Remember the time when the Penguins couldn’t win shootouts to save their tail? Remember when that was a concern? Not anymore. Pens win their second game in the three game New England trip by a score of 5-4, in a shootout for the second night in a row.

Solid effort tonight against a really good Bridgeport Sound Tigers team.

Scott Munroe vs. Kevin Poulin – Steve MacIntyre was in for Matt Rust as the Sound Tigers dressed pest Trevor Gillies but the two never fought.

First Period: Kevin Poulin was sharp, denying Nick Petersen and then Geoff Walker while the Pens were on a power play. In that power play, Colin McDonald would score from the bottom of the right circle to put the Pens up 1-0. Then, Ty Wishart tried to get the puck up ice past Poulin but instead of finding a teammate, it found Nick Petersen’s stick and in for a 2-0 Penguins lead. Penguins would have to kill off a 5-on-3 for :53 on two high sticking penalties. Late, Aaron Ness got run over by Robert Bortuzzo and then Cody Wild. Bortuzzo fought Brett Gallant for it.

First period thoughts – Wilkes-Barre controlled the period. For a Bridgeport team that has only lost twice since last playing the Pens on December 31, a positive thing. Also, with the first period scoring woes the Pens have had in the past few weeks this was a breath of fresh air leading into the…

Second Period: Kind of a physical period for both teams. Tony Romano scored when the puck went up in the air, and like in baseball, Munroe and Cody Wild didn’t call off one or the other with the “I got it” and it went in. Right after, Tyler McNeely scored to tie things at two. Much like last night in Providence. Kevin Poulin was diving all over the place, stopping attempt after attempt.

Third Period: Ping pong to Justin DiBenedetto who scores to make it 3-2. Then next shift Ben Street scores to tie the game at three. Street would score again on the power play then get denied by Poulin later for the hat trick. Late, with Poulin out, Rhett Rakshani scored to tie things with 1:20 to go. It was then off to…

Overtime: Goalies made some good saves, Brian Gibbons would take a hooking penalty but the Sound Tigers did not score.

Shootout: Much like last night, Munroe denied all Sound Tigers shooters and Cal O’Reilly and Colin McDonald scored for the Pens.

Three Stars: 1) Rhett Rakhshani (goal, +2) 2) Ben Street (two goals, +1) and 1) Colin McDonald (gaol, -1)

Around the Division: Hershey lost to St. John’s in the shootout 3-2. The Norfolk Admirals win their 14th game in a row 3-1 beating the Connecticut Whale in Hartford. Rochester thumped Binghamton 6-1 and Springfield edges Syracuse 6-5.

Standings: Admirals 85 / Pens 77 / Bears 72 / Crunch 58 / Senators 52

Pens wrap the three game series tomorrow afternoon in Springfield, where I am headed now. Remember to turn your clocks ahead an hour!

Let’s Go Pens!

Wonderfully tight checking game tonight here in Rhode Island and felt like a playoff game. A playoff game where neither team could score any pretty goals. Scott Munroe comes back from stopping no shots on Tuesday to stop all shots in the shootout and the Penguins skate away with the extra two points here in Providence winning 3-2.

Scott Munroe vs. Michael Hutchinson

Lineup notes: Simon Despres was called up to Pittsburgh today and Cody Wild took his spot Steve MacIntyre took warmups but was scratched. Matt Rust was in for the ailing Bryan Lerg.

First Period: Brian Gibbons was dispossessed at the blue line and Jared Staal and Kyle MacKinnon came in on a two on none nearly. Staal missed but MacKinnon put the rebound past Munroe and in to put the P-Bruins up 1-0. The very next shift, Josh Hennessy gets a puck fed to him off the wall and wrists a shot past Munroe to put the Bruins up 2-0.

Really nothing else happened this period. The Pens were just stuck in a bad minute of hockey where the P-Bruins scored two goals in :50.

Second Period: Ben Street crashed the net and Geoff Walker tapped in the rebound past Hutchinson to put the Pens on the board and cut the Bruins lead in half at 2-1. Zach Sill on a penalty kill took two David Warsofsky shots off the ankle but was fine. The second was a really tight checking period.

Third Period: Penguins only allowed the Bruins one shot on goal the entire period. They took ten themselves, including a Ben Street goal when Hutchinson didn’t seal the post and the puck went in the goal off of his back and in. The pressure really was ramped up by and for the Penguins.

Overtime: Solved nothing.

Shootout: No one scored in the first five rounds. Colin McDonald comes in and scores in Round Six, and Scott Munroe denied Jamie Tardif to seal the win for the Pens.

Three Stars: 3) Josh Hennessy (goal, +1) 2) Ben Street (goal, assist, +2) 1) Colin McDonald (game winning shootout goal, -2)

The Geoff Walker, Ben Street and Nick Petersen line was the best line for the Pens all night. They literally won the game for us.

