Sometimes you have bad nights. This was one of them. A 7-4 loss on home ice to the Springfield Falcons. Lots of things went wrong tonight. Let’s examine:

1) The first five minutes of the game were a disaster. Springfield scored shorthanded and power play goals. Overall they would go 3 for 5 on the man advantage.

2) Ryan Craig left the game at some point with an injury. No one in the house saw it. This is related to #1, because he is our best penalty killer by far.

3) The defense was no where to be found tonight. But for Brian Strait who was a +3 tonight, there was nothing going on defensively for the Pens. Whenever the Pens answered, Springfield answered right back.

4) Both Springfield goalies (I will get to why both played in a minute) left big, juicy rebounds all night. The Penguins were not able to capitalize on the reality given them.

5) Springfield is just downright a good hockey team and the Pens right now are not.

Enough pontificating for now. Let’s get to the game…

Scott Munroe vs. Allen York

First Period: Brandon DeFazio would get whistled for a ticky-tack hooking call by referee Jon McIsaac and the Falcons would pounce immediately and score when Marty St. Pierre cleaned up a rebound which Munroe left for him. Then, Dane Byers would sit for a hook of his own and Nick Drazenovic would score shorthanded with no one around him. An unmarked man scoring a shorthanded goal is unacceptable. Right after that happened, Paul Thompson would score on a laser shot which handcuffed York. Things would settle down the rest of the period.

Second Period: Paul Thompson crashed the net early and took out goaltender Allen York. Not a dirty play in my eyes as Thompson is not that type of player. He would be replaced by Paul Dainton. Later Dalton Prout would get whistled for a hooking call and in the ensuing power play Eric Tangradi would crash the net and dish off to Geoff Walker who would score to even the game at 2 a piece. Then, Alex Grant would have a gaffe at center ice and turn the puck over to the Falcons which led to Mike Thomas scoring. Right after that, Bryan Lerg would score on a crash the net play to bring things even at three a piece. Then, it all fell apart. After getting whistled for too many men, Alex Picard would get nabbed for a boarding call which set up 1:05 of 5-on-3 time for the Falcons. Springfield would use its time out and score on both power plays, Cam Atkinson and John Moore the culprits putting the score at 6-4 and all of the air out of the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Third Period: Brad Thiessen would replace Scott Munroe in goal. Bryan Lerg would score his second of the night after a nice dish pass from Colin McDonald. Then right after that, Ryan Russell scored a garbage, answer goal. After that, it was all downhill. Defense would get beat on an icing call. One scary moment was a point shot from Simon Despres which would hit Bryan Lerg in the face. Lerg would return to the game, however. Oliver Gabriel would score to make it 7-4 and it would end that way.

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (2 goals, +1) 2) Nick Drazenovic (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Marty St. Pierre (goal, assist, -1)

Around the Division: Hershey pumped Norfolk 7-5. Chris Bourque had a 5 point night (2-3-5) Syracuse beat Binghamton 5-4 in overtime. Nikita Filatov had two goals and an assist for the B-Sens in the loss.

Standings: Hershey 6, Norfolk 4, Wilkes-Barre 3, Syracuse 2, Binghamton 1.

Normally the Pens can get by with 4 goals for and ride solid defense to a victory.

Do you forget this game and start over tomorrow vs. Binghamton or keep it in the memory bank as a sign of things to come? Time will tell.

Gameday for Binghamton will be up at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon. Let’s Go Pens!

Wilkes-Barre wins a big road game to put the first win of the year in the can tonight in Rochester by a score of 5-1. Both Brian Gibbons, Brian Strait and Bryan Lerg had huge nights, all going 2-4-6 and a +7 combined. Really a coming out party of sorts for Brian Gibbons who has been, at least to me, Wilkes-Barre’s best player in the three games played thus far.

Brad Thiessen vs. Drew MacIntrye.

First Period: First five minutes of the game WBS was giving away too many cutesy passes and playing lackadaisical defense. Rochester had its chances but Thiessen held firm. Then, Eric Tangradi stole a puck from an Amerks player and simply waited out MacIntyre to make it 1-0 Pens. Later, Geoff Walker would sit for goalie interference and Brain Gibbons would come in shorthanded with breakneck speed but not score. Later in the period Gibbons would set up Brian Strait on the point who would rifle one home while MacIntyre was screened to put the Pens up 2-0. Gibbons was everywhere this period.

