WB/S pulls out SO win; 4-3 final

Casey Pierro-Zabotel was the lone healthy scratch, while Eric Tangradi sat out due to precautionary measures on an upper body injury. Tangradi hit his face hard on the ice as he was taken down in last week’s game against Hershey. Offensive D-man Steve Wagner is also still out due to a jaw injury.

In place of him, Joey Haddad was inserted into the third line with Joe Vitale and Konstantin Pushkarev. Haddad plays a gritty power forward style game, and possesses one of the best natural shots out of the prospect pool in WB/S. With more playing time, we could see some exciting things out of the rookie from Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Right winger Nick Johnson continues his strong play into his sophomore season, and definitely will be given an opportunity to battle for a second line spot out of Pittsburgh next year in camp.

Also continuing his strong play on a more surprising note is grinder Tim Wallace. After Caputi’s trade, he has been given a bigger role and has flourished in it thus far. It’s amazing how Shero finds undrafted players such as himself, Ben Lovejoy, and Curry to name a few that can compete at a high level, night in and night out.

The Baby Pens play their next game on Friday, at 7:05 against the Providence Bruins. At this stage of the season, every point is critical for the Penguins in order to solidify a playoff spot.

Tangradi was interviewed during the 1st intermission on WB/S radio, and he said the team is basically looking at the remaining 17 games as individual playoff games themselves.