Comments Off on How Fast Can You Type? — Pens WIN 5-4 (SO)
Posted by nafsnep on March 12, 2025
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Pretty fast. It’s a work night and the Penguins just beat the Hershey Bears in a five round shootout and won Wednesday night 5-4. This doesn’t pay my bills, so let’s move.
I don’t know who survived who in this game. Advantage Penguins I suppose but Hershey counterpunched at every opportunity, erasing a two goal deficit then coming back to tie it with each Penguins goal thereafter.
A pleasant out of town night on the scoreboard, deficit to Hershey’s lead is now four and the magic number to clinch a spot should be ten. Let’s dive right in.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 12, 2025
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Lineup Notes: Joona Koppanen and Scooter Brickey for Matt Nieto and Sebastian Aho, who are recalled. The right call to go with Murashov against the Bears.
First Period: Wilkes-Barre jumps out to a 2-0 lead on a Ville Koivunen tip in front and a Rutger McGraorty power play goal and the Penguins were off to the races.
They do some hard skating up and down the ice for a bit with each team getting a good chance on the other but it’s Mathias Laferriere snapping one past Stevenson for a 3-2 Penguins lead which was then matched about two and a half minutes later by Chase Priskie through a screen on Murashov.
Third Period: In keeping with the theme of getting a goal in the first minute of the period, Avery Hayes dekes Stevenson for a goal that puts the Penguins ahead again 4-3.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 13, 2025
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Bears bench was hot that the play should have been adjudged offside. St. Ivany’s body was definitely outside the blue line but it’s the puck that matters. Hard to tell there and it’s too late to analyze it frame by frame. Linesmen at this level rarely miss.
Penguins could not extend the lead on a power play. I thought the teams made for an easy night for refs Andrew Bell and Rob Hennessey. I didn’t see anything egregious, with the teams deciding things on their own at even strength.
Penguins sweated through a boneheaded Joona Koppanen post whistle scrum rough penalty but then a Andrew Perrott shot was tipped in by Alex Limoges that again tied the game for Hershey.
Alex Limoges tips his 15th of the year, and we are all tied up once again!
Comments Off on Weekend Preview – Bearing the Brunt?
Posted by nafsnep on March 12, 2025
The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins again have a chance to draw ever closer to the first place Hershey Bears when the two teams meet in a few short hours Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre.
The Penguins have been casting away points and games in hand, and the lack of success in these departments have them bearing the brunt of a possible First Round series instead of a first round bye.
Music to Set the Mood…
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Seems like they have been primed to catch and pass the Bears all season and it hasn’t happened yet, there is still hope they do and the ultimate expectation is that it happens. The waiting is the hardest part.
A Quote…
Oh baby, don’t it feel like heaven right now? Don’t it feel like somethin’ from a dream? Yeah, I’ve never known nothing quite like this Don’t it feel like tonight might never be again? Baby, we know better than to try and pretend Honey, no one could have ever told me ’bout this I said, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
— Tom Petty from “The Waiting is the Hardest Part”
Really leaning into it here.
The Setup
Hershey at home Wednesday, then a Friday and Sunday game in Allentown against the Phantoms.
Penguins three in three saw 15 goals scored across a game in Hartford and home against Belleville then just one measly goal in a blowout loss to Syracuse on Sunday. They went 2-1. The loss Sunday was a game in hand on Hershey wasted.
Hershey swept Cleveland last weekend 3-0 and 4-3. When they don’t play, they still win, as evidence Sunday when the Pens lost.
Phantoms were in Charlotte last weekend and split with the Checkers. Things are tightening up in the Atlantic Division.
Records
Hershey leads the class with a 35-15-5 record for 75 points.
Penguins are second, but tied with Providence on points, with a 31-16-7-1 record and 70 points.
Lehigh Valley isn’t that far behind, 29-22-5-2 record with 65 points.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
They got Sam Poulin and Joona Koppanen back from injury, lost Jonathan Gruden to trade with New Jersey, got Chase Stillman in return, sent Gabe Klassen and Matty De St. Phalle back to Wheeling, saw Sebastian Aho and Matt Nieto go up to Pittsburgh and traded Nikolai KNyzhov to Grand Rapids for future considerations.
