Penguins finally win a game this weekend and beat the Springfield Falcons 5-3 this afternoon. Wilkes-Barre at times stifled the Falcons, limiting them to only nine shots on goal through two periods, but the Falcons pounced on defensive breakdowns by the Pens and scored three goals on them.

Patrick Killeen vs. Mike Clemente // Brandon DeFazio was scratched for Steve MacIntyre, who was back from his four game suspension.

First Period: Geoff Walker and Greg Amadio settled a score from the last game and fought at the opening face-off. Amadio got a takedown. MacIntyre took his first shift which was uneventful. Then, Springfield broke in on a 3-on-1 and scored when Matt Calvert snuck one past Kileen. Then, Jason Williams whacked in a rebound to finally end the goal less drought at just under 150 minutes. Then, something I never saw, referee Jarrod Ragusin calls Dalton Prout for diving, with no Penguin in the box for the trip you almost always see. Pens couldn’t do anything with it and it was off to the…

Second Period: Alex Giroux scored to push the Falcons up to 2-1. Then, Maksim Mayorov was awarded a penalty shot when Brian Strait put a hook on him, but Killeen made the save. Then, Ben Street was denied on two separate occasions by goaltender Clemente once on the far circle and again in the slot. Then, Dane Byers scores to make it 3-1 Falcons which was a slow developing three-on-one which ultimately ended a two-on-none. At this point it was three Falcons goals on seven Falcons shots. Penguins would hit a post on a power play then Bryan Lerg had a puck find him with a wide open net in front of him and cut the Springfield lead to one, making it 3-2.

Second Period Notes: The Giroux goal was his 700th AHL point, which makes him the 23rd player in AHL history to reach this plateau.

Third Period: Brian Gibbons would stuff one home in the periods opening stanza. The other way, Killeen had two big stops, then Alex Grant would unleash a bomb from the blue line which put the Pens out ahead. Falcons would pull Clemente late and would never find the equalizer. Brian Strait would backhand a puck in from center ice which found the empty net to seal it at 5-3.

Third Period Thoughts: Patrick Killeen stopped all 17 shots he faced and you can argue had a huge hand in the win, keeping Springfield out of the back of his net.

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (goal, assist, even) 2) Jason Williams (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Alex Grant (game winning goal, -1)

Around the Division: The Bears win six in a row and are a point back of the Penguins with a game in hand. They beat the Charlotte Checkers 3-2 in a shootout and are starting to look like the Bears of old, down 2-0 to comeback and win 3-2. only one other game featuring an East Division team with Binghamton running out of time in a 5-4 loss. At one point the B-Sens were down 5-1.

Standings: Norfolk 97 / Penguins 85 / Hershey 84 / Syracuse 71 / Binghamton 59

Conference: 1-NOR (97) 2-StJ (86) 3-CT (77) 4-WBS (85) 5-HER (84) 6-BRI (75) 7-MCH (73) 8-SYR (71)

Magic Number: Was seven at the start of the day, looks to be five now. Syracuse in eighth was idle and Worcester in nine lost. Number looks like it is still 90 to clinch.

This Week: St. John’s is in Norfolk on Wednesday looking to end the Admirals 20 game win streak, the Bears travel to Binghamton. Penguins practice Tuesday, so I will probably have news and notes then, unless something jumps up which is relevant to blog about sooner.

Let’s Go Pens!

The subject line tonight was overheard by me from a small child telling his father that he didn’t hear the Penguins goal horn for two straight nights. Whomever that young child is, I would like to thank him for telling his father that and giving me the idea to use that phrase as my blog title this evening.

Nothing childish, however, about the Penguins lack of scoring. 2-0 loss tonight, now shut out in back to back periods and goalless for 127:32 going back to Geoff Walker’s goal last Sunday vs. Binghamton, provided my math is correct.*

Scott Munroe vs. Eddie Pasquale

Before the game, the Hershey Bears announced that they will be hosting an outdoor game at Hersheypark Stadium next January 20. I have a blog about it one post down, or here with full details.

First Period: Penguins would get two power plays but could not muster anything with them. Really the story of the night and the goalless drought with the power play ineffectiveness. Some power plays the Pens couldn’t muster even a shot. Ray Sawada hit Aaron Gagnon on a stretch pass which sprung Gaganon on a breakaway he scored on in the final minute.

Second Period: Penguins caught on their heels a bit as the IceCaps pressured and pressured. Finally Jason Gregoire scored on a sneaky play by him where he snuck in behind the D, gets a pass from John Albert and goes top shelf on Munroe to put his team up 2-0. St. John’s would continue to have firing squad mentality but Munroe never let in another one. Penguins had sustained pressure late but were unable to find the back of the net.

Third Period: Uneventful in terms of goals. Pasquale left rebound after rebound of the nine shots the Pens pumped his way this period but no single goal was found. Pens pulled Munroe and weren’t able to score with the extra man.

Thoughts: Munroe has actually played outstanding these last two nights. If I tell you at 5 o’clock Friday that after two games, he only lets in a total of three goals, you probably take it and run. Penguins are just not skating. I don’t know if it is line combinations or what it is now, hopefully it gets fixed and fixed quick.

Magic Number: Think stays at 7. Scenarios with the logjam at the 8 seed make it hard for me being a folly at math.

Around the Division: One more and the streak will be old enough to drink. The Norfolk Admirals run it to 20 in a row, defeating the Albany Devils by a 4-3 score. Hershey comes back to nip Charlotte 2-1. Syracuse loses to Rochester in a shootout, 4-3.

Standings: Norfolk 97 / WBS 83 / Hershey 82 / Syracuse 71 / Binghamton 59

Conference: 1-NOR (97) 2-StJ (86) 3-CT (76) 4-WBS (83) 5-HER (82) 6-BRI (73) 7-MCH (71) 8-SYR (71)

Springfield is in Sunday afternoon for what is sure to be an interesting affair with Steve MacIntyre being eligible to return from suspension. You may want to get there early to see what boils up in warmups.

Gameday for that matchup will be here on the blog at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – stop laughing.