A few things to know before the Devils and Penguins hit the ice at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza:
-Season: This is the 8th and final meeting between the two teams, with the Penguins holding a commanding 7-0 lead. Last meeting was on February 7th in Atlantic City (a makeup from December 12th), a 4-0 WBS victory. The Devils as a franchise have yet to record a victory against the Pens.
-Standings: Wilkes-Barre stands in first place in the East Division (and also first in the Eastern Conference and the league as a whole), with a record of 50-18-0-1 and 101 points. They lead second place Hershey by 10 points and are the first team in the AHL to clinch a Calder Cup playoff spot, accomplishing the feat on Saturday night. Albany stands in 6th place with a 30-35-1-3 record and 64 points. They are behind 5th place Binghamton by 15 points and 3 points ahead of 7th place Syracuse.
-Scoring: The Penguins are lead by Brett “The Ticket” Sterling (credit to our friends at Chirps from Center Ice for that nickname) with 45 points (23 G, 22 A) followed by team captain Ryan Craig with 43 points (17 G, 26 A). All-Star goalies Brad Thiessen and John Curry share time in net, Thiessen leading the league in most major categories (GAA, wins, tied for shutouts). On the Devil side…despite hot streaks from several players on the roster, Matt Anderson is still first among skaters with 50 points (21 G, 29 A) followed by Adam Henrique with 43 points (23 G, 20 A). Mike McKenna and Dave Caruso are continuing to split time in net, with Jeff Frazee still sidelined with a finger injury. I would expect McKenna to get the start despite a shaky effort for the win in Norfolk on Saturday.
Game time: 7 PM. I will be following along from home on the AHL Live feed…
Thoughts Inside The Box 