-2. Right after, Nick Petersen would score his second goal of the night to make it 4-2. Adirondack would pull Backlund to no avail and the Pens would hold on to win 4-2.

The win is Wilkes-Barre’s 58th. Good for second all time in wins in a season behind what Hershey did last year in winning 60. Tomorrow when we wake up, Wilkes-Barre and fifteen other AHL teams all wake up 0-0.

Three Stars: Chris Collins (goal, -1) Nick Petersen (two goals, =1) and Ryan Schnell (game winning goal, =1)

The AHL wasn’t done doling out hardware, as John Curry and Brad Thiessen were named recipients of the Harry “Hap” Holmes Award for allowing the fewest goals in the regular season.

What a season.

Blog side, I am running the Fourth Quarter Grades tomorrow. Final East Division Grades on Tuesday, a Western Conference Playoff Preview on Wednesday and finally the Eastern Conference Playoff Preview on Thursday. All will publish at noon their respective days.

Let’s Go Pens!

EDIT: Below is the playoff schedule for Round 1:

Pens win a crazy game tonight 4-2. Hershey came out guns blazing to start the game and played one good period then probably the worst period I have ever witnessed the Bears play in the second to lose 4-2 to the Pens tonight.

John Curry vs. Braden Holtby. Ryan Craig, Andrew Hutchinson given the night off. Keven Veilleux was suspended the final two regular season games by the AHL for last night’s shenanigans. Viktor Ekbom, Andy Bathgate (Pens debut) and Ryan Schnell all played tonight.

First Period: All Bears to open. They enjoyed a good six minutes on the power play with Ryan Schnell on a delay of game, Ben Street for interference when Bryan Lerg broke in shorthanded. John Curry was on his game all night, denying the Bears on the power play. Then Roboert Bortuzzo would get whistled for a blatant cross check and the Bears would go on yet another power play. Pens would kill it then have to kill a Paul Thompson penalty for delay of game. They’d kill it, then in the final minute the Pens would buzz and bizz in the offensive zone and David Marshall would score on the back door to make it 1-0 Pens with :13.7 left in the first. After that, I felt like all the air had left the GIANT Center and the crowd stunned.

Second Period: Pens continue to carry the momentum. Joe Vitale plays with reckless abandon always. He cycles a puck behind Holtby’s net to Brett Sterling who slams the puck home to make it 2-0. Then nearly a minute later, Nick Petersen scores when a Sterling point shot caromed to Petersen’s stick and in. Later, while Vitale was in the box for goalie interference Bryan Lerg would score shorthanded to make it 4-0 Pens.

Third Period: One thing which was noticed by me and also stated on radio was Viktor Ekbom’s performance tonight. He had a great game for himself. Not to be outdone, John Curry played on a different planet this evening, robbing Maxime Lacroix on a break. Pens basically clamped down and controlled Hershey until the final minutes where Andrew Gordon scored to break the Curry shutout bid and then Max Lacroix scored shortly thereafter to make it interesting. Pens win 4-2.

That’s a sweep in Hershey in case you did not know and a 8-2 record against Hershey this year. We dressed basically 5 guys on tryouts and controlled and beat Hershey in Hershey in front of a sellout crowd. Bring on Norfolk. Bring on Binghamton. Bring them all on at this point. Message received from the Pens side too, as Hynes was not thrilled with the lackluster performance last night.

Three Stars: Bryan Lerg: (goal, assist, +2) Brett Sterling (goal, assist, +2) and David Marshall (goal, assist, +2)

Lerg left the game with a lower body injury. Did not return. This was when the Pens were up 4-0 so perhaps precautionary?

In the NHL: The Carolina Hurricanes lost, so they will not be making the playoffs so Charlotte will be getting Drayson Bowman back when they open in Hershey on Thursday.

Playoff Implications: Binghamton lost to Adirondack 2-1. Norfolk loses 5-4 in Syracuse. The B-Sens still have a 1 point lead over the Admirals with no games left. Simply, if Norfolk wins in Connecticut vs. the Whale tomorrow they are play WBS Friday at Mohegan. If they lose in regulation, in OT or a shootout, Binghamton wins the tie breaker and it’s the B-Sens Friday in Wilkes-Barre Township. Connecticut literally has nothing in the regular season left to play for. Portland wrapped up the Atlantic Division tonight with a 3-2 win in Albany so the Whale will face the Pirates Round 1 on Thursday.That game tomorrow starts at 5 p.m.

Adirondack tomorrow at home to close out the regular season then everyone who made the playoffs are back on even ground. Let’s Go Pens!

