Is it a good thing or a bad thing that this was the only game of the weekend for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins?
It can be both.
It can be both good and bad that they don’t have to go out there and embarrass themselves again this weekend after a lifeless effort in Syracuse where they were down 3-0 before the game was even five minutes old, didn’t record a shot until the thirteen minute mark of the period and were down 5-0 after the first period where they only recorded four shots on goal.
It’s bad, sure, that they lost 6-0, but they are missing a bunch of regulars and can use this time in between games together those bodies healed.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 3, 2026
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Lineup Notes: Egor Zamula, acquired in a trade for Philip Tomasino, didn’t report to the team and was suspended. Max Graham and Brayden Edwards drew in up from for the traded Tomasino and the released William Dufour. Ryan Graves and Finn Harding, returning from injury, replaced David Breazeale and Scooter Brickey on defense.
First Period: I have time since I do these in between intermissions when they are on the road, so let’s kick off this disaster of a period.
More pylon work by Matt Dumba, Syracuse scores on it’s first shot of the game when Tristan Allard scores on the Crunch’s first shot of the game:
They were collectively bad, but that was a shot that Murashov should have had.
It would be the last shot he would see.
Second Period: Enter Filip Larsson. I don’t know if the Crunch let off at all after that ass kicking in the first period or what, but he was miles better than Sergei Murashov.
The Penguins took some penalties which killed any scant momentum that they were trying to build down five, but there was no scoring in the period.
Third Period: The Crunch score :45 into a carry over penalty from the second period with a goal by Nick Abruzzese.
The game devolved into a penalty slop fest after that. One of the hurdles not mentioned is Brandon Halverson has the Penguins number whenever he tends net for the Crunch so you really have to be good to beat him. Down a zillion with two orange pylons acting as defensemen with a bunch of ECHL slop acting as forwards while all of your good players are either hurt or sitting in Pittsburgh press boxes is going to make easy work for the defending Hap Holmes winner.
Three Stars: 3) Jakob Pelletier (goal, assist) 2) Conor Geekie (goal, two assists) 1) Jared Tinordi (Goa, two assists, fight, 27 PIMs)
The Good: This space for rent.
The Bad: I’d sit Murashov next Friday in Charlotte. He’s been as bad as the team playing in front of him. Mix in a save, pal. He maybe could have had the Pelletier and Geekie shots and letting the first one in is a bad look. I’d also leave Matt Dumba off in Binghamton on the way back home to Wilkes-Barre, but you can’t do that.
Standings: Penguins 47 – Providence 45 – Charlotte and Lehigh Valley 38 – Hershey 31 – Springfield 30 – Hartford and Springfield 27
Wheeling Update: Nailers win 4-1 at home against the Bloomington Bison. Half of their team is here and yet they are having better results with guys up from the SPHL and Federal Leagues. Taylor Gauthier stopped 31.
Video Highlights: No thanks!
They will have a week of practice to heal, regroup, and hopefully have a better, more competitive effort in Charlotte for a pair. They are in a gauntlet right now with their next three games against Charlotte twice, and Providence the following Wednesday, all on the road.
My pool is a block of ice, so I will be here for all of it, good or bad.
The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Syracuse Crunch face-off for the first time this season when the Pens take the two and a half hour trip north straight up I-81 to take on the second place in the North Division Syracuse Crunch team.
Syracuse is 17-11-2-1 and have 37 points in second in the North Division and trail the Laval Rocket by four points.
Their recent body of work included a shootout loss and regulation loss to the Laval Rocket in Quebec this past weekend and then on New Years they lost in overtime against the Toronto Marlies in Canada.
The Penguins meanwhile, have seen a flux of players come in and players depart by way of trade.
Let’s get into their record first. They are 22-8-1-2 and sit atop the Atlantic Division with 47 points, four clear of the Providence Bruins who have five games in hand. They burned off the sixth one with a New Years Eve loss in Springfield.
We will get back to the Bruins and the Charlotte Checkers in a second.
The Penguins beat Hershey clean Saturday night at home, lost in a shootout to Lehigh Valley on Sunday and were stomped by the Checker on Tuesday.
