A gritty hard-fought game this afternoon in Wilkes-Barre saw the Penguins win 2-1. All the goals came from fourth liners on both sides.

Brad Thiessen v. Robin Lehner this afternoon.

First period saw Geoff Kinrade for Bingo score first. This was set up by a Steve Wagner failed clearing attempt. Steve’s been in a rut recently. Used to be a rock on D now it’s more iffy play. Later in the period a Derek Smith failed clearing attempt found Zach Sill’s blade for a 1-1 tie. Bingo really made a push to make the score more than what it was and just put the score out of reach after a long three in three weekend for both teams, as evidenced by the 16-7 shots on goal advantage for the Sens.

Second period, lots of back and forth action. Jeff Smith was the referee again and there were times he could have called something, but he gets it’s a man’s game and let the boys play. Jesse Boulerice of all people scored what would end up the game winning goal after a cycle behind Lehner’s net.

In the third period Bingo would press but not crack Brad Thiessen. About halfway in the period Brad was behind his net and Jim O’Brien had an empty cage to shoot at but Steve Wagner rectified his recent spotty defensive play of late to keep the score 2-1. Both teams would trade penalties but nothing doing and it was all she wrote. WBS improves to 14-3.

Couple of notes: Eric Tangradi had a really great game with a lot of scoring opportunities. Great work by the fourth line guys tonight, as Chris Collins, Zach Sill and Jesse Boulerice were stars three thru one. Another game WBS gets outshot and another game WBS wins while being outshot. A win finally on home ice to break the streak of three straight losses at home.

Could be trouble: Kyle M. (@ovifan8) reported on his Twitter feed that of all people, Chris Bourque was in the building tonight to watch the Bears and Hartford Wolf Pack tonight, a game Hershey would win 4-3. Nothing official from beat writer Tim Leone, the Bears or John Walton’s respective twitter feeds so take it for what it is worth. Washington owns Bourque’s Europe rights until December. He’d have to report there then get sent down, have to clear waivers, the whole bit. I don’t know if he would qualify as a veteran or not.

In the balance of East Division action, Syracuse coughed up three goals in :52 to lose to the Rochester Americans 5-4. This angers Chairman How’s Glorious Army. As it should.

Standings wise we look like this: WBS has 28 points good for first. Idle Charlotte has 23 good for second. Norfolk has 22 for third. Hershey, fourth at 21 points. Bingo has 21 points too but the first tiebreak is wins so they are in fifth. Albany and Syracuse have 16 a piece for sixth and seventh respectively and the Phantoms have 8 points good for last place.

J’ever wonder whatever became of Patrick Maroon? You know, the exiled Adirondack Phantoms forward who was basically thrown off the team a few weeks ago with no reason given? He was traded to Anaheim today, along with David Laliberte. In return, the Phantoms get Danny Syvret and Rob Bordson. Tim McManus has all you need over at his blog.

Just a note: I will be in New Jersey the better part of the afternoon on Thanksgiving and will probably not be able to tweet some, if not all of the Thanksgiving game between Wilkes-Barre and Binghamton in Binghamton. Joy Lindsay from the Press Sun and Bulletin in Binghamton live tweets every B-Sens game and will be tweeting this one as well. Lend her a follow, won’t you?

Multi-year season ticket holder meet and greet is tomorrow. If anything of substance happens there or if anything goofy starts with this Bourque to Hershey noise (which is all it is because it isn’t, as of 8 pm Sunday night confirmed) check me out here tomorrow afternoon. You can always follow along on Twitter too. Don’t forget you can always e-mail me too.

Let’s Go Pens!

Made my first ever regular season trip down to GIANT Center tonight for Wilkes-Barre / Hershey. One of the greatest rivalries in all of the American Hockey League. Left nearly needing to go to the emergency room because I nearly had a heart attack watching this game, at 4-3 Penguins victory. It felt like a playoff game.

I attended Saturday Mass in Hershey so I can sleep in Sunday, so I missed warmups. It was John Curry vs. Semyon Varlamov. Expect Holtby any day down from parent Washington and Varlamov to be recalled. Lineup change to note for the Pens found Carl Sneep scratched and Joey Mormina in his place.

First period: Brett Sterling made it 1-0 after a rebound stuff in under the pads of Varlamov. I was doing yardwork earlier this afternoon and said to myself he was going to have a great game tonight. The rest of the period saw Joey Mormina absolutely flatten Andrew Joudrey along the benches and that was about it. Referee Jeff Smith ran things this evening. You pretty much have to have your arm ripped off in order for him to call a penalty. I am of the opinion that you let the boys play, and not make yourself part of the game by raising your arm every five seconds. Here’s a quick preview for the Binghamton game tomorrow, Smith is the ref for that one too.

First intermission I did a walk around GIANT Center. I saw this and it made me very sad.

Second period: Tim Leone tweeted that Wilkes-Barre hadn’t a shot since 8:18 of the first period, which was the Sterling goal. We went about 5 minutes into the second before Joe Vitale got two in one shift. Steve Wagner was spotted for a hook, and four seconds into the power play Lawrence Nycholat rifled one home to tie the score. Almost immediately afterwards, Sheldon Souray sat for interference, and the calls were even up. The score would be 1-1 after two periods.

