Chirps from Center Ice

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They didn’t have it tonight.

Down 3-1 to start the third period, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins don’t register a shot until 9:56 into the third period. That shot, taken by Ville Koivunen, did go in.

But the Penguins would not get any closer and lost 3-2.

They lacked that same killer instinct that they had Wednesday at home against the Hershey Bears.

It happens. You can’t get mad at them, when they have this many games in hand on the rest of the division and the Checkers are their kryptonite this season.

They will rematch Saturday at 6. Don’t be late.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Up front Corey Andonovski was in for Avery Hayes. Atley Calvert jumped up to the second line. On defense, Scooter Brickey for Dan Renouf. Avery Hayes and Renouf are ill and if that’s the case, likely not on the trip.

First Period: Penguins had a pair of power plays but didn’t score on them. Instead, John Leonard scored this, highlight reel worthy goal, to give the Checkers their League leading 11th shorthanded goal and the Checkers a 1-0 lead.

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I mean it was pretty nice. Nothing Mac Hollowell could really do there either as Hollowell was playing Leonard tight. Leonard straight up spun off him and flung a backhander at Jarry that beat him.

Second Period: Charlotte put the puck in the net three times in the period but two times it didn’t count.

Will Lockwood did put the puck in the net early in the period when there were three Penguins watching it pinball around off of each other.

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Tilt!

Penguins connect on a power play goal when Sam Poulin scores to put the Penguins on the board and cut the deficit to one.

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But the flatfooted-ness continued for the Penguins and the Checkers would score in the final minute when Sandis Vilmanis scores to push the lead back out to two for the Checkers.

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Third Period: As I mentioned at the top, the Penguins didn’t record a shot until four seconds to half way but that attempt by Ville Koivunen did give the Penguins another lifeline.

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But, as also mentioned in the jump, the Penguins never had it and, despite pulling Tristan Jarry for the extra man, never got set in their zone and thus, never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Sandis Vilmanis (goal) 2) John Leonard (goal) 1) Will Lockwood (goal, assist)

The Good: Power play stays hot, getting a goal.

The Bad: Charlotte gives them fits. Styles make fights and all. They need to find a way to beat the Checkers because they are a team they will undoubtedly have to go through in late April, early May if they should qualify for a playoff berth.

Turning Point: The Vilmanis goal gets it here. Just a back breaking goal to give up in the final minute that sent them reeling to open the third.

Around the Division: Springfield is out in Des Moines playing the Iowa Wild in a game that started an hour later then the Penguins. That box is here. All the other Atlantic Division teams are final as this goes up around 10 p.m. on Friday. Providence beats Cleveland 4-2….Hershey survives Bridgeport 5-4…Laval beats Hartford 3-1. Lehigh Valley was one of two AHL teams (Bakersfield the other) not in action on Friday.

Standings: Hershey 59 – Providence and Charlotte 53 – Penguins 50 – Lehigh Valley 48 – Springfield 42, but they are still in action when this goes up, Hartford 40 – Bridgeport 24

Wheeling Update: Nailers are in Cincinnati and won in overtime 4-3. Matt Koopman got the goal, Taylor Gauthier stopped 31. Matty De St. Phalle had a goal and an assist.

Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter may be your best bet for you sickos.

Back at it Saturday at 6. Who do you have winning the Royal Rumble?

Let’s Go Pens!

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Yes, you are reading it all right. Both the scoreline and the headline. Vasily Ponomarev leads AHL rookies in points (35) and is yet somehow not an AHL All-Star. Baffling, and maybe downright insulting.

And yes, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins beat up the Hershey Bears like they owed them money to a tune of 9-0.

It’s just the second regulation road loss for the forward depleted Bears, who are missing a ton of offensive firepower but are generally OK on defense on goaltending.

Not tonight, though.

Four goals for Vasily Ponomarev, a hat trick also for Ville Koivunen and 27 saves for Sergei Murashov, his first AHL shutout and he wasn’t even named a star of the game.

Valtteri Puustinen, Colton Poolman, Owen Pickering, Marc Johnstone and Dan Renouf were held off the score sheet for the Pens Wednesday. Only Bogdan Trineyev, Chase Priskie and Garrett Roe for the Bears weren’t on the ice for any even strength goals scored.

Historic night.

Biggest margin of victory over the Bears….biggest margin of victory ever….seven hat tricks this season shatters the franchise record of five, and they had two in one game, also first time ever.

I said in the Weekend Preview that if they beat Hershey then the rest (with Charlotte this week) takes care of itself.

I think we are getting to the point to where a win should be expected. Not given, but expected.

The Penguins jumped on the Bears from the outset with Ville Koivunen scoring at 4:39 off a nice feed from Boris Katchouk.

Vasily Ponomarev would net a power play goal at 6:42 and it was 2-0.

