vs.       

  4                                     5

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It was almost, “Destination Implosion” or, “Charlotte Redux”

After going up 5-0 on the first six shots in 7:16 of the second period, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were rolling. They had just chased Bruins goaltender Niklas Svedberg and scored on on Malcolm Subban and it looked like there was nothing that could stop them. Nothing.

Then, David Warsofsky scores a shorthanded goal in the final minute and it was all of a sudden 5-1.

It’s cool, we got this. Penguins fans and media all across the American Hockey League were penciling in the Penguins names as the opponent for the St. John’s IceCaps.

These eyes have witnessed the Charlotte collapse in 2011. The Penguins were up 3-0 in the third period and lost 4-3 and were out of the playoffs just like that. I dubbed that loss, “The Collapse That Will Live in Infamy.” — you can read about it here. I will take that collapse with me to my grave.

It nearly happened again tonight.

:23 into the third period, Ryan Spooner rips a far wrister from Plymouth and it goes in. 5-2.

Providence started to push, push, push.

Out of a media timeout, Alex Khokhlachev scores. It’s 5-3.

Time out Hynes. Settle down guys. There’s still plenty of time left, but we pride ourselves on defense and goaltending. Play some.

Philip Samuelsson gets whistled for interference. Providence power play.

Hello, Khoko! It’s 5-4. Scramble in front. Khokhlachev had a wide open net. It’s 5-4.

10:05 left. Stunned. This cannot be happening. I do not believe my eyes.

Finally, it settles. But not before Mannino gets handcuffed on a shot and two Bruins whiff at shots ticketed for the net behind the Wilkes-Barre netminder.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

Zac Dalpe…Chris Terry… Brent Sutter… Chubby Checker……

Whistle during play. What is it? Bruins caught for too many men. Penguins power play. 4:02 left. Get one here and it’s put away forever.

Tom Kostopoulos, the lifeblood of this team, stoned point blank by Malcolm Subban. Bruins kill it. Then, Philip Samuelsson takes a slash.

Zac Dalpe….Chris Terry… Brent Sutter….

The Penguins needed the penalty kill of their 15 year franchise.

Last minute.

Brian Gibbons eats an Alexander Khokhlachev high stick. 4:00 penalty for high sticking. Faceoff in the Providence zone with 14.1 seconds left.

Chubby is in the car, driving away. Zac Dalpe, Brent Sutter and Chris Terry slip quietly into the night again.

There would be no meltdown. The Penguins narrowly defeat the Providence Bruins by a score of 5-4 tonight. They will face the St. John’s IceCaps in the Eastern Conference Finals beginning Saturday in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Make no bones about it, the Penguins nearly lost this game and depending on what sect of fan base you talk to, may have deserved to have lost this game. But five goals to comeback from is nearly an insurmountable lead to comeback from at any level. The Providence Bruins nearly accomplished just that.

After a scoreless first period, where the Pengiuns outshot the Bruins 10-3, then exploded for five goals in the second period.

Anton Zlobin coasted down the right side and threw a shot on net that banked in off of Chris Casto’s skate for a 1-0 lead.

The Penguins would score on a power play when Nick Drazenovic set up Conor Sheary on the near post who stuffed it in to make it 2-0 Penguins.

Bruins would call a timeout. Adam Payerl would get interfered with then Anton Zlobin would take a hooking call. Jayson Megna would score to make it 3-0. Before anyone knew what happened, Brian Gibbons would score to make it 4-0 after he got away and slipped one under Svedberg’s pads.

Malcolm Subban would relieve Svedberg in net. The Penguins just scored four goals in 5:35.

Craig Cunningham would get called for goalie interference. Brendan Mikkelson would fire in a shot from the blue line that would go in to make it 5-0.

Harry Zolnierczyk was denied on a wraparound shot that Subban got a toe save on. Conor Sheary and Adam Payerl came in two on one that Subban made a glove save on. That was the last great effort that I remember in the game for the Penguins.

I tweeted this:

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Turns out I was right. But not too right this time like in Game 6 of this series.

Now the Penguins have two days to get ready to fly to St. John’s and take on an IceCaps team that is rested and has home ice advantage.

