You can sum this game up by watching the first period alone. Wilkes-Barre came out guns blazing in the first period, hanging four goals on Justin Pogge and never looked back. The Penguins completely shut down the Checkers in the first period and pretty much coasted to a 6-3 win tonight in Wilkes-Barre Township. The magic number for first overall is one.

Brad Thiessen vs. Justin Pogge – Tim Wallace and Brett Sterling were injury scratches. Newcomers Viktor Ekbom and Paul Thompson made their professional debuts. The Pens played 7 defensemen tonight.

First Period: Paul Thompson steps onto the ice about 5 minutes into the hockey game for his first ever professional shift and is tripped by Zack FitzGerald. In the ensuing power play, Jason DeSantis is tapping his stick at the point. The puck is passed to him and he scores his first goal in a WBS sweater. Power play goal. Where have those been? Later, Nick Petersen is fed a long pass from Robert Bortuzzo and roofs it on Pogge to make it 2-0. At this point it was total domination from the Pens. Anytime Charlotte tried to establish anything they were chased out of the zone. Then, Geoff Walker comes in 1 on 2 and goes glove side and high on Pogge to make it 3-0. Charlotte answered soon after via Jacob Micflikier on a bad angle shot that beat Thiessen five hole. It’s a save Thiessen makes in his sleep which just crossed him up. Then late in the period, Corey Potter would sit for a hold and Bryan Lerg would score shorthanded to give the Pens a 4-1 lead.

Second Period: Checkers would see Bobby Sanguinetti and Casey Borer go to the locker room off on injuries that looked worse then they appeared because both would return. Corey Potter would have himself quite the period as he’d save a goal in Thiessen’s crease while the Pens killed a Robert Bortuzzo rough and then scored a goal from the point to make it 5-1.

Third Period: Charlotte looking to start something goads David Marshall into a roughing penalty and in the ensuing power play Jacob Micflikier would score to make it 5-2. After that the Checkers would press and press but not score until Zac Dalpe would cut in and make it 5-3. Late, Andrew Hutchinson would block a shot and come off the ice gingerly and stand in the tunnel the rest of the game. Charlotte would catch a post behind Thiessen and with Pogge pulled Keven Veilleux would score the empty net goal.

Three Stars: Keven Veilleux (goal, two assists, +2) Nick Petersen (goal, assist, +2) and Bryan Lerg (game winning goal, even)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Norfolk 6-3. The Admirals had 13 powerplays including many 5 on 3 situations. Wow. Syracuse beat Binghamton 6-4. Adirondack beat Albany 9-5.

Standings: WBS 109 – HER 96 – CHA 91 – NOR 88 – BNG 87 – SYR 71 – ALB 67 and ADK 64. Bingo has three points on third in the Atlantic Connecticut and five on fourth in the Atlantic Worcester. All teams have 5 games remaining. Norfolk, fourth in the East, has a game in hand on Binghamton.

This is good news….

http://twitter.com/#!/CVBombulie/status/54003889262964736

Go Pens.

Off the hop, Brett Sterling left the game in the third with an injury. He was boarded by Vladimir Mihalik and lay motionless on the ice for 20-30 seconds. He went to the bench then to the locker room with Steidle and did not return. Observers said the following:

http://twitter.com/#!/Wranglersm/status/53264711755640832

Regardless, it was a 4-3 Penguins win tonight in regulation in Norfolk. With Bridgeport beating Portland 2-1 in regulation in Maine tonight the magic number for WBS goes from 7 to 3 for clinching home ice throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs at least.

John Curry vs. Dustin Tokarski. Brad Thiessen was returned to WBS yesterday. I tweet this stuff so if you don’t already, follow me on Twitter.

First Period: Blair Jones would open the period on a penalty for tripping and Andrew Hutchinson would fire a puck at Tokarski which Sterling would collect and rebound on and score to make the score 1-0. Later, Carl Sneep, fresh from injury, would have to be escorted off the ice due to a snafu on the lineup cards. From what radio mentioned, Steve Wagner was listed as available for the game and Sneep was not so he was told to leave the game. Then, a Corey Potter turnover led to a 2 on 1 for Norfolk which saw Blair Jones tie the game at 1. Then, after Tim Wallace hit Scott Jackson into the boards he fought Radko Gudas. Gudas got 5 for fighting and an additional 2 for roughing. In the ensuing power play Keven Veilleux scored on the power play. After that, Blair Jones would sit for hooking and Brett Sterling again would score to make it 3-1. As soon as that happened a Norfolk defender blew a tire which led to Ryan Craig scoring to make it 4-1.

At this point the Pens had scored three power play goals. I was stunned, because the Pens power play was anemic to say the least. Rare that they ever score on the power play. Rare that they ever score two power play goals and it might as well snow on the sun because you never see Wilkes-Barre score three power play goals in one period.

Second Period: Norfolk tried rough stuff as Andrew Hutchinson and Mike Angelidis fought and Keven Veilleux and Alex Berry did the same. Then on a power play, Troy Milam took a cross ice pass to make it 4-2 on the backdoor. Then, the Pens needed to kill of a full two minutes of a 5 on 3 as David Marhsall would sit for a bench minor for too many men and Corey Potter for interference. Huge kill here.