Ponomarev again at 9:12 and that was all for Clay Stevenson in net for the Bears, enter Hunter Shepard.

It didn’t matter.

Ville Koivunen netted the free coffee goal at 14:15.

This was just the first period.

More in the second.

Koivunen for his hat trick at 1:36 at the expiration of a Penguins power play made it 5-0, Sam Poulin creeping behind the defense off a very nice pass from Joona Koppanen to make it 6-0 at 7:02,  Koivunen for his fourth at 13:09 and then Filip Kral, who had four assists, tucked in a goal that made it 8-0 at 17:28.

The only question is would the Penguins score ten and would Ponomarev get a hat trick of his own?

Ponomarev would at 3:17, back on Clay Stevenson who went back in net for the Bears to start the third, but the Penguins would not continue shattering franchise records by scoring a tenth goal, something they have never done.

Here they are, in all their glorious glory. Pick your favorite and let me know in the comments.

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That goal was my favorite, by the way.

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Whew.

Lost in the ether was a strong effort in net from Sergei Murashov whom I thought was a good call to go in net against the Bears. What offensive mustard the Bears put on Murashov when they weren’t having to put out fires on the backs their defensemen or fishing pucks out of the net or scheduling audiologist visits after Todd Nelson gave them an earful in intermission, were all shut down rather easily by the Russian rookie net minder.

But again, buyer beware, Hershey has a lot of forwards hurt.

Lineup wise, Atley Calvert made his AHL debut on the fourth line in place of Corey Andonovski and Colton Poolman was in Scooter Brickey.

Three Stars: 3) Filip Kral (goal, four assists) 2) Vasily Ponomarev (hat trick) 1) Ville Koivunen (hat trick plus one)

The Good: Again, they jumped on Hershey like they owed them money. I said in the Power Rankings earlier this week I don’t think the Bears win the division this season. I think the Penguins are the best team in the division but they just haven’t played enough games to have people notice yet.

The Bad: They didn’t get ten?

Turning Point: I think the power play goal scored by Ponomarev back in the first set the ball in motion and it was downhill from there for the Bears and just a runaway train for the Penguins.

Around the Division: You won’t believe this, but there was another team that scored nine goals. Lehigh Valley throttles Bridgeport 9-2…Hartford loses 6-5 in overtime in Belleville.

Standings: Hershey 57 – Providence and Charlotte 51 – Penguins 50 – Lehigh Valley 48 – Springfield 42 – Hartford 40 – Bridgeport 24

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

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They fly to Charlotte Thursday and we will be back here Friday.

Seriously, Vasiliy Ponomarev isn’t an AHL All-Star.

Let’s Go Pens!

Quick one today because of you have followed along for any amount of time you realize that I detest with the fire of a thousand suns Sunday games. I can tolerate road games easier then I can home games (not having to negotiate crowds, etc) but still detest the concept. I’d make a terrible Hershey Bears fan, they love their 5 o’clock starts on Sundays. They are crazy. 

Anyway, Emil Bemstrom’s hat trick and the Penguins three power play goals are enough to sail past the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Sunday afternoon. Penguins inch closer and use a game in hand on Hershey to pick up two points on the Bears after a 5-1 win.

Here’s how they lined up:

Phantoms Projected:
20 Marody 22 Gardner 72 Gendron
15 Lycksell 56 Gaucher 74 Wisdom
43 Eklind 73 Rizzo 36 Boulton
16 Avon 91 Desnoyers 13 Furry

19 McDonald 7 Belpedio
6 Andrae 3 Grans
37 Ginning 5 Samson

35 Aleksei Kolosov
(Backup: 31 Parker Gahagen)

— Bob Rotruck (@BobRotruck) January 26, 2025

Owen Pickering is back from PIT!

Watch all the action on AHLTV on FloHockey: https://t.co/CrNDVVI2ER pic.twitter.com/tpZfqMzza7

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 26, 2025

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Lineup Notes: Owen Pickering, assigned Friday because he was the only waiver exempt non-goaltender on the roster, went down and Boko Imama went up. He replaced Colton Poolman from Saturday. Up front, Jesse Puljujarvi was out for Marc Johnstone. I’ve been generally underwhelmed by Puljujarvi, so that was a wash. 

First Period: Wilkes-Barre blitzkrieged the Phantoms to the tune of three goals, while Tristan Jarry only had to face five Phantoms shots and didn’t let the first one he saw go in. Progress.

Emil Bemstrom slammed home a Boris Katchouk pass on the near side to give the Pens an early 1-0 lead at 11:36. 

Under two minutes later, Avery Hayes comes flying down the near side, cuts to the net and digs Alexei Kolosov out, dekes him and roofs it to make it 2-0. 

Hayes is a fellow you want to get going. You accomplish that, this team is unbeatable. 

