Penguins get win 50 this afternoon vs. the Charlotte Checkers. Fourth time in team history with a 2-1 win over the Charlotte Checkers.

Brad Thiessen vs. Mike Murphy.

First Period: Early, Mike Murphy was on it, robbing Bryan Lerg. Later, Zack FitzGerald would sit for a rough and the Pens PP would go to work. It looked better than past power plays, but the same result in failing to score. First period was more of a defensive chess match and it would end scoreless.

Second Period: Still deadlocked at 0-0, the Pens were trying feathering passes which were knocked away by Charlotte. The power play would look bad in the second with Zach Boychuk in the box on a slash with the Pens playing dump and chase and ice the puck. Later, Zach Sill would keep a puck in by the far wall on his stomach and pass to Geoff Walker who passed to Nick Petersen who scored on a nifty spin-o-rama type move. Probably top three goals of the year right there.Then, Mike Murphy would come out of the game due to apparent injury. He was spilled behind the net with no call as play continued and Justin Pogge would come on in relief. Sill would get a good chance later but Pogge made the save.

Third Period: :21 in, Sill would score off of a nice centering feed from Geoff Walker and Keven Veilleux. That Walker-Sill-Veilleux line has been dynamite of late. The Pens would smother the Checkers every shift. Very late, I heard people in my section start saying “shutout” and I cringed. You never use that word until the game is over. Sure enough, a Bobby Sanguinetti was deflected by Chris Terry, who earlier with Pogge pulled swung and missed at a dropping puck on a wide open cage, broke up the shutout with 4.8 seconds left.

Three Stars: Nick Petersen: (goal, +1) Brad Thiessen (25 saves on 26 shots) and Zach Sill (game winning goal, assist, +2)

Bombulie had nice words to say about Zach Sill on his blog earlier. Really nothing more can be said about a fourth line mucker converted into a legit scoring threat every time he steps over the boards. Dustin Jeffrey, Eric Tangradi and Nick Johnson have some big shoes and Zach Sill is filling them nicely.

Around the Division: Syracuse beat Hershey 5-2. Hershey pumped 32 shots on goal and allowed 19 yet still lost. Binghamton beat Bridgeport in overtime 4-3.

Manchester lost to Worcester 3-2 and Portland beat Providence 5-3 so the Pirates go up 93-91 on the Monarchs and into second overall in the AHL.

Standings: Wilkes gets to 101 points, Hershey is 10 back with 91. Charlotte and Norfolk are tied with 84 points with Norfolk in third. Bingo sits fifth with 79 points. ALB 64, SYR 61 and ADK 58.

This week: Pens give back one of it’s three games in hand on the Bears when they take on the Albany Devils Wednesday at home in Wilkes-Barre. The Devils are 0-7 this season vs. the Pens and will be looking for the upset.

Bombulie says the magic number to clinch the division is 6. I am no math major and neither is Bombulie admittedly, so I guess I believe him. Don’t always believe what you read, @franki2003 says that the magic number is 7, with Norfolk having 12 games left if they won all of them they would finish with 108 points.

Go Pens.

x.

That is what everyone will see when they read the Sports Section all across America tomorrow morning when they look at the AHL Standings. That “x” signifies that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have clinched a playoff spot for the ninth year in a row with a 5-3 win over the Worcester Sharks this evening.

Brad Thiessen vs. Harri Sateri. There was chatter pregame as to whether Wilkes-Barre sent back Patrick Killeen. They did not. This picture tells the story.

First Period: A Wagner defensive zone turnover led to a Cam MacIntyre goal about 10 minutes in. Later, Wagner’s point shot from the blue line would rebound over to Zach Sill to tie the game. Sill has really stepped up in the absence of Johnson, Tangradi and Jeffrey. Later, Tim Wallace would get called for tripping then Dan DaSilva scored while Brad Thiessen was screened on the power play to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.

Second Period: John McCarthy would sit for roughing and right after more rebound plague Sateri as they did all night to the stick of Brett Sterling to even the score at 2 a piece. Later, with Jon Landry and Frazer Mc:aren in the box and the Pens on a 5 on 3, Pens would win the faceoff and Corey Potter would score to make it 3-2.

Third Period: Sharks had worked a faceoff play out before the puck dropped to open the third and in doing so Sean Sullivan to the net while Robert Bortuzzo hooked him to give the Sharks a power play. The Pens would kill it but as soon as they did Keven Veilleux would get whistled for roughing and they would score to even it at 3 a piece with Tommy Wingles hack and whack. Pens would then have to kill off a 5 on 3 of their own before Veilleux took a puck off of a Shark player in the Worcester offensive zone, passed to Wallace who score to make it 4-3. Late, Worcester would pull Sateri and Wallace would score again as time would expire.

Three Stars: Corey Potter (goal, +1), Keven Veilleux (two assists, 2) and Tim Wallace (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Portland fights back from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 in overtime tonight in Hershey in Braden Holtby’s return to the Bears from parent Washington. Binghamton shuts out Springfield 2-0. Barry Brust with his seventh shutout of the season for the B-Sens. The Falcons have lost 10 in a row. Ow. Albany beat Norfolk 6-5 in a shootout after being up 3-0. Syracuse beat tomorrow’s opponent the Charlotte Checkers 6-2. Justin Pogge gave up all 6 goals and was yanked in favor of Mike Murphy to start the third. Adirondack beat Toronto 3-1.

Standings: Wilkes clinches and pushes it’s lead up to 8 over Hershey 99-91. It’s a three way tie for second overall between the Bears, Pirates and Monarchs all who have 91 points a piece. The rest of the division goes, NOR 84, CHA 84, BNG 77, ALB 64, SYR 59 and ADK 58.

Tomorrow: Tonight’s opponents, the Worcester Sharks, are in Manchester. Portland is in Providence, Hershey hosts Syracuse, Binghamton is in Bridgeport.

This is what it is all about from here on in. Go Pens.