Chirps from Center Ice

Pens needed to respond to the 9-5 whooping Charlotte put on them Sunday and they did in grand fashion tonight winning 6-4. They nearly let the game slip away in the second period though. More on that in a minute.

John Curry vs. Justin Pogge. Dustin Jeffrey was back from Pittsburgh, so Carl Sneep was the scratch along with Ryan Schnell. Jesse Boulerice served his last game on suspension and will be available Friday.

First Period: Pens came out flying. Maybe too much, as Brett Sterling was in the box serving a roughing call none other than Dustin Jeffrey scored shorthanded to make it 1-0. Then right after that, Ryan Craig scored and it was 2-0. Then, the Pens would find themselves shorthanded again having to kill off 1:04 of a 5 on 3 penalty. Andrew Hutchinson would interfere with a Checker then Brain Strait would get called on a bush league cross check. Brett Carson needed little time from the point to make it 2-1. The Pens responded right back, however and Joey Mormina would fire a shot from the point that Dustin Jeffrey would deflect while getting cross checked in the back. Soon thereafter, Tim Wallace would chase Justin Pogge with a garbage rebound.

Eric Tangradi was apparently slashed later in the period behind the Charlotte net and referee David Banfield didn’t see it. Eric said something to Banfield that he didn’t like and gave Tangradi an unsportsmanlike penalty. Well, Oskar Osala made the Pens pay to make it 4-2 after one period.

Second Period: John Hynes apparently had enough of Eric Tangradi’s antics and benched him the whole second period. Meanwhile, Riley Nash and Jerome Samson scored for Charlotte to tie the game at 4.

Thoughts this period: The power play is seriously a huge concern going forward for this team. Right after the Samson goal, Brad Herauf of the Checkers said something to the Pens bench Banfield didn’t like and sat him in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Pens couldn’t do anything with it. That single period alone was the worst period we have had all season being well rested and healthy.

Third Period: Old Penguin teams play not to lose and are defeated something like 5-4 or 6-4. Not this team. Jon Matsumoto would sit for slashing and none other than the Captain, Ryan Craig would score to make it 5-4. Then after a face off win late Tim Wallace would score again to make it 6-4 and put the game finally out of reach.

Three Stars: Tim Wallace, Dustin Jeffrey, Ryan Craig.

Thoughts: I said when it was 4-1 that the game was far, far from over. Turns out I was right. Three hat trick watches tonight with Craig, Jeffrey and Wallace all with two goals apiece. The Pens designated me the “Red Robin Season Ticket Holder of the Game.” I got a hat and a gift certificate to Red Robin. Thanks Pens!

Around the Division: Norfolk lost to Manchester 4-2. Adirondack beat Binghamton 4-3. Houston beat Syracuse in overtime 4-3. Hershey’s game with Springfield was postponed until tomorrow because of snow.

Standings: Huge opportunity for Norfolk to step up and get close but they cannot and are now behind Wilkes-Barre by 13 points. 70-57. Hershey is third but can, with a win tomorrow, draw to a tie with Norfolk. They have 55 points. Charlotte has 55 points. Binghamton squanders a chance to get closer to the Bears and are still in fifth with 51 points. Albany is a distant sixth with 39 points. Syracuse has 38 points in seventh. Adirondack has 33 points in last.

Tomorrow and Friday: Hershey plays Springfield in the make-up game. Then they travel to Binghamton to play the Senators on Friday. Charlotte goes to Adirondack. Norfolk hosts Springfield.

Let’s Go Pens!

I said in today’s Gameday post that Zac Dalpe and Zach Boychuk make the Charlotte Checkers legit threats for as long as they are in the minor leagues. I was right.

For Boychuk, a hat trick and an assist. For Dalpe, 4 assists.

Andrew Hutchinson for the Pens was a -3 and so was Joe Vitale. For Hutchinson he is aggregate -6 for the weekend and was virtually invisible all weekend. Eric Tangradi was very undisciplined this game, he had a goal, but took two misconduct penalties in the third and really put his team down.

