Pens ride physicality, defense and solid goaltending out of Brad Thiessen and shutout the high-powered Charlotte Checkers 3-0 to even the best of seven series at a game apiece with Game 3 on Monday from Charlotte.

Brad Thiessen vs. Mike Murphy. Bombulie had a pregame write-up on all the lineup moves. Bryan Lerg in, Ben Street out (injured) Paul Thompson in, Jesse Boulerice out and Carl Sneep in at the 7th defenseman and Nick Petersen out. Rumblings of a minor injury were heard in my section, but with the game on your tape with 5.7 seconds left in Game 1 and you get nary a shot off, coach is going to sit you.

First Period: Opening period penalties would continue to woe the Checkers as Oskar Osala was whistled to cross checking. :30 later, Chris Collins sits for tripping. Teams would go back and forth, Bryan Lerg would leave the game and then return. Keven Veilleux would take one of his many boneheaded penalties tonight with a board call to put the Checkers on the power play. Chris Collins would come in shorthanded but the puck would slide through the crease. Pens would kill it but would immediately have to kill another as Ryan Craig tripped Chris Terry. Scary moment as Brian Strait would lose his stick in the defensive zone, go to retrieve it and let Jacob Micfliker get a shot off in close unmarked. Thiessen was really on his game all night long. Pens were really throwing the body all night too, big hits a plenty in this game. Then there would be a bevy of penalties: Brett Bellemore would get 2 for roughing, Zac Dalpe would get 2 for roughing, Zach FitzGerald would get 4 for roughing, Veilleux also and Ryan Craig just 2 for roughing. Pens would get a power play. Then Brett Sterling would get called for a cross check. We’d go back to five a side and the period would end scoreless.

That thing I was saying on the Twitter side about the ref pairing of Vinnerborg / Fraser being decent? Yeah, not so much. They were awful all game.

Second Period: Pens and Checkers would trade some shots off the post. Joey Mormina would have a big shift. He would fire a puck through bodies off of the post. There would be a neutral zone turnover and he would get back and block a shot on his stomach to keep the game scoreless. More turnovers would haunt the Penguins, this time Chris Terry came in and rang one off the post. Charlotte had a bunch of missed opportunities tonight. Then, Paul Thompson fights to keep a puck onside, passes to Corey Potter who fires it which rebounds to Brett Sterling and in to put the Pens ahead 1-0.

Third Period: WIth the Pens having to kill off a 4×3, a big period loomed. After killing off all of the penalties Ryan Craig would set up shop right in front of Mike Murphy and Chris Collins would fire one past and in to make it 2-0. Pens played protect after that. They would get two consecutive power plays and not score then Joey Mormina would get nabbed for slashing to put the Checkers on the power play. Pens would kill that too. They were 7 for 7 on the PK tonight. Checkers would pull Murphy and call a time out but it would be futile as Ryan Craig would fire an empty netter from center red to seal it and send it back to Charlotte tied at a game a piece.

Three Stars: Chris Collins (goal, +1) Brett Sterling (game winning goal, +1) and Brad Thiessen (34 save shutout) – unsung hero was Ryan Craig who set screens on the Sterling and Collins goals and was a +3.

Game Three is Monday in Charlotte at 7.

Elsewhere, the Binghamton Senators cough up a 2-1 lead and lose 3-2 to the Portland Pirates with 12.7 seconds left via a Tim Conboy shot. Bingo still leads the series two games to one.

Pens came out and just grinded the Checkers down with the physical hits. They really made that part of their game plan tonight and it worked. Game 3 will be fun to see if it’s sustainable and if the Checkers adjust.

Let’s Go Pens!

I was running that headline regardless of a win or loss tonight. Tonight, WBS lost 3-2 to the Checkers to drop game 1 and home ice to the Checkers.

Initial reaction on the Checkers: Speedy team. Dominated the neutral zone and controlled faceoffs.

But the entire team make up is the four lines. After that the defense has holes and I am still not impressed by Mike Murphy. He left big rebounds and was caught out of position some moments. It’s like night and day however when you look at WBS. We have solid goaltending and defense but very little up front. One cancels out the other and in order to win you must score goals and that comes from the forwards more often than not so there you have this game.