I get all of the moves but for the last one but understand the thought process. They signed Knyzhov to a preseason PTO, signed him to an SPC, he got hurt, returned, didn’t play in 10 games and then traded him away for nothing.
With an influx of ATOs on the way, Pittsburgh wants to get a look at their future vs. a hired gun they have no plans for. Such is life.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
They either are pushing for a spot at the top or they aren’t and could be a road team in the First Round.
Hershey is in the middle of a hellish road trip which will take them out to Chicago this weekend then a smattering of other places in the Eastern Conference until the end of the month.
Lehigh Valley is far too inconsistent but playing better, to be considered a threat for the top two seeds. They always play the Penguins tough and tight.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they swept all three games and I wouldn’t be surprised if they only won one game. So expect something in between, I guess.
Who’s in Goal?
I think it’s treason if they don’t start Sergei Murashov against Hershey. He’s 7-0 in the AHL, I think he gives the Bears fits and you are at the point of the season where styles make fights.
Filip Larsson can start Friday in Allentown and let Murashov go against the Phantoms on Sunday.
Clay Stevenson, Parker Gahagen and Alexei Kolosov for the opposition is my shot in the dark.
Oh, and Joel Blomqvist is injured, if he comes back this week that throws a monkey wrench in my treatise above.
Who’s Running the Show?
Andrew Bell and Rob Hennessey here Wednesday with Patrick Dapuzzo and Ryan Knapp on the lines.
Friday sees Harrison O’Pray and Chris Conway with Jud Ritter and J.P. Waleski on the lines. First time we are seeing Conway I think.
Sunday sees O’Pray again and Mason Riley with Josh Cleary and Bill Lyons on the lines.
Looking ahead…
Another three in three and another Sunday (road) game. Providence swings by for the first time this season next Friday, Hershey stops by the next day and then they board the bus to Bridgeport Sunday.
Give us a bold prediction…
Nail biter week. OT win over the Bears Wednesday, shootout win over the Phantoms Friday and they get to overtime Sunday and you write your own fate on how you think they do.
Comments Off on You Got What You Want – Pens LOSE 5-1
Posted by nafsnep on March 9, 2025
I said last night that the explosion of offense was great, but I wanted to see them win a close game.
Sunday was just that. Heading into the third period down 2-1 to the Crunch, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins run out of gas and lose 5-1.
The Penguins are playing their third game in the nights while Syracuse was off the night before. It almost doesn’t seem fair, but such is life at this level.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 9, 2025
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Lineup Notes: Laferriere for Calvert, Boris Katchouk for Joona Koppanen up front, Aho and St. Ivany for Poolman and Knyzhov.
First Period: Pens figured to need a dirty goal to beat Brandon Halverson and they get just that here when Mathias Laferriere maximizes his minutes, netting a goal.
Second Period: First half of the period flew by and I think that flew by, second half slowed the pace and I think that benefitted the Crunch. Ex-Penguin Anthony Angello, acquired in a trade with Nashville / Milwaukee, scored his first with the Crunch to push the lead to 2-1.
Larsson left a big rebound in the slot. That’s a problem for him because there have been times he has been beat when he makes the initial save and gives up a goal on a rebound.
Third Period: The juice was out of the squeeze and the bottom fell out.
Wilkes-Barre gets the first power play chance of the game but does not register a shot on Halverson, the Crunch kill it easy and then Morgan Geekie puts the moves on Mac Hollowell and suddenly the hole is deeper.
It was all the Crunch needed because Max Crozier scores into the empty net to make it four, then Joel Teasdale scores the conventional way on Larsson to make it five.
Three Stars: 3) Mathias Laferriere (goal) 2) Tristan Allard (goal) 1) Anthony Angello (goal, assist)
The Good: I liked the connection between Laferriere and Chase Stillman, who nearly connected for a goal in the second.
The Bad: Kinda sucks losing like this, but in playoffs (provided they get there) you aren’t playing three straight.