John Curry vs. Justin Pogge. Hutchinson in, Schnell scratched, WBS rolled 7 D again.

First Period: Charlotte threw things at us that we either 1) never seen before 2) were just not ready for. Before the game was 10 minutes old the Pens were down 2-0 with goals from Boychuk and Micflikier. The cranked down defensively, and on the power play used slap passes and misdirection plays to befuddle Curry. The Pens just appeared flat (tired) and late Jon Matsumoto was left all alone in front for the easy deflection goal. Hockey players spend hours deflecting pucks in and world class players like Matsumoto are not going to miss with time and space. Luckily, two minutes later, Chris Collins came in unassisted and scored to make it 3-1. But, :35 later, Zach Boychuk scored again to make it 4-1. It was a bouncing puck Curry should have covered. I think at this point if Thiessen is in the tunnel he comes out in relief. Jacob Micflikier would get caught high-sticking at with 4.2 seconds and Brett Sterling would score with 0.3 left on the clock to make it 4-2.

Shots, irrelevant 13-12 in my opinion. Pens had all the momentum in the world going into the second.

Second Period: The bad blood between the two teams boiling, Tim Wallace would bat a puck  out of mid-air at center ice, skate in all alone and score to make it 4-3. He bunted the puck in after whiffing on his stomach. What an effort. Justin Pogge then started to rile up the crowd by holding onto Vitale after he crashed the net. Then, he gets away with a delay of game call. Brett Bellemore would sit for hooking and Eric Tangradi would cash in to tie the score at 4.

At this point I am thinking to myself that nothing can hold this team down. Not a thing. If we came back to win the game after being down 4-1, it would be a shot across the bows of all the teams in the league that nothing can stop us.

Well the comeback died after that as Charlotte would go one to score five unanswered goals. More lackadasical defense by Corey Potter led to a Riley Nash goal, this coming after he let Zach Boychuk skate by him. Then at 19:38 of the second Oskar Osala and Keven Veilleux would get matching Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties. While the referees were trying to sort it out, Pogge started chirping our bench. Out of it, we got a bench minor for Unsportsmanlike Conduct and a Checker power play. After the period would end, Justin Pogge took a run at Robert Bortuzzo, then started fighting Joe Vitale! Out of it, Pogge would get 4 minutes for roughing and Joe Vitale would get 2 for roughing but I thought it should have been more for Pogge. Recently he went off in Hershey and was turfed. Regardless, the period would end 5-4 Checkers. Shots that period were 12-4 Penguins.

Third period: Thought Charlotte / Pogge would get destroyed. Nope. Tangradi would sit for a slash, Bryan Rodney would convert to make it 6-4. After Michal Jordan scored to make it 7-4, Patrick Killeen would relieve Curry. Joe Vitale would get caught hooking, Eric Tangradi said something to Ian Croft he didn’t like, and was taken in for a 10:00 misconduct, and Zach Boychuk would get his hat trick to make it 8-4. Wilkes-Barre timeout. Drayson Bowman would score to make it 9-4.

Everyone in white stopped playing. Not Brett Sterling, who wristed a shot past Pogge to make it 9-5. Time would run out and that was it.

Three stars: Sterling, Dalpe and Boychuk.

Thoughts: Don’t blame Curry. Blame fatigue on Curry. Not his fault we lost this game. We scored 5 goals which on any given night means you win. Charlotte came in rested, after bussing up from North Carolina. They are legit with Boychuk and Dalpe in the lineups. Look for a completely different game Wednesday.

Around the Division: Don’t look now. That sound you hear in the distance is the Big Bear Machine warming up. Bears beat Adirondack today 5-1 and sweep the weekend’s games by going 18-5 in aggregate. Quite impressive without Braden Holtby in town on recall to parent Washington. However, while sweeping the weekend, the Bears opponents are a combined 48-74-5-8.

