Chirps from Center Ice

Hate to use this comparison, because the team I am comparing to was unreal last year and has 11 Calder Cups, but tonight’s performance by Wilkes-Barre, a 4-1 win sparked by a third period comeback, harkens me back to the Hershey Bears of last year.

Think about it. You’d have the Bears right where you want them, then BOOM! next thing you know they have a two goal lead then add a third goal just to rub it in and you lose. Thanks for playing.

The Bears were unreal with absolute scoring terrors with Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque and Keith Aucion up front and had John Carlson on defense and Braden Holtby in goal. Chris Collins, Bryan Lerg and Ryan Craig aren’t those three up front, but anyway….

John Curry vs. Eddie Lack again. David Marshall and Alex Grant were the scratches with Steve Wagner and Corey Potter back from recall to Pittsburgh.

First Period: Pens looked good for about 4 minutes then the Moose turned it on. John Curry made some 10-bell saves early. Keven Veilleux buzzed around Eddie Lack’s goal but passed instead of shot. Then the Moose turned it on with the benefit of three straight penalties. They would score on the second penalty, a Boulerice slash, when Cody Hodgson dug a puck off of the far wall to the stick of Joel Perrault who sniped on Curry over his right shoulder. Shots would be 11-5 in favor of the Moose. Basically, the Pens won the first half of the period and the the Moose the second.

Second Period: In a surprising move, Brad Thiessen replaced John Curry in goal. I tweeted both patrick Williams (@AHLReport) and Moose beat guy Ken Wiebe (@WiebeSunSports) to see if they could shed some light on why Curry was pulled. Wiebe tweeted back and said that Curry was on the bench and looked fine. We’ll find out tomorrow I guess, because if it’s a long term thing, Patrick Killeen will get the call from the Wheelhose. Anyway, Joe Vitale crashed a net and knocked the net off of the moorings. Wilkes-Barre would throw everything at Lack this period but could not crack him. Eddie Lack is parent Vancouver’s future in net. Shots through two periods would end up 25-19 for the Pens.

Third Period: Nick Petersen and Jesse Boulerice had a great chance early in the period but were not able to score. Pens and Moose would overlap penalties which led to one minutes worth of four on four, then Bryan Lerg scored on a backhander to tie the game. Then about a minute and a half later, Steve Wagner would bank a puck in off of Zach Sill’s skate to make it 2-1. This rattled the Moose because :30 later, Corey Potter would fire a puck through traffic to make it 3-1. Then right after that happened, Ryan Parent boarded Joe Vitale hard. Vitale went down and went to the bench with help. Initially, Parent was given 2:00 for boarding but after examining the situation, referee Zac Wiebe assessed a 5:00 major and a game misconduct to Parent. Vitale went to the bench first, then went to the dressing room with help from trainer Patrick Steidle and he was favoring his left arm / shoulder. He did not return. Tim Wallace scored on the extended power play to put the game truly out of reach and made the score 4-1.

Pens received 7 out of a possible 8 points out of the longest road trip of the year and put the division lead back to 9 points over the Hershey Bears. Also, the magic number to clinch playoffs is three. I am no math major. The AHL tweeted it, so it has to be true.

Three Stars: Garth Murray (-2), Corey Potter (goal, assist, +2) and Bryan Lerg (goal, +2)

Around the Division: Binghamton lost 5-2 to Adirondack. Charlotte beat Bridgeport in a shootout, 2-1. Bobby Sanguinetti is back from a hip injury and bolsters that blue line with the loss of Brett Carson to a waiver claim to Calgary. Albany, getting hot (and that’s not because they are the Devils) win 6-1 to the hapless Syracuse Crunch. The Devils could make noise and make a run.

Manchester beat Springfield 4-2 to draw to 7 points behind WBS for the overall league lead. Manch has played 70 games to WBS’ 67. In the NHL, Carolina lost to Toronto 3-1. The loss has the Hurricanes two points out of the last guaranteed playoff spot. We want Carolina to make the playoffs so as not to load up the Charlotte Checkers.

Standings: WBS 97, HER 88, CHA 82, NOR 81, BNG 75, ALB 62, ADK 56, SYR 55.

Friday: Wilkes-Barre is off. Hershey travels to Springfield. Charlotte and Bridgeport have a rematch. Bingo hosts Portland. Manchester does the same with Connecticut. Albany travels to Norfolk. We’ll have something here on the blog Friday night after the dust settles.

