Hate to use this comparison, because the team I am comparing to was unreal last year and has 11 Calder Cups, but tonight’s performance by Wilkes-Barre, a 4-1 win sparked by a third period comeback, harkens me back to the Hershey Bears of last year.

Think about it. You’d have the Bears right where you want them, then BOOM! next thing you know they have a two goal lead then add a third goal just to rub it in and you lose. Thanks for playing.

The Bears were unreal with absolute scoring terrors with Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque and Keith Aucion up front and had John Carlson on defense and Braden Holtby in goal. Chris Collins, Bryan Lerg and Ryan Craig aren’t those three up front, but anyway….

John Curry vs. Eddie Lack again. David Marshall and Alex Grant were the scratches with Steve Wagner and Corey Potter back from recall to Pittsburgh.

First Period: Pens looked good for about 4 minutes then the Moose turned it on. John Curry made some 10-bell saves early. Keven Veilleux buzzed around Eddie Lack’s goal but passed instead of shot. Then the Moose turned it on with the benefit of three straight penalties. They would score on the second penalty, a Boulerice slash, when Cody Hodgson dug a puck off of the far wall to the stick of Joel Perrault who sniped on Curry over his right shoulder. Shots would be 11-5 in favor of the Moose. Basically, the Pens won the first half of the period and the the Moose the second.

Second Period: In a surprising move, Brad Thiessen replaced John Curry in goal. I tweeted both patrick Williams (@AHLReport) and Moose beat guy Ken Wiebe (@WiebeSunSports) to see if they could shed some light on why Curry was pulled. Wiebe tweeted back and said that Curry was on the bench and looked fine. We’ll find out tomorrow I guess, because if it’s a long term thing, Patrick Killeen will get the call from the Wheelhose. Anyway, Joe Vitale crashed a net and knocked the net off of the moorings. Wilkes-Barre would throw everything at Lack this period but could not crack him. Eddie Lack is parent Vancouver’s future in net. Shots through two periods would end up 25-19 for the Pens.

Third Period: Nick Petersen and Jesse Boulerice had a great chance early in the period but were not able to score. Pens and Moose would overlap penalties which led to one minutes worth of four on four, then Bryan Lerg scored on a backhander to tie the game. Then about a minute and a half later, Steve Wagner would bank a puck in off of Zach Sill’s skate to make it 2-1. This rattled the Moose because :30 later, Corey Potter would fire a puck through traffic to make it 3-1. Then right after that happened, Ryan Parent boarded Joe Vitale hard. Vitale went down and went to the bench with help. Initially, Parent was given 2:00 for boarding but after examining the situation, referee Zac Wiebe assessed a 5:00 major and a game misconduct to Parent. Vitale went to the bench first, then went to the dressing room with help from trainer Patrick Steidle and he was favoring his left arm / shoulder. He did not return. Tim Wallace scored on the extended power play to put the game truly out of reach and made the score 4-1.

Pens received 7 out of a possible 8 points out of the longest road trip of the year and put the division lead back to 9 points over the Hershey Bears. Also, the magic number to clinch playoffs is three. I am no math major. The AHL tweeted it, so it has to be true.

Three Stars: Garth Murray (-2), Corey Potter (goal, assist, +2) and Bryan Lerg (goal, +2)

Around the Division: Binghamton lost 5-2 to Adirondack. Charlotte beat Bridgeport in a shootout, 2-1. Bobby Sanguinetti is back from a hip injury and bolsters that blue line with the loss of Brett Carson to a waiver claim to Calgary. Albany, getting hot (and that’s not because they are the Devils) win 6-1 to the hapless Syracuse Crunch. The Devils could make noise and make a run.

Manchester beat Springfield 4-2 to draw to 7 points behind WBS for the overall league lead. Manch has played 70 games to WBS’ 67. In the NHL, Carolina lost to Toronto 3-1. The loss has the Hurricanes two points out of the last guaranteed playoff spot. We want Carolina to make the playoffs so as not to load up the Charlotte Checkers.

Standings: WBS 97, HER 88, CHA 82, NOR 81, BNG 75, ALB 62, ADK 56, SYR 55.