You can blame it on a roster in flux. Forwards Brayden Edwards and Zach Urdahl were recalled on New Years. They let go forward William Dufour, who they signed to a PTO a few months ago on New Years Eve. Defensemen Tommy Budnick and Brent Johnson were sent back to Wheeling. Defenseman Ryan Graves and his albatross contract cleared waivers and was assigned to the Penguins on New Years Eve also. Forward Phil Tomasino was traded for Defenseman Egor Zamula from Philadelphia. Zamula is with the AHL team and Tomasino went to Allentown. Forward Max Graham was recalled on Tuesday and Forward Danton Heinen was traded to Columbus after clearing waivers.
That’s just the transactions. Here are the injuries, as best as I know them.
Forward Aaron Huglen returned after missing the last month and a half wearing a bubble. He probably had a fractured something in his mouth or face.
Forwards Gabe Klassen, Aidan McDonough did not play Tuesday. McDonough took a check to the head (uncalled, unsuspended) Sunday in Allentown.
Defensemen Daniel Laatsch (lower) Sebastian Aho, Finn Harding (upper) and forward Avery Hayes are week to week. Defenseman Alex Alexyev is day to day.
Defenseman Matt Dumba is healthy, but clearly does not want to be here and is completely useless.
The Bruins play tonight, in last place Hartford who are awful, so expect the Bruins to draw to two points behind the Penguins with four games in hand still. The Penguins will play Syracuse Saturday with Providence idle so the Bruins will burn off one of their five game in hand Sunday when they host the Springfield Thunderbirds again.
Charlotte may be the best team in the Division, though. The Checkers swept their way through Pennsylvania with wins against Hershey Sunday, Lehigh Valley Monday and the penguins on Tuesday. These were all on the road mind you after the Christmas break. Impressive. The Checkers are in Cleveland for a pair of games Saturday and Monday and will have at the end of Monday’s action three games in hand on the Penguins. The Checkers are nine points off the Penguins as it stands right now.
Looking ahead, the Penguins and Checkers meet up next weekend in North Carolina Friday and Saturday, then the Penguins have a midweek road game against the Providence Bruins next Wednesday.
Scheduled officials for Saturday’s contest in Syracuse are Chad Ingalls and Jared Cummins with Trevor Davis and Tory Carissimo on the lines.
Another throttling by the Charlotte Checkers to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins on Tuesday night. 6-2 was the final. The Checkers didn’t look like a team playing in its third game in three days in three different cities at all. The Penguins had a great start, but let the Checkers settle in and take control and a 2-0 lead after one turned into a 5-1 lead after the second before settling on 6-2.
But for a handful of players, basically the third and fourth line, David Breazeale and Scooter Brickey, they sucked from the arse out Tuesday against an opponent that is good, and possibly better than they are as well as Providence.
Matt Dumba may be one of the worst players to ever come through here. The guy does not care. He doesn’t want to be here and it shows in laughable, glaring ways.
Dumba was a -4, or just about a million (he makes $3.75M / year I believe) per defensive lapse.
I’m not going to pile on because it’s a work night and at its base it ain’t that deep.
Here’s how they lined up and then we will get into the recap…
Lineup Notes: Add Gabe Klassen and Aiden McDonough to the injured list. I didn’t listen to Nick Hart pregame so I can’t tell you what he didn’t as far as injuries go. Coal Street recalled Max Graham from the Wheeling Nailers earlier in the day. The annual erosion of the team due to injuries, call-ups or trades has begun.
Aaron Huglen returned from his upper body injury. He was wearing a bubble so if I had to guess a fractured orbital bone or jaw.
On the waivers front, Danton Heinen cleared but was traded to Columbus. He’s with AHL Cleveland now. Ryan Graves is now on waivers.
Sccoter Brickey and Matt Dumba were in on defense for Brent Johnson and Tommy Budnick.
First Period: Lots of shots by the Penguins who tried to bury Cooper Black and the Checkers early but no dice.
Sergei Murashov goes to cover a puck, misses and Hunter St. Martin puts it in for a 1-0 Checkers lead.