Brad Thiessen vs. Mike Murphy. No lineup changes for WBS from last game. Marshall was in. Lerg was out.

First Period: Off the hop, Mike Murphy took a delay of game for playing the puck in the no touch area. Lots of good chances, but the passes were not sharp (almost too hard at times all night really) and Chris Collins had about four chances in the slot but was unable to slip one by Murphy. Nice pace to start the game, we knew Charlotte was a speedy team, so Wilkes-Barre did it’s job in getting back to snuff out any rushes. Finally late though a failed clear by Keven Veilleux at the red line resulted in a Zac Dalpe snipe show from the far left circle. Dalpe just dangled in and fired it. Pens would have a late power play when Charlotte would get caught with too many men but not able to set anything up and it would be a 1-0 Checkers lead after 1. Shots 10-4 for the Pens.

Thoughts to this point: As was the case all night, we limited the Checkers in shots but they pounced and capitalized on any opportunities given.

Second Period: Nick Petersen was tripped down low by Casey Borer which resulted in a power play for the Pens. In it, Veilleux walked in and dished backhand to Geoff Walker who slammed it home to tie the score at 1. Right after on the next shift, Joe Vitale would get whistled for tripping and the Pens would have to kill a penalty. Horrible time to take it too as we were finally off to a good start in the period. Then, Tim Wallace would get nabbed for high sticking which gave the Checkers 1:04 of 5 on 3. Pens would kill of all but the remaining :11 of it before Jon Matsumoto scored on a one time to make it 2-1. There was no one on him. To this point the fans were really behind the Pens in the kill. Turning point of the game for sure. With 8:52 left to go in the second, the Checkers only had seven shots on goal. Big scare after that, as Brett Sterling was drilled hard into the boards by Jacob Micflikier. He would go down and stay down and skate off under his own power to the dressing room. David Marshall and Micflikier would sit for matching roughs. Sterling was only in the locker room for a short while before he came back.

Of note, Ben Street never came out for the second period. Check out Bombulie later for more.

Third Period: Another period and another opening Checkers penalty, this time Bryan Rodney for cross checking Joe Vitale. Then, Zach FitzGerald would go off for boarding and the Pens would have a 5 on 3 for :42. But, it would get negated by a Brett Sterling high stick then a Joe Vitale interference call. During this madness, a Chris Terry laser beam from the point would crumble Thiessen. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop as Brad was down. He shook it off and continued. Later, Jon Matsumoto again would go upstairs on Thiessen when he was down in a scrum to put the Checkers up 3-1. Matsumoto would quickly go from zero to hero though as he would get whistled for hooking the next shift and the Pens would capitalize when Brett Sterling went five hole on Murphy on a nice feed from Tim Wallace. Pens would bring it, pounding the Checkers in the offensive zone and firing all kinds of pucks at Murphy he could not control. Jesse Boulerice would kill a bit of the momentum when he would get whistled for hooking Casey Borer. I said at the time that Borer sold it, and Boulerice’s reputation of a guy who takes a lot of penalties precluded him. Pens would kill it then get a late power play when Drayson Bowman got caught slashing. Pens couldn’t do anything with it with Thiessen pulled. A late time out with 16.7 left in the game would see Nick Petersen get a puck that he would act too quickly on and it eluded him.

Final shots on goal were 30-19 for the Pens. I don’t know what to do with this. You bottle up the lethal scoring threats yet Matsumoto post two on you. Better defensive effort needed? Capitalize on chances? Thoughts anyone?

Three Stars were: Brett Sterling (goal, even) Zac Dalpe (goal, +1) and Jon Matsumoto (two goals, one a game winner, even)

Game Two is Saturday night.

Elsewhere: The Binghamton Senators have a 2-0 series lead on the Portland Pirates in the Atlantic Division Finals after taking Game 2 tonight 5-3. Kaspars Daugavins had two goals and was a +2 in that affair. Game 3 in that series is Saturday in Binghamton.

I don’t like playing from behind in any series. Playing from behind only gets tougher from here. Gotta even it up Saturday.

