Scott Munroe shuts out the Connecticut Whale for the season, winning this game tonight 3-0. Munroe went 184:56 of shutout hockey against the Whale and will not be on their Christmas Card list. Woe to the Whale if they cross paths with the Penguins in playoffs.

(But Game 1 of that series would be a 5-1 waxing by the Whale on the Penguins, with Munroe probably giving up 4 goals in the first period, as fate may have it)

Scott Munroe vs. Chad Johnson – Philip Samuelsson was recalled earlier in the day and took Joey Mormina’s spot on the blue line.

First Period: After an extended time of back and forth, green flag hockey as I like to call it, Simon Despres scored on a feed from Cal O’Reilly to make it 1-0. After, Alex Grant and Scott Tanski dropped the gloves, then Grant dropped Tanski with a few rights.

Second Period: Bryan Lerg scored on a breakaway about :50 into the start of the period. It was a daft back hander Johnson had no chance on. Then, on the power play, Jason Williams fed Geoff Walker a pass Walker slammed home on the backdoor.

In hindsight, the game was won in the first five and a half minutes of the second for the Penguins. I never got the sense tonight that the Whale were truly into the game, like into it as in “they may score here” into it. Come out in the first five minutes, get a breakaway goal and finish a power play goal before it even starts and you deflate a lot of teams hopes.

Helping much, was a point in the game that I noticed that for the period, the Whale had only two shots on goal. They ended the period with four. That is a great way to ensure you protect the lead and insulate your goaltender.

Third Period: Uneventful but for the moment at 8:26 of the period when Simon Despres was trying to dig a puck out from behind Connecticut’s net in the corner while getting cross checked in the back by Jared Nightengale multiple times. Referee Graham Skilliter is right on top of the play and calls nothing. In flies Colin McDonald who jumps Nightengale. Huge scrum. Robert Bortuzzo pulls Nightengale out of the scrum and fights him. Somewhere in there Andre Deveaux was involved. He got tossed with McDonald.

Connecticut tried to get something going late but never got one behind Munroe, who when called upon, did make some fantastic saves.

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (goal, +2) 2) Simon Despres (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Scott Munroe (27 save shutout)

Around the Division: Syracuse beats Hershey 3-2 in a shootout. The Bears lose the game in hand against the Penguins when they host the Whale Easter Sunday. Norfolk wins its TWENTY-FIFTH game in a row 4-1 vs. the Binghamton Senators. Stop me if you have heard this tune before: The Admirals are in a tight game late, until they get one goal, then the floodgates open. Most playoff games are like this.

Standings: Norfolk 107 / Penguins 93 / Hershey 88 / Syracuse 80 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (107) 2-StJ (90) 3-BRI (87) 4-WBS (93) 5-HER (88) 6-CT (82) 7-SYR (80) 8-MCH (77)

Elsewhere, in the ECHL the Wheeling Nailers season is over. They lost 3-2 to the Kalamazoo Wings in Michigan tonight and 3-1 in the series. I would expect at some point after meetings and such that we get a ton of reinforcements in from Wheeling. But that’s another blog post for another day.

Pens are off until next Friday. Have no idea what I am going to do with myself until then. I will try to run what I can based on allowable content. As always, we can mix it up on the Twitter side.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins win a penalty-fest tonight 4-2 to pull four points ahead of rival Hershey Bears and home ice in Round 1 of the Calder Cup Playoffs in a few weeks. It was head coach John Hynes’ 100th regular season AHL victory.

Regardless, a typical Penguins / Bears game on a Friday night in the AHL. Maybe it’s because I have so much respect for the Bears, but I was on the edge of my seat all night.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dany Sabourin – news du jour was that Steve MacIntyre was recalled to Pittsburgh for tomorrows Penguins / Flyers game.

First Period: Penalties would make this post gamer about 1,000 words.* I’m not going to recap each one obviously, or else you would miss the first period of Penguins / Whale tomorrow by the time you are done reading this. Geoff Walker deflected a Jason Willimas point shot while Julien Brouillette was in the box for hooking. This was predicated by 4:00 of power play the Pens had when Billy Ryan was in the box for Hershey on a high stick double minor.

First period shots on goal were thirteen for the Penguins and four for the Bears. Really a dominating period for Wilkes-Barre despite nearly half of it being on the penalty kill, it seemed.

Second Period: Scary moment as Joey Mormina caught Ryan Potulny up high and shook Potulny up a bit. Julien Brouillette came over to defend his felled teammate and ended top getting an extra minor for roughing. in the ensuing power play, Brandon DeFazio outworked everyone and backhanded it in and past Sabourin to make it 2-0 Penguins. Hershey would use its time out.