Let’s Go Pens!

Missing four of its defensemen to either recall or injury, the Pens come out and smother the Moose defensively and shutout the North Division’s top team 2-0.

Missing are Carl Sneep (injury) Joey Mormina (injury) Steve Wagner (recall) and Corey Potter (recall) yet the Pens dominated the Moose on the shot chart, 38-23.

John Curry v. Eddie Lack. Alex Grant played his first game for WBS this year back from his wrist injury suffered in preseason.

First Period: Early, the fourth line was buzzing. Always a good sign. Pens would get two chances on the power play via a Joel Perrault hold on Ryan Craig and a Ryan Parent trip. No flow on either power play, moreso first power play then second. In the second Eddie Lack was the Moose’s best PK. Pens would get chances with a Ryan Craig mini breakaway. Jesse Boulerice would sit for a hook. but Manitoba’s PP is worse then ours so that was killed easily. Then, late, Robert Bortuzzo would fire a shot on net from the blue line which was rebounded by Keven Veilleux and Geoff Walker cleaned up the mess to put the Pens up 1-0.

First Period thoughts: Really impressed with Alex Grant this period. Kid did not look out of place one iota and looked like he has played 60 games with Wilkes-Barre this season. He is going to be fun to watch.

Second Period: Pens had to kill a Ryan Craig cross check penalty from 20:00 of the first but the Moose would not register a single shot on goal. Brett Sterling rung his second off of the post, he has been snakebit of late in the goal department. You have to think the avalanche is coming and soon. Middle of the second the Pens had what radio called the “shift of the road trip” but it was more like the shift of  the year to me, boy the Pens looked sharp this period. Late, Geoff Walker would turn a puck over to Victor Oreskovich and hooked him down. Later in the penalty kill, Joe Vitale would trip a Moose and the Pens would have to kill a late 5 on 3. They would, but not before Ryan Craig and Brian Strait’s sticks would break.

Second Period thoughts: Pens imposed their will against a very good Manitoba Moose team in the second, limiting the Moose to 9 shots while firing 12 at Lack. Of note, John Hynes was the second intermission guest and, while referring to John Curry, stated that he wanted John to “give him a reason to make him play him Wednesday” – after tonight’s performance look for #36 to get the nod in the cage tomorrow in the rematch.

Third Period: David Marshall would ring a shot off the post. Later, Maintoba had the best chance in the game to tie it, but Chris Collins fed a pass to Bryan Lerg who led a 2 on 1 with Ben Street who received the Lerg pass to make it 2-0 Pens. Moose would pull Lack late but not score and the Pens would hold on for the 2-0 win.

Three Stars: Ben Street (goal, +1), John Curry (23 save shutout) and Eddie Lack (36 saves on 38 shots)

The line of Geoff Walker, Ryan Craig and Keven Veilleux has been the best line for the Pens this month combining for six goals and nine assists. Credit @TonyAndrock for the stat.

The win pushes the Pens to 95 points, seven up on Hershey for second and Manchester for the overall lead with three games in hand on both teams.

This is 5 out of a possible 6 points this road trip including two shutouts by two different goaltenders. I never get in a debate on who is better in goal, but you all have to feel blessed knowing that John Curry and Brad Thiessen are tending the nets in Wilkes-Barre. Both are very very good at what they do.

Around the Division: No one else played.

Standings: Wilkes goes 7-up on Hershey right now with three games in hand. 95 points to the Bears 88. The rest of the East shakes out this way: NOR 81, CHA 80, BNG 75, ALB 60, SYR 55, ADK 54.

Tomorrow: Rematch in Winnipeg between the Moose and Penguins. Binghamton is in Adirondack, Springfield visits Manchester and Charlotte battles Bridgeport in Connecticut.

Good things happening right now in Wilkes-Barre. With Pittsburgh not playing until Sunday, look for Corey Potter and Steve Wagner to be return to the Pens tomorrow.

Let’s Go Penguins!

Here is all you need to know for tonight’s game:

John Hynes ripped the team a new one after a sub par performance versus the Connecticut Whale on Tuesday and the Pens responded with a 4-0 win tonight in Abbotsford, British Columbia this evening.

