Nick Petersen shatters a record for five assists in a game today in Syracuse and assists on all five goals as the Pens cruise to a 5-3 win in Syracuse.

Brad Thiessen vs. Timo Pielmeier. No lineup changes from last night. Radio indicated that all guys who are hurt will be ready for playoffs.

First Period: Early, all four lines looked crisp. Nick Petersen and Paul Thompson have clicked since Thompson arrived in Wilkes-Barre. Then, Syracuse would go up 1-0 on a delayed penalty call which confused everyone, including Brad Thiessen, when Nick Bonino scored from 180 feet away. It was a delayed call on Keven Veilleux. Corey Potter was tripped, and Thiessen saw that and assumed with the refs arm already up that the Pens would get the power play. You know what happens when you assume. First period would end 1-0 and the Pens leading the Crunch 8-7 in shots but really there was only one scoring chance for Syracuse.

Second Period: Brian McGrattan would be in the box for holding and Keven Veilleux would tie the game. Later, Paul Thompson would score his first AHL goal when he and Petersen worked in on a neat 2 on 1. There was good flow to this period with lots of back and forth. Lat in the period, Zach Sill would get thrown into the boards and was slow to get up. He skated off under his own power both to the bench and to the locker room but did not return.

Third Period: David Marshall took Sill’s spot and left Nick Bonino unmarked and Bonino tied it. Then, Petersen would draw a Joe DiPenta interference call and Geoff Walker would get tripped and in the ensuing 5 on 3 Corey Potter would continue his offensive production with a goal from the blue line to make it 3-2. At this point I thought the lead should be much higher than 3-2. It felt like it was 10-2. Bonino would then go to the box on a rough and Geoff Walker scored to make it 4-2. Then, during a flurry of penalties, Nicolas Deschamps would score to make it 4-3 to make things interesting. Then, late, Keven Veilleux would score to put the game out of reach for Syracuse.

The win is the Pens’ 56th, Thiessen’s 34th. That surpasses Curry’s 33 win total a few years ago. The Pens are only one of four teams in the 75 year history of the league to win 56 games.

Three Stars: Keven Veilleux (two goals, -1) Nick Bonino (two goals, +2) and Nick Petersen (5 assists, +2)

Nailers beat guys Shawn Rine reports that Ryan Schnell is headed back to Wilkes-Barre. The Pens were 3/8 on the power play.

Around the Division: Albany comes back in the third to tie Binghamton, then beat them in a shootout 3-2. The B-Sens have to wait another day to clinch a playoff spot. They are, however, tied with Norfolk for fourth place. Huge game for both teams Wednesday in Binghamton. They are 2-3-1-1 vs. the Admirals this season.

No games for the Pens this week. Expect a post on the AHL award for top goalie tomorrow and a recap of B-Sens / NorAds on Wednesday and anything else that comes to mind in between here on the blog this week.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens win in what you can call dramatic fashion, 4-3 in overtime versus a gritty Rochester Americans team. All of the three prior meetings were one goal affairs this season. Portland lost to Manchester 4-1 tonight so that loss means that for the first time in team history, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are the best overall team in the American Hockey League for the regular season. With that, comes the Macgregor Kilpatrick trophy.

John Curry vs. Marc Chevrie. Brandon DeFazio skated and Viktor Ekbom was the scratch. The game was played before GM Ray Shero. Andrew Hutchinson also took warmups. There was a concern, albeit a small one, that he injured his knee last night.

First Period: Zach Sill would skate down the middle and fire a puck at Chevrie who left big rebounds all night. Rochester failed to clear it and in doing so, Corey Potter slap shot goal. Right after, Chris Taylor scored to even the game. I tweeted with about 8:29 left to go in the first that Rochester had 7 shots on goal (to the Pens 8 ) – The Pens would not allow another shot the remainder of the period and the teams would go to the locker room tied at 1.

Second Period: The Pens didn’t allow the Amerks a shot on goal for about 10 minutes into the period which was fast paced, because referee Chris Brown let them play. John Curry with two big saves then WBS would get whistled for too many men. :11 into it, the Pens’ Chris Collins would get called for tripping and the Pens would have to kill off a lengthy 5 on 3. As it expired, ex-WBS Penguin Bill Thomas to make it 2-1 Rochester. Curry was making some ten bell saves all night. Curry won us the game tonight for sure.

Third Period: Andrew Hutchinson with all day to shoot and ties the game at 2 off the hop to start the third. Then, Zach Sill with a nifty deke in on a breakaway to make it 3-2. Soon, Jeff LoVecchio tied it on a tough goal on Curry. Then the Pens get two chances on a power play but do not score. Pens thought they had a goal in on the second one but Brown lost sight of it and there was no goal. They would head to overtime…

…where Geoff Walker would end it. This before more huge glove saves by Curry. Walker came in all alone, much like he did last night, against what seemed to be three Americans and drove the net and scored.

Thoughts: The Paul Thompson / Nick Petersen duo was dynamite tonight. Tons of opportunities to score. Going to be fun watching these two.

Three Stars: Jeff LoVecchio (goal, assist, +1) Zach Sill (goal, two assists, +1) and Geoff Walker (game winning overtime goal)

Around the Division: Hershey wins a wild one in Norfolk 5-4. The Bears were down 4-1 to end the first and scored four unanswered goals in the second to hold on and win. Four huge points taken from Hampton Roads this weekend for the Hershey Bears who are solidifying themselves for second place in the East. Their magic number is 1 on Charlotte. Speaking of the Checkers, the city of Charlotte will see Calder Cup playoff hockey in their first season, they were victorious in Albany tonight 5-3. Binghamton lost 4-3 to Bridgeport. The Sens’ magic number is 3 on the Atlantic Division crossover. Syracuse was shutout by Adirondack 3-0.

I honestly don’t know what happens from here from a WBS standpoint with 4 games left. Wheeling clinched a playoff spot so there will not be a band of black aces making its way from the Wheelhouse. Your guess is as good as mine as far as personnel go from here.

Like the East Division crown, celebrate this briefly. There is still a lot of work left to do.

Let’s Go Pens!