Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are already a shoo-in for the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs and will look to solidify themselves as one of the two teams in the Atlantic Division that gets a First Round Bye.

Music to Set the Mood…

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A Quote…

Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.
— Winston Churchill

The Setup

Paying off the series with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms with a home and home, starting tonight in Wilkes-Barre and concluding tomorrow in Allentown.

Last week the Penguins hosted the Laval Rocket and won 3-1 and these Phantoms on Sunday and won 5-1. Quietly, the Penguins have won four games in a row.

The Phantoms beat the reeling Hershey Bears the Saturday night before traveling up to Wilkes-Barre on Sunday.

Hope this isn’t some kind of weird foreshadowing, but the Penguins have not lost in regulation to the Phantoms yet this season.

Records

The Penguins are second in the division with 90 points and a 41-16-6-2 record.

Lehigh Valley is presently seventh with a 28-31-3-3 record with 62 points.

The Rest of those Rascals…

Providence’s magic number to win the division is 4. They have feasted on terrible teams of late, beating Bridgeport, losing to Springfield and needing a shootout to beat Utica. They are in Syracuse Friday and Rochester on Saturday. They have a 50-14-1 record and 101 points.

Charlotte swept Hartford in Hartford last weekend but needed overtime and a shootout to do it. They beat Rochester on Wednesday. They are in Toronto for a pair this weekend. The Checkers have a 40-21-5 record and 85 points.

Bridgeport is on a tear and is up to fourth in the division. They beat Laval in a shootout last Friday, lost to Providence Saturday and then beat Hershey Wednesday. They host Hartford Friday then have the weekend off. The Islanders have a 29-28-3-5 record and 66 points.

Hershey has gone cold at the wrong time of the season. They beat Syracuse last Friday which is something the Penguins can’t seem to do, but then were dropped by Lehigh Valley and Bridgeport. They are in Springfield and Hartford this weekend. They have a 28-28-6-3 record and 65 points.

Springfield holds the final playoff spot heading into this weekend with a 27-29-6-2 record with 62 points and beat Lehigh Valley and Providence last weekend. They host Hershey for a pivotal game Friday and then host Syracuse Saturday.

Gave you Lehigh Valley’s body of work above.

Hartford lost 2-1 in overtime and 2-1 in a shootout to Charlotte last weekend at home. They are in Bridgeport Friday and host Hershey Saturday. They have a 24-32-5-3 record and have 56 points.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Up: No one. Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty and Avery Hayes were all up with Pittsburgh but were returned Thursday (McGroarty, Koivunen) and Friday (Hayes) – this would mean that Wilkes-Barre is at full strength (or as full as full can be) with no recalls to Pittsburgh.

Down: Emil Pieniniemi was assigned to Wheeling Tuesday. Raivis Ansons remains up.

Out: Tristan Broz and Melvin Fernstrom remain out with injury.

ATO Season

Wilkes-Barre signed defenseman Broten Sabo from The Ohio State University and forward Daniel Russell from Sparty (Michigan State) this week. Their contracts will kick in next season, but they join the team on ATO’s now.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

Do they take a weekend off against a desperate opponent or hammer down and bury the Phantoms this weekend and their playoff chances and solidify themselves as a two seed and lock up the bye?

One would hope. All signs would point to it but they play the games to be absolutely sure.

Having McGroarty, Koivnen and Hayes back help, but please don’t rest on these laurels. Bury these fools.

Who’s in Goal?

Interesting conundrum. Both Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist played well last weekend, who starts Friday? I’d go Murashov and Blomqvist Saturday in Allentown.

Aleksei Kolosov should get the start Friday and Yaniv Perets, who the Phantoms called up from ECHL Reading might get the start Saturday, but the Phantoms did start Kolosov in back to backs last weekend.

Who’s Running the Show?

Graedy Hamilton and Austin Rook are here Friday with Tommy George and John Rey on the lines.

Saturday it’s Rook again with Patrick Hanrahan with Rey again on the lines with Jud Ritter.

Looking Ahead…

A Thursday trip to Bridgeport, a Friday off and then a Saturday home game against Cleveland.

Come on, City!

I don’t think New York City Football Club has any trouble with visiting St. Louis, and will win 3-1.

NASCAR Picks…

Cup is off but Truck and O’Reilly are in Rockingham. Give me Carson Hocevar in Trucks and Justin Allgaier in O’Reilly at The Rock this weekend.

Give us a bold prediction…

One of our goaltenders gets a shutout this weekend. Penguins win both games.