Brad Thiessen vs. Leland Irving. Nick Petersen was in the lineup for the Pens for the first time since the Albany make up game in Atlantic City. Jason DeSantis was also in as the sixth defenseman. Bombulie reported Tuesday that Carl Sneep did not make the trip. Joey Mormina and David Marshall were the healthy scratches.

First Period: Off the hop, Geoff Walker got the goal scoring going off a nice feed from Keven Veilleux who had a very good game. Then, the Pens looked like they scored again but referee Andy Thiessen (no relation to Brad) lost sight of the puck and blew the play dead. Later, Thiessen would whistle goaltender interference on Geoff Walker when it appeared that Andrew Hutchinson scored. Pens would kill it and then get a power play on a Matt Keith slash and hit two posts in the process. Later, Zach Sill would score to make it 2-0 on a nice feed from Jesse Boulerice.

Second Period: Ben Street’s work would set up a Bryan Lerg goal. Lerg dug a puck off of the far wall and wristed a shot on net that Lerg deflected. Late in the second Brett Sterling would score to make it 4-0 even strength. All four lines scored for WBS.

Third Period: Irving would be replaced by JP Lamoureux. Lamoureux would not allow a goal this period. Don’t be surprised if he gets the start tomorrow. Robert Bortuzzo and Macgregor Sharp would fight this period. Nick Petersen would have a good period keeping his feet moving and drawing a high stick call. Really liked what I saw out of him this game. Brad Thiessen would remain sharp as ever and would earn the shutout and the 4-0 win.

Three Stars: Ben Street (assist, +1, local boy from nearby Coquitlam), Zach Sill (goal, assist, +2) and Brad Thiessen (26 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Connecticut in Hartford tonight 2-1. Norfolk absolutely destroyed Binghamton 8-3. Syracuse beat Texas in a shootout 1-0. Albany beat Adirondack 2-1.

Manchester lost to Worcester 3-1. Portland beat Springfield 5-3. The Pirates leapfrog the Monarchs 85-84 in points and the Pirates have four games in hand on ManchVegas. Manchester has played the most games in the division by at least two games over everyone else.

Standings: WBS 92, HER 85, Wilkes has 3 games in hand and will have 4 after this weekend. CHA 80, NOR 79, BNG 73, ALB 56, SYR 53, ADK 51.

Tomorrow: Hershey visits Adirondack, Binghamton visits Charlotte, Providence is in Portland and Bridgeport is in Manchester.

Rematch tomorrow in Abbotsford. Let’s Go Pens!

Pens lost this penalty filled game (puppet show) 5-2 tonight in which it saw about five 5 on 3 penalty periods. Rather than me spout off on how bad I feel referee Jamie Koharski is, I am just going to recap as best I can and move on.

Cameron Talbot vs. Brad Thiessen. Carl Sneep was scratched and David Marshall dressed. The Pens went with 12 forwards and 6 defensemen. Sneep was seen in the players box with a cast on his left hand, and ace bandage over what appeared to be a removable splint.

First Period: Off the hop, Connecticut’s Pavel Valentenko sat for interference then Kris Newbury for hooking. In the 5 on 3 that ensued Tim Wallace would score from the left faceoff dot to put the Pens up 1-0. Later, John Mitchell deked around Corey Potter to put the Whale on the board ant tie the game at 1-1. To this point the Pens were dominating the shots on goal to a tune of something like 8-2. Soon after, Andrew Hutchinson would slap a pass to Chris Collins to make it 2-1 Pens. Collins was everywhere the first period. Then, Kris Newbury would put a puck on net which would dribble past Thiessen to make the score 2-2. Shots on goal in the first would be 20-7 Penguins.

Somewhere in the first intermission the wheels would come off because the Pens would only manage 11 more shots the rest of the game. 5 in the second and 6 in the third.

Second Period: Tim Wallace would start the second in the penalty box for 1:55 of carryover time from the first for slashing. Later, Joe Vitale would get nabbed for tripping giving the Whale a 5 on 3 for 1:39. Wade Redden would score with :02 left on the 5 on 3 to put the Whale up 3-2. At this point, Coach John Hynes would replace Brad Thiessen with John Curry. Nothing against Thiessen, the move was really to shake up the team more than anything, like the game against Norfolk at home two weeks ago when he pulled Curry for Thiessen. Then the Pens would get a chance on the power play but would not score. Evgeni Grachev hold then a Blake Parlett hold. Nothing. Then David Marshall would sit for a hook and Jamie Koharski would nab Joe Vitale for slashing handing the Whale 1:11 of 5 on 3. Pens would kill it all and go to the locker room down 3-2.

