Chirps from Center Ice

Pens get a 3-1 win tonight in the preseason finale. Brad Thiessen was sharp again in net tonight getting beat by a laser beam of a shot late by Olivier Lauredsen with the Phantoms were shorthanded.

Brad Thiessen vs. Jason Bacashihua.

Ryan Craig, Eric Tangradi, Joey Mormina and Colin McDonald were in for the Pens. The line of Tangradi-Craig-McDonald ran the first power play unit and were successful on two power plays tonight.

First Period: Lots of good saves by Jason Bacashihua by robbing Chris Barton on a cross crease pass to Barton. Later in the period he was standing on his head making some ten-bell saves. Really this period was all Penguins, outshooting the visitors 10-5 on the shot sheet.

Second Period: Little bit more of a tightening up by the boys as Cody Chupp toasted a Phantoms defensemen to put the Pens up 1-0. Nice backhand of a goal by Chupp. I really hop Chupp makes the team. Later, the Pens would cash in on a full 2:00 5-on-3 that referee Jon McIsaac handed them when Kevin Marshall slashed a Penguin and Benn Holmstrom was caught roughing post whistle via Paul Thompson to put the Pens up 2-0. Really solid effort by the penalty kill unit tonight and it never hurts having Brad Thiessen back there. He gloved a Cullen Eddy point shot thru traffic.

Third Period: Lots of good chances by both teams about 6:12 in. Then, Alex Grant and Benn Holmstrom fought when Holmstrom was whistled by McIsaac for a head check. About :30 later, Kevin Marshall would get a cross-checking penalty and that would put the Pens back on the 5-on-3 again. This time with the McDonald-Craig-Tangradi unit on, Eric Tangradi slammed home a goal to put the Pens up 3-0. Penguins never let off as Bacashihua made save after save. Olivier Lauredsen scored to ruin the shutout on a laser beam of a goal that went in and out as quick as it went in. It would end up being too little, too late as the Pens would hang on and win 3-1 to improve to 3-1 in preseason.

Three Stars: Colin McDonald, Cody Chupp and Brad Thiessen.

You can now throw all of this away, as when we wake up tomorrow there will be 6 days to the real hockey season.

Can’t go without acknowledging and welcoming Wilkes-Barre’s new Public Relations Director Mike O’Brien to Twitter. You can follow Mike on Twitter @MikeOBrienWBS and it looks like he will be live-tweeting all of or parts of the games. Welcome Mike!

Housekeeping: AHL Previews start again tomorrow. West Division rolls out tomorrow at noon Wilkes-Barre time. In fact, they all roll out each day at noon all the way up to Friday.

Let’s Go Pens!

Little bit more of an established group for the Bears tonight and less so for WBS but the Pens still managed to scrape out a win at GIANT Center tonight winning 2-1.

Scott Munroe vs. Dany Sabourin. News out of Hershey this afternoon is that Braden Holtby is on his way back to the Bears.

Before the game, Tom Grace gave listeners an update on Keven Veilleux. He has a knee injury. They don’t know the extent of it yet because his knee was too swollen for diagnostic tests. From the sound of Grace and the tone he was trying to set forth, it did not sound good. The term “indefinitely” was used re: how long it would be until Veilleux could return.

First Period: 90 seconds in a Wilkes-Barre turnover led to a Matt Pope backhand goal on Scott Munroe. I’d give a prize to one of my readers if they could leave a comment for me on whether this was the first goal allowed by Munroe since being back in North America. Then a bit of a scare with Zach Sill fighting Christian Hanson. Sill went to the locker room with Patrick Steidle but just for stitches and returned later. There were gobs of fights. Last night it was pretty much Andrew Carroll for the Bears fighting three times for Hershey. Guys, literally, fighting for positions on the team. There was a penalty shot with Chris Barton being hauled down on a mini-breakaway. The Pens are 2-for franchise history all time in penalty shots so Barton did not score. I listened on radio tonight but could tell you that it just sounded like a discombobulated period.

First Intermission: Cuts in Wilkes-Barre will happen after tomorrows game in Wilkes-Barre vs. Adirondack.

Second Period: The radio feed went out about halfway though. Before that, Danny Richmond was caught interfering then Ben Street put the teams at 4-on-4. Zack Miskovic had a chance but the puck went over Miskovic’s net. Then the radio feed went out. The aforementioned Miskovic was then elbowed by Zach Sill and bloodied. Sill got a 5 minute elbow major. Wilkes-Barre would kill it. Paul Thompson had a nice chance shorthanded. Then the goalies made themselves the show with each making some great saves. The Sill penalty for the elbow falls under 45.4 in the rulebook which carries a $100 fine and a review by the League for a possible suspension.

