Sorry about the lack of coverage last weekend. These camping trips I do with my family are made months on advance. One thing about campgrounds is that they always tout Wi-Fi access but when it’s you and 75 other campers and their families, and those families have kids, it’s tough to get a good connection.
That’s why I have cats.
Anyway.
The Pittsburgh Penguins won’t be playoff bound, so Valtteri Puustinen, Ryan Shea, Jack St. Ivany and Radim Zohorna are all be Wilkes-Barre bound.
Things are still up in the air for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins as far as seeding goes. Put it this way, if Providence finds a way to get one more point, the Penguins cannot catch the Bruins for second and the Bruins will have the first round bye. Also, the Penguins have to win out. If the Pens win out and the Bruins lose out, the Pens and Bruins would be tied in points, but since Wilkes-Barre has more ROW (regulation or overtime wins) they would get second place.
How do you feel about the Penguins and the bye? I am split. They can use the time to heal up key guys. But, you don’t want rust or any of those things creeping into the team.
I ultimately think the scenario of the Bruins losing out is more unlikely than the Penguins winning out. I will get to that in a minute.
Music to Set the Mood…
Once again this is another one of those, “type the headline for the blog post this week in youtube.com and see what happens. Here’s what I found.
Edinburgh based rock band with an exciting live presence, who write and perform their own material and at the time of writing , are looking to tour anywhere and everywhere in the next few months, before dropping a load of new songs via Infinite Hive.
I let it play a bit in the background when I was writing it. Not really my thing, but I played it longer than I would have.
A Quote…
Let ’em Cook
— Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
That’s your playoff theme this year. The puns if they don’t go all the way would be “cooked” or, “well done” among other things.
The Setup…
Hartford on the road Friday and Lehigh Valley on the road Saturday.
The Penguins ran the win streak to seven games with home wins over Bridgeport, 5-2 on Friday and Hershey, 4-1 on Saturday before losing in Hershey on Sunday 4-1. That was a bit of a bad loss for the Penguins because both Providence and Charlotte lost on Sunday.
Hartford snapped out of their funk with a pair of wins over Springfield, 5-3 on Friday and Charlotte, 5-2 on Sunday. The Wolf Pack clinched a playoff spot last weekend and will likely be the five seed.
Lehigh Valley lost 4-1 to Hershey in Hershey on Friday then beat Bridgeport 5-4 in overtime on Saturday. The Phantoms will be in Bridgeport on Friday.
Records
Penguins are 38-23-8-1 with 85 points and are third in the Atlantic.
Hartford is 32-27-7-3 with 74 points and are fifth in the Atlantic.
Lehigh Valley is 30-30-6-3 with 69 points and are sixth in the Atlantic.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 17, 2024
This is notable because Blomqvist plays in the same division as fellow rookie Clay Stevenson of the Hershey Bears who has an astonishing seven shutouts.
— x – Wheeling Nailers (@WheelingNailers) April 18, 2024
It’s good to have a future in goal for the organization.
Check Your Surroundings…
Alright so Providence has a three in three weekend where they play a hapless but scrappy Springfield team at home Friday, a straight up hapless Bridgeport team on Saturday and host a not really much left to play for stuck in fifth place Hartford Wolf Pack team on Sunday. Remember that any point gained by Providence (or lost by the Pens) seals up a first round bye for the Bruins. That said, the records don’t really matter.
Charlotte is still buzzing around the face of the Penguins. The Checkers played Hershey own Wednesday and lost their game in hand on the Penguins with a 4-3 defeat to the Bears. They will rematch against the Bears on Saturday and then conclude their regular season against the Phantoms on Sunday.
Charlotte cannot get to second now and if the Penguins amass two more points, they can’t get to third either. If they tie, the Pens have one more ROW than the Checkers.
The Checkers are 38-25-7-0 and have 83 points in fourth place. The Checkers have 37 ROW also.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
The kids are alright, aren’t they? Avery Hayes has turned it up, Evan Vierling too. Beau Jelsma made his AHL debut last weekend and didn’t look out of place. When you are young, talented and hungry, you can go places. These kids may not know any better.
The issue for them this weekend is that a lot of their seeding fate is out of their hands. It’s unlikely they get the second seed. All they need is two more points out of their final two games and third is theirs, so there is some work to do. Alternatively, if Charlotte loses two points in any form or fashion over their next two games, third place is the Penguins.
Also, the reinforcements from Pittsburgh will likely push out some guys in the lineup. Here’s who I would bounce if I was J.D. Forrest.
Ryan Shea and Jack St. Ivany for Taylor Fedun and Isaac Belliveau. Let Belliveau eat minutes for Wheeling in ECHL playoffs.
Valtteri Puustinen and Radim Zohorna for Matt Filipe and Matt Quercia. Same story with Quercia, let him eat minutes in the ECHL in the playoffs.
Jonathan Gruden for Raivis Ansons once Gruden is healthy.
Eventually Marc Johnstone for Lukas Svejkovsky, etc. I would keep Mathieu De St. Phalle, Evan Vierling, Avery Hayes and Beau Jelsma in the lineup for asd long as possible and only replace them if you need to.
We may have a special team here. There’s scuttlebutt about a late 2000’s early 2010’s vibe about this team. Who knows. Gotta beat Hershey in Hershey, something they haven’t done all season.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
Puustinen, St. Ivany and Zohorna were sent back from Pittsburgh Thursday. Ryan Shea needed waivers, so he will likely clear and be officially assigned Friday afternoon.
Out: Peter Abbandonato, Marc Johnstone, Sam Houde, Vasily Ponomarev, Joona Koppanen, Taylor Gauthier and Jonathan Gruden were unavailable this past weekend due to injury. The news on Ty Smith wasn’t positive, longer term lower body. The hope is that Johnstone and Gruden are back sooner than later and you see Ponomarev, Abbandonato and maybe Koppanen in a few weeks, if they are still around. I think some combination of those five are vital if they were to have a prayer against Hershey.
Who’s in Goal?
No reason to start Blomqvist in back to back games. I would get Ludovic Waeber in there Friday against Hartford and let Blomqvist go against the Phantoms.
Old buddy Louis Domingue for the Wolf Pack Saturday and Felix Sandstrom for the Phantoms if you make me guess, which you have all season.
Who’s Running the Show?
Mathieu Menniti and Austin O’Rourke are the referees Friday with Jeremy Faucher and Ryan Jackson on the lines. Saturday sees Chad Ingalls and Jake Kamrass as the referees with Shawn Oliver and Kirsten Welsh on the lines.
Looking Ahead…
They are in the playoffs, but won’t know until likely Sunday night who and when they are playing, so look for something here Sunday evening.
Give us a bold prediction…
They will end up as the three seed and will have a first round date with the Phantoms. Penguins in two.
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Chirps from Center Ice 