Third Period: Kelsey Tessier would fire a rocket of a slap shot from the right face off circle past John Curry even strength to give the Whale a 4-2 lead. The Pens would then get 1:32 of 5 on 3 when Stu Bickel would trip a Penguin and Brodie Dupont later elbowed someone. Would the Pens score? No. The Pens would get another chance of 5 on 3 for :18 after a Derek Couture hold and a Wade Redden hook. No scoring. Highlight of the night was Zach Sill bloodying Blake Parlett. I think Sill broke his nose. Rather than resorting to full blown thuggery, the Pens tried to even the score to no avail with an empty net which Kris Newbury took advantage of. Final score was 5-2.

Three stars: Andrew Hutchinson (2 assists, +1) Kris Newbury (2 goals, assist, +1) Wade Redden (game winning goal, 2 assists, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey lost in a shootout to Portland 3-2. Charlotte beat Binghamton in regulation 2-1. Bears sit 7 back of the Pens right now.

Standings: WBS has 90 points to Hershey’s 83. Charlotte sits 3rd with 80 points. Norfolk (idle) has 75. Binghamton could not tie the Admirals for 4th and have 73 points. Albany has 52 points in sixth and Adirondack and Syracuse has 51 points tied for last in the division.

Portland ties Manchester for the Atlantic Division lead and is in a three way tie with the Bears for second best in the AHL. Hershey, despite a rash of call-ups and injuries still is the second best team in the AHL? Amazing. Just amazing. The Bears are going to be again heavily favored to win it all for a third year in a row.

Tomorrow: Hershey plays in Worcester in a game I will keep my eye on. The other game of interest is the Binghamton / Charlotte rematch in Charlotte. I will have a quick blog post about the games tomorrow night.

Today the AHL released the Clear Day Rosters which you can view here. Tony Androck from Pensburgh had an excellent blog post breaking it all down and what it all means from a WBS Penguins perspective. Because of Tony’s fine work, I don’t have to break anything down here on the blog. I will direct you his work. You can also follow Tony on Twitter at @TonyAndrock

Go Penguins.

Defense wins Championships.

It’s the old adage that gets tossed around all the time. Well, it was the Pens Defense that held Hershey to 16 shots on goal and only 1 goal in a 4-1 win at GIANT Center this evening.

Brad Thiessen vs. Nolan Schaefer – Bears PxP John Walton tweeted that the Penguins are without three of the top five scorers and the Bears are without three of their top 6. Neither team was at 100%.

First Period: Off the hop, Ryan Craig slipped the puck under Schaefer to give the Pens a 1-0 very early. Pens really clamped the Bears down to only 4 SOG this period and none in the first 10 minutes or so. Both teams would trade a Joe Vitale hook and a Sheldon Souray cross check but neither team would score on the man advantage. SOG were 9-4 Penguins.

Second Period: Zach Sill would sit for tripping, what I thought was a ticky tack call from referee Marcus Vinnerborg and Brian Fahey would fire a puck from the point that Boyd Kane would deflect in past Thiessen to tie the game at 1. Do the Pens come unraveled? No. Kyle Greentree would get nabbed for hooking, then :13 later on the power play Maxime Lacroix would board Carl Sneep and the Pens would get 1:47 of a 5 on 3. But, they would not score. That certainly had the looks of a momentum changer there. Geoff Walker must not believe in momentum because later he scored to make it 2-1. Huge goal. Huge, huge, HUGE goal there by Walker. After two periods, 2-1 Penguins and 17-10 shots on goal.

Third Period: Bears would buzz and buzz and buzz. Shots would creep to 18-15 WBS, but with about 6 minutes to go in the game, I don’t think the Penguins allowed the Bears a single shot on goal. Joey Mormina would fire a puck in from the blueline to make it 3-1, then Ryan Craig with Schaefer pulled would score the empty net goal from center ice. Final SOG would be 26-16.

