Nine game winning streak comes to an end in Hershey today as the Pens lost 4-3 in a shootout. The Pens do get a point with the shootout loss and are now the outright leaders in the Eastern Conference. The Pens are four points up on the Hershey Bears for the division lead.

But, the St. John’s IceCaps have two games in hand on the Penguins and the Hershey Bears have one.

Scott Munroe vs. Braden Holtby – no lineup changes for the Penguins.

First Period: The Penguins mastery at scoring shorthanded goals would continue as Brandon DeFazio would pick off Chris Bourque at the blue line and skate in and score. This is the 12th shorthanded goal for the Pens this year, good for tops in the AHL. But the Bears continued to pressure as the Pens were too cute in their own defensive zone and Sean Collins scored then Chris Bourque would score about 1:10 later. Zach Sill nearly tied things when he clunked a puck off of the top of Holtby’s net. Then the Bears were being called for a delayed penalty when Cody Wild fired a puck from the blueline which crawled up and over Holtby’s stick. In the process, Bryan Lerg got a stick on it and he got credit. Scott Munroe had to make a few good saves in the final five minutes to keep it at 2-2 into the…

Second Period: Sean Collins trips Brian Gibbons. Pens to the power play. This tweet sums up the power play:

Bears would easily kill it. Later, the Pens would get 1:41 of 5 on 3 power play and with one second left in the two-man advantage, Geoff Walker scored to make it 3-2. Would turn out to be a big goal at the time as the Bears were just pressuring the whole time.

Third Period: More Bears pressure, more Penguin turnovers. Finally, newcomer Mike Carman scored from the slot to even things at three. Brian Gibbons had a breakaway but did not score with under ten minutes. Pens defense held off the Bears charges and we went into overtime.

Overtime: Tomas Kundratek made the save of the game on an Alex Grant shot while Holtby was on the other side of the crease. Munroe never saw a shot in overtime.

Shootout: Geoff Walker was the only player to score for the Pens. Bears Cody Eakin and Ryan Potulny scored for Hershey in the third and fourth rounds.

Three Stars: 3) Sean Collins (goal, +2) 2) Bryan Lerg (goal, assist, -1) 1) Ryan Potulny (assist, shootout game winner, even)

Who does this win benefit more? The Pens or the Bears? If the Pens win outright it’s seven points on the Division. If the Bears lose, major changes come for the Bears most likely on and off the ice. Bears win, what now? Do they storm back and take the division by 13 points?

Around the Division: Springfield beats Norfolk 4-2 in the only action of East Division teams today.

Standings: Pens  63. Bears 59. Admirals 57. Crunch 45. Senators 43.

Conference: 1-WBS (63) 2-StJ (62) 3-BRI (51) 4-HER (59) 5-NOR (57) 6-MCH (56) 7-WOR (51) 8-CT (51)

Pens are off until Saturday when they host the Portland Pirates. The Bears are in Syracuse on Friday. St. John’s takes their two games in hand when they host the Providence Bruins Tuesday and Wednesday.

Next blog update, short of major breaking news, won’t be until Tuesday provided there is enough interesting parts to blog about.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens win a game tonight 5-2 but the score was much closer than the final score suggests, with the Pens getting two goals by Bryan Lerg late seal the win. Pens are not 9-1-1-0 in their last 11 games and now over .500 on home ice this season, a place they flat out struggled earlier pin the year.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jeff Frazee. Philip Samuelsson was in for the injured Carl Sneep.

First Period: Seven minutes or so into the game and the Pens hadn’t a shot on net. Albany was pressuring but the Pens held firm. Then, out of the first television time out Alex Grant fires a shot from the blue line which deflected into the net off of  Albany’s Mike Banwell. Banwell would be then whistled for hooking and the Pens would head to the power play. Pens think they score on the power play, but referee Francis Charron had “intent to blow” and immediately waved off the goal as the puck crossed the line. However, the Pens would cash anyway as Joey Mormina would fire a puck from the blue line which Brian Gibbons deflected in. Then, right after that, Mormina beats Frazee on a clean wrist shot for his sixth goal of the season.

Second Period: All Albany this period as they mounted a comeback from the beginning. This period was all about Albany taking chances and scoring on breakaway. Nick Palmieri scored on a two on none to put the Devils on the board. Then later, Alex Urbom would score on a wrap around attempt to put the score at 3-2. Head Coach John Hynes would use his time out to regroup. It did pay off as no more goals were scored by Albany.

If Wilkes-Barre somehow loses this game, it goes to note that the fact they could not score on three consecutive power plays ion the second period could have done them in.

Third Period: Tight checking period. Thiessen made some tremendous saves, none better than a Brandon Burlon slap pass to Darcy Zajac who attempted to deflect it past Thiessen on what would have been the tying goal. Before this, Bryan Lerg took a hooking call which needed to be taken or else Albany would have likely scored. Finally, Geoff Walker puts a puck on net which Lerg collects and stuffs past Frazee and in. Then, Albany head coach Rick Kowalsky pulls Frazee and Lerg  scores from center ice to seal it.