Late, Ethan Samson cross checks Corey Andonovski right in front of referee Jake Kamrass. Penguins power play. Mac Hollowell squeaks in a goal with two seconds left on the clock to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead. 

Here’s all the goals. Writing this on the fly, hope they all go through. 

Bemmer cleans up to put us on the board! pic.twitter.com/PaIR1gDjFn

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 26, 2025

Hayesy keeps us going! pic.twitter.com/7wySRwRa9a

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 26, 2025

Cheddar with a bomb for his first as a Pen! pic.twitter.com/JgMH9i0ly3

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 26, 2025

Second Period: Avery Hayes was awarded an early penalty shot when a Phantoms covered the puck in the crease in an early scramble. He made a good move but Alexei Kolosov got a pad on it. That would be a theme of the period.

Ville Koivunen would get run over (legally) by Hunter McDonald and Boris Katchouk stepped up and fought McDonald. Katchouk would pick up 2-5-10 and the Phantoms got a long power play.

That thing I said about Kolosov’s pad? He stopped a Marc Johnstone setup and pass to Jonathan Gruden with the pad. Just a straight up robbery and then in the immediate rush up ice the other way, Cooper Marody scored to put the Phantoms on the board.

His first of the season and it was a thing of beauty! #LVvsWBS | #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/Ujv3AJf79P

— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) January 26, 2025

Hard to believe that was Marody’s first of the season, but Sunday was just his third game of the season and he’s been dealing with injury.

Third Period: It’s good when you have a power play that’s effective.

With the Phantoms still hanging around down two, Wilkes-Barre goes on a power play with seven minutes remaining. Thought here is that if the Penguins get one here, it’s over.

Emil Bemstrom is inevitable.

Bemmer on the power play for his second of the night! pic.twitter.com/nboO3hdljw

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 26, 2025

Phantoms take a late delay of game penalty and you think that the Penguins would send a bunch of guys out there to get power play work who aren’t regulars.

Wrong.

Bemstrom again, for the hat trick, scores to ice it away as if the game wasn’t already sealed.

🧢🧢🧢 FOR BEMMER pic.twitter.com/b2ut4DXiVE

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 26, 2025

Three Stars: 3) Avery Hayes (goal) 2) Ville Koivunen (four assists) 1) Emil Bemstrom (three goals, assist)

The Good: Power play went 3/4 (they had a brief :03 one if you want to count that) and that’s what got them the win. You do that and you win more than you lose.

The Bad: Would have been nice to see Jarry get the shutout, but it’s nitpicking.

Turning Point: The second goal Bemstrom goal gets it here. It’s 4-1 and there’s no way you come back from that unless you collapse.

Around the Division: Hey the AHL has a functioning website again! Hooray! Springfield hosted Hartford and Providence hosted Laval. The Rocket beat the Bruins in overtime 3-2 and Springfield beats Hartford 4-2.

Standings: Hershey 57 – Providence 51 – Charlotte 49 – Penguins 48 – Phantoms 46 – Springfield 42 – Hartford 39 – Bridgeport 24.

Wheeling Update: Nailers in their third contest of the weekend with the Kansas City Mavericks. That one started a little later then the Penguins game. Here’s the box.

Video Highlights:

Bad enough I had a Sunday game to go to but I have a busy Monday so the AHL Power Rankings will likely be delayed to late Monday, possibly Tuesday. Check them out then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Sergei Murashov is now 3-0 at the AHL level after a very strong showing in net Saturday night for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, shutting down the Utica Comets three power plays and stopping 29 of 30 shots. Penguins win 2-1, snapping their four game losing streak.

Back at it Sunday afternoon at home (sigh) against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Mac Hollowell for Scooter Brickey on defense; Corey Andonovski for Marc Johnstone up front. Isaac Belliveau was sent to Wheeling Saturday afternoon.

First Period: Sergei Murashov was tested early and often as the Comets boat raced the Penguins to a tune of 10 shots to 1 at one point, then Shane Bowers connected for a goal at 13:34.

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I initially thought it was goalie interference, but that angle showed otherwise.

A minute and change later, Rutger McGroarty connected on a tic tac toe pass and scored to make it 1-1.

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I don’t know why the folks in attendance clapped at the end of the first period, that was an awful period for the home teams who were lucky that their goaltender was dialed in.

Second Period: Murashov dazzled with a stop through bodies and a screen then slid over to stop the rebound attempt with the pad. Wilkes-Barre was starting to come unraveled a bit because Utica was getting all the calls (refs Rob Hennessey and Jake Kamrass did not give Utica a single penalty all night) but that boiled over at the end of the period.

Third Period: Vasily Ponomarev this time connects on another tic tac toe pass play and scores to push the Penguins ahead 2-1.

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Utica did not find the equalizer with the net, tended by Nico Daws again in back to back nights, emptied.