Never fool yourself when “meaningless game” falls into a sentence with Penguins and Bears into it. This game tonight, a 2-1 Bears win, had all the makings of a playoff game with the way it was contested. However, referee Andy Thiessen completely spoiled this game. No harmony whatsoever in the beginning, and in the end he completely loses control of it and all hell breaks loose.

Bodies are getting healthy in Wilkes-Barre, as Joey Mormina, Joe Vitale and Brett Sterling all returned from injury.

Before we begin, Brad Thiessen did NOT win MVP today. The award went to Binghamton’s Corey Locke. Jonathan Bombulie again brings the immaculate analysis on his thoughts.

Thiessen vs. Braden Holtby

First Period: Patrick Wellar would open things with a cross checking penalty. Nothing doing from the Pens side on the power play. I don’t know if Hynes was working hybrid things in or trying different stuff. Later, while four on four, Patty McNeill and Mathieu Perreault would work a nifty slap pass tip shot that nearly beat Thiessen. Then, while Andrew Hutchinson was trying to walk the puck out of the zone, Andrew Kozek dispossessed him and scored to make it 1-0 Bears even strength. Then more calls from the referee. Despite all of this craziness, I thought the period was all Hershey.

One piece of information on Andy Thiessen. I am a self-proclaimed referee geek. I love to know who they are and how they call games. That said, Thiessen worked the games in Abbotsford with Zac Wiebe. He works a better two man game than he does by himself. He’s lost out there by himself. He also has been stationed in Manitoba / Abbotsford all year so I have no idea what he’s doing here. He’s working the Binghamton / Adirondack game Saturday.

Second Period: Andrew Kozek scores again to make it 2-0 Bears. Turned Sneep inside out on a play and roofed it on Thiessen (the goalie) and after that happened Geoff Walker went off with an injury to his upper body. They gave out “shirts off their backs” and Walker did not come out to give his. Bombulie reports that Walker left the arena with a sling but it’s nothing serious per Coach John Hynes. Mathieu Perreault would sit for hooking and Brett Sterling would score to cut the deficit in half. Then, Brett Sterling would be awarded a penalty shot. He tried the same toe drag move he used to beat Holtby in a shootout a long time ago but Braden read it well and denied him. Afterwards, Keith Aucoin was given a 10 minute misconduct for mouthing off to Thiessen (the referee) and the period would end 2-1.

Third Period: Mathieu Perreault would go hard into the boards and hurt what appeared to be his left knee as he was helped off by two teammates. Then, Bryan Lerg would appear to tie the game but the goal was immediately waved off as the referee ruled that Brett Sterling interfered with Holtby attempting to make the save. But, he also whistled Holtby for roughing as Holtby punched Ryan Craig with his glove. Then later, Keven Veilleux would get a match penalty for slashing and in retaliation fought Steve Pinizzotto. Holtby jumped into the fight and would come out of it only with a slashing penalty. Bombulie with what a match penalty means:

http://twitter.com/#!/CVBombulie/status/56532579024773120

http://twitter.com/#!/CVBombulie/status/56532797908713472

Nevertheless, the game completely had come off the rails. Thiessen lost control of it. It’s two teams already cemented in their positions for playoffs not even meeting in the first round. Let them play.

Last four minutes of the game would see a power plays in the form of a Kyle Greentree rough post whistle with 4 minutes left and a Ryan Craig rough with 2 minutes left. Biggest event to occur was Bryan Lerg shorthanded on the breakaway all alone and denied by Holtby who played, I thought, an outstanding game this evening. With Thiessen pulled the Pens could not score and the game would end. Final SOG were 25 a side.

Three Stars: Maxime Lacroix (assist, +2) Brett Sterling (goal) and Andrew Kozek (two goals, +2)

Playoff Update: Charlotte beat Worcester 2-1. This means that Hershey faces off against the Checkers in Round 1 of their playoffs beginning Thursday. Manchester beats Adirondack 4-1 while Portland loses to Providence 5-4. The Pirates still don’t clinch the Atlantic Division. The Connecticut Whale are the last Eastern Conference team to make the playoffs with a 4-1 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Binghamton beats Rochester 4-2 to leapfrog the idle Norfolk Admirals into fourth and a tentative date next Friday in Wilkes-Barre. Binghamton may be short a few players though according to Joy Lindsay’s tweet.

Tomorrow: Rematch in Hershey. Rematch in Syracuse for the Admirals. Binghamton plays Adirondack at home. It’s Bingo’s last regular season game. Norfolk has a game Sunday in Hartford vs. the Whale.

Go Pens.