Pens have started to salute the fans after every home win. Here is a picture I took:

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (two goals, +4) 2) Alex Grant (goal, assist, even) and 1) Joey Mormina (goal, assist, +2)

Of note, Jason Williams and Bryan Lerg were a +4 and Geoff Walker was a +3. Impressive.

Around the Division: Hershey lost to Connecticut 4-1. The Bears have lost 6 of the last 7 games and three in a row at home. They face off against a Penguins team which has won nine straight in Giant Center. Bears had 40 shots on net to Connecticut’s 21 also. Norfolk thumped Springfield tonight 6-1. Syracuse loses in overtime to Rochester 5-4. Binghamton loses 5-2 in Portland.

Standings: Pens have 62 points to Hershey’s 57. Norfolk is tied with Hershey in points with 57 and lead Syracuse who have 45 points. Binghamton has 43 points in last place.

Conference: 1-StJ (62) 2-WBS (62) 3-BRI (51) 4-HER (57) 5-NOR (57) 6-MCH (56) 7-WOR (51) 8-CT (51)

Pens go to Hershey for a 2 p.m. start and look for ten in a row in Giant Center and more separation between themselves and the rest of the division. With St. John’s idle, the Pens can outright be tops in the Conference with a win of any kind, too. Gameday for the game will be up at a very early 10 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins gut out a 4-3 win on home ice tonight and come from behind 3-0 to start the third and win in grand fashion 4-3.

It was the first win of the season for the Penguins when trailing after two periods.

Huge win, too, as the new look Bears seemed to coast to a 3-0 lead after forty minutes of play, outplaying the Pens at times in the process. New look as in, they traded away Danny Richmond to Lake Erie for Mike Carmen and Matt Ford to Adirondack for Kevin Marshall. Leading scorer Keith Aucoin was called up to Washington.

Brad Thiessen vs. Braden Holtby – Eric Tangradi was a late scratch with back spasms as reported by Jonathan Bombulie. The armchair Twitter GMs were out in force tonight too, thinking Tangradi was traded. While I personally, am not ruling out the fact that Tangradi will get moved at the deadline, he is still a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguin as you read this.

One more personnel note to mention. Brian Day has retired to pursue a career off ice in business, also reported by Jonathan Bombulie of the Citizens Voice.

First Period: After 14:59 of non-stop action, Garrett Mitchell scored off a wonky play by the Bears fourth line. To this point, both teams looked crisp. Looking off was something I worried about for the Pens and wished on for the Bears but it was not to be. What this became was simply the Bears outgunning the Pens on opportunities and cashing, than anything.

Second Period: Christian Hanson scores a dirty goal when Jacob Micflikier throws a puck on net that Thiessen cannot corral. After the Penguins could not convert on a power play, the Bears scored again when the Pens got too cute in their own end. Thiessen made three 10-bell saves but could not do it all and Penguin killer Tomas Kundratek scored to put the game at 3-0 for the Bears.

At this point the game was on the verge of slipping away. What the score is if Aucoin is in the lineup before this point and after is something that may never be answered.

At this point I tweeted, like I normally do teams records leading after two and trailing:

Third Period: Seventeen seconds into the third period, goaltender Braden Holtby nonchalantly clears a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Then, Kevin Marshall boards Bryan Lerg. Ryan Craig fights Marshall. Both get five for fighting. Marshall the extra two for the original board. 5-on-3 for :39. Jason Williams would slap home a shot from the blue line to make it 3-1.

Here’s where I think it comes off of the rails for Hershey, and the Pens then smell blood in the water:

Bears would kill the remaining penalties and then Brandon DeFazio would use Tomas Kundratek as a screen and score to make it 3-2. Hershey would use it’s time out. It proved useless as the next shift Robert Bortuzzo would score from a  bad angle to tie the game at three. That was the end of the night for Braden Holtby, having reared three goals in 4:46.

Things would settle a bit. Carl Sneep would leave the game having been checked into the boards where the Pens enter the ice. He would not return. Then, Paul Thompson would score from a pass from Ben Street behind the net to push the Pens ahead 4-3. Tense moments the way out as the Penguins could not win a face-off, the Bears would get a power play late with Bortuzzo closing his hand on the puck. Thiessen made a huge save on a Cody Eakin chance to keep the game tied at one point.

Three Stars: 3) Ryan Craig (-1) 2) Jason Williams (goal, assist, even) 1) Paul Thompson (game winning goal, even)

Around the Division: Norfolk loses to the Adirondack Phantoms 3-1. Syracuse loses to the Toronto Marlies in Toronto 5-2. Manchester beats Binghamton in OT 3-2.

Great night for the Pens, as the Standings look like this:

Standings: Penguins 60. Bears 57. Admirals 55. Crunch 44. Senators 43.

Conference: 1-StJ (62) 2-WBS (60) 3-BRI (51) 4-HER (57) 5-NOR (55) 6-MCH (54) 7-WOR (49) 8-CT (49)

Albany in town tomorrow for what should be a doozy. Gameday up at 3 p.m. like always.

Let’s Go Pens!