Second Period: Colin McDonald would get in the goal column after a nifty Lerg pass to Philip Samuelsson pass to McDonald for the slam dunk. At this point Wilkes-Barre was in control. It really looked as if the Amerks were skating in sand this period but the shot chart would prove otherwise as Thiessen faced a ton of shots and made saves when he needed to.

I’m giving what happened next in the second period its own paragraph simply for what I am about to describe. Brian Gibbons would get whistled for a slashing call. 6 seconds later, Zach Sill would get called for delay of game, clearing the puck over the glass. What happened next is a thing out of a story book. Down 5 on 3, Joey Mormina loses his stick. Then, Brad Thiessen would lose his. 10-bell save after 10-bell save, the puck would find its way to Bryan Lerg who toasted the Rochester power play to score a shorthanded 3×5 goal. It was an absolute thing of beauty.

Third Period: Riding the wave of tremendous momentum, the Pens would get a goal from Niko Dimitrakos on a nice setup from (who else) Brian Gibbons. After that it was prevent everything but to no avail as Marcus Foligno scored late to spoil the Thiessen shutout. At the very end, Brandon DeFazio would buckle Travis Turnbull in a fight at the buzzer.

Three Stars: 3) Bryan Lerg (1-1-2, +2) 2) Brad Thiessen (29 saves on 30 shots) and 1) Eric Tangradi (1-1-2, +2)

We were the only game on the AHL slate, so there are no other games to examine.

Standings: Hershey and Norfolk are your division leaders with 4 points each. The Bears and Admirals play a home and home starting tomorrow in Norfolk which I will keep my eye on. Wilkes-Barre has 3 points, Binghamton none and Syracuse none but the Crunch open their season tomorrow.

Wilkes-Barre busses home tonight for a 7:05 game vs. Springfield tomorrow. Gameday will be up here on the blog at 3:30 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

The effort is there, the scoring is not.

That is the synopsis of this very young season in a nutshell. The Penguins fired 41 shots at Whale goaltender Chad Johnson but could not find the back of the net in regulation and overtime. In the shootout the would lose the extra point to the Whale and the game 1-0.

Scott Munroe vs. Chad Johnson.

First Period: Teams traded power plays but did not score. Geoff Walker had a mini-breakaway but could not get a good shot off. Some crash the net opportunities for both teams but both goaltenders were very good. Quick moving period with the lack of a penalty whistle every minute. Shots on goal through one were 9-8 for Wilkes-Barre.

Second Period: Same as first period, both teams traded power play chances but could not convert. Couple of near misses both ways. Scary moment with Paul Thompson driving the net and needed to get helped off by trailer Patrick Steidle. He did return in the period. Both Zach Sill and Bryan Lerg would miss the net on two separate 2-on-1’s.

Third Period: Pens would get two straight power plays handed to them but could do little even to set up in their offensive zone. Then the Whale had the same thing happen to them with the two power plays handed to them in a row. They had more quality chances I felt. At some point, Ben Street went to the locker room with Steidle. I did not see the injury nor did I see him go down the tunnel.

Overtime: Pens would get a power play when Kris Newbury went to the box for tripping. This would be Newbury’s third of four penalties (he’d get whistled for a hook with :12 left in OT) but the Pens would not even able to get setup to get any decent scoring chances. To the shootout we went…

Shootout: Colin McDonald did not score and John Mitchell did in the first frame. Niko Dimitrakos scored and Andreas Thuresson did not in the second. Then Brian Gibbons and Kris Newbury scored to make it even at 2-2 in the shootout. Bryan Lerg did not score and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault scored in the fourth frame. Simon Despres did not score and the game was over.

Where would Ben Street slot into that lineup if he did not get injured? Is it a different result?

Three Stars: 3) Jonathan Audy-Marchessault (shootout game winning goal) 2) Scott Munroe (technical 23 save shutout) and 1) Chad Johnson (41 save shutout)

We were the only game in town division wise.

Standings: Hershey and Norfolk are your first weekend leaders out of the gate with 4 points each. Wilkes-Barre has a point, Binghamton is 0-2 and Syracuse has not played yet.

Pens will probably get tomorrow off then they get back at things prepping for Rochester Thursday in Western New York, Springfield and Binghamton Friday and Saturday.

FInally, I don’t think I tweeted this or blogged it, but here is what looks like the St. Patrick’s Day jersey the Pens will be donning this March:

Let’s Go Pens!