Nick Petersen shatters a record for five assists in a game today in Syracuse and assists on all five goals as the Pens cruise to a 5-3 win in Syracuse.

Brad Thiessen vs. Timo Pielmeier. No lineup changes from last night. Radio indicated that all guys who are hurt will be ready for playoffs.

First Period: Early, all four lines looked crisp. Nick Petersen and Paul Thompson have clicked since Thompson arrived in Wilkes-Barre. Then, Syracuse would go up 1-0 on a delayed penalty call which confused everyone, including Brad Thiessen, when Nick Bonino scored from 180 feet away. It was a delayed call on Keven Veilleux. Corey Potter was tripped, and Thiessen saw that and assumed with the refs arm already up that the Pens would get the power play. You know what happens when you assume. First period would end 1-0 and the Pens leading the Crunch 8-7 in shots but really there was only one scoring chance for Syracuse.

Second Period: Brian McGrattan would be in the box for holding and Keven Veilleux would tie the game. Later, Paul Thompson would score his first AHL goal when he and Petersen worked in on a neat 2 on 1. There was good flow to this period with lots of back and forth. Lat in the period, Zach Sill would get thrown into the boards and was slow to get up. He skated off under his own power both to the bench and to the locker room but did not return.

Third Period: David Marshall took Sill’s spot and left Nick Bonino unmarked and Bonino tied it. Then, Petersen would draw a Joe DiPenta interference call and Geoff Walker would get tripped and in the ensuing 5 on 3 Corey Potter would continue his offensive production with a goal from the blue line to make it 3-2. At this point I thought the lead should be much higher than 3-2. It felt like it was 10-2. Bonino would then go to the box on a rough and Geoff Walker scored to make it 4-2. Then, during a flurry of penalties, Nicolas Deschamps would score to make it 4-3 to make things interesting. Then, late, Keven Veilleux would score to put the game out of reach for Syracuse.

The win is the Pens’ 56th, Thiessen’s 34th. That surpasses Curry’s 33 win total a few years ago. The Pens are only one of four teams in the 75 year history of the league to win 56 games.

Three Stars: Keven Veilleux (two goals, -1) Nick Bonino (two goals, +2) and Nick Petersen (5 assists, +2)

Nailers beat guys Shawn Rine reports that Ryan Schnell is headed back to Wilkes-Barre. The Pens were 3/8 on the power play.

Around the Division: Albany comes back in the third to tie Binghamton, then beat them in a shootout 3-2. The B-Sens have to wait another day to clinch a playoff spot. They are, however, tied with Norfolk for fourth place. Huge game for both teams Wednesday in Binghamton. They are 2-3-1-1 vs. the Admirals this season.

No games for the Pens this week. Expect a post on the AHL award for top goalie tomorrow and a recap of B-Sens / NorAds on Wednesday and anything else that comes to mind in between here on the blog this week.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens win in what you can call dramatic fashion, 4-3 in overtime versus a gritty Rochester Americans team. All of the three prior meetings were one goal affairs this season. Portland lost to Manchester 4-1 tonight so that loss means that for the first time in team history, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are the best overall team in the American Hockey League for the regular season. With that, comes the Macgregor Kilpatrick trophy.

John Curry vs. Marc Chevrie. Brandon DeFazio skated and Viktor Ekbom was the scratch. The game was played before GM Ray Shero. Andrew Hutchinson also took warmups. There was a concern, albeit a small one, that he injured his knee last night.

First Period: Zach Sill would skate down the middle and fire a puck at Chevrie who left big rebounds all night. Rochester failed to clear it and in doing so, Corey Potter slap shot goal. Right after, Chris Taylor scored to even the game. I tweeted with about 8:29 left to go in the first that Rochester had 7 shots on goal (to the Pens 8 ) – The Pens would not allow another shot the remainder of the period and the teams would go to the locker room tied at 1.

Second Period: The Pens didn’t allow the Amerks a shot on goal for about 10 minutes into the period which was fast paced, because referee Chris Brown let them play. John Curry with two big saves then WBS would get whistled for too many men. :11 into it, the Pens’ Chris Collins would get called for tripping and the Pens would have to kill off a lengthy 5 on 3. As it expired, ex-WBS Penguin Bill Thomas to make it 2-1 Rochester. Curry was making some ten bell saves all night. Curry won us the game tonight for sure.