(on a work night with the Penguins giving up six, you’ll excuse me if I don’t post the oppositions goals. The fine folks at the Charlotte Checkers Twitter feed have them all if you really want to see them)
:55 later, Sandis Vilmanis scored after a failed clear by the Penguins.
Usually the run of the team goes that if they can’t clear and get scored on, its’ going to be one of those nights.
Second Period: Owen Pickering and Phil Kemp caught napping as Brett Chorskie scores at 3:04. Whatever was said in the first intermission didn’t resonate.
Wilmer Skoog then scored unabated in the slot. 4-0 Checkers.
Ever see a chicken with its head cut off? Watch this!
No idea what Dumba is doing there, what he is watching or what he is reading. Perhaps wishing he was anywhere but here, watching the pretty girls walking by on the concourse or reading a road map to the nearest beach.
Welcome back Aaron Huglen! He tips in this Owen Pickering shot and the Penguins are on the board.
Penguins made a bit of a late push but couldn’t muster anything else.
Three Stars: 3) Sandis Vilmanis (goal, assist) 2) Brett Chorskie (goal, assist) 1) Robert Mastrosimone (goal, two assists)
The Good: I can’t think of anything. If you can, use the comment section below.
The Bad: Matt Dumba will probably be in the lineup on Saturday in Syracuse.
Turning Point: The Mastrosimone goal that made it 5-1 sealed their fate. There was no way a good team like Charlotte was giving up four goals in the third period.
Around the Division: They all watched us.
Standings: Penguins 47 – Providence 43 – Charlotte 38 – Lehigh Valley 34 – Hershey 29 – Springfield 26 – Hartford and Bridgeport 25
Games in Hand: Providence now with six, will burn off one Wednesday in Springfield and another in Hartford on Friday. The Checkers have four games in hand. Every team in the division does because the Penguins have played the most games so far (33)
Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.
Video Highlights: No thanks!
Programming Note: With one game this weekend we return to the retro “Gameday” setups I used to run here in lieu of a Weekend Preview. I may mix it up with who all is playing who, but look for that Saturday morning.
Another shootout loss, this time to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday afternoon. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins get a point, but fall in the shootout round 2-0 and lose the game 4-3 via shootout.
They were tenacious all day, but the lack of leveraged scoring like you saw Saturday against Hershey wasn’t there. They get a pair of goals from Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and David Breazeale gets his first AHL goal, and Lehigh Valley chips away and gets the game to a shootout and wins.
Them’s the brakes sometimes. You want to get points when you are giving away games in hand to Providence, who now has five games and will have six after Tuesday.
Laatsch – week to week lower body Aho – week to week again Brickey – ill Harding – upper body last Sat vs Utica no timetable Dumba – in MVA on way back to WBS, is ok and team giving him time
Huglen – week to week Hayes – week to week upper Alexyev – day to day
Coal Street recalled Tommy Budnick and Brent Johnson, who both slotted in for Laatsch and Aho.
Good news? Danton Heinen is on waivers again and if no one claims him he should get re-assigned back to Wilkes-Barre which could help Tuesday against Charlotte.
First Period: I mean you can break all of the defensemen really, it doesn’t matter. The structure is there and the goaltender’s are otherworldly. I tried to watch specially in the period to see if there were any holes and didn’t see any. Anything that made it through was stopped by Joel Blomqvist.
Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scored off a very nice pass from Valtteri Puustinen to give the Penguins a quick 1-0 lead.
They kind of needed it, because they fell into penalty trouble again. Despite getting away clean Saturday at home against Hershey, Lehigh Valley nipped them twice on the power play.
Overtime: Penguins had the games last 1:09 of overtime on the power play and failed to score after a timeout.
Shootout: Tucker Robertson and Cooper Marody scored in the top of the first and second, Valtteri Puustinen hit the post and Phil Tomasino was not successful in the bottom of the first and second and that was it.
Three Stars: 3) Rafaël Harvey-Pinard (two goals, assist) 2) Tucker Robertson (goal, shootout goal) 1) Lane Pederson (goal, assist)
The Good: I can’t complain about the point, in the scope of things. But they left a lot out there, I thought.
