Chirps from Center Ice

Brad Thiessen showed why he is the Eastern Conference’s starting goaltender with a 2-0 clean sheet of the Providence Bruins tonight in the Rhose Island capital.

Thiessen was opposed by Nolan Schaefer tonight. Keven Veilleux and Brian Strait returned to the lineup. Ryan Schnell took warmups but was a scratch as was Jason DeSantis who did not take warmups.. Alex Grant I am also told made the trip but is still a ways away from returning.

First period: First ten minutes of the game was all Wilkes-Barre in the Providence zone. Not much in the way of action, just sound defense by Wilkes-Barre. Pens would have two straight power plays handed to them but failed to convert. Ryan Craig would fight Nathan McIver but outside of that not much else went on.

Second period: Joe Colborne would sit for hooking and then finally, the Pens would score a power play goal. Brett Sterling. It appeared as if Schaefer was screened. Regardless it is nice to see The Ticket burying chances when he has them.

The turning point of the game came about five minutes later when Tim Wallace would sit for hooking at 13:27 then Corey Potter for delay of game at 14:30. The Pens would have to kill off :57 of a 5 on 3. Now, Providence’s power play is ranked last in the league. Dustin Jeffrey singlehandedly would snuff out the 5 on 3 by getting two separate breakaways, drawing a Colby Cohen hold and an Andrew Bodnarchuk hold. As long as nothing weird occurred, I felt WBS had this one in the bag because of Dustin’s work.

Shots at the end of two were 24-12 in favor of WBS. With this being essentially a home and home series for the Penguins, radio mentioned that the aggregate shots total was 75-30 at one point in the second period. Just utter domination by the Penguins.

Third period: Geoff Walker got himself a garbage goal, banking it in off of Nolan Schaefer early in the period to extend the lead to 2-0. Later Nolan would rob Dustin Jeffrey on the doorstep. The third period would fly by. Providence would get its chances but Wilkes-Barre held the fort and earned Thiessen a shutout.

Three stars were Schaefer, Thiessen and Brett Sterling in that order.

Around the Division: Charlotte beat Manchester in a shootout 6-5. This is after the Checkers were up 5-3 and let Charlotte back into it. Norfolk defeated Bridgeport 5-2. Hershey shutout tomorrow’s opponent the Adirondack Phantoms 3-0. Binghamton lost to Albany 3-2. Check out who got the game winner and who was named first star in that one. Syracuse lost in a shootout to the Hamilton Bulldogs 1-0.

Standings: WBS up 11 on Charlotte 62-51. Norfolk needed to win to keep pace, they are in third with 49 points. Hershey is fourth with 48 points. Binghamton is fifth with 44 points. Albany has 35 points in sixth, Syracuse has 33 points in seventh and Adirondack has 26 points in last.

Tomorrow: Charlotte is idle, so WBS can extend the points lead with a win in Glens Falls. Norfolk has a rematch tomorrow home v. Bridgeport and Hershey is home vs. Lake Erie.

Tomorrow’s game vs. the Phantoms puts us at the half way mark of the season. You know what this means, right? Second Quarter grades are due Monday afternoon here on the blog!

Go Pens!

With Charlotte losing in regulation and Norfolk and Hershey both losing in overtime, the Pens are starting to distance themselves from the rest of the East Division. Bears beat writer Tim Leone tweeted something which made me smile:

http://twitter.com/#!/timleone/status/23944743452938242

Anyway, to the matter at hand. Stick tap tonight to goaltender Nolan Schaefer tonight for keeping the last place Providence Bruins relevant tonight in a 2-1 Penguins win in overtime. Schaefer would turn aside 50 shots tonight in the P-Bruins defeat. He was opposed by Brad Thiessen who only turned away 18. More on this in a minute,

First period: Providence would score on its first shot of the game, Jeremy Reich through the five hole :39 seconds in. About midway, Joe Vitale would get like three shots in one shift on Schaefer and the third time was the charm through his five hole. At this point though, Providence was throwing everything they had at us. What is scary though is the fact we only limited them to 19 shots all game.

