And now things get really tight in the playoff race.

NOR-1
WBS-2

Dustin Tokarski allowed just 2 goals on 25 shots, but his first period softie allowed to Jesse Boulerice ended up being the margin of defeat.

First Period
WBS Boulerice, (4) (Conner, Lee), 4:23
WBS Johnson, (13) (Haddad, Wagner), 13:19 (PP)

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
NOR Fornataro, (9) (Wishart, Fadden), 15:22

It was a beautiful stickhandling play by Matt Fornataro that helped pull the Admirals to within one goal late in the game. Defenseman Ty Wishart got his 31st point of the season on the play, but he should be chastized along with Vladimir Mihalik for some very soft play along the wall in the defensive zone, especially in the first period. The soft goal, the soft play along the wall, and a disgustingly bad 0-for-8 power play doomed the Admirals in this one. That, and Mitch Fritz losing his mind at the end of the second period, including the ever-classy crotch chop to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton crowd, drawing a double minor and game misconduct that killed off about a quarter of the third period for a Pens team that only held on by one goal.

On the bright side, the two pro debuts went pretty well tonight. Carter Ashton almost had a beautiful goal chipping the puck between two defenders and showing surprising burst to split them and get himself a breakaway. He got in too tight on the backhand, though, and couldn't lift the puck to notch the goal. He had another chance a few minutes later when he spun out in front from behind the net on his backhand. Had he been a little more patient, he could've taken another half stride and maybe stuck it in far post. Richard Panik had one good chance from the slot, but the defining play for him was a downright nasty check he threw coming back into the Admirals zone. Downright nasty. In case you didn't know, he's strong as a bull.

Norfolk's lead over the Pens is down to 1 point with the Pens holding 1 game in hand. Uh oh. Norfolk has 11 games left to play in the season: 3 on the road and 8 at home. Norfolk draws Adirondack at Scope on Friday.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Two one goal losses and the season keeps slowly and painfully slipping away.

PHX-2
TB-1

Antero Niittymaki allowed 2 goals on 28 shots for the loss. Beats me. When he stinks the team scores in bunches. When he plays well, it all dries up. Go figure.

First Period
PHX 7:56, Fiddler 7 (Stempniak)
PHX 9:45, Lombardi 16 (Wolski, Doan)

Second Period
TB 16:07, Fedoruk 3 (Bochenski, Parrish)

Third Period
NO SCORING

This is another case where the Lightning will go back at season's end and probably kick themselves for that one little mistake (Matt Smaby) or that one missed scoring chance (Brandon Bochenski).

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

No.19 Vermont Catamounts 1 @ No.11 New Hampshire Wildcats 0 (OT) (Sunday)
Hockey East Quarterfinals – Game 3. Vermont wins Best of 3 series 2-1.
C/W Matt Marshall , UVM: Did not play.
Season Totals: 33 GP, 1-4-5, -4, 14 PIM

After not losing on home ice to a Hockey East opponent all season, UNH dropped games 2 and 3 to Vermont, both by 1-0 scores, and now the top-seeded Wildcats are out of the HEA playoffs. Vermont got two shutouts from Rob Madore (undrafted) after he gave up six goals in game one and was pulled, and an overtime goal from 1985-born New Hampshire-native Jay Anctil (undrafted) in Game 3 – Vermont’s 51st shot on Brian Foster (Panthers 5/05) - to move on. They will now go to TD Garden in Boston to face No.4 Boston College in the semifinals. No.19 Maine faces No.20 Boston University in the other HEA semifinals. Don’t expect Marshall, who has yet to play for the eighth seeded Catamounts in the playoffs, to suit up anytime soon with Vermont riding this momentum.

QMJHL

St. John Sea Dogs 2 @ Moncton Wildcats 5
D Mark Barberio, MCT: 2-0-2, +2, 2 PIM, 2 SOG
Season Totals: 65 GP, 17-43-60, +39, 72 PIM

In a game broadcast on NHL Network, Barberio and Moncton defeated top-seeded St. John to end the regular season on a winning note. Barberio scored twice, the first on the power play when he pinched in from the point and buried a cross-crease pass. The second came while shorthanded into an empty net. Moncton finishes with the league’s third-best point total at 102, two points behind Drummondville and seven behind St. John. They’ll play Cape Breton in the first round. After a slow start to the season in the goal department, Barberio finished with a bang, scoring 14 times after Christmas. Barberio set career highs in goals (+1), assists (+12), points (+14), and plus/minus (+31). He finished fifth in the Q in points among defensemen, sixth in goals, fifth in assists, and seventh in plus/minus. Barberio and Moncton should have a long playoff season ahead, at least until the conference finals, which should be vs. the same Sea Dogs they defeated Sunday night.

OHL

Sudbury Wolves 2 @ Ottawa 67’s 3 (OT)
W Matias Sointu, SBY: 0-1-1, +1, 0 PIM
Season Totals: 51 GP, 8-21-29, -3, 24 PIM
With Sudbury: 29 GP, 5-14-19, -8, 18 PIM
With Ottawa: 21 GP, 3-7-10, +5, 6 PIM

With Niagara’s loss, Sudbury was a second point away from avoiding Barrie in the East’s first round, but it was not to be as Sointu’s former team scored in overtime. The Wolves, who had 59 points on the year, will indeed play Alex Hutchings and Barrie, who finished the year 57 points better than Sudbury. Sointu finished the regular season very strong, scoring nine points in his last seven games.

OHL Scoring Race

Speaking of Hutchings, he finished the year fourth in the OHL in goals (tie - 47), 14th in points (81), first in shorthanded goals (11; 7 more than anyone else), first in game winning goals (tie – 11), second in insurance goals (tie – 7), and fifth in plus/minus (+44). Overall, Plymouth’s Tyler Seguin (48-58-106) and Windsor’s Taylor Hall (40-66-106), who will battle for the No.1 draft spot this summer, finished tied for the league lead in points.

WHL

Vancouver Giants 3 @ Seattle Thunderbirds 4 (OT)
C/W/D James Wright, VAN: 0-0-0, -2, 4 PIM (boarding, roughing)
Season Totals: 21 GP, 6-13-19, -3, 17 PIM
With Tampa Bay: 43 GP, 2-3-5, -9, 18 PIM

The Giants, who have struggled the last two weeks, played ninth place Seattle for a chance to enter the playoffs on a win streak, but were foiled by T-Birds goalie Calvin Pickard (2010 eligible), who stopped 51 shots in a First Star performance. Wright, a noted two-way player who skated for Tampa Bay of the NHL for most of the season because of his two-way abilities, finished his regular season with Vancouver with a surprising minus-3 rating. Wright and Vancouver will have to regroup as they enter the playoffs against seventh-seeded Kamloops. In other WHL news, Calgary’s Brandon Kozon (Kings 6/09) won the league scoring title by one point over Regina’s Jordan Eberle (Oilers 1/08), 107-106.