Standings: A push weekend for Wilkes-Barre. They started 11 points up on the Admirals and it remains that way. WBS has 68 points, Norfolk 57, Charlotte and Hershey 55, Binghamton 51, Albany 37, Syracuse 37 and Adirondack 31.

This week: Norfolk is in Atlantic leading Portland Tuesday in a game I am looking forward to watching on AHL Live. Rematch Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre vs, the Checkers. Bingo is in Adirondack and Hershey hosts the Springfield Falcons while Norfolk is in Manchester. Big week ahead before the All-Star break.

Let’s Go Pens!

First things first, Brad Thiessen left the game in the first period with an apparent injury. People said he tweaked his knee, radio said he could be sick. Regardless I didn’t see him leave the ice because I was looking elsewhere but he did not return. John Curry took the 6-2 Pens win in front of a sold out crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena.

For the Devils in net, Mike McKenna. Jason DeSantis was sent to The Nail today, and Andrew Hutchinson did not take warmups. Scuttlebut was they didn’t want to just throw Hutch into a 4 in 5 after coming off a bad knee injury. There were no “injuries” to report, so I would expect him in tomorrow vs. Charlotte. Steve Wagner returned also.

First Period: Very quickly, the Devils scored. Brad Thiessen went out to play a puck, lost it, got tangled with a player and Patrick Davis scored on the empty net. Right after that happened, Brett Sterling went on a mission. Off the post, all alone, off another post, just everywhere. The shots were 14-5 at one point in favor of Wilkes-Barre and finally Sterling scored to tie the game.

Second Period: Keven Veilleux took a Geoff Walker shot off the knee and went into the dressing room for a look but came back. Soon after, Geoff Walker uncorked a bomb from in between the circles to make it 2-1. Seven minutes in and Albany did not have a single SOG the period. Ryan Schnell fought twice. If he is going to make the penalty box his second home, it better be for fighting and not bone head penalties. Later Keven Veilleux scored top shelf with McKenna down to make it 3-1. After that with Rob Davidson in the box for an elbowing penalty, Nick Johnson would score with :03 in the power play. After two periods the Devils only had 13 shots on goal.

Third Period: Corey Potter fires a shot from the blue line which completely misses the net. It bounces off the board, up into the air and over McKenna’s head. He swats at it, and the puck goes in. A few minutes later, Brett Sterling scores again to make it 6-1. Pens played to protect the 5 goal lead (I know, it sounds stupid) but they took a bone head too  many men penalty and Adam Henrique score on the power play to make it 6-2. Ballgame.

Late update on Thiessen from the Bombulie Postgamer:

Coach John Hynes said Thiessen was kept out of the rest of the game for precautionary reasons. He won’t dress tomorrow against Charlotte, but the injury is not believed to be serious.

In the comment section it was mentioned that Patrick Killeen did not dress. He’ll be fresh if needed. Expect John Curry vs. Justin Pogge tomorrow.

Around the Division: Norfolk lost in Syracuse 3-2. Hershey beat Rochester 5-1. Don’t look now but the Bears are third in the division and playing some ridiculously good hockey right now. Binghamton beat Atlantic Division leading Manchester 4-2 in front of a sold out Verizon Wireless Arena in ManchVegas and Adriondack lost in a shootout to Hamilton 4-3. The Bulldogs scored two third period goals to come back and win. There were no penalties in the game. God bless you, Jeff Smith.

Standings: WBS with the win jumps back to an 11 point lead over the Admirals, 68-57. Hershey and Charlotte are tied with 53 points. Binghamton has 51 points in fifth. The B-Sens would get the Atlantic Division crossover knocking Worcester out if the playoffs started today. The rest of the division drops way off after that. Albany and Syracuse are tied with 37 points. Adirondcack creeps ever so closer with 31 points in last.

Tomorrow: Norfolk is idle. Hershey hosts Adirondack. The Admirals do not play till Tuesday in Portland.