I don’t even feel like talking about the special teams. Providence has the leagues worst power play and ours wasn’t much better.

Second period: Thiessen made an enormous save on Trent Whitfield on a breakaway. I thought the P-Bruins captain was going to score but Thiessen got the pad over. That was about all for the action in the second. Brett Sterling had a 2 on 1 with Jeffrey but did not score.

Third period: Pens came out flying. Just absolutely smothered the Bruins this period. Schaefer was on his game though, denying chance after chance. The Pens had two power plays but could not convert. The stat which was shocking to me though was that the Bruins only were allowed one shot on goal the entire third period. One. That is shut down hockey. I suppose that if you can’t score on a power play, you don’t allow the opposing team many shots and just overwhelm the other teams goaltender with shot after shot after shot, and the law of averages will catch up with you and you will win.

Overtime: Dustin Jeffrey all alone on Schaefer at 2:58. Ballgame.

Around the Division: Really great night for Wilkes-Barre points wise. Charlotte got smoked by the Springfield Falcons 7-3. The Falcons were up 6-0 at one point. Connecticut beat Norfolk 3-2 in overtime. Hershey lost to Manitoba 4-3 in overtime. The Moose went 3 for 12 on the man advantage. Yikes. Albany beat Syracuse 2-1 Binghamton beat Rochester 2-1 and Adirondack lost in a shootout 3-2 to Abbotsford.

Standings: WBS first to 30 wins, 60 points. Closest team points wise is the stingy Peoria Rivermen with 53 points out West. Their head coach Jared Bednar will co-coach the West All-Stars at the All-Star Classic later this month in Hershey. Norfolk is in second with 47 points, Charlotte is in third with 47 points. Hershey is fourth with 45 points. Binghamton has 40 points in fifth. Syracuse has 32 points in sixth, Albany has 31 points in seventh, and Adirondack has 26 points.

Pens get a week off before playing Providence again in a rematch. Week to work on the power play, for one thing and get guys healthy. I have heard that Veilleux, Strait and Andrew Hutchinson are all close to returning.

Go Pens.

I was a bit under the weather last night and the best remedy for this is sleep, so as soon as I got home from the 5-2 Penguins win over Bridgeport I hit the sack.

Anyway, I am up on Saturday morning feeling better so here we go:

If you missed it, Jesse Boulerice was suspended 10 games by the league for contact with referee Francis Charron. Eric P over at the Wilkes-Blog has video, which you can see over at Bombulie’s postgamer.

John Curry vs. Mikko Koskinen. Joel Martin actually led the Sound Tigers out, which led to early mass confusion.

First period: Tim Wallace scored when Koskinen was screened after a faceoff and Brett Sterling broke his seven game goal drought and scored on a breakaway. I had a piece on The Ticket on Thursday. The first period shots on goal differential was 12-3 in favor of the Penguins.

Second period: Bryan Lerg scored to make it 3-0, on another nifty backhander. He does this at least once a game. More often than not, he scores. Halfway through the game, the SOG were 17-6. Eric Tangradi would score to make it 4-0 then Bridgeport’s mini-comeback was on. Jean Bourbeau would score with 9.1 seconds left in the second to make it 4-1. It was a shothanded goal.

Third period: Referee Ryan Fraser really turned the game at this point into a puppet show, dishing out three consecutive power plays for the Sound Tigers, which would put WBS down on an extended 5 on 3. Mark Katic would score to make it 4-2. At this point, old WBS teams would play not to lose and would end up losing. Not here. Nick Johnson would score to make it 5-2. Wilkes-Barre really stepped on the accelerator after killing off the remainder of the penalties and just took it to the Sound Tigers.

Three Stars: Bryan Lerg, Tim Wallace, Brett Sterling.

As Bombulie mentioned his postgamer, Bridgeport was outgunned, dressing 10 forwards and 8 defensemen. Call ups really stung them tonight. Sound Tigers beat writer Michael Fornabaio live-blogged the game and heard Tom Grace call the game a “dismantling” by Wilkes-Barre.