The Bad: Besides losing another player to possible injury, the lack of any kind of guaranteed scoring is a problem here. Tomasino and Broz have been quiet, and you can’t rely on Calvert, Klassen and Ansons lighting up the score sheet like they have been. Getting Heinen through waivers and here Tuesday would be a decent offensive boost. You hope!
Turning Point: The failure to score on the power play in overtime gets it here.
Around the Division: Springfield beats Bridgeport in overtime 4-3. Hershey is hosting Charlotte in a game that started at 5. That box is here.
Standings: Penguins 47 – Providence 43 – the rest of the standings are here. Check this out if you want after the Bears / Checkers game goes final.
Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.
Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter is your best bet.
More Tuesday after the Penguins host the Checkers in their last game of 2025.
A pair of goals from Gabe Klassen, one from Raivis Ansons and Nolan Renwick plus a power play goal from Phil Tomasino, all in the first period, is enough to stand up and defeat the Hershey Bears 5-2 on Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.
With Sam Poulin a distant memory and the offense sputtering at times, it’s nice to see depth take over and pull this team to another victory.
Lineup Notes: Nolan Renwick for Avery Hayes, Hayes was reported as injured. Sebastian Aho returned from injury, David Breazeale was recalled from Wheeling and replaced Matt Dumba and Scooter Brickey.
First Period: Talk about starting on time. They score five goals, every player on the fourth line scored and led Hershey 5-1 at the end of the first period where they outshoot the Bears 13-3 in the period.
Nolan Renwick started early with a goal at 2:04. Phil Kemp crashes the net and here’s Renwick picking up the loose change.
Whew. That’s a lot of goals. You would expect more in the second period right?
Second Period: Wrong. It devolved into a penalty slop fest. Some of the penalties I thought sucked on both sides of the whistle by refs Austin O’Rourke and Chris Conway. I thought the Bears were victimized more by some terrible calls.
Third Period: Ivan Miroshnichenko scores just 1:12 in and here’s where you think the Bears start mounting their comeback, right?
Uh-uh, brother. More penalty slop from O’Rourke / Conway and that was it.
Sadly, the Bears are just the offensive output of Miroshnichenko, Trineyev and sometimes Ilya Protas. That’s it. I really don’t know any of the names on the roster save for Louie Belpedio and a few others. Gone are the days where they had every day, lethal scorers.
Here’s a tweet from Mark Divver who covers the Providence Bruins that I think word for word you can apply to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.
Providence Bruins have a strong lineup, superior veteran leadership, excellent goaltending and are very well-coached
They also routinely outwork their opponents
There's a lot of that going on tonight as they're up by 6 after two periods
The Penguins outworked the Bears tonight, and outwork a lot of opponents every night.
Three Stars: 3) Nolan Renwick (goal) 2) Raivis Ansons (goal, assist) 1) Gabe Klassen (two goals)
The Good: That first period was something, wasn’t it?
The Bad: They did nothing in the second and third period and took a boatload of unnecessary penalties.
Turning Point: The first Klassen goal, right after the Penguins killed the penalty after Hershey had scored back in the first gets it here. Hershey scoring to tie it at. two and I think it’s a different outcome.
Around the Division: Lehigh Valley / Charlotte was postponed because the Checkers had travel issues. Charlotte will end up playing a three in three with Hershey Sunday, making up the game they were supposed to play with the Phantoms on Monday and then seeing the Penguins Tuesday.
It should be noted that any Penguins player on contact to either Wilkes-Barre or Pittsburgh was recalled to Wilkes-Barre. Not every AHL team did that for their ECHL affiliate.
The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins return from Christmas break on top of the Atlantic Division and need (I believe) just two more points to send Head Coach Kirk MacDonald to Rockford, Illinois to coach the Atlantic Division All-Star team next month. The coach of the first place team in each division gets that honor at the end of the calendar year.
Music to Set the Mood…
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Again, not exactly pandering to anyone born after 1980. But it is what it is.
A Quote…
A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.
— John Wooden
I think MacDonald has gotten about all he can out of his players which have rewarded the second year coach with a first place showing for most of, if not all of this still young season. I think that the sky is the limit with this team.