Around the Division: Norfolk wins its 13th game in a row beating Adirondack in Glens Falls 3-1. Hershey loses a crazy game in St. John’s that saw Braden Holtby start the game, get pulled when he lets in the third goal for Dany Sabourin, who then got pulled when St. John’s scored its fourth goal. The IceCaps went on to win 6-1. Rochester beats Binghamton 3-1. Syracuse beats Albany in a shootout 2-1.

Standings: Norfolk has 83 points to the Pens 75. The Bears are stuck on 71 points. Syracuse 58 then Binghamton 52.

Conference: 1-NOR (83) 2-StJ (79) 3-BRI (71) 4-WBS (75) 5-HER (71) 6-CT (70) 7-ALB (64) 8-WOR (63)

Pens travel on to Bridgeport tomorrow to face the white hot Sound Tigers. Gameday will be up here at 3, I will have the live tweets from Harbor Yard at 7.

Let’s Go Pens!

If they went ahead and never kept score, you would think that the Penguins dominated parts of, if not all of, this game tonight. If there is anything to be taken from a 5-2 loss on home ice tonight by a very well put together St. John’s IceCaps team it is this: The Penguins can bang with anyone and run with them too.

However when your starting goaltender lets in the first three shots he sees and you don’t have your star player and leading point getter in Bryan Lerg in the lineup, you get what you got, a hard fought game in the end, decided by goals which matter.

Scott Munroe vs. Eddie Pasquale

Lineup Notes: Bryan Lerg was out again with an injury. He played Sunday in Adirondack and missed the Norfolk game last Sunday, so whatever it is that he has, is nagging him. Matt Rust took his spot. I blogged earlier in the day about Clear Day rosters. You can click here or just scroll down if you are on the main page of the blog.

First Period: Penguins were on a power play when John Albert scored on a 2-on-1 pass from Garth Murray. Nothing really Munroe could do about that one. Penguins were buzzing all about the place, narrowly missing chance after chance. Then Brandon DeFazio took an inopportune roughing penalty and in the ensuing St. John’s power play, Paul Postma turned his stick into a rifle and picked off both Matt Rust and Zach Sill with shots and then ultimately fired a puck on net that Carl Klingberg got a stick on and the IceCaps were up 2-0 on two shots. Sill went to the locker room and returned later, Rust never missed a shift. Later, Ex-Penguin Jason DeSantis scored from the blue line and that was the end of Munroe, rearing three goals on three shots. Patrick Killeen came on in relief. Still, the Penguins were gravely outplaying the IceCaps and finally, with :31 left, Simon Despres scored from the blue line to make it 3-1.

Shots were 11-4 in favor of the Penguins and again, the IceCaps were being outplayed.

Second Period: Really a rough sequence for referees T.J. Luxmore and Francis Charron. The NHL wants to develop referees in the AHL to be full time someday in “the show” – they use a four man officiating system in the NHL. The AHL is slowly implementing a four man system as well. Tonight, you could have have ten referees out there and they would have still missed both Carl Sneep and Paul Thompson getting sliced wide open on sticks from the opposing team. Both Sneep / Thompson left the ice for repairs with no calls of penalties.

To game action, Brian Gibbons snuck behind the defense and scored to make it 3-2. Really a big goal in the moment cause you could feel the comeback coming.

Third Period: St. John’s would take a too many men on the ice call and Arturs Kulda would score shorthanded on a blue line snipe which eluded Killeen. Really a deflating goal in hindsight because later Ray Sawada would score after Killeen comes out square to stop a shot, drops the rebound, realizes he is out too far when Sawada pounced on it and scored it.

After that, nothing big happened.

Three Stars: 3) Jason DeSantis (goal, +1) 2) Ray Sawada (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Arturs Kulda (goal, assist, +3)

Around the Division: They all watched us as no one skated.

Standings: Norfolk 81. Penguins 73. Hershey 71. Syracuse 56. Binghamton 50.

Conference: 1-NOR (81) 2-StJ (77) 3-BRI (70) 4-WBS (73) 5-HER (71) 6-CT (68) 7-ALB (63) 8-WOR (61)

Don’t want to be too wordy, but the Penguins needed this game and these points if they wanted to be serious about a comeback for East Division leaders. Hopefully Coach Hynes uses this as a learning tool and the guys learn from it and adjust. I think we are past the “crumble it up and forget it” phase. Especially when the home record is a sour 12-13-2-2. Maybe this three game road trip shakes some sense into them.

Late Edit: One thing I wanted to mention was that Lightning goaltender Mathieu Garon left the game vs. Ottawa tonight with an injury. Look for Dustin Tokarski to get the call. Aftermath, Garon will need an MRI.

Depending on content, I will try to keep the content on the blog fresh. I am planning on chasing the Pens this weekend, so there’s that.

Let’s Go Pens!