Third Period: Andrew Hutchinson with all day to shoot and ties the game at 2 off the hop to start the third. Then, Zach Sill with a nifty deke in on a breakaway to make it 3-2. Soon, Jeff LoVecchio tied it on a tough goal on Curry. Then the Pens get two chances on a power play but do not score. Pens thought they had a goal in on the second one but Brown lost sight of it and there was no goal. They would head to overtime…

…where Geoff Walker would end it. This before more huge glove saves by Curry. Walker came in all alone, much like he did last night, against what seemed to be three Americans and drove the net and scored.

Thoughts: The Paul Thompson / Nick Petersen duo was dynamite tonight. Tons of opportunities to score. Going to be fun watching these two.

Three Stars: Jeff LoVecchio (goal, assist, +1) Zach Sill (goal, two assists, +1) and Geoff Walker (game winning overtime goal)

Around the Division: Hershey wins a wild one in Norfolk 5-4. The Bears were down 4-1 to end the first and scored four unanswered goals in the second to hold on and win. Four huge points taken from Hampton Roads this weekend for the Hershey Bears who are solidifying themselves for second place in the East. Their magic number is 1 on Charlotte. Speaking of the Checkers, the city of Charlotte will see Calder Cup playoff hockey in their first season, they were victorious in Albany tonight 5-3. Binghamton lost 4-3 to Bridgeport. The Sens’ magic number is 3 on the Atlantic Division crossover. Syracuse was shutout by Adirondack 3-0.

I honestly don’t know what happens from here from a WBS standpoint with 4 games left. Wheeling clinched a playoff spot so there will not be a band of black aces making its way from the Wheelhouse. Your guess is as good as mine as far as personnel go from here.

Like the East Division crown, celebrate this briefly. There is still a lot of work left to do.

Let’s Go Pens!

You can sum this game up by watching the first period alone. Wilkes-Barre came out guns blazing in the first period, hanging four goals on Justin Pogge and never looked back. The Penguins completely shut down the Checkers in the first period and pretty much coasted to a 6-3 win tonight in Wilkes-Barre Township. The magic number for first overall is one.

Brad Thiessen vs. Justin Pogge – Tim Wallace and Brett Sterling were injury scratches. Newcomers Viktor Ekbom and Paul Thompson made their professional debuts. The Pens played 7 defensemen tonight.

First Period: Paul Thompson steps onto the ice about 5 minutes into the hockey game for his first ever professional shift and is tripped by Zack FitzGerald. In the ensuing power play, Jason DeSantis is tapping his stick at the point. The puck is passed to him and he scores his first goal in a WBS sweater. Power play goal. Where have those been? Later, Nick Petersen is fed a long pass from Robert Bortuzzo and roofs it on Pogge to make it 2-0. At this point it was total domination from the Pens. Anytime Charlotte tried to establish anything they were chased out of the zone. Then, Geoff Walker comes in 1 on 2 and goes glove side and high on Pogge to make it 3-0. Charlotte answered soon after via Jacob Micflikier on a bad angle shot that beat Thiessen five hole. It’s a save Thiessen makes in his sleep which just crossed him up. Then late in the period, Corey Potter would sit for a hold and Bryan Lerg would score shorthanded to give the Pens a 4-1 lead.

Second Period: Checkers would see Bobby Sanguinetti and Casey Borer go to the locker room off on injuries that looked worse then they appeared because both would return. Corey Potter would have himself quite the period as he’d save a goal in Thiessen’s crease while the Pens killed a Robert Bortuzzo rough and then scored a goal from the point to make it 5-1.

Third Period: Charlotte looking to start something goads David Marshall into a roughing penalty and in the ensuing power play Jacob Micflikier would score to make it 5-2. After that the Checkers would press and press but not score until Zac Dalpe would cut in and make it 5-3. Late, Andrew Hutchinson would block a shot and come off the ice gingerly and stand in the tunnel the rest of the game. Charlotte would catch a post behind Thiessen and with Pogge pulled Keven Veilleux would score the empty net goal.

Three Stars: Keven Veilleux (goal, two assists, +2) Nick Petersen (goal, assist, +2) and Bryan Lerg (game winning goal, even)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Norfolk 6-3. The Admirals had 13 powerplays including many 5 on 3 situations. Wow. Syracuse beat Binghamton 6-4. Adirondack beat Albany 9-5.

Standings: WBS 109 – HER 96 – CHA 91 – NOR 88 – BNG 87 – SYR 71 – ALB 67 and ADK 64. Bingo has three points on third in the Atlantic Connecticut and five on fourth in the Atlantic Worcester. All teams have 5 games remaining. Norfolk, fourth in the East, has a game in hand on Binghamton.

This is good news….

http://twitter.com/#!/CVBombulie/status/54003889262964736

Go Pens.