Dominant but no W

The Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins have now beaten the Bears 4 out of the 5 times they have played this season after last nights 4-3 shootout win. The Baby Pens are mainly doing their damage to the Bears on the power play this season. Including last night's game where they had 3 goals on the power play.

Let me put it to you this way....the Pens have scored 22 goals against the Bears in 5 games this season. 11 of those goals are on a power play. They have had 31 power plays against the Bears. That means that the Pens are converting on over 35% of their penalties against Hershey. That is not good.

The advantage and bright spot to that is that in the playoffs penalties are called less frequently. Referees tend to put their whistles away for longer stretches than they do during the regular season.

Really this series has been close all season. Each team has won one big with the Bears winning 8-4 on opening night and the Pens winning 6-2 earlier this month. The other three games were decided by 1 goal and last night's game by a shootout.

Last night's game pretty much came down to a questionable decision by Chris Bourque and a questionable call by referee Terry Koharski.* Bourque was called for a 5 minute major penalty for interference with less than a minute to go in the second period. There is no video evidence to show the penalty but Bourque didn't exactly say he didn't do anything so you have to assume that it was a penalty.

But the question is was it worthy of a major penalty? That is a big call and it ended up dooming the Bears as they gave up 2 goals (which tied the game) on the penalty kill.

But you can't blame losses on referees since the Bears still had a chance to win the game by killing the penalties. The Bears still dominated the third period and overtime before falling in the shootout. Those games happen and while the Bears trail the season series against the Pens they are still 8 points ahead of them in the division.

Once you get to the playoffs the regular season doesn't matter all that much. Want proof, here is what Coach Woods had to say after the game,

"It doesn't matter, if we both get into the playoffs, it's going to be a whole new ballgame anyway. It doesn't matter what happens during the regular season. To me, I know we can play with them, I know we can beat them."

That tells you what you need to know on how this team feels about the record during the season. It would obviously be nice to beat them every time they play them but the team understands that the playoffs are a different season and that season matters a whole lot more than this one.


My Three Stars of the Game:

1. Chris Minard - 2 goals after returning from Pittsburgh for the weekend
2. John Curry - 33 saves, some of which were very tough
3. Alexandre Giroux - a goal which set the Hershey Bears record for longest points streak at 21 straight games

Grading the Performance:

• Offense - B+ - I really thought that this was one of the better games this team played. They got plenty of chances and the Pens honestly looked outclassed for much of the game. Another goal obviously would have been nice but they didn't get enough bounces.
• Defense - B+ - I will grade the penalty kill in a bit but the defense was solid at even strength. The Pens had some shots but there was never any consistent pressure except when they were on the power play.
• Goaltending - B+ - He would have gotten an A but their were 3 goals scored on him. Although I thought he did a fabulous job in net and the 3 scored would have been tough for any goalie on any level to stop.
• Power Play - B - So many chances and they were only able to get 1 goal. They even had chances in overtime but couldn't get by Curry.
• Penalty Kill - F - Sorry but you have to do better than that. They did good on the 5 minute major with the exception of the final 30 seconds. The first two goals were basically 5 on 3 goals. The first goal was right after the 5 on 3 ended but the player wasn't back in yet. 3 lapses cost them a point at the end of the game.
• Overall - B - I thought they played a very good game with the exception of 3 mental lapses on the penalty kill where they allowed wide open guys to get good looks. The offense produced and Michal Neuvirth was very good in goal. A good game with an unfortunate outcome.

LET'S GO BEARS!!!!


*If you question the ruling of a 5 minute interference penalty go here and click on page 62 and look at rule 56.4 on the right side of the page. And if you listened to John Walton and you heard him say that the penalty SHOULD have included a game misconduct that is incorrect. If the referee determines the play resulted in an injury than he WOULD be given a game misconduct but Thomas was a little banged up but he returned a short period later.