Friday: Wilkes-Barre is off. Hershey travels to Springfield. Charlotte and Bridgeport have a rematch. Bingo hosts Portland. Manchester does the same with Connecticut. Albany travels to Norfolk. We’ll have something here on the blog Friday night after the dust settles.

Let’s Go Pens!

Missing four of its defensemen to either recall or injury, the Pens come out and smother the Moose defensively and shutout the North Division’s top team 2-0.

Missing are Carl Sneep (injury) Joey Mormina (injury) Steve Wagner (recall) and Corey Potter (recall) yet the Pens dominated the Moose on the shot chart, 38-23.

John Curry v. Eddie Lack. Alex Grant played his first game for WBS this year back from his wrist injury suffered in preseason.

First Period: Early, the fourth line was buzzing. Always a good sign. Pens would get two chances on the power play via a Joel Perrault hold on Ryan Craig and a Ryan Parent trip. No flow on either power play, moreso first power play then second. In the second Eddie Lack was the Moose’s best PK. Pens would get chances with a Ryan Craig mini breakaway. Jesse Boulerice would sit for a hook. but Manitoba’s PP is worse then ours so that was killed easily. Then, late, Robert Bortuzzo would fire a shot on net from the blue line which was rebounded by Keven Veilleux and Geoff Walker cleaned up the mess to put the Pens up 1-0.

First Period thoughts: Really impressed with Alex Grant this period. Kid did not look out of place one iota and looked like he has played 60 games with Wilkes-Barre this season. He is going to be fun to watch.

Second Period: Pens had to kill a Ryan Craig cross check penalty from 20:00 of the first but the Moose would not register a single shot on goal. Brett Sterling rung his second off of the post, he has been snakebit of late in the goal department. You have to think the avalanche is coming and soon. Middle of the second the Pens had what radio called the “shift of the road trip” but it was more like the shift of  the year to me, boy the Pens looked sharp this period. Late, Geoff Walker would turn a puck over to Victor Oreskovich and hooked him down. Later in the penalty kill, Joe Vitale would trip a Moose and the Pens would have to kill a late 5 on 3. They would, but not before Ryan Craig and Brian Strait’s sticks would break.

Second Period thoughts: Pens imposed their will against a very good Manitoba Moose team in the second, limiting the Moose to 9 shots while firing 12 at Lack. Of note, John Hynes was the second intermission guest and, while referring to John Curry, stated that he wanted John to “give him a reason to make him play him Wednesday” – after tonight’s performance look for #36 to get the nod in the cage tomorrow in the rematch.

Third Period: David Marshall would ring a shot off the post. Later, Maintoba had the best chance in the game to tie it, but Chris Collins fed a pass to Bryan Lerg who led a 2 on 1 with Ben Street who received the Lerg pass to make it 2-0 Pens. Moose would pull Lack late but not score and the Pens would hold on for the 2-0 win.

Three Stars: Ben Street (goal, +1), John Curry (23 save shutout) and Eddie Lack (36 saves on 38 shots)

The line of Geoff Walker, Ryan Craig and Keven Veilleux has been the best line for the Pens this month combining for six goals and nine assists. Credit @TonyAndrock for the stat.

The win pushes the Pens to 95 points, seven up on Hershey for second and Manchester for the overall lead with three games in hand on both teams.

This is 5 out of a possible 6 points this road trip including two shutouts by two different goaltenders. I never get in a debate on who is better in goal, but you all have to feel blessed knowing that John Curry and Brad Thiessen are tending the nets in Wilkes-Barre. Both are very very good at what they do.

Around the Division: No one else played.

Standings: Wilkes goes 7-up on Hershey right now with three games in hand. 95 points to the Bears 88. The rest of the East shakes out this way: NOR 81, CHA 80, BNG 75, ALB 60, SYR 55, ADK 54.

Tomorrow: Rematch in Winnipeg between the Moose and Penguins. Binghamton is in Adirondack, Springfield visits Manchester and Charlotte battles Bridgeport in Connecticut.

Good things happening right now in Wilkes-Barre. With Pittsburgh not playing until Sunday, look for Corey Potter and Steve Wagner to be return to the Pens tomorrow.

Let’s Go Penguins!