Let’s Go Pens!

Glad I was not at this one tonight. 18,056 were and saw the Pens lose tonight 4-2 to the last place Adirondack Phantoms.

No. You are not reading that wrong. Yes, that link takes you to a game that happened. Yeah, the shots on goal were 40-16 for WBS and indeed, the last place Phantoms scored 2 goals on 5 shots. (one was an empty netter)

Unexplainable. I was blind tonight because the game was not carried on AHL Live and I do not get Comcast Philly so I listened on radio. If you didn’t tell me the shots on goal I would have thought the Pens were actually being outshot in the game.

This loss is the worst this year. This win for the Phantoms proves to me that they will not finish last in the division like I said in the East Division Mid Term Grades

John Curry vs. Michael Leighton. Jason DeSantis took warmups but was scratched. Steve Wagner made the trip but did not dress. Ryan Schnell skated tonight.

First period: Geoff Walker beat Michael Leighton clean on a slapper from a few feet in from the blue line to give the Pens the early lead. Two and a half minutes later Eric Wellwood would score for Adirondack. Pretty much it here as the period would end 1-1 and shots 5-3 for WBS.

Second period: Period can best be summarized as follows:

http://twitter.com/#!/CVBombulie/status/28628405779955712

Michael Ryan would sit for a hold and the Pens would allow Greg Moore to score a shorthanded goal. Two weeks ago “Pens” and “shorthanded goal” were like oil and water. Nowadays, it happens all the time. Later, despite the huge shot total, the Pens couldn’t even come in onsides. Ryan Schnell would take a bonehead roughing penalty and I don’t think radio mentioned his name the rest of the night. Soon, Keven Veilleux would score to tie the game in what was described on radio as a laser beam shot.

Third period: Brett Sterling would get boarded and would go down and not move for a few seconds in what would be a scary moment but he was fine. The Phantoms would hang, hang, hang and on like their second shot of the period Michael Ryan would bank a shot in off of Nick Johnson to put the Phantoms up with 1:30 left to play. Pens would pull Curry and Denis Hamel would seal it for the empty net goal.

Three stars were Geoff Walker, Michael Leighton, Eric Wellwood.

Thoughts: No way Michael Leighton was not losing in his barn dressed as a minor league player tonight. He’s a year removed from a Stanley Cup Finals appearance. This loss will probably be the best thing to happen to the Pens or the worst thing to happen to the Pens. Joey Mormina said in the papers a few days ago that the team refuses to lose and that the boys hate losing. I don’t know. Hockey is a funny game. You can lose a game like this and never lose another.  Or, you can lose a game like this and spiral downwards and never win another. I just don’t know.

Around the Division: With no Pens game to watch, I kept my eye on Binghamton / Norfolk and Charlotte / Springfield. Norfolk came back and beat Binghamton in a shootout 3-2. Charlotte lost to Springfield 6-5 in a track meet frankly I didn’t think the Falcons would win. The Bears destroyed tomorrows opponent Albany 8-3. There were 173 PIM that game. Syracuse lost to Rochester 2-1.

Standings: Didn’t want to see Norfolk win in the shootout. They draw within nine points now, 66-57. Charlotte is now four back of the Admirals in third with 53 points and don’t look now but Hershey is two back of the Checkers with 51 points. Binghamton squandered the extra point in the shootout loss and have 49 points good for fifth. Albany is sixth with 37 points, Syracuse seventh with 35 and Adirondack last with 30.

Tomorrow: Devils come to town after the shellacking laid upon them by Hershey. Norfolk goes to Syracuse. Charlotte is off as they will travel to WBS for the game Sunday. Hershey hosts Rochester and Bingo plays the second best team in the league the Monarchs of ManchVegas.