Let’s Go Pens!

What a difference a week makes. Last Saturday night the Pens were on the ropes having lost to the Admirals 2-0. All hope was lost. Best team in the league down 2-0 to a team which went 3-6-1 in their last ten and won on their last day of the season to leapfrog Binghamton for the 4 seed? This isn’t happening right?

But the Pens went on the road and won all three games in Norfolk to recapture home ice and set up a Game 6 tonight in Wilkes-Barre where, capped by a first period natural hat trick from Steve Wagner, won 6-3. The first ever hat trick for a Penguins defensemen in the history of the franchise.

Penguins will either face the 11 time Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears or the extremely resilient Charlotte Checkers who, with a win tomorrow, can send the Bears home packing for the season. Game 1 of Pens vs. CHA / HER is Thursday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Brad Thiessen vs. Dustin Tokarski. No lineup changes from last night. Bryan Lerg took warmups but appeared to be in some pain.

First Period: Vladimir Mihalik took an interference call at :40 of the first period. On the power play, a puck would get to Keven Veilleux who would unleash a slapper which would crumble Mathieu Roy who was right in the lane. The puck would then find its way to Steve Wagner who would put it home to put the Pens up 1-0. Next shift, Mike Vernace would send a puck out from his defensive zone for a delay of game penalty. In the ensuing power play, Steve Wagner again would score and make it 2-0. The crowd was electric and hopping. In my mind these quick leads are great, but woe to the person who thinks that a huge lead early means you win the game automatically. Bombulie noted that the Pens power play for the series went 0 for 16 then 6 for 12 since. Scary moments would ensue as Brett Sterling would sit on the bench for an extended period with an upper body injury. He would return for a power play and would complete the game. Later and late in the period, Steve Wagner would complete a natural hat trick to give the Pens a 3-0 lead going into the first. I thought Zach Sill deflected it but the arena never changed it so it’s good.

Second Period: Norfolk would mount a comeback of sorts which lasted all period. They got a Marc-Antoine Pouliot goal after more failed defensive zone clears befuddled the Pens and then a power play goal by Blair Jones after a Geoff Walker interference call. Then, Ryan Craig would get called for holding at 20:00 to put the Admirals on the power play to start the…

Third Period: Joe Vitale while killing the Craig penalty would break in and earn himself a penalty shot. He would draw iron but not score. If we lose this game his failure to score is the turning point in the game. At some point, Andrew Hutchinson was not spotted on the Pens bench. Astute follower @CxJamesx9 sits across from me and picked this one up. He never came out for the third period and the Pens were don to 5 D. Later, Thiessen made a huge save on yet another Pens failed defensive zone clear. Then, Tim Wallace, Chris Collins and Joe Vitale would come in on a 3 on 1 and Vitale finished it to put the Pens ahead 4-2. Ah, but the Admirals weren’t ready to die yet, with Joe Vitale in the box for a weak slash call, James Wright would score on the power play to make it 4-3. Tensions mounted. Zach Sill and Brett Sterling did a 2 on 1 and didn’t score. Then, with Tokarski pulled the Pens would score an empty netter after a big pad save by Brad Thiessen. Tim Wallace did the honors on the empty net. But the Pens weren’t done scoring empty netters as with Tokarski pulled again Zach Sill would score to make it 6-3 and send the Admirals home.

What a series. My hat is off to the Norfolk Admirals for a hell of a series. They battled hard and every game was a war.

Three Stars: M-A Pouliot (goal, assist, even) Joe Vitale (game winning goal, assist, +2) Steve Wagner (hat trick, +1)

Elsewhere, the Binghamton Senators never said die and won in overtime again to advance to the Atlantic Division Finals via a 6-5 final. Ryan Potulny has like, 13 points in that series alone. The B-Sens are going to be a tough out. They will face the Portland Pirates, who defeated the Connecticut Whale tonight 6-4.

Expect a blog post here tomorrow on the result of the Charlotte / Hershey game and stay with me on Twitter for the very latest regarding the Penguins second round opponent, whoever that may be.

Still a way to go, but a few days to celebrate. LET’S GO PENS!