The Setup…
Home with Hershey Saturday, on the road with the Phantoms on Sunday and then hosting the Charlotte Checkers on Tuesday again. I think that Tuesday game is one that a lot of the players have circled in the locker room.
Last week the Penguins took 5 of 6 points out of games with the Utica Comets (a win in Utica Friday followed by a home shootout loss) and then a Sunday win against the Bears.
The Bears beat Bridgeport last Saturday and then lost to the Penguins.
The Phantoms lost to the Islanders Friday then needed a shootout to take down the Hartford Wolf Pack. They host the Checkers on Saturday.
Charlotte returned home and lost clean to the last place Springfield Thunderbirds Saturday then exacted some overtime revenge against the Birds on Sunday with an overtime win. They are in Allentown on Saturday, Hershey on Sunday before heading up to Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday.
Records…
Wilkes-Barre is 21-7-1-1 with 44 points and lead the Atlantic.
Hershey is 14-11-1 with 29 points and are fifth in the Atlantic.
Lehigh Valley is 14-11-1-2 with 31 points and are fourth in the Atlantic.
Charlotte is 15-9-2 with 32 points and are third in the Atlantic.
The Rest of those Rascals…
The Checkers are trying to make it a three horse race but so far it’s basically the Penguins and Providence Bruins who are the class of the field. The Bruins are 20-5-1 and have 41 points in second in the Atlantic and have four games in hand on Wilkes-Barre. They beat the Syracuse Crunch last Saturday. They have Springfield this Saturday in Massachusetts. At the end of the night on Tuesday, they will have SIX games in hand on the Penguins. One of those will be burned off when they play the Thunderbirds on the road this coming Wednesday.
After Tuesday, the Penguins aren’t in action again until Saturday in Syracuse, so let’s run through everyone else’s schedule up until then.
Charlotte doesn’t play till Saturday when they are in Cleveland.
The Phantoms will host the Bears on Wednesday, then off till Saturday (at Belleville)
Same for Hershey, who will host the Rockford IceHogs next weekend.
Springfield is one of the hotter teams in the AHL right now and went from last place in the division all the way up to sixth with a 9-11-4-2 record and 24 points. I gave you what they did against Charlotte last weekend above. They host Providence this Saturday, then Bridgeport on Sunday and then host the Bruins on New Years Eve. They will host the Islanders again on January 2.
Bridgeport is 11-13-1-1 and have 24 points in seventh. It’s been a struggle for the Islanders who beat Lehigh Valley and then lost to Hershey last weekend. They host Hartford Saturday, travel to Springfield Sunday then are in Hartford on New Years Eve. They return back to Springfield on January 2.
I would like to think at this time that one of the three teams between Springfield, Bridgeport and Hartford are going to make playoffs. I don’t think it will be the last place Hartford Wolf Pack however. They are 9-13-4-1 and have 23 points. They lost at home against Syracuse last Friday, then in Allentown via shootout on Saturday. They have a home and home with Bridgeport that starts Saturday in Connecticut and is paid off on New Years Eve in Hartford. They will host the P-Bruins on next Friday.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
Aaron Huglen, Sebastian Aho and Alex Alexyev are still injured. The ECHL went on strike today so players like Mathieu De St. Phalle and David Breazeale may be recalled to the AHL while the collective bargaining gets figured out. Taylor Gauthier will be playing in the Spengler Cup. There are a couple others who may end up here while the Nailers are on lockout.
I haven’t seen Danton Heinen’s name appear much in Pittsburgh so I wonder if he will get shipped back at some point. Rutger McGroarty has graduated I think and so has Ville Koivunen.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
I think you can pencil them in as better than Hershey and Lehigh Valley but note that they need to play a full 60 to beat those clubs. They can’t play disinterested or loose hockey and expect to just pull four goals out of their arse in the third period and coast to a win. It’s Charlotte that has my attention based of off how pedestrian the Checkers made the Penguins look.