Third Period: Carl Sneep threads a pass to Ben Street right off the hop to ties the game. Pace picked up a bit this period. Bears had a goal waved off because of a puck going in off of a high stick. Both Munroe and Sabourin made great saves in this period. Later, Brian Gibbons got a step on Keith Aucoin and scored on a daft backhand that beat Sabourin to put the Pens up 2-1. Bears would ramp up the pressure and Munroe made some money saves. They call Munroe “Money” as a nickname, so get used to me tossing it around the blog and on the Twitter feed. After a Danny Richmond icing call with Sabourin on the bench the Pens would hold on and win.

Three Stars: Dany Sabourin (23 saves on 25 shots) Scott Munroe (34 saves on 35 shots) and Brian Gibbons (game winning goal)

Pens wrap up the preseason tomorrow vs. the Adirondack Phantoms at 5 p.m. in Wilkes-Barre. Again, no Gameday post so the next post you see may be the postgamer on that game tomorrow evening.

Go Pens!

What, you thought I was going to come up with a witty headline for a game which was meaningless? Nope.

Pens beat the Bears 5-2 tonight. Hershey dressed a bunch of guys who will probably spend most of their time at the Caps / Bears ECHL affiliate South Carolina. Goalies Dany Sabourin and Philipp Grubauer split the time in net for the Bears. Brad Thiessen went the whole game and was backed up by Patrick Killeen.

Before we get going on the postgamer, welcome to the team Mike O’Brien. Mike did play-by-play and handled the public relations for the now defunct Lowell Devils and is filling the role for the departed Scott Stuccio in doing color commentary for the Penguins with Tom Grace. I don’t listen to home games, so I have no idea how he sounded. I will be listening tomorrow as I will not be making the trek to Hershey for the rematch.

Ryan Craig is our captain. That won’t change. Craig was scratched tonight so Bryan Lerg, Joey Mormina and Zach Sill wore the “A’s” for WBS this evening.

First Period: Nearly off the hop, Sabourin cleared a puck into the stands for a delay of game. Pens had plenty of chances on the power play but could not score. Later, Zach Miskovic would trip Bryan Lerg and the Pens would get another crack at the power play and not score again. About halfway through the first it was all WBS. Then, Jacob Micflikier, late of the Charlotte Checkers from last season, skated down the right side and fired a shot which was blocked by Joey Mormina who laid on the ice to block it. The deflection caromed back to Micflikier who rifled it over Thiessen’s shoulder to put the Bears up 1-0. Both teams would trade power plays, there was some rough stuff with Garrett Mitchell and Ryan Schnell and the period would end 1-0 in favor of the Bears with the Pens leading 10-4 in shots. Sabourin’s knee is a non-issue (he missed a good chunk of the second half of last season with the knee ailment)

First Intermission: Sought Tom Grace out in the hallway and asked him what he was planning on with his Twitter account. He told me that he wants to give fans the “behind the scenes” looks when he can. Tom Grace is anti-social media. He likes to play his cards “close to the vest” per his words. He told me he won’t tweet lineups or things like that, so we will have to see where his account goes. He is @TGracePens if you want to lend him a follow.

Second Period: Just like the first, the Bears had to kill a delay of game to start the period. Pens would fail to score on it and right after Ryan Schnell and Phil Oreskovic fought. Schnell had some good shots in. Then, Brian Day would score for Wilkes-Barre on a goal that looked like it was kicked in. Sabourin was irate but referee Chris Cozzan immediately signaled good goal. Pens really locked the Bears down this period not allowing a shot till about 10:00 in. Then the Pens went on another power play and just as that expired Geoff Walker scored on a great cross crease pass from Brian Gibbons. Late, Keven Veilleux left the game with an injury. He limped off down the tunnel. Phil Oreskovic may have got him. Bombulie’s postgamer stated that he will be evaluated tomorrow. As that was happening, Francois Bouchard completed a rush and beat Thiessen blocker side to even things at 2 a piece. Shots to this point were 25-10 WBS.

Third Period: Brandon DeFazio made a case for him after he got a goal to make it 3-2. Philip Grubauer made two great stops and then Andrew Carroll and Ryan Schnell fought again. Shots with 8:27 left in the third were a staggering 36-11 for Wilkes-Barre. Later, Brian Gibbons deflected a Ben Street shot to make it 4-2. To add insurance, Bryan Lerg split the Hershey defense and sniped a dandy of a shot on Grubauer. That was goal of the game, in my opinion. What a move and first step by Lerg to dust the Hershey defense. Then, Devin DiDiomete and Andrew Carroll (his third fight) fought with DiDiomete blooding Carroll. Pens would win 5-2 and out gun Hershey 41-16.

Three stars were Brian Gibbons, Geoff Walker and Brandon DeFazio. The AHL doesn’t release game sheets to the public so I have no idea who took what shots, what anyone’s +/- is, anything. (EDIT: Tim Leone has his game story here complete with box score) 

Always good to beat Hershey no matter if it counts or doesn’t. Rematch tomorrow from Hershey. I will be radio only. There will be no “Gameday” as info I gather prior to these games isn’t made available to me.

Let’s Go Pens!