I leave you with sound words from AHL observer Patrick Williams……….

http://twitter.com/#!/AHLReport/status/28643356393349120

Go Pens

Let’s get right to the news of the day. It’s not the 4-1 Wilkes-Barre win over Syracuse tonight but rather Dustin Jeffrey has been recalled (again) by Pittsburgh because Evgeni Malkin did not make the trip to New Jersey when the Pens play the Devils tomorrow. I am hoping that he actually plays this time because the two other times he was called up he was a healthy scratch.

Now onto our game. Andrew Hutchinson made his return to the lineup tonight. It was great to see that man tonight. When he came out for warmups I jumped out of my seat like we scored a goal.

John Curry vs. J-P Levasseur tonight. Also, on the Pens bench tonight was goaltending coach Gilles Meloche and Bill Guerin. Ryan Schnell took warmups but was the scratch. Coach John Hynes went with seven defensemen tonight.

First Period: Syracuse flying all over the place. WBS first shot on goal didn’t come until 8 minutes into the hockey game. No scoring this period but a few things. First, on the power play Andrew Hutchinson was back on point. Second, the penalty kill unit fared better than the power play unit did early. More chances shorthanded then with the man advantage. Third, Steve Wagner was butt ended and went to the dressing room, came back, but did not return for the second period on. Fourth, the fancy passing didn’t work for pretty much the whole night and finally the scouting in the Eastern Conference must be better than the Western Conference because every single move Brett Sterling tried to make tonight failed. Seriously like it was last years moves.

Second Period: Veilleux took a bonehead interference in the offensive zone which lead to a David Laliberte deflection goal to put the Crunch up 1-0. Zach Sill would fight Matt Kennedy and bloody him. Later, Maxime Macenauer would sit for a slash then Nick Johnson would score on the power play. Andrew Hutchinson would sit for a cross check after that and Hynes had Zach Sill out there killing the penalty. Then, Nick Johnson would sticklift a Crunch player at center ice. The puck made it’s way to Bryan Lerg. Johnson would crash the net and the Penguins would score. Lerg unassisted. Then Nick Bonino would get called for high sticking, then Josh Green would high stick and cut Eric Tangradi for a four minute double minor. Tango would stay out, and Tim Wallace would score on the power play to make it 3-1.

Second Period thoughts: John Curry was earning his money tonight keeping the Penguins in the game early. Two of the three Pens goals were garbage goals. Absolute just junkyard dog style goals.

Third Period: Joey Mormina would get his first of the year at the very end of the Green double minor. Tangradi screened Levasseur. Apparently head coach Mark Holick thought pulling J-P down 4-1 was the way to go, as Timo Pielmeier was put in goal. That was it. Syracuse tried to make a game of it but Wilkes-Barre shut them down.

Three Stars: Bryan Lerg, Ryan Craig and Nick Johnson.

Thoughts: The Pens were 3 for 6 on the power play. Well, having Hutchinson back is the reason yeah? No. He assisted on one and that was it.

Around the Division: Charlotte beat Springfield 3-1 and outshot Springy 43-22. Bingo shutout Albany 3-0. Barry Brust is made of steel, he got the shutout for the B-Sens.

Standings: Wilkes-Barre goes back to 11 points to the good on Norfolk, 66-55 in points. Charlotte is in third with 53. Idle Hershey is fourth with 49 points. Apparently the Bears have already conceded the East Division to Wilkes-Barre. Bingo sits a point behind the Bears with 48 points in fifth. Albany has 37 points in sixth. Syracuse is seventh with 35 points and Adirondack has 28 points in last place.

Friday: Charlotte and Springfield have a rematch. Albany and Hershey in Titletown, Bingo hosts Norfolk in a game I will be watching. Oh, you haven’t heard? The WBS / Adirondack game in Philly will not be carried on AHL Live so I am banished to radio. I don’t get Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia (it’ll be shown there) so it’s radio only Friday.

Let’s Go Pens!

Felt like after being down 4-1 five minutes in the game this afternoon to the Connecticut Whale like I was watching a thriller. You know, those movies where all the bad stuff happens at the beginning, then you go all the way to the end and the good guys come out on top. That kind of stuff. Really felt like that when it at the end of the second period when the Pens just scored with under 10 seconds left to make it 4-3.