Around the Division: Charlotte defeated Albany 4-2. Norfolk defeated Connecticut 5-2. From what I saw from my twitter feed from last night, they were close games to the end. Binghamton defeated Syracuse 6-4. In another close game, Hershey defeated Mantioba 4-3. Adirondack lost in a shootout to Abbotsford 4-3.

Standings: WBS has 58 points. The 11 point lead over Charlotte is maintained by them winning. The Checkers have 47 points. Norfolk has 46 points in third. Hershey has 45 points. It’s getting tight. It’s two points separating second and fourth. Binghamton has 38 points in 5th. Syracuse has 32 points for sixth. Albany has 29 points and Adirondack is four points back in last with 25 points.

Let’s Go Pens!

Completely different game tonight as expected and as called by me in the Gameday post earlier. Despite the shot total (43-25 for WBS) a very tight checking game for both sides and a 3-2 Penguins win in a shootout.

Same goaltending matchup as last night, Brad Thiessen vs. Justin Pogge. Geoff Walker was scratched for Ben Street and Jason DeSantis was in for the injured Brian Strait. Radio stated that Strait took a forearm to the head last night.

First period: Pens flying everywhere. Charlotte iced the puck 4 times in a row and I wondered if it was rope a dope hockey. Ryan Craig opened the scoring at 19:01 then a Michal Jordan point shot fluttered onto the stick of Chris Terry who scored at 19:51. The shots on goal at that point were 17-8 for Wilkes-Barre. At this point the Charlotte goal was a fluke goal in my opinion and one that they could not allow to shake them.

Second period: Rough evening for Jason DeSantis, who was burned a few times on the back end but Thiessen up to the challenge. Later, Nicholas Blanchard would get whistled for interference. The Pens power play is downright anemic at this point. Jerome Samson would skate in shorthanded and score. Less than a minute later after the penalty expired, Carl Sneep fired a puck at the net which Chris Collins finds a stick on to even the score at 2. Jesse Boulerice and Jon Matsumoto would trade separate hook and slash calls respectively and the period would end in a 2-2 deadlock with the Pens outshooting the Checkers by a 24-15 margin.

Third period: Brett Sterling needs to learn how to shoot when he has the puck in 2 on 1 situations. He has scored a ton of goals at this level. I want to say that he is almost afraid to shoot. At halfway in the third period the shots were 31-18. Later, Jesse Boulerice would get a stick slashed out of his hands and argue with referee Francis Charron and Charron would assess a 10 minute game misconduct for abuse of officials. That was it as it was an uneventful third period. WBS would outshoot Charlotte 15-7 this period and overall 39-22 to this point.

Overtime: Dustin Jeffrey needs to shoot when he has the puck on a 2 on 1. He was in on one with Sterling and the game went to a shootout…

Shootout: Chris Terry would score first but then Dustin Jeffrey, Nick Johnson and Brett Sterling would all score as Thiessen would deny Drayson Bowman, Jacob Micflikier and Riley Nash for the Pens to go undefeated in a shootout and win the game.

Three stars were Justin Pogge, Chris Collins and Jerome Samson.

Around the division: Adirondack continues its winning ways in a shootout win over Albany 3-2. That was it for the East Division.

Standings: WBS with an 11 point lead up on Charlotte, 56-45. Idle Norfolk is in third with 44 points. Hershey has 43 points in fourth. Binghamton has 36 points in fifth, Syracuse is in sixth with 32 points. The Albany Devils have 29 points in seventh and the Adirondack Phantoms are last but creeping up with 24 points.

Travel / off day tomorrow for the Pens as they settle in for two Atlantic Division opponents in the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Friday and the Providence Bruins Saturday. Outside of the East, WBS is undefeated.

Let’s Go Pens!