Here is the schedule:

Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M”
4-St. John’s IceCaps vs. 6-W-B/Scranton Penguins 
Game 1 – Sat., May 24 – W-B/Scranton at St. John’s, 6:00 
Game 2 – Sun., May 25 – W-B/Scranton at St. John’s, 6:00 
Game 3 – Wed., May 28 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 
Game 4 – Thu., May 29 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 
*Game 5 – Sat., May 31 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 
*Game 6 – Tue., June 3 – W-B/Scranton at St. John’s, 6:00 
*Game 7 – Wed., June 4 – W-B/Scranton at St. John’s, 6:00 
    *if necessary… All times Eastern

Here is what the blog schedule will look like leading up to Game 1 Saturday in St. John’s…

Thursday: Chart refreshes for the Penguins and the IceCaps. As soon as I get those together I will tweet them then blog about them later.

Friday: Series Preview against St. John’s. The IceCaps are an experienced club. They have names like Jason Jaffray, Andrew Gordon and Jerome Samson. Michael Hutchinson is their goalie. The IceCaps don’t have a two headed goaltending monster like Providence had. It’s going to be a great series.

The other series is Texas and Toronto. I have Texas as the favorite to win it all in the West and the Marlies haven’t lost a playoff game yet, sweeping the Milwaukee Admirals in Round 1 and the Chicago Wolves in Round 2.

Coal Street will cut up the video highlights and I’ll edit accordingly Thursday. Here they are…

The Penguins got to the halfway point in their pursuit for their first ever Calder Cup on seven cylinders and a flat tire. With the dismissal of the Bruins, Griffins, Wolves and Admirals in Round Two, the American Hockey League will have a first time champion crowned again for the second season in a row with the Stars, Marlies, IceCaps and Penguins still alive. After two thrilling series, the Penguins are only at half way and the best is yet to come.

More Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and beyond.

Let’s Go Pens!!!!

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  4                                     1

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We will be fine.

I don’t want to hear about “.6” or how the referees are getting paid off to put the screws to the Penguins. Get out of here with that garbage.

We will be fine.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were defeated tonight in Game 6 by a score of 4-1. They threw everything at Bruins starting goaltender Niklas Svedberg but were unable to get anything past him except for a late, with counterpart Peter Mannino pulled, extra attacker goal by Conor Sheary (who else for the Penguins?) to put the lone blemish on Svedberg who was far and away outstanding. He stopped 36 of 37 shots tonight.

Bruins were without the services of Joe Morrow tonight and really looked like a decimated team, with all of the manpower loss. Justin Florek and Zach Trotman are the other horses for this Providence team that are out with injury. They are also a team that plays great with their backs against the wall, as evidenced in last series vs. Springfield, a series where they were down 2-1 to the Falcons and rallied all the way back to take that series in five games.

So you give John Hynes and company two days to prepare for a winner take all Game 7 against a team that has holes at a lot of positions with a team that just got healthier with the return of Philip Samuelsson. I like my damn chances.

Svedberg played his best game of the series tonight. Shots were 22-7 at one point. He stopped everything and was outstanding. Can he do the same in less than 48 hours against a team on the same cliff as his, that just spent the better part of those 48 hours reviewing video and adjusting?

I guess that is why they play the game. Anything can happen in Game 7.

Dominik Uher, Bobby Farnham and Philip Samuelsson were in for Mike Carman, Josh Archibald and Barry Goers, respectively. Nick Drazenovic took the place of Adam Payerl.

Shots in the first period were 14-5 Penguins. They looked to finish the Bruins early, but Svedberg was on point.

Second period had this, before the bottom fell out:

Then, the bottom fell out….

A bad pinch by Simon Despres on the wall led to that rush by Khokhlachev.

Pens got a power play when the Bruins were caught with too many men but the Bruins killed it, later force a turnover at center ice on Jayson Megna, Khohkhlachev works some fancy passes to Bobby Robins, fresh off of a three game suspension and it’s 2-0.

Before all of this happened, Bobby Farnham appeared to have scored on a Cory Kane-esque hack and whack job that won it for the Bruins in Game 4. Referee Darcy Burchell ruled that Svedberg was pushed in the net with the puck and immediately washed it out.