Three Stars: 3) Rutger McGroarty (goal) 2) Sergei Murashov (29 saves) 1) Vasiliy Ponomarev (goal)

The Good: Nice to see them snap out of it and grit out a win. Utica plays better then its record and place would indicate.

The Bad: The AHL’s servers. You will note that this is blog piece is short scores from out of town or links to boxes. It’s 2025 and we have major hockey operations have server issues. I can’t get the scoreboard to load and am not going to continue to try.

Turning Point: The Ponomarev goal that put them ahead gets its here.

Hopefully the League gets new servers or pays the bill tomorrow so I can update standings and an out of town scoreboard for you.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are getting hammered at home by the Kansas City Mavericks. Box here. Hey, the ECHL’s servers are just fine!

Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter, provided they also have the bandwidth, likely your best bet as Coal Street hasn’t posted them yet.

Back at it Sunday afternoon against Lehigh Valley.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins pumped 35 shots at Utica Comets goaltender Nico Daws Friday night and Daws and the Comets shut down the visitors, playing in their first game in nine games and Utica wins their fourth straight beating the Penguins 5-3.

The two teams rematch Saturday in Wilkes-Barre.

Daws made some jaw dropping saves from all angles. In close, in traffic, from the point, on breakaways, et cetera. It was partially the play of Daws in net and the fact that Tristan Jarry’s tick of allowing the first shot of the game he sees in continuing at the AHL level, and the Penguins played from behind all night and never could get it in gear.

Expect a different effort Saturday. Hopefully.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Marc Johnstone for Corey Andonovski up front. Andonovski took warmups. Jack St. Ivany returned from injury and replaced Mac Hollowell.

Injury Updates: Filip Larsson is week to week with a lower body injury and Tristan Broz has mono. Fantastic.

First Period: I thought it was purely a Pittsburgh thing, but on the first shot of the game by Utica, Brian Halonen scored to give the Comets an easy 1-0 lead.

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I don’t pay attention enough anymore to know why they threw socks on the ice. I assume it was for a good cause.

Later, Dan Renouf scored his first goal of the season for the Penguins when his shot deflected off of a skate of a Comet and it was tied.

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Late and off of a face-off, Colton White scored to push the Comets back ahead.

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Wilkes-Barre had a furious final push in the last minute but it remained 2-1 Utica heading into the…

Second Period: They had two issues which were developing.

First, was the opposing goaltender. Nico Daws was stopping everything, including some breakaway-ish chances. He stopped Jesse Puljujarvi late after Xavier Parent scored to make it 3-1 after a Scooter Brickey turnover.

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The second issue was the defending and the shakiness that they were getting from their NHL All-Star goaltender whom I am sure was not pleased with some of the work of his rearguards.

But Jarry would stay dialed in and found Valtteri Puustinen for a long pass while Utica was making a change on a penalty kill. Puustinen found Puljujarvi who scored this time to cut the deficit to one.

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They were showing life, but needed to figure out Daws and correct things in house heading into the…

Third Period: Utica gets another when Xavier Parent nets his second of the night, cue balling one past Jarry during a fire wagon change and it’s 4-2 Comets.

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Less than ideal response by Wilkes-Barre, who had just one shot on goal for the first ten or so minutes of the period.

With Jarry pulled late, Sam Poulin scores with 1:46 left and the Penguins are, once again, within one.

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Ensuing face-off, Penguins threaten again with an extra attacker but then an errant pass finds the stick of Ryan Schmelzer who backhands the puck down the ice from about 180′ away and it finds the back of the net to make it 5-3 Comets.

Sigh.

Three Stars: 3) Jesse Puljujarvi (goal, assist) 2) Ryan Schmelzer (goal, assist) 1) Xavier Parent (two goals)

The Good: Man, I don’t know. They let the first shot of the game in and they chased from there. The power play scored a goal for them, let’s go with that.

The Bad: They went behind on the first shot that their goaltender saw and they chased the game from there, seemingly one step behind all night.

Turning Point: Don’t want to say the first shot of the game, but it seems to keep recurring, so let’s keep with it.

Around the Division: I am not sticking around for the Charlotte Checkers Friday, who are out in Milwaukee and somewhere in the second period when this post goes up. Box here. Other scores in the division: Belleville beats Hershey 4-3 in overtime, Laval beats Hartford 4-3, Bridgeport beats Syracuse 5-2, Springfield beats Lehigh 5-1 and Providence shuts out Rochester 3-0.

Standings: Can’t update these because Charlotte has all the fun and plays Western Conference teams. Pens will stay on 44 points and in fourth place but have a ton of games in hand still.

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 4-3 over the Kansas City Mavericks. Taylor Gauthier stopped 35. Kyle Jackson had a pair of goals.

Video Highlights: AHL Video Center is your best bet.

More tomorrow when these two rematch.

Let’s Go Pens!