The ramifications of tonight’s 5-2 Penguins victory in Charlotte will be heard league wide tonight. Here are some stats to chew on I tweeted earlier as to why I feel this way:

• Charlotte is the second highest team in the league. They were shut down tonight by the Pens, who are second in the league in defense.
• Charlotte’s PP is ranked 6th in the league at a 20.9% success rate. Their PK is 2nd in the league, killing penalties at a 87.2% rate.
• Charlotte’s home PP is 3rd in the league, at 25.6%. WBS road PK is 16th in the league, 82.4%. Charlotte’s home PK ranks them 8th at 86.4% and WBS road PK is 16th with a 81.0% rate.

Stats were good up to this game, but none of it mattered to WBS. In my opinion, a dominating performance by the Penguins.

Brad Thiessen vs. Justin Pogge tonight. Joe Vitale played tonight. Keven Veilleux did not make the trip. Ben Street was the scratch.

First period: Very early, Charlotte came out firing with something like 5 straight shots on goal to start the game, but Brad Thiessen was up to the challenge. Then, Brett Sterling dispossessed a Checker trying to make a clear attempt and passed to Tim Wallace for the 1-0 lead. The Pens would get two power play chances in the first with a Drayson Bowman unsportsmanlike after a whistle and Oskar Osala interference. Lots of back door play by the Pens but no scoring. For the evening, WBS would go 0 for 4 on the man advantage.

Second period: The acting by Charlotte instead of reacting would continue. Joey Mormina really had a great game tonight. Was shut down island. Nothing would really materialize this period until late, Eric Tangradi would throw a knuckle puck at Justin Pogge at 19:45 of the second for a 2-0 lead. At this point the shots were 16-12 WBS.

To this point really a dominating performance by the road team against an up and coming Checkers team. Charlotte is ranked 2nd in the East, 3rd in the Eastern Conference and 8th overall in the league. For WBS to come in and just set up shop and set the tone really sent, in my opinion, a shot across the bow of all the other teams who think they can get close to WBS. You still have to play the games and all, but the mindset in the opposing players minds is such that a game vs. WBS is just not going to come easy.

Third period: Nothing much in the first half of the period. At 9:06, Dustin Jeffrey and Nick Johnson break in on a 2 on 1 and Johnson scores. 40 seconds later Jeffrey comes in on a 3 on 1 and Steve Wagner scores. At this point it is 4-0 and the rout is on. Justin Pogge got the hook and Mike Murphy relieved Pogge in net. Tim Wallace would get whistled for slashing and with :03 left in the penalty Jacob Micflikier would score. Then, Brett Sterling would get tagged for a high stick and Michal Jordan would score his first ever AHL goal to cut the lead to 4-2 at 18:10. It would prove to be too little, too late as Charlotte would pull Murphy and Tangradi would get an easy empty netter at 19:02 to secure the 5-2 win.

Three stars were Dustin Jeffrey, Jacob Micflikier and Eric Tangradi in that order.

Late, Bombulie chimed in on Twitter that he hadn’t seen hide nor hair (no pun intended) of Brian Strait. For what it is worth radio didn’t mention anything and I really didn’t see him out there for the third. We’ll have to see.

We were the only teams in the Division skating. The win puts us 10 points to the good on second with 54 points to Charlotte and Norfolk’s 44. Hershey sits in fourth with 43 points. Binghamton sits in 5th with 36 points. Syracuse and Albany sit six-seven with 32 and 28 points respectively. Adirondack is surging out of the cellar and have 22 points.

Rematch tomorrow. Would love to leave Charlotte with a 12 point lead up on the East. Breathing room. It isn’t going to be easy because Charlotte is going to adjust. But the good thing is so will Wilkes-Barre.

One more thing before I go, congrats to head coach John Hynes on being named co-coach of the Western Conference All-Stars later this month in Hershey.

Let’s Go Pens!

In my opinion the most complete 50 minutes of play the Pens have played all year in a 4-3 Wilkes-Barre win. But wait you say, aren’t there 60 minutes in a hockey game? Yes. The Pens were up 4-1 with about 10 minutes left to play in the third when the Admirals came storming back on two power play goals to make it at least interesting tonight in Wilkes-Barre Township.