But that stuff is made in Hollywood. This is the real world and the reality of the situation here is that the Pens were never really in this game. They lost 6-3.

I am sure the rest of the Pens opponents will be calling Hartford tomorrow for a look at the game tape. I can “what if” you till Tuesday, but I am just going to stick to facts. That being, there was a stretch in this game where the Pens were handed four straight power plays in the second period but failed to score or establish anything in all four. That is going to be the waterloo in the playoffs because if you do not score with the man advantage you do not go far.

Anyway, Brad Thiessen vs. Cameron Talbot. Dustin Jeffrey was sent back by Pittsburgh and was in the lineup. Ryan Schnell was scratched as well as Carl Sneep with Jason DeSantis skating in his place on defense.

First Period: Evgeny Gratchev would sit at :34 for delay of game but then the Pens would get scored on shorthanded by Chad Kolarik. High glove on Thiessen. Less than :15 later, Steve Wagner would tie the game at one. Later, Gratchev would score to make it 2-1. Then with Brett Sterling in the box for a hooking call, Jeremy Williams would score while the teams were 4 on 3. Things would then appear to settle down a bit for Wilkes-Barre as it appeared as if we were controlling the play. Then the Whale would take three straight penalties, a Stu Bickel hook, a Jeremy Williams trip and a Sam Klassen slash, all killed by the Whale. Wagner and Corey Potter were manning the points and it was just giveaway after giveaway after giveaway. Radio said in pre-game that Andrew Hutchinson will be back by Friday the absolute latest. I honestly hope it is sooner than that. In the Klassen slash, Chad Kolarik would score shorthanded again. He at this point was 2-2-4. Kolarik must have had a book on Thiessen as he beat him high glove both times. Shots on Goal to this point were 10-10 after 1.

Second Period: John Curry relieved Brad Thiessen in net. Dustin Jeffrey would fire a puck on net that Keven Veilleux would tip home to make the score 4-2. The rest of this period did look like something out of a Hollywood movie with the Pens hitting the Whale posts two or three times and the bouncing puck always finding a Connecticut stick. The Pens could not capitalize on a 5 on 3 for :47. In that penalty kill for the Whale, Cameron Talbot robbed Tim Wallace right in front with the glove. Finally, as the teams were four a side, Geoff Walker scored with five seconds to go in the second to make it 4-3.

As they were going off to the dressing rooms, I tweeted that Connecticut looked stunned. You could see it in their eyes.

Third Period: Evgeny Gratchev left all alone right in front of Curry and roofed a pretty shot into the net 5:53 to kill all momentum Wilkes-Barre had built up and make the score 5-3. The Whale went into lockdown mode after that. Radio mentioned that with 7:50 left in the game, the Pens did not have a single shot on goal. That was all she wrote after that, then Pens would pull Curry and roll six forwards, Jeffrey, Tangradi, Wallace, Craig and Johnson (thanks to @CxJamesx9 for tweeting this observation) and then Tim Kennedy would score and empty net goal from about 100 feet away to seal the deal for the Whale. The Pens only managed 4 shots on goal the entire third period.

Thoughts: Well, a lot. I knew that this game vs. the Whale was going to be the toughest of the weekend just because of the inferior opponents that Wilkes-Barre faced this past weekend in last place Adirondack and Providence. The Whale lost both of their games this weekend. They needed to win this game for their psyche and the standings in the tight Atlantic Division. The power play is a joke right now. With all of the talent on this team and we cannot execute with the man advantage, really a bad thing. The Captain, Ryan Craig was a -5 tonight. Ouch.

Around the Division: Norfolk beat Charlotte 4-2 for sole possession of second. The bigger story in that could be the loss of Cedrick Desjardins, who left the game in the second when Jerome Samson landed on his hip. It looked bad (I was watching on AHL Live after the Pens game). Binghamton beat Hershey 2-1. Bingo draws to withing three points of the Bears. Adirondack beat Syracuse 5-2. The Phantoms are 4-0 vs. the Crunch this year.