Standings: Hershey 75 – Penguins and Providence 70 – Charlotte 68 – Springfield 66 – Lehigh Valley 65. Hartford has 53, pending their result with the Senators and Bridgeport has 31.
Comments Off on Fifteen In Two, So Far — Pens WIN 8-3
Posted by nafsnep on March 8, 2025
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So if you are counting last night, where they scored seven in Hartford, eight more Saturday for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins after an 8-3 throttling of the Belleville Senators at home, that is fifteen goals in the last two games with yet another game to be played Sunday against Syracuse.
I think they are back. And getting Sam Poulin who had a third period natural hat trick to go with an assist and Joona Koppanen, who had three assists strengthens that argument. It looks like a different team at present, a team that is playing with swagger getting goals from every corner of the lineup. Twelve skaters put points on the board for the Penguins Saturday.
No, I am not going to go through every goal here, but, working backwards, here are the the video highlights:
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 8, 2025
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Lineup Notes: Stillman made his WBS debut for Mathias Laferriere up front and Sebastian Aho had a planned day off and was replaced by Colton Poolman on defense. Jack St. Ivany was sent back to Wilkes-Barre and Gabe Klassen and Matty De St. Phalle went back to Wheeling.
First Period: Penguins on the board first with a power play goal from Rutger McGroarty and Wilkes-Barre was off and running.
I know I said I wasn’t going to post every goal, but I have to post this one here where Avery Hayes sauced a loooooooong pass to Vasily Ponomarev for a goal and a 2-0 lead.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 9, 2025
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But then Zack MacEwen bled a shot through Murashov that made it a one goal affair again for the visitors.
Tristan Broz answers for a goal, his first in a bit, and that was the end of Leevi Meriläinen, enter Malcom Subban…
…who gives up a goal on the first shot he sees off the stick of Nikolai Knyzhov, and it’s 5-2 Penguins.
It was here that the thought of the team being back hit me. Getting a goal from a defensive defenseman like Knyzhov? Getting goals from all over the place, too? Yeah. I think we need to get the word out there, we are back up.
Third Period: MacEwen gets Murashov again to give the B-Sens a faint hope and it’s a two goal lead again. We aren’t doing this again, are we?
Sam Poulin said nope.
A natural hat trick for Poulin, with him capping it off with 6.3 seconds left and it’s fifteen goals scored for the Penguins.
Three Stars: 3) Joona Koppanen (three assists) 2) Ville Koivunen (goal, two assists) 1) Sam Poulin (hat trick, assist)
The Good: They are drubbing opponents right now at an opportune part of the season.
The Bad: I want to see them win a tight game. I know it isn’t related to the category, but I want to see. them win a nailbiter.
Turning Point: The Knyzhov goal gets it here because that is when the epiphany of, “we are back” hit me.
Comments Off on RAPID RECAP: Penguins 7, Hartford 1
Posted by nafsnep on March 7, 2025
Bringing the Rapid Recap out of the moth balls for a night to briefly touch on Friday’s throttling of the Hartford Wolf Pack by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Pens win 7-1. I don’t think it is a bellwether of the weekend, though, because Hartford is a bad team.
Seven different scorers for the Penguins in the form of Mathias Laferrière, Avery Hayes, Valterri Puustinen, Vasily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Atley Calvert and Rutger McGroarty.
An array of depth (Laferrière, Calvert) scoring, some secondary (McGroarty, Hayes) and top line (Puustinen, Koivunen, Ponomarev) scoring as well. A balanced night.
Filip Larsson stopped 24 of 25, with Nathan Sucese getting him in the first period.
The Pens trailed 1-0 after one, but got goals :31 apart in the second and :37 apart in the third to break it wide open.
Nikolai Knyzhov had three assists for a guy who has been a scratch the last ten games. No reason to take him out of the lineup whatsoever. He’s steady.
For posterity and because I use this to compare / contrast the next lineup, here’s how they lined up:
Lineup Notes: Koppanen, Poulin back. Gabe Klassen and Boris Katchouk out of the lineup. Knyzhov took the place of Jack St. Ivany who went up as insurance for Pittsburgh.