Third period: Keven Veilleux scored a hightlight reel goal. Eric P at the Wilkes-Blog has it over on his postgame recap there. Please make sure you are on an empty stomach. It is that sickening. Later, Varlamov was screened by fellow Russian Dmitri Kugryshev and Brian Strait of all people scored a goal for us. His game isn’t scoring goals guys, it’s playing defense. Then, Chris Collins jumped Mathieu Perreault. Collins would sit for interference, :08 seconds into the power play and Boom! Andrew Gordon scored. At this point I felt like this was the tipping point of the game. The fans were crazy, the Bears are back within one with just over 10 minutes left to play, oh don’t wake up that sleeping bear!

Gordon would get another chance and I thought for sure he would score but somehow either he missed the net or Curry made the save. Later, Dustin Jeffrey would knock down a Lawrence Nycholat clearing attempt and this would prove to hold up as the game winner to make it 4-2. Andrew Gordon would score another power play goal after a Joe Vitale delay of game. Hershey would press, press, press but wound not score with Varlamov pulled and it’s game over.

Three Starts were Kyle Greentree, Dustin Jeffrey and Brett Sterling in that order.

The power play was AWFUL. You cannot, can. not. go 0-fer on the penalty kill. Hershey didn’t have Keith Aucoin tonight. and still scored goals 4 seconds, 8 seconds and 77 seconds into their man advantages. This needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed QUICKLY!

Like I said at the beginning, a fun game to watch but one that for sure leaves you breathless and all you are doing there is sitting watching. Man.

Bombulie with his postgamer. Love the mention about if Nygel Pelletier had this game the score would be 11-4.

Around the division: Norfolk beat Adirondack 3-1, Hartford downed Bingo 3-2 in OT, Springfield beat the Crunch 5-4, and Albany blanked Rochester 4-0 in Rochester.

Standings: Penguins sit atop the division with 26 points. Charlotte is idle till Monday. They have 23 points. Norfolk has 22. Bingo has 21. Hershey has 19 points. Albany and Syracuse have 16 points apiece and the Phantoms have 8 points.

Afternoon game vs. the Binghamton Senators at home. Last time we played Bingo we got destroyed 5-2. The last time Bingo played the tail end of a three-in-three they got smoked 8-3 by Hershey. We are terrible on home ice of recent. I guess we’ll see tomorrow afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

I don’t even know where to begin on this one. A 4-1 Norfolk win tonight which depending on which side of the ice you sat on, could have been sheer domination by the Admirals tonight in every sense of the word. I mentioned on Bombulie’s blog this week after the Albany game when hearing that Wednesday practice would be canceled about complacency. Never rest on your laurels. Well, tonight kind of proved me right, don’t you think?

Brad Thiessen v. Cecrick Desjardins this evening. Brett Sterling made his return to the Pens lineup.

The way Chris Cozzan referees a hockey game, it can get boring on the ol’ twitter feed. Six penalties tonight resulting in only two power plays for Wilkes-Barre and all in the first period and nothing thereafter. Don’t get me wrong, I love the way Chris Cozzan referees hockey games, but sometimes it can tend to get boring.

Regardless, after a Radko Gudas hook, Tim Wallace scored to make it 1-0 Wilkes-Barre. After that, Norfolk just went into pure shutdown mode after that. Desjardins is as good as advertised. He was not challenged much tonight. When he was, it was an ohmygodhowdidhemakethatsave moment.

I knew the night wasn’t going to go our way when Bryan Lerg stickhandled through a crowd then fell flat on his face near Desjardins. Later, a Matt Fornataro blast was flicked away by the pad of Thiessen, right to Chris Durno’s stick. Period would end tied at 1.

Second period is not a minute old, a Mike Vernace change-up shot is sent towards Thiessen and Blair Jones deflects it past him. Really a bad goal. Later in the period, guess who? Blair Jones again! After this, that was all the Admirals needed, as they just went into shut down mode after that. Nothing doing in the third. Alex Berry got an empty net goal and that was all she wrote.

Bombulie with some great quotes from Coach Hynes and Eric Tangradi in his postgamer. Tangradi played a horrible game. He knew it too. He knows he played bad, knows he needs to finish on Desjardins’ doorstep, so I am not going to rip on him.

Pedestrian effort by Steve Wagner defensively. I’ll say no more.

Around the Division: Bingo beat Hershey 4-2 tonight. Tomorrow nights tilt at the GIANT Center just got that much more interesting. Albany beats Syracuse in a shootout 4-3 and Charlotte beats Adirondack 4-3 in OT. Standings wise it looks like this: We are still in first with 24 points. Charlotte sits alone in second with 23 points. Norfolk jumps to third with 20 points. Bingo has 20, Hershey 19, Syracuse 16, Albany 14 and Adirondack 8. The Checkers are off tomorrow night. They do not play until Monday vs. Norfolk at home.

I will be in Hershey tomorrow for the Pens / Bears. Just a note that depending on what time I get back home tomorrow night and how I feel, a postgame update may not be had until Sunday morning.

Go Pens.