Standings: WBS only up 11 on Norfolk now, 64 points to 53. Charlotte is in third with 51 points. Hershey is fourth with 49 points. Binghamton is fifth with 46 points. Idle Albany remains sixth with 37 points. Syracuse is seventh with 35 points and Adirondack is last with 28 points.

This week: Norfolk is up in Syracuse Tuesday. Wednesday we get the Crunch, Bingo plays in Albany and Charlotte hosts Springfield.

Reminder that tomorrow my second quarter grades drop here on the blog at high noon. The stats you will see do not include this game. Here is a preview for you, everyone got B-‘s or better. Perhaps I will grade the east on Tuesday.

Syracuse in town Wednesday so hopefully we start a new streak.

Let’s Go Pens!

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton has won seven in a row, tonight defeating the Adirondack Phantoms 4-2.

John Curry vs. Michael Leighton. With Dustin Jeffrey called up (and scratched earlier today) to Pittsburgh, Ryan Schnell skated on a fourth line, with Bryan Lerg centering the top line and Keven Veilleux up on the third line. Radio indicated that Dustin “may” be back tomorrow in time for the 3 p.m. game in Connecticut vs. the Whale.

First period: Rob Bordson high stick early led to a Corey Potter power play goal. It would be Corey’s first goal as a Penguin. Potter dug the puck off the boards and fired a shot at Leighton which beat him on the short side. Later, Potter would cough up a puck that Luke Pither would steal and pass to Greg Moore for a goal which tied it. Later, Brett Sterling came in on a 2 on 1 with Tim Wallace and sniped a goal on Leighton which put the Penguins back on to at 2-1.

Second period: Biggest play here came when Eric Tangradi would get penalized for roughing, but after the whistle Steve Wagner would slash and Tim Wallace would fight. This would lead to Wilkes-Barre having to kill off a full 2:00 of a 5 on 3. This was without the league’s best penalty killer Dustin Jeffrey. Late in the period Brett Sterling would get denied on the doorstep of Michael Leighton.

Third period: Jon Kalinski would get whistled for roughing at 8:49, but after that penalty expired Nick Johnson scored an even strength goal when a Ryan Craig shot towards the goal went in off of Nick’s leg. About 12 minutes into the period radio announced that the Phantoms only had 1 shot on goal. Zach Sill would sit for roughing at 15:44 and the Pens would kill it. Radio announced that as 13 straight penalties killed by the Penguins. Late, Ryan Craig would get an empty net goal to make it 4-1. The Pens would have to kill a Keven Veilleux high stick and Danny Syvret would score to make it 4-2.

Overall I thought it was another solid game by the Penguins. Bombulie called it another game where an opponent got outgunned by us in his postgamer. He also mentioned that in the seven game winnings streak that the Penguins are 3/34 in the power play conversion department or 8.8%. Oofda!

Around the Division: Charlotte was idle. Norfolk won late 3-2 over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Hershey lost to Lake Erie in a shootout 3-2 after being up 2-1 and getting scored on late with the Monsters goalie pulled. Manchester beat Binghamton 4-3. Albany beat Springfield 6-3 and Syracuse beat Rochester 2-1.

Standings: WBS has 64 points to Charlotte’s 51. Norfolk with the win is now tied in points with the Checkers with 51 points of their own. Hershey is in fourth with 49 points. Binghamton is fifth with 46 points. Albany sits 6th with 37 points. Syracuse has 35 points for seventh and the Phantoms are still last with 26 points.

Tomorrow: Charlotte and Norfolk battle it out in Charlotte for second place, Hershey plays Binghamton in Binghamton.

Should be fun tomorrow for the Pens as they try to sweep the weekend in Hartford tomorrow afternoon vs. the Whale.

Go Pens.