Also, they are missing Sam Poulin, who was traded. You need a lethal scoring threat. Joona Koppanen stepped up last weekend with 5 points but that’s not his repertoire, so to speak. I want to see some combination of Phil Tomasino, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard or Tristan Broz just explode and start pouring in points. Valtteri Puustinen remains a lethal threat but he’s on track to be the next Sam Poulin if he doesn’t start producing on a more consistent basis.
This team is in first place because of those players, but in order to stay there everyone has to pull the same rope, proverbially.
Who’s in Goal?
Sergei Murashov – Joel Blomqvist then whoever plays the best of those two gets the net Tuesday against the Checkers. I think Blomqvist has been outplaying Murashov by an eyelash recently, so it’s going to be interesting to see who gets the net Tuesday.
Clay Stevenson, Carson Bjarnason, Cooper Black is my guess for the opposition.
Who’s Running the Show?
Chris Conway and Austin O’Rourke have the assignment on Saturday with Jud Ritter an J.P. Waleski on the lines.
O’Rourke will follow the team to Allentown Sunday and pair up with Mathieu Menniti with Davids Rozitis and John Rey on the lines.
No Tuesday crew assignment yet. Surprise refs!
Looking Ahead…
Tuesday is the last home game until January 16 but the games are spread out and pretty much all in the same place. They have one game next weekend and that is Saturday in Syracuse. I’ll have a lot of time on my hands next weekend. Too bad it’s January and not June.
Give us a bold prediction…
Handshakes for Kirk MacDonald Sunday in Allentown as he will be announced as the head coach of the Atlantic Division All-Star team at that time.
Comments Off on My Favorite Defensemen — Pens WIN 3-1
Posted by nafsnep on December 21, 2025
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A goal by Matt Dumba and then an empty net power play goal from Owen Pickering iced the Sunday afternoon contest away for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins against the Hershey Bears. Penguins win 3-1 to go into the Christmas break three points clear of the Providence Bruins for first in the division.
Where’s the punch line, you ask? I’m not exactly fond of the body of work or effort for Matt Dumba and have soured on Owen Pickering’s work. That both guys get on the score sheet (Dumba had an assist) makes me feel silly right?
Get out of here with that. I cheer for the logo on the front and not the names on the back. Lovejoy. Brookbank. DeSmith. That’s it. That’s my list of favorite Penguins players. The rest? They help my favorite team win and I like that.
Anyway, enough about me. Here’s how they lined up…
Oh, Sergei Murashov stole the show in this game, making some impressive saves throughout. He stopped all 14 he faced in the first period and 26 overall.
Third Period: Even though I thought that referees Ben Betker and Koletrane Wilson had an okay game, the Bears bench were hot at them along with J.P. Waleski and Dylan Blujus all game and rightfully so in some circumstances with icings and some non-calls (and calls) on both sides.
Bears head coach Derek King wasn’t thrilled with the explanations throughout as well.
In contrast to Gallant in the first, Dumba showed no emotion. I don’t know if he thinks he’s beneath playing at this level or if he thinks the game just comes easy to him or what. Perplexing player.
Murashov gets beat when a puck caroms off of Daniel Laatsch’s stick and in and the Bears were on the board with about six minutes left.
A.C.'s second of the weekend has given us new life!
That’s Andrew Cristall’s goal there and a point in his ninth straight for the Bears.
Late, Spencer Smallman slashes a Penguins going to the net and Owen Pickering scores into the empty net as Derek King got desperate and pulled Stevenson.
King’s team was late for the ensuing face-off which drew the ire of referee Koletrane Wilson, capping off a frustrating night for the Bears with the AHL Officiating Department.
Three Stars: 3) Sergei Murashov (26 saves) 2) Zach Gallant (goal) 1) Matt Dumba (goal, assist)
The Good: I thought that both Murashov and Joona Koppanen were outstanding all weekend. Koppanen had an assist today to go with a five point weekend. (two goals and an assist Friday, a goal Saturday) – he probably could and should get AHL Player of the Week honors.
The Bad: Would have liked to see Sergei Murashov get a shutout here, but those are the brakes.
Turning Point: The Dumba goal that made it two tipped this razor thin game on the side of the home team.
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 