Pens get two power play goals when they need them and ride defense and sound all-around play to hold on and win this afternoon’s contest in Portland 5-3.

Lineup changes ruled the day with a cloud of questions at the start when it was announced that Eric Tangradi and Zach Sill were scratched. Tangradi was held out due to what Tom Grace called a “potential call-up” situation. (late edit: Tangradi has indeed been called up to Pittsburgh)

I’m not going to speculate what this means or could mean for Tangradi and his status as a Penguin. What I will say is he was awful in Albany and deserved to be sat, in my opinion.

DeFazio replaced Sill and MacIntyre replaced Tangradi. On defense, Simon Despres returned and took Cody Wild’s spot.

Scott Munroe vs. Justin Pogge

First Period: A back and forth, crisp period for two teams playing a 1 p.m. Monday game. Petersen had a good chance on Pogge but didn’t score. Shots were an even twelve leading into the…

Second Period: Pens would kill a carryover penalty from the first period then Nick Petersen would score on a rebound goal to put the Pens ahead 1-0. Then Tyler Eckford scored on a slapshot a few minutes later to bring things even at one. Afterwards, a Mathieu Beaudoin shot rebounded to Ryan Duncan who had essentially an empty net to shoot into to put the Pirates up 2-1. Then, the Pirates would take a too man men on the ice call and Geoff Walker would push the puck in past Pogge to even things at two. The Pens would buzz and Ben Street would earn two penalties when he walked around a man at the blueline, would get hooked then come in on Pogge and get hooked again. In the full two minute five on three, Bryan Lerg would be the recipient of a perfect tic-tac-toe pass to put the Pens up 3-2.

In hindsight, a huge period for the Pens. Start up the period with a goal, then go down 2-1 then get two power play goals to push ahead.

Third Period: Simon Despres would fall down then ultimately in the end get whistled for holding. In the power play, a Patrick O’Sullivan point shot would deflect off of the stick of Brett MacLean to even things at three a piece.  Then, Brian Strait would score a goal from the blueline on a slap shot on a delayed penalty call. Portland would push back hard but the Pens would not break. Ryan Craig would take a slashing call with 2:15 left. The Pirates would pull Pogge and Alex Picard, attempting to clear the puck out of his defensive zone would bank it off of the glass and into the empty net to seal it for the Pens.

Two quick things: Twentieth road win for the Pens this season and the Picard goal would end up being the 11th road shorthanded goal and 13th overall shorthanded goal which is the best in the AHL this season.

Three Stars: 3) Geoff Walker (goal, assist, +1) 2) Brett MacLean (goal, assist, even) 1) Brian Strait (game winning goal, +1)

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

Standings: Penguins and Admirals are tied in points with 69 points each with 54 games played. Since the Admirals have more wins they are in first over the Pens. The Bears are in third with 67 points then it’s the Crunch with 48 points and then the Senators with 45.

Conference: 1-StJ (72) 2-NOR (69) 3-CT (62) 4-WBS (69) 5-HER (67) 6-BRI (61) 7-MCH (58) 8-WOR (57)

I have a really big thing planned for the blog tomorrow. It’s a roundtable discussion between me, a Bears fan and an Admirals fan about what to expect over the last two months of the season. With the Penguins off until probably Wednesday, this will do well to carry the fodder on the blog until then. It will be out tomorrow on the blog at noon. Look out for that, some interesting answers from the five pack of questions I asked.

Let’s Go Pens!

I was debating running “looking for tail but getting the horns” as a title tonight but the blog is supposed to be family friendly so I scrapped it entirely.

Oh wait.

Anyway, the Pens lost this game 3-0 to the Albany Devils and ran into a hot goaltender in Jeff Frazee who was played out of his mind this evening. This is two shutouts in three games for the Pens. In this game, the Pens seemed to have the effort all night, outshooting the Devils 9/7, 11/8 and 12/8 in the periods and  32-23 overall. The Pens power play went 0-for-6 tonight including not scoring on five straight power plays handed to them by referee Jon McIsaac.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jeff Frazee. No lineup changes for the Pens tonight.

First Period: A back and forth period between the clubs with the teams committing two penalties a side. Eric Tangradi had a good chance on a power play late, parked at the top of Jeff Frazee’s net but completely missing the net.

Second Period: Frazee’s great play in net was on display all night. He denied a Ryan Craig chance when Nick Petersen centered a pass to him to open the second. Geoff Walker was snakebit all night. He fanned on an open net. More back and forth. Then Eric Gelinas scored on a wrist shot which beat Thiessen blocker side. It appeared as if Brad was screened. Then Tim Sestito takes an unsportsmanlike penalty. Devils kill it and Sestito gets the puck in alone on a breakaway. Joey Mormina is behind him, doesn’t appear to do anything to interfere with his scoring attempt, and McIsaac calls a penalty shot which Sestito cashed on. Penguins then come back and Robert Bortuzzo shoots a puck which eludes Frazee but dies on the line and does not go in.

Third Period: Frazee was really the star of the show, holding off all attempts by the Penguins. I called the penalty shot circumstance a turning point on the Twitter call and it turned out to be. It had the feel all night of playoff intense hockey. Pens would get a power play late but fail to score then Geoff Walker would take a late slashing call that resulted in Eric Gelinas scoring an empty net power play goal.

Three Stars: Eric Gelinas (two goals, +1) 2) Tim Sestito (goal, +1) 1) Jeff Frazee (32 save shutout)

Around the Division: Bears win in Manchester 2-1 on two power play goals. Binghamton rebounds from the 6-1 loss the Penguins laid on them by beating the Portland Pirates 6-2 tonight. Norfolk wins in a nine round shootout to win at home in front of a sold out Scope Arena 3-2. The Admirals had trailed 2-0 to open the third but came back, tied it and won in the shootout.

Standings: Norfolk 69 points, 54 games played. Wilkes-Barre 67 points, 53 games played. Hershey 66 points, 52 games played. Syracuse 47 points, 51 games played. Binghamton 45 points, 52 games played.

Conference: 1-StJ (72) 2-NOR (69) 3-CT (62) 4-WBS (67) 5-HER (66) MCH (58) 7-BRI (57) 8-WOR (55)

Hershey can leapfrog us as they play the Bridgeport Sound Tigers tomorrow in Connecticut. I will likely have a RT of a final score tomorrow afternoon.

Pens will bus to Portland tomorrow. Game will be at 1 p.m. Monday so it’s a super early Gameday at 10 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!