Penguins Lose Battle of the Birds, Fall 7-4

The Penguins were not very impressive tonight.

I think the best way to describe tonight's WBS Penguins game in one word is this - sloppy.

Brandon DeFazio get called for hooking in the opening minute and Springfield capitalizes. Niko Dimitrakos turns the puck over behind his own net on a power play chance and it's in the back of the net and its a 2-0 deficit less than five minutes into the game.


The Falcons lived on special teams tonight, scoring three power play goals in addition to the shorthanded goal.

Not a good night for Penguins goalie Scott Munroe either. Not that all of the goals were his fault, but never good to give up five goals on 21 shots. Brad Thiessen replaced Munroe to start the third period.

On a bright note, Paul Thompson (1G-1A), Bryan Lerg (2G-0A) and Brian Strait (0G-2A) all had two point nights and looked good. Highly touted prospect Simon Despres notched his first career point, a power play assist, about midway through the second period.

On a sour note, Ryan Craig left the game early in the first period and did not return. Hopefully Penguins beat writer Jonathan Bombulie will have an update on his status. Nobody seemed to notice he was gone, and to be honest I didn't see exactly what happened to Craig to cause him to miss basically the entire game.

Penguins are back at it tomorrow night at home against the defending champions, the Binghamton Senators. Game preview and thread will be up tomorrow for those interested.