Three Stars: Boyd Kane (goal, -2), Brad Thiessen (15 saves on 16 shots), Geoff Walker (game winning goal, assist, +2)

The Pens by my math are 14-6 at GIANT Center this season. A complete 180 from what they were last year.

Around the Division: Charlotte beat Manchester 3-2. Bingo beat Norfolk 4-1. Adirondack beat Albany 4-3.

Standings: Division lead back to 8, 2 games in hand on Hershey. 90-82. Charlotte has 78 points in third. Norfolk-Binghamton are 75-73 for fourth and fifth. Albany-Adirondack-Syracuse are 52-51-49. Manchester has 83 points. We will also start tracking Portland, who have 81 points in second in the Atlantic. Hamilton leads the North with 74 points and Milwaukee leads the West with 81. The Admirals are my Calder Cup pick as opponent in the Finals vs. the Pens.

This week: Hershey travels to Portland, Wilkes-Barre hosts Connecticut and Binghamton and Charlotte square off in North Carolina all on Tuesday.

Tomorrow I will probably have a late evening post on the Clear Day rosters. Gonna be fun breaking down the East. Until then, Let’s Go Penguins!

Pens take a 1-0 lead then take a silly Joe Vitale trip away from the play and then turn over a puck in the defensive zone to send the Marlies home tonight with the 2-1 victory North of the Border tonight in Canada. Internet issues in Ricoh Coliseum prevented this game from being available on AHL Live this evening.

John Curry vs. Ben Scrivens

First Period: Keven Veilleux seriously need to dial it back a bit. He was everywhere in the first half of the period but then took some really crazy penalties which ended up costing the Penguins. The first period was a defensive showcase for the Penguins. The Marlies hit two posts this period and the shots on goal were 11-6 in favor of the Penguins.

Second Period: Brett Sterling argues that he scores a goal shorthanded but no dice. Later, Veilleux turns the puck over twice in one shift and is bailed out by Curry. Then Chris Collins scores about halfway through. To this point, the shots on goal were 16-9 Wilkes-Barre and Toronto only had 3 in the second period. After some rough stuff a few minutes later, Joe Vitale would trip a Marlies player after the teams were at even strength then Mike Zigomanis, who in my opinion has no business at this level, would fire a puck on net which would get deflected by Jeff Cowan to tie the score at 1. Shots on goal would eng up being 23-12 WBS.

Third Period: Defensive zone turnover by Wilkes-Barre exactly three minutes into the third would cost the Penguins as Mike Zigomanis would score to make it 2-1. Shots were at some point in the game 20-9 Penguins and about 10 minutes into the third were 23-18 Penguins. Later Brett Sterling would have a good chane which Scrivens would deny. Pens would pull Curry late and call a timeout but fail to find the equalizing goal and lose 2-1.

Again, no AHL Live and I was not at the game, so I have no idea other than what radio tells me what to make of this one.

Three Stars: Nazem Kadri (assist, +1), Brett Sterling (scoreless but 7 shots on goal), Mike Zigomanis (game winning goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey did not play. The Pens missed on a chance to widen the gap with this game in hand. Charlotte lost to Providence 4-2. Norfolk beat Albany 1-0. Binghamton does not play till Sunday. Syracuse and Houston are battling it out in Texas at this hour. I am also going to start keeping an eye on the Manchester Monarchs from here on out here and on the Twitter side. ManchVegas overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Worcester 3-2 in overtime in The City of Seven Hills this evening. With the win the Monarchs draw within five  points of the overall league lead (which is Wilkes-Barre’s) and the home ice throughout the playoffs that goes with being the #1 overall seed.

Standings: We dodged a bullet somewhat I think but still should have beat the Marlies. We are still the division leader by 8 points up on Hershey. Charlotte has 76 points in third. Norfolk draws within a point of the Checkers and four points up on Binghamton with 75 points to the B-Sens 71. Albany, Adirondack and Syracuse are 50, 49, 47.

Tomorrow: Pens are off. Hershey hosts Norfolk. The Bears picked up Nolan Schaefer today on loan from the Providence Bruins in net. Charlotte is in Worcester. Bingo as we said is off till Sunday and so too are the Monarchs.

Radio said that Hynes was not happy with the performance tonight. No one really can be because a game like this could very well be something you see in the playoffs.

I’ll have a recap of tomorrow’s action here on the blog tomorrow. Go Pens.