John Curry vs. Dustin Tokarski tonight. Joe Vitale did not take warmups.

First period: Keven Veilleux and Tim Marks continued their hate-fest and fought about three minutes in. Decision BeastMode. WBS was controlling play, spending about two good minutes in the offensive zone below the dots. Brett Sterling did everything but score a goal in this game and the game before vs. Hershey. You have to think when he finally does score he will just fill up the nets. Finally Nick Johnson and Geoff Walker came in on a 2 on 1 and Johnson finished it off to open the scoring at 12:01. About 7 minutes later, Bryan Lerg scored on a ridiculous backhanded shot. The first would end 2-0 Pens, with them lead in 14-5 in shots.

Second period: Tim Wallace would be whistled for holding and James Wright would score at 11:24 of the 2nd. Right after that Keven Veilleux took a knee-to-knee hit which put him out of the game. He had to be helped off of the ice. He didn’t put any weight on his right leg when he went off either. Radko Gudas was the culprit on the hit and Geoff Walker fought him. Since Walker apparently wasn’t tied down with the fight strap he was given a game misconduct. No one would score and the period would end 2-1 Penguins with the shots on goal tallying 21-12 WBS.

To this point I felt it was the most complete game of the season for WBS. Finally it would appear the Pens would defeat someone relevant.

Third period: Veilleux did not return. I know where the orthopedic doctor for the team sits across from me and he was absent shortly after the hit. Bombulie said in his postgamer that Keven was icing the area above his knee versus the knee itself. He called it a “good sign.” We’d see two goals waved off this period. The first would come for Norfolk as Curry would be interfered with. As soon as the teams went even strength Ryan Craig would score, then later Steve Wagner would rip a shot that Bryan Lerg would deflect on the power play for a Mike Vernace hold. It looked like the rout would be on. Paul Szczechura would sit for high sticking and Tim Wallace would sc—no he didn’t, that was also waved off by referee Nick Krebsbach, saying it never went in. The goal judge turned the light on but after consultation it was ruled the puck never went in.

In hindsight if we lose this game, that moment is the turning point as Norfolk would score twice on two separate power plays. Robert Bortuzzo cross check would result in a Troy Milam goal and then Bortuzzo would interfere and Matt Fornataro would score to make it 4-3. Norfolk would pull Tokarski late but WBS would hold on for the win.

Bryan Lerg is playing out of his mind right now. 5 goals in 4 games. Someone who literally goes unseen most nights is tearing it up. Brett Sterling is way overdue. When he starts scoring again this team will be unstoppable. Norfolk 3 for 6 on PP. That has to change. We cannot win a playoff series if we continue to allow that.

Some news: Norfolk defenseman Ty Wishart was traded to the New York Islanders tonight in exchange for Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro. As a result, Cedrick Desjardins was sent back to Norfolk. Jordan Staal made his return back to the Pittsburgh lineup and Chris Conner was scratched tonight. Every man on the Pittsburgh roster would need to clear waivers if put there, so we will see. An over healthy Pittsburgh is always a good thing to have.

Around the Division: Binghamton beat Charlotte 3-0. Bingo played last night at home, bussed to Philly last night and flew to Charlotte this morning. Great win for them and even better for us as 2-3 in the division don’t make up any ground. Break up the Adirondack Phantoms, 2-1 winners over the Albany Devils. Syracuse defeated Rochester 4-1. The Crunch are on a rare winning streak.

Standings: WBS is 8 points up now, with 52 points to Norfolk’s 44. Charlotte has 42 points in third. Hershey is in fourth with 41 points. Bingo is in fifth with 36, Syracuse in sixth with 30, Albany in seventh with 28 and Adirondack in last with 20.