What a timeout by head coach Mark French, as the Bears score two goals in the span of :41 and evened things. Both goals scored by Kyle Greentree, even strength and on the power play, respectively.

Third Period: Penguins failed to score on a five-on-three penalty. Then, Zach Sill and David Marshall fought after a hard hit from Marshall on Sill. Marshall would get an extra two for interference and in the ensuing power play Ben Street would tip home a Joey Mormina point shot to put the Pens out in front for good, 3-2. Penguins would then have to kill a Robert Bortuzzo tripping call. Penguins killed it, then Chris Bourque took a slashing call with under two minutes left, Hershey would pull Sabourin and Nick Petersen would score an empty netter to seal it.

Three Stars: 3) Geoff Walker (goal, -1) 2) Kyle Greentree (two goals, +1) and 1) Ben Street (game winning power play goal, assist, even)

Penguins get three power play goals. Not bad, considering the Bears had the third overall best and sixth best road penalty kill unit.

Around the Division: Norfolk wraps up the regular season title with a 3-1 victory against the Binghamton Senators. That’s twenty-four straight wins for the Admirals. Syracuse lost to Bridgeport in my “other game to watch” tonight by a score of 3-1.

Standings: Norfolk 105 / Penguins 91 / Hershey 87 / Syracuse 78 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (105) 2-StJ (90) 3-BRI (87) 4-WBS (91) 5-HER (87) 6-CT (82) 7-SYR (78) 8-MCH (77)

After the game, Dany Sabourin was headed to New York City to join parent club Washington Capitals. He will be back Sunday.

Tomorrow Connecticut is in for a 7:05 face-off. Gameday up at 3. Keep me on your Twitter feeds in case there are more call ups for tomorrow’s meaningless game vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. It’s Pens-Flyers Round 1 up top, so we will see what, if anything, happens tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – only 575 words tonight.

Norfolk runs its win streak to 23 straight after defeating the Penguins 2-1 in Virginia this evening. A tweet from Michael Fornabaio, Sound Tigers beat writer and inspiration for this blog:

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I am hanging my hat on this game, as you should, that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins ran with the Norfolk Admirals tonight. If not for six straight power plays to the Admirals we may be speaking about a streak ending. But when you hand a team with the second best power play in the American Hockey League only behind the juggernaut Hershey Bears six straight power plays, you are bound to get bit.

Norfolk scored both goals tonight on the power play tonight. Even strength, I want to say the Penguins held the edge throughout.

Scott Munroe vs. Dustin Tokarski – Jason Williams returned from his maintenance day and as a result Brandon DeFazio was scratched.

First Period: Michel Ouellet scored on a power play on a two on one. He froze Munroe looking off to the other player (didn’t catch a number) the entire down on the two on one. This was prefaced be a Penguin power play and strong puck possession.

Second Period: No shots at all for the Penguins halfway through the period. Finally, a Paul Thompson wrist shot. That opened the floodgates for the Penguins. Alex Grant would laser a shot on net that Bryan Lerg would get a piece of and past Tokarski to even things. Penguins were getting chance after chance. Coach John Hynes shook up the lines before the game. The one line which stayed intact was the Nick Petersen – Ben Street – Geoff Walker line. This line was absolute dynamite all night. They nearly scored almost every shift they were out for this period.

Third Period: Assisted by the fact that the Penguins took six straight penalties, the Admirals finally broke through when Mark Barberio hammered a shot in from the point in front of Cal O’Reilly, who had a stick break. Penguins would get late chances, with Munroe pulled, but would never find the equalizer.

Thoughts: Meaningless game in the large scope of things. Norfolk was going to get best record in the East. Penguins have the date with the Hershey Bears nearly set in stone for the playoffs in a few weeks, only issue at hand is who gets home ice. John Hynes denied his 100th AHL win. He will get another crack Friday vs. the Bears. Hershey ultimately gets a game in hand vs. the Pens out of this.

I’m rambling, so let’s tighten up.

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Norfolk 103 / Penguins 89 / Hershey 87 / Syracuse 76 / Binghamton 62

Conference: 1-NOR (103) 2-StK (90) 3-BRI (83) 4-WBS (89) 5-HER (87) 6-CT (80) 7-SYR (76) 8-MCH (76)

Pens bus home tonight, probably will have off tomorrow, practice Thursday then the Bears are in for a huge game Friday night. I’ll have what I can get between now and then with any news.

Let’s Go Pens!