Third Period: Brett Sterling was boarded by Vladimir Mihalek. He did not return. He went to the bench then the locker room. Follower Scott tweeted me this information:

http://twitter.com/#!/Wranglersm/status/53265980436131840

Then, Norfolk scored to make it interesting and made it 4-3. Mattias Ritola off of deflections. Admirals would pressure, pull Tokarski but never find the equalizer and the Pens would hold on.

As stated previously, the magic number on the conference is three.

Speaking of three, the three stars were: Brett Sterling (two goals, +1) Mattias Ritola, (goal, two assists, +1) and Ryan Craig (game winning goal)

Around the Division: Syracuse played and beat Toronto in an 11:00 a.m. game in Toronto today 4-3.

Standings: WBS 107 – HER 94 – CHA 91 – NOR 88 – BNG 87 – SYR 69 – ALB 67 – ADK 62.

Friday: WBS hosts Charlotte. Hershey visits Norfolk, Bingo is in Syracuse. I don’t think Manchester can catch us but regardless they are in Worcester. Portland is off on Friday.

Keep me queued up on Twitter for the latest on Sterling. Let’s hope he is fine.

Go Pens,

Exhale.

I have pretty much lived in fear of the Hershey Bears Hockey Club all season long. Despite the winning record against them, the Bears are what you want you minor league franchise to be. Top to bottom they are run like an NHL team. I have said from the very beginning of this year that the road to the Calder Cup runs through Hershey, PA. Beat Hershey, and you can beat any team. Win something Hershey can’t, and you are the favorite.

Tonight, before, 10,653 fans in GIANT Center, the Pens won a gritty, playoff like atmosphere game 3-2 in overtime, shorthanded, via Bryan Lerg. With the win and a Charlotte 8-2 win against Norfolk today, your Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are the 2010-2011 East Division Champions.

John Curry vs. Braden Holtby, fresh off of a cleansheet in the NHL last night.

First Period: Mathieu Perreault tripped Tim Wallace very early and Andrew Hutchinson scored :04 later on the power play. Bears would get three consecutive power plays afterwards but the Pens would kill them all. What a performance by John Curry between the pipes tonight.

First Period Intermission: Hershey media voting for Brad Thiessen for MVP and John Hynes for Coach of the Year.

Second Period: Keven Veilleux had a good game, stickhandling past three Bears on a shift and fighting Bears newcomer Andrew Carroll later. About midway through, the Bears were carrying the pace. Brian Strait goes to routinely clear out a puck and his stick breaks! In the melee, Francois Bouchard scores after a Brian Willsie point shot. Then later, with Dmitri Orlov in the box for slashing, Ben Street would fire a puck in from the right dot to put the Pens up 2-1. The guys over at Sweetest Hockey on Earth jinxed us sort of by tweeting that the Pens power play was lethal. To this point, it was, but afterwards…well read on.

Third Period: Pens carry the pace again, but as color guy Scott Stuccio stated on radio, if you gave the Bears an inch, they took a mile. Brian Willsie would sit for a penalty and as the Bears killed it they hooked up with Willsie who came in alone and Curry made a glove save. Later, Boyd Kane would sit for elbowing, none other than Keith Aucoin would skate in shorthanded and score to tie the game at 2.

Overtime: The Pens would get a powerplay with Steve Pinizzotto off for tripping but not score. Then, at the tail end Brett Sterling would take a silly roughing penalty while the Pens were in the offensize zone. Bears got the power play. Then, Bryan Lerg would come in shorthanded down the right lane and would fire a puck past Holtby stick side to send the Pens to the East Division title, a record for wins in a season, and John Curry’s 100th win.

Three Stars: Mathieu Perreault (two assists, +2) Andrew Hutchinson (goal, -1) and Bryan Lerg (game winning overtime goal, assist, +1)

The Pens limited the Bears to only 13 shots on goal in the second and third periods. But for Brian Strait’s stick breaking (he broke three in the game alone) and some puck luck late, we very well could have been looking at a 2-0 win. What a defensive shutdown on the tail end of a three in three, all on the road.

Around the Division: You know about the Checkers and Admirals game from the open. The Binghamton Senators defeated the Springfield Falcons 4-1. Syracuse and Bridgeport were postponed due to ice issues at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Like what happened when the Pens were in Atlantic City.

Standings: Pens clinch the Division and will finish first no matter what happens with points. We have recapped points all year here so I am not going to stop now. WBS 105 – HER 94 – CHA 91 -NOR 88 – BNG 87. The Admirals have two games in hand on the Senators. With the way the B-Sens have played the Pens this year, we are cheering for anyone but Binghamton. You want them to cross over into the Atlantic, ultimately. SYR 65 – ALB 65 and ADK 62.

Wilkes-Barre’s magic number to clinch home ice throughout the Calder Cup playoffs is 7 over the Portland Pirates. The Pirates have two games in hand on Wilkes-Barre, so it looks like that race will come down to the wire.

* – I am so proud of what this team has accomplished so far. Celebrate the East Division crown today and tomorrow and get back to work Tuesday to be ready for Norfolk on Wednesday. The prize is not a Division Championship or a Conference Championship, it’s that big silver shiny thing that Hershey has 11 of. Maintain focus and Let’s Go Pens!