You’ll get no argument from me by telling me that if that goal was allowed to stand, tonight’s outcome would be a little different.

Bruins cash in they third period on a carry over Philip Samuelsson slashing call with :03 to go in the second and make it 3-0. Ryan Spooner found Alex Khokhlachev at the net front. Khokhlachev made a move and scored to extend it to 3-0 for the Bruins. They locked things down from there. Sheary got his extra attacker goal with Mannino pulled. Ryan Spooner scored into an empty net to seal it late.

Three stars were 3) Conor Sheary (goal, even) 2) Niklas Svedberg (36 saves on 37 shots) and 1) Alexander Khokhlachev (two goals, assist, +1)

SendToNews Highlight package is here. The Farnham disallowed goal still comes at around the :45 mark. Simonelli for Providence pushes Svedberg into his own net, but ref Burchell wasn’t looking or had intent to blow. One of the two.

Let’s hope that this game isn’t a reverse of what happened in last years Game 6 with this very same team.

I don’t think it will be. I keep my sanity by constantly telling myself what Patrick Williams once said. That is, that if winning a Calder Cup were easy, we’d all have one.

Game 7 is Wednesday.

We will be fine.

Let’s Go Pens!

          @      

  3                                          2

–

No late game heroics this time.

With 1:07 left in the third period, Providence Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy decides to pull starting goaltender Malcolm Subban in favor of an extra attacker.

The Providence Bruins manage to pump three hard shots towards starting goaltender Peter Mannino.

They were all blocked. There would be no late second heroics this time. Not today.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are coming home for Game 6 up 3-2 in the best of seven series with a chance to close out the Bruins Monday night after defeating the Providence Bruins 3-2.

Peter Mannino vs. Malcolm Subban.

Lineup Notes: Lots for Wilkes-Barre. Dominik Uher, Bobby Farnham and Nick Drazenovic all out for the Pens while Spencer Machacek, Josh Archibald and Mike Carman were in for the Penguins. For the Providence Bruins, they dressed 11 forwards and 7 defensemen tonight as Justin Florek was out with an upper body injury.

First Period: Penguins had two power play chances, but failed to score on them. Providence was awarded a power play and Ryan Spooner scored from the same spot he did with .6 second left in the third period yesterday. It would turn out that Craig Cunningham got a stick on the puck on the way in.

Then the Penguins got two goals in the span of 1:47.

The first one was a Spencer Machacek setup to Harry Zolnierczyk on the far post to even the game at 1-1.

Conor Sheary had a two-on-one opportunity with Jayson Megna. Sheary has been the best player of the series. He showed some chemistry with Megna but Megna lacked finish. The Pens would go back on the power play.

:05 later. Josh Archibald would cash in on a rebound to put the Pens up 2-1.

Second Period: P-Bruins outshoot the Pens 14-5 and Tyler Randell snakes around a fallen Mannino to tie the game at two.

Third Period: Penguins opened with some jump in the opening. Subban was facing a large number of shots. Penguins would go on the power play but Providence got all the chances shorthanded.

Later, Jayson Megna cuts to the net and Anton Zlobin puts the puck in for a 3-2 Penguins lead.

Penguins would go back on the penalty kill. During the power play that ensued for the Bruins, ex-Penguin Joe Morrow was hit hard and left the ice. The Bruins have been decimated by injury this series. Losing Morrow, one of their better defensemen would hurt them.

Penguins would get the kill, ice it, Subban would be pulled for the extra attacker and the Bruins would never find the equalizer.

From the AHL’s “Morning Skate” from earlier, the team that wins Game 5 in the best-of-seven series goes on to win the series 80.8% of the time.

Three Stars: 3) Tyler Randell (goal, +1) 2) Anton Zlobin (goal, +1) and 1) Peter Mannino (31 saves on 33 shots)

Game 6 goes Monday night from Wilkes-Barre with a chance for the Penguins to close it out.

I’ll probably have my “soon to be famous” chart refresh later Sunday afternoon / evening. Check me out then.

Let’s Go Pens!!