Tomorrow: Bingo and Charlotte have a rematch. Norfolk plays Hershey. Would love to see the 8 point lead preserved and no one else really get closer. Charlotte can tie Norfolk with a win and an Admirals loss. Norfolk can get to 6 points to us again with a win. Hershey can get to 9 points to us with a win. I’m keeping my eyes on both games tomorrow afternoon on AHL Live.

Bombulie already said he’s not going to update unless something huge happens between now and the Pens next game which is Tuesday in Charlotte, so look for the same here on my blog at least, unless I feel creative enough to post an entry between Sunday or Monday.

Go Pens!

One of my biggest concerns tonight in this 1-0 Hershey shutout of Wilkes-Barre here at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh was the fact that Hershey is “big game tested” by winning two straight Calder Cup Championships. I was concerned that the Pens would come out doe-eyed and be overwhelmed by their surroundings and the opponent. Well partially tonight at least, Hershey’s goal came late in the second off of a Keith Aucoin point shot which batted around and in behind goaltender Brad Thiessen’s net. The Pens would come close more often than not, but “close” only happens in horseshoes and hand grenades.

I could probably leave it at that and call it an evening, but you expect more out of me so here goes…but before we do, my view for this evening:

http://twitter.com/#!/nafsnep/status/20623840379932672

Braden Holtby v. Brad Thiessen tonight. Joe Vitale took warm ups but was the scratch. In his place, Geoff Walker. You have to think Hynes wanted him to test the leg in warm ups to see how it felt and if it felt good sit him and play Saturday v. Norfolk.

Then I saw this guy:

http://twitter.com/#!/nafsnep/status/20631716263624704

Then Tux and Iceburgh had a family reunion I captured:

http://twitter.com/#!/nafsnep/status/20634816496013312

Bobby Day made the trek from Wilkes-Barre to serve as our public address announcer.

Alright. To the game.

First period: Back and forth action. Fourth line had the best shift of the game to that point. The teams would trade penalties which would overlap so we saw 4 on 4 hockey for a spell. No one would score in the feeling out period.

Second period: Before a crowd of 13,567 Corey Potter and Steve Wagner played more shoddy defense which was bailed out again by Brad Thiessen. Brett Sterling was everywhere. He has big game experience in playing for the Chicago Wolves and at Allstate Arena in Rosemont Illinois to a packed house of nearly 10,000 on weekends. You could tell he really wanted to put on a show. Hershey’s sticks were in all of the passing lanes though. More Thiessen seeing the puck well also. Late in the second he gloved a Hershey deflection. Ryan Craig would get whistled for slashing on an odd play where Tim Wallace looked like he took a puck to the teeth. The ensuing power play would see Keith Aucoin score. Jesse Boulerice and Patrick Wellar would fight and the period would end.

At this point and even prior to it, I felt that Wilkes-Barre needed to get scored on to wake up and take control of the game. I was fully expecting something along those lines in the third period.

Third period: More Brett Sterling looking for a goal that never came. Playoff-like intensity was felt by me at least. Folks I spoke with after the game found it to be a boring hockey game. Define boring? Hershey would kill two penalties and that was it. The Pens would pull Thiessen and Dustin Jeffrey and Eric Tangradi would have the game on their sticks but did not score.

Again, it all game down to the “big game” experience I think for Hershey to hang on and win.

Three stars were Keith Aucoin, Brad Thiessen and Braden Holtby.

Around the Division: Charlotte defeated Norfolk in overtime 4-3. That was it. Hershey plays Syracuse tomorrow in a game I will keep my eye on.

Standings: It’s going to get tight around here I think. WBS sticks on 50 points for first. Norfolk sit in second with 44 points. Charlotte has 42 points in third. Hershey has 41 for fourth. Binghamton has 34 points good for fifth. Albany-Syracuse sit in sixth and seventh with 26 points each and Adirondack is last with 16 points.

I return home to Northeastern Pennsylvania tomorrow morning with the booster club. Huge game vs. Norfolk New Years night.

Thanks for having me Pittsburgh. To quote General Douglas MacArthur if I may, “I shall return.”

Go Pens.