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When IceCaps goaltender Michael Hutchinson goes to bed tonight a happy man, he will have those pining noises in his head.

Why? The Penguins lost this Game 2 tonight by a score of 2-1, but Wilkes-Barre must have hit about five posts in this game.

— Brendan Mikkelson on a 4×3 power play for Wilkes-Barre in the first.

— Spencer Machacek off a post bulling in after St. John’s made it 2-0 in the second period.

— Zolnierczyk feeds Megna cross ice and Megna hits the iron in the second.

— Brendan Mikkelson, again on the power play and again, off the post in the third.

— Penguins in a late flurry in front of Hutchinson, off the iron.

Puck luck. Sometimes you need it when you are vying for a title. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are competing strongly for a Calder Cup but didn’t have any puck luck this night.

Another thing, St. John’s never loses two games at home on back to back nights. It rarely happens. You wanted a split walking out of Mohegan Sun Arena after a nail biting Game 7 win vs. the Providence Bruins and got it. I don’t think anyone could be unhappy with the result this weekend.

Peter Mannino vs Michael Hutchinson.

Lineup Notes: Chuck Kobasew was out with a lower body injury. Josh Archibald took his spot in the line up. No other lineup changes for the Penguins. For St. John’s, 27 goal scorer Jerome Samson was out of the lineup for St. John’s. Kris Fredheim was out also for the IceCaps. Josh Lunden and Jordan Hill were in for each, respectively.

Kobasew’s status is officially, “day to day, lower body injury, status to be determined.”

First Period: Brendan Mikkelson was tripped at the blue line and Kyle MacKinnon got a step and scored to put the IceCaps up 1-0.

Second Period: Penguins tried to score in a pile of bodies but Hutchinson, stickless, was able to keep the puck out of his net. Simon Despres made a sprawling save to keep the score at just 1-0 for the IceCaps.

But then the Pens fail on a clear and a long shot from the blue line by D Carl Klingberg handcuffs Mannino and it was 2-0 IceCaps.

Teams would trade consecutive breakaway chances but both goaltenders would make fine saves.

Third Period: Penguins get two power plays this period. You almost know that if the Penguins score on the power play that they will be successful and likely win the game. That didn’t happen tonight.

Anton Zlobin would score with 1:04 left to cut the deficit to one and things got interesting.

6-on-4 with Mannino out and the Pens on a power play, Brian Gibbons has a puck passed to him in the slot but never gets a good shot off, and the IceCaps take the game and even the series.

Three Stars: 3) Kyle MacKinnon (goal, +1) 2) Carl Klingberg (goal, +1) and 1) Michael Hutchinson (34 saves on 35 shots)

Game 2 goes Wednesday from Wilkes-Barre.

Reid McNeill, Andrew Ebbett and Nick Drazenovic did not make the trip, but the sense that I am picking up is that one of, if not all of, will be ready to go for Game 3. I will keep an eye out for any information out of St. John’s regarding Jerome Samson, as well as hope for the best regarding Chuck Kobasew. Josh Archibald didn’t look out of place for the Pens tonight, generating chances.

St. John’s YouTube highlights….

[youtube http://youtu.be/_nE_eEmEB_E]

I’ll refresh the charts that I have been playing with this week and will maybe make a blog post out of one of them. Stay tuned.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Worried that the Penguins spent it all trying to defend a 5-0 lead against a rushing Providence Bruins team in Game 7 Wednesday?

Worried that a rested St. John’s team would run a Penguins team that just got into Newfoundland 24 hours ago?

You don’t have to.

[tweet https://twitter.com/AHLPR/status/470321556376530944]

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Make it 12-2, after the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight in St. John’s by a score of 3-2.

Game 2 goes Sunday at 6 p.m. Wilkes-Barre time, in St. John’s.

Peter Mannino vs. Michael Hutchinson

Lineup Notes: Bombulie blogged yesterday that Reid McNeill, Andrew Ebbett and Nick Drazenovic are out for the first two games for the Penguins. From what Mike O’Brien said on the radio today on pre-game, it sounded to me that the trio will be ready for Game 3 in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday. Mike Carman was in for Nick Drazenovic, Bobby Farnham was scratched again for the Penguins. For the IceCaps, Captain Jason Jaffray returned from injury as he missed Game 6 vs. Norfolk last round.

First Period: Brian Gibbons cuts down the ice and centers a pass to Chuck Kobasew who gets a stick on it to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

IcedCaps really poured it on after the Kobasew score. Ex-Bear Andrew Gordon scores when the Pens had problems tracking the puck from behind Mannino’s net. A couple of chances for both teams after that, Kobasew swings and misses on a knee-drop one timer then the IceCaps hit a post.

Second Period: Conor Sheary cuts in and gets a shot in on Hutchinson, then tracks his own rebound and whacks it in for a 2-1 Penguins lead. Penguins were outshooting the IceCaps 7-0 at one point. Later, Spencer Machacek tracks a puck on his own wall and centers it to Tom Kostopoulos cutting in and Kostopoulos scores to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

Third Period: Penguins took penalty after penalty after penalty, but managed to keep the IceCaps off the board on the power play.

Four on Four though was a different story. Andrew Gordon scores off of a face-off on the James Neal Play™ to cut the deficit to one for the IceCaps. This period was all St. John’s it seemed, a polar opposite of the second period where it seemed like the Penguins controlled the pace.

Adam Payerl shattered a pane of glass trying to bank a puck out and there was a seven minute delay. I tweeted at the time an open question as to who I thought the delay would favor, the trailing IceCaps or the leading Penguins?

Turns out, in the end, it benefitted the leading Penguins as with Hutchinson pulled the IceCaps never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Brian Gibbons (assist, +1) 2) Andrew Gordon (two goals, +2) 1) Tom Kostopoulos (game winning goal, even)

Ice Chips: Andrew Gordon, the ex-Hershey Bear, is 7-3-10 against the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in his postseason career….Conor Sheary has a seven game point streak going.

SendToNews Highlights: IceCaps do it right, YouTube!

[youtube http://youtu.be/wzNkWoNeLQ0]

Game 2 goes Sunday evening at 6 p.m. local time. You’d love to bring home a 2-0 lead back to Wilkes-Barre if you are the Penguins. Expect the IceCaps to come out guns blazing tomorrow night. My Gameday setup will hit the blog at 2 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!!