NHL trade deadline saw the Pittsburgh Penguins amass a ton of draft picks. The only collateral loss is Jonathan Gruden to New Jersey. I liked the kid. A pot stirrer. He will be good in Utica / New Jersey.
Out of town, Hershey and Providence win to stay ahead of the Pens the same amount of points as they came into the day. Charlotte was idle.
Comments Off on Weekend Preview – Spring Forward!
Posted by nafsnep on March 7, 2025
Another three in three for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton and a Sunday home game where we turn the clocks ahead an hour which means we lose an hour of sleep. A peaceful Sunday will have an hour cut off from it with a Sunday home game. Fantastic.
I don’t know where you stand on Daylight Savings Time. I have no problem with it and don’t see what’s so inconvenient with falling back in the Fall and springing forward in the Spring. I take it as a passage of good (Spring – Summer) vs. evil (Fall – Winter)
Music to Set the Mood…
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Full disclosure here, not a Sheeran fan only on account of where I go to listen to music he isn’t featured. So I guess I am agnostic to it. Again it’s the first things I type into a YouTube search that I run with here.
A Quote…
In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain
I can see it. March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.
The Setup
Road trip to Hartford Friday, home against Belleville Saturday and again on Sunday against the Crunch.
They lost 5-2 last Wednesday to Rochester in a game they were straight outclassed from the start. It seemed they did everything right but were beat by a better team.
They got right in Syracuse on Saturday, shutting out the Crunch 2-0.
Saturday, in a game I am still hot about, they had a 3-0 lead evaporate on them as they crumbled under the intense pressure that the Hershey Bears put on them. Bears tied it 3-3, Pens score 8 seconds later to go ahead but lose 5-4 in overtime. That ended up being Tristan Jarry’s swan song, as he was recalled to Pittsburgh Tuesday.
This past Tuesday, Belleville comes in and throttles the Pens 4-1. Wilkes-Barre looked great the first ten minutes then lost the final fifty.
Opponent wise, Hartford won in Bridgeport 6-3 to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. Providence beat them 5-2 Sunday and Utica clipped them in a shootout on Saturday.
Belleville loses 4-1 in Laval on Saturday, trounces Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday 4-1 and then does the same to the Hershey Bears the very next night to the tune of 6-2 on Wednesday. They are idle Friday.
Syracuse lost in a shootout against Rochester Saturday. They fared better against the Amerks than we did, getting a point but we shut the Crunch out. Maddening. Syracuse loses. in OT against Utica Sunday. They are back in Utica Friday, off Saturday then here Sunday.
Records
Pens are third in the Atlantic with a 29-15-7-1 record good for 66 points.
Hartford is seventh in the Atlantic with a 23-26-5-2 record and on 53 points.
Belleville is fifth in the North Division with a 26-19-4-4 record good for 60 points.
Syracuse is sixth in the North with a 23-18-8-4 record and on 58 points.
This is through Friday, March 7.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
Hey, there it is! I omitted this by accident last week.
Sebastian Aho returned form injury Tuesday…Isaac Belliveau was sent to Wheeling…Scooter Brickey is injured (day to day)…Gabe Klassen is up from Wheeling…Sergei Murashov is too…Tristan Jarry went up to Pittsburgh and Joel Blomqvist returned to Wilkes-Barre but didn’t dress Tuesday….Joona Koppanen, Jonathn Gruden and Sam Poulin are day to day with injuries.
The Roster Tracker page has all the updates. For now, since this is the NHL trade deadline.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
A month ago this team blitzkriegs these cupcakes by multiple goals and sweeps the week easily. Now? Not so much.
I think it is apparent they lack straw stirrers like Gruden, Koppanen and Poulin. Gruden the most followed by Poulin because I think he is more refined than Koppanen.
Depending on how you look at things, they are either five points out of a playoff spot or five points from the top of the division. It’s a little bit of both and I know that sounds like a cop out, but it is.
Listen, it isn’t easy. This is the “grind” part of the season. They simply have to grind points at this point and keep their heads above water. Can they? Running it back against Belleville and Syracuse I think will tell the tale. I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in Hartford because they have been in a tailspin for months. Finding a way to beat Belleville is a must on home ice and then trying to duplicate what worked against a stingy team like Syracuse on Sunday on one hour less sleep isn’t going to be easy, but that’s why I suppose Kirk MacDonald makes the big bucks.
