Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have nothing to play for in the final week of the 2025-26 AHL Season. They are locked into the two seed and will be on a bye as the best of three shakes it self out middle to end of next week. They will play the highest seed remaining in the Atlantic Division Semifinals in a best of five series that begins in Wilkes-Barre, a date and opponent to be determined.

So, what else do you want to talk about?

The Setup…

Reminder to myself that when I do this again next October, music to set the mood and a quote.

Hershey this Wednesday, Bridgeport Friday and Rochester making their only visit of the season on the last game of the regular season.

The Penguins have the Bears to thank (indirectly) for beating the third place Charlotte Checkers on Saturday, but the Penguins beat the visiting Cleveland Monsters Saturday 4-1 anyway. They lost in overtime to a playoff bound Bridgeport Islanders team on Thursday.

The Bears split a series with the Checkers in Charlotte, losing Sunday after winning Saturday.

Bridgeport punched a postseason ticket Sunday with a win over Hartford but the night before they faced a desperate Lehigh Valley team that pounded them 7-3.

The Americans beat Syracuse, then lost to Springfield and Providence and have yet to, but are in decent enough shape, to claim the final North Division playoff spot.

Records

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton is locked in at the two seed with a 44-16-7-2 record and 97 points.

Hershey is fifth in the division with a 30-30-6-3 record and 69 points.

Rochester is fifth in the North Division with a 31-29-5-4 record good for 71 points.

The Rest of those Rascals…

Providence claimed the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the regular season champion. The Penguins have won that trophy before and as we know it’s meaningless. Providence played a cupcake laden schedule, went 1-2-1 against Wilkes-Barre, only playing a divisional foe four times this season while feasting on closer opponents in Bridgeport (11-1 record) Hartford (8-2) and Springfield (7-5) – they host Utica, a sub .500 team, for their fifth and sixth games against the Comets this season where they are presently 4-0.

Please tender your expectations for this team. I could probably score 20 points easy in a basketball game against a team full of middle schoolers too if you let me.

I find it laughable that Providence plays a team not even in their division more times than teams in their own division. Spare me your thoughts of the Bruins being anything close to a Calder Cup favorite.

Charlotte is locked in the third seed after splitting with Hershey. They never really had enough to challenge the Penguins as their dry spells were more prevalent than the Penguins. They wrap their regular season hosting the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They have a 43-22-5 record, for 91 points.

Bridgeport will be in Hartford on Wednesday and conclude their regular season in Hershey on Saturday.

Hershey hosts Rochester on the final day of the season Sunday afternoon.

Springfield may have choked their playoff chances away. They beat Rochester Friday, lost to Hartford Saturday and were shutout by Providence on Sunday. They have a 30-31-3-3 record.

Lehigh Valley needed to win both of their games this weekend and did, crushing Bridgeport 7-3 and then beating Cleveland 4-3 in a shootout. They head to Charlotte, who doesn’t have anything to play for either, for a pair this weekend. The Phantoms have a 30-33-3-3 record.

(to be fair, the Penguins have a 10-0-1-1 record against the Phantoms and a 7-2 record against the Bears)

Hartford’s goose is cooked. They lost to Providence, beat Springfield and then lost to Bridgeport this weekend. They host Bridgeport and Springfield for a home and home this weekend before they pack up for the summer. They have a 25-35-5-3 record. Thanks for the fish.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Up: Joona Koppanen, Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen. I would expect all four back fairly soon. Avery Hayes was sent back to Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard went up Tuesday.

Down: Nolan Renwick is up from Wheeling. Goaltender Maxim Pavlenko is up, the ECHL has crazy roster rules I have never cared enough to understand.

Out: Melvin Fernstrom and Tristan Broz are week to week with upper body injuries. Broz will likely be ready for game one of the division semifinals if I had to guess.

What Can We Learn About the Penguins this week?

How do all of these rookies fare in what is probably a preview of next season for most of them? Expect almost a preseason like look to the Penguins this week with nothing to play for. You will likely see a lineup laden with ATO guys and rookies.

Hershey and Rochester have something to play for. Bridgeport is already in but would like to have home ice in Round One, so there aren’t any “easy opponents” for these kids, so it should be a decent enough of learning experience / trial by fire for all.

Just please, if there are any regulars that are going to dress this week, for the love of god stay healthy and your noses clean.

Who’s in Goal?

I’d call up Gabriel D’Aigle and give him a game, Taylor Gauthier has earned one too. If Max Pavlenko is here, hell give him a game too.

What I am trying to say is don’t expect Joel Blomqvist or Sergei Murashov unless there is an AHL award the coaching staff is trying to get them.

Mitch Gibson, Henrik Tikkanen, Scott Ratzlaff for the opposition is my blind guess.

Who’s Running the Show?

Rob Hennessey and Adam Tobias are here Wednesday with Jud Ritter and Tommy George on the lines.

Beau Halkidis will spend Friday and Saturday in Wilkes-Barre, here with Morgan MacPhee on Friday with Shawn Oliver and Anthony Lapointe on the lines.

Cole MacDonald tags in for MacPhee on Saturday with Davids Rozitis and John Rey on the lines.

Give the refs a pass this week, the Penguins have nothing to play for.

Looking Ahead…

First Round Bye. I’ll be here next week with a Calder Cup Playoff prediction. I’m trying to talk myself into the Penguins. I think you see a surprise winner this season, I just have no idea who yet.

Give us a bold prediction…

We will all have fun this week having nothing to realistically play for and knowing that we can rest easy while four other divisional teams knock the hell out of each other for the right to lose to us in the divisional round.

Hey wait…

Oh yeah. NYCFC get back to their winning ways with a 2-1 win over Charlotte FC and give me Kyle Larson to go back to back at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.