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I have ragged on Jayson Megna all season long.

Tonight, I couldn’t be more wrong.

Megna, in the game of his life, helps the Penguins to a 3-2 Game 3 win and a 3-0 sweep of the Binghamton Senators.

Jayson Megna was astounding tonight. Plain and simple. He and the fourth line won this game for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins who advance to the second round.

The Penguins do not yet know their opponent for the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Brad Thiessen started for the Penguins tonight. Jeff Zatkoff was no where to be seen for warmups. Scott Darling backed up for the Pens tonight. Zatkoff is officially listed as “day to day.” With this being playoffs, getting any more information from the team re: Zatkoff’s status would be like drawing blood from a stone.

First Period: Pens looked flat. Binghamton really limited their chances. A defensive zone turnover on a breakout lead to a Matt Puempel goal in where Thiessen had no chance. Pens only had four shots on goal that entire period.

Second Period: Nothing doing for the Pens in the scoring department. Penguins looked better in the period but Lawson by all means was outstanding.

Third Period: Penguins had the early jump. You got the sense that if the B-Sens did manage to somehow hold on and win the game that they would not be able to replicate the result for 120 minutes of hockey or two more games. The Pens started to pressure, pressure and pressure some more. Things started to get chippy. Then, Trevor Smith finds himself in the box for a roughing call. The Penguins send out Zach Sill and Jayson Megna on the penalty kill. Sill works a puck out, it gets to Megna for a 2-on-1 rush the other way. Megna carries it, dishes to Sill who deflects the pass top left corner on Lawson to tie it at one a piece.

The very next series there was a stoppage in play. I noticed at the time the the B-Sens skaters were coming off the ice like someone had just shot their dog. The Pens had the look of hope on their faces, like they were the ones that would score the next goal.

Binghamton would pressure for a good six minutes. The aggression would prove to be too much as Pat Cannone would trip up Trevor Smith. Penguins power play.

Penguins would work a puck down low to perfection. Trevor Smith would dish to Riley Holzapfel who would have an easy backdoor shot on goal for the go ahead goal.

Binghamton would pull Lawson, and fitting enough, Jayson Megna would win a race to a puck and score an empty netter. It would actually hold up as the game winner as Mark Borowiecki would score the final B-Sens goal of the season with 1.5 seconds left as Thiessen was heavily screened.

All games end in 3-2 scores. I am telling you, the B-Sens could have won all three of these games by this same score.

This paragraph is dedicated to the Binghamton Senators for a hell of a series. To Kate Krenzer in the front office, Bob Howard who moonlights on color with play by play man Grady Whittenburg and Matt Weinstein and Matt Verderame from the Press & Sun-Bulletin handshakes to you guys on a hell of a series and look forward to seeing you again in the Fall.

Three Stars: 3) Jayson Megna (goal, assist, +2) 2) Riley Holzapfel (goal, even) and 1) Zach Sill (goal, assist, +2)

Again, the Penguins do not know who they will be facing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Syracuse Crunch seem like the most likely opponent as the Crunch finished off a sweep of their own tonight up in Portland 4-3. The Manchester Monarchs live to see another day as they win over the Springfield Falcons 2-1 Hershey hosts Providence for Game 3 on Saturday.

I think we will know the opponent fairly soon, so stick with me on Twitter for the up to the minute on that and check the blog sometime this weekend for that and a schedule of what to expect in the coming days.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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As Penguins fans, I think we can all say we have been there before.

Blood rival in a playoff game. Their best player sinks an OT game winner to deliver a heartbreaking loss. So you come back the next day, and it seems that everyone is against you, including the referees.

For Binghamton Senators fans, I think that is how they are feeling this Sunday evening.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins take a 2-0 series lead with a 3-2 win on the Southern Tier of New York and can sweep the series Thursday in Wilkes-Barre. It seemed at times that referees Jon McIsaac and Jamie Koharski were wearing Penguins jerseys with orange arm bands with some of the so-so calls being made against the home team, which incited the ire of the faithful at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

Or maybe Binghamton played undisciplined and the Penguins played sound, calm cool hockey. Who knows. I guess it depends on what team you pull for.

One lineup change to note the Penguins way. Chris Collins was in for Dominik Uher. For a more in-depth reason as to why the change, may I direct you to the great Jonathan Bombulie’s blog recap.

Turns out though, that the Collins swap for Uher was money in the bank. Collins scored a goal in the second period of the game that broke a 1-1 tie. It had appeared, to that point, that the B-Sens were slowly gaining enough momentum to make a series out of it, but then Collins fools everyone in what Bombulie described as a no look shot that absolutely fooled everyone in the arena, especially starting goaltender Nathan Lawson.

Jeff Zatkoff was astounding once again. He lets in a goal on a rush late in the first when Matt Puempel finds himself in the high slot after a pass and he shoots it blocker side on him. Earlier, Riley Holzapfel finished off a goal mouth scrum on the back end of a Derek Grant double minor for a high stick.

Warren Peters had an excellent game as well, blocking shots, winning face-offs, clearing pucks, etc. He scored with 1.9 seconds left in the second to put the Penguins ahead 3-1 at the time.

Penguins would be the beneficiaries of the whistles of McIassac / Koharski with an extended 5-on-3 power play in the third period, but they could not score on it.

Stephane Da Costa for Binghamton got close twice in the game, drawing iron on two separate occasions including once late in the third. Chris Wideman scored late on a power play with Lawson pulled but the Pens held on and took command of the series and will look to end it Thursday.

B-Sens kept the top line of Kolarik-Smith-Holzapfel pretty much in check all night but for the goal scored by Holzapfel on the back end of the double minor late in the first. Assists from Sill, Megna, Gibbons with goals from Collins and Peters is about as balanced of a scoring effort that you can ask for, in my opinion.

If you happened to be wondering who the teams are that came back from down 0-2 in the best of five, wonder no more. The great Tim Leone has it covered for you. (hint: he’s only doing this because Hershey is up 2-0 on Providence in their series)

I will be back this week with a look at the other series in the East and West and what could be shaping up for the Penguins in Round 2, provided we don’t see a repeat reversal of 2005. I think we will know quick, especially if that Game 3 goes three overtimes. Binghamton doesn’t have anyone named Armstrong though.

Let’s Go Pens!