Getting some combination of Gruden, Poulin or Koppanen or better yet, all three this weekend, would be a huge kick in the ass this team desperately needs.
Who’s in Goal?
Good question. Do they let all three get a game this weekend? If so I would go Blomqvist, Murashov, Larsson. I think that’s crazy, by the way, but we will see.
Louis Domingue, Leevi Meriläinen, Brandon Halverson is my guess for the opposition.
Who’s Running the Show?
Jordan Samuels-Thomas and Brody Sutter have the assignment Friday in Hartford with Nick Briganti and Trevor Disbennett on the lines.
Saturday sees Riley Brace and Kurtis Pare with Robert Peterkin and John Rey on the lines. Wilkes-Barre debut for Pare I believe.
If you guessed Pare and Brace again Sunday, you’re right. I see the AHL is racking up those hotel points by keeping the same dudes marooned in Wilkes-Barre for 48 hours. Chandler Yakimowicz and John Rey are on the lines.
Looking Ahead…
Wednesday at home against Hershey then a Friday and Sunday in Alletown. More Sunday games, fantastic!
Give us a bold prediction…
The year is 2030. Referee Jonathan Gruden is working his ninth straight game in Wilkes-Barre in some kind of an obscure record that hasn’t been broken in the AHL for years. It happens on a Sunday, the third Sunday home game in a row for the Penguins.
Comments Off on Tin Man Arguments — Pens LOSE 4-1
Posted by nafsnep on March 4, 2025
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The idea of the headline is that when I got back into the car to head home after watching the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lose 4-1 to the Belleville Senators on Tuesday, America’s “Tin Man” was playing on SiriusXM Radio. It’s a song I commonly hear out by the pool on a lazy summer afternoon listening to Yacht Rock Radio.
So I looked up the idea of a Tin Man Argument and I think I am onto something here. You are defending a position or an argument that doesn’t hold in the end.
Tuesday, the Penguins blitzed the Belleville Senators to a 7-2 shot count which included an Atley Calvert tip in of of a Matt Nieto shot. Belleville’s Leevi Meriläinen was under siege while the Penguins Filip Larsson was in his crease knitting a sweater. It looked like the Penguins were on cruise control.
But then Valterri Puustinen was slashed, or wasn’t, which led to a rush up the ice and Hayden Hodgson scoring a goal that tied the game and changed the complexity of the game entirely.
That’s because the Senators would get called for a penalty and go on to score a shorthanded goal from Zack Ostapchuk which afforded them a lead and Meriläinen to settle and dial in. Belleville never looked back from there. In the second Xavier Bourgault pounded on a juicy rebound of a shot saved by Larsson from Jorian Donovan and it was. then 3-1.
Wilkes-Barre continued to pepper Meriläinen to the tune of 15 shots in the third, but could not get another one past him. With Larsson pulled, Maxence Guenette scored a 190 foot empty net goal.
I looked up Meriläinen’s stats. 11-5-3 with 3 shutouts coming in on 23 games played. He’s good. The Senators would be in a much better position in the North Division standings if he played more. He may have been hurt because I believe this is the first time the Pens saw him all season.
Wilkes-Barre is missing straw stirrers such as Joona Koppanen and Jonathan Gruden who I heard from someone who was slightly later than I to the game are day to day. Good, because this little slide here started when Gruden went out of the lineup. The sooner this pair is back, the better.
Wilkes-Barre went 0/2 on the power play, giving up a shorthanded goal in the first and failing much offense late in the third down a pair. Belleville didn’t have a power play all game. A rare good game from ref Rob Hennessey, depending on who you ask and how much of a slash / no slash there was on Puustinen in the first.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 4, 2025
Notes: Laferriere for De St. Phalle up front and Aho returning from injury for Brickey, who was put on the injured list. Sergei Murashov backed up tonight, being recalled earlier in the day. Tristan Jarry went up, Joel Blomqvist came down.
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 