Comments Off on Weekend Preview — The Reinforcements…
Posted by nafsnep on April 19, 2024
Sorry about the lack of coverage last weekend. These camping trips I do with my family are made months on advance. One thing about campgrounds is that they always tout Wi-Fi access but when it’s you and 75 other campers and their families, and those families have kids, it’s tough to get a good connection.
That’s why I have cats.
Anyway.
The Pittsburgh Penguins won’t be playoff bound, so Valtteri Puustinen, Ryan Shea, Jack St. Ivany and Radim Zohorna are all be Wilkes-Barre bound.
Things are still up in the air for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins as far as seeding goes. Put it this way, if Providence finds a way to get one more point, the Penguins cannot catch the Bruins for second and the Bruins will have the first round bye. Also, the Penguins have to win out. If the Pens win out and the Bruins lose out, the Pens and Bruins would be tied in points, but since Wilkes-Barre has more ROW (regulation or overtime wins) they would get second place.
How do you feel about the Penguins and the bye? I am split. They can use the time to heal up key guys. But, you don’t want rust or any of those things creeping into the team.
I ultimately think the scenario of the Bruins losing out is more unlikely than the Penguins winning out. I will get to that in a minute.
Music to Set the Mood…
Once again this is another one of those, “type the headline for the blog post this week in youtube.com and see what happens. Here’s what I found.
Edinburgh based rock band with an exciting live presence, who write and perform their own material and at the time of writing , are looking to tour anywhere and everywhere in the next few months, before dropping a load of new songs via Infinite Hive.
I let it play a bit in the background when I was writing it. Not really my thing, but I played it longer than I would have.
A Quote…
Let ’em Cook
— Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
That’s your playoff theme this year. The puns if they don’t go all the way would be “cooked” or, “well done” among other things.
The Setup…
Hartford on the road Friday and Lehigh Valley on the road Saturday.
The Penguins ran the win streak to seven games with home wins over Bridgeport, 5-2 on Friday and Hershey, 4-1 on Saturday before losing in Hershey on Sunday 4-1. That was a bit of a bad loss for the Penguins because both Providence and Charlotte lost on Sunday.
Hartford snapped out of their funk with a pair of wins over Springfield, 5-3 on Friday and Charlotte, 5-2 on Sunday. The Wolf Pack clinched a playoff spot last weekend and will likely be the five seed.
Lehigh Valley lost 4-1 to Hershey in Hershey on Friday then beat Bridgeport 5-4 in overtime on Saturday. The Phantoms will be in Bridgeport on Friday.
Records
Penguins are 38-23-8-1 with 85 points and are third in the Atlantic.
Hartford is 32-27-7-3 with 74 points and are fifth in the Atlantic.
Lehigh Valley is 30-30-6-3 with 69 points and are sixth in the Atlantic.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 17, 2024
This is notable because Blomqvist plays in the same division as fellow rookie Clay Stevenson of the Hershey Bears who has an astonishing seven shutouts.
— x – Wheeling Nailers (@WheelingNailers) April 18, 2024
It’s good to have a future in goal for the organization.
Check Your Surroundings…
Alright so Providence has a three in three weekend where they play a hapless but scrappy Springfield team at home Friday, a straight up hapless Bridgeport team on Saturday and host a not really much left to play for stuck in fifth place Hartford Wolf Pack team on Sunday. Remember that any point gained by Providence (or lost by the Pens) seals up a first round bye for the Bruins. That said, the records don’t really matter.
Charlotte is still buzzing around the face of the Penguins. The Checkers played Hershey own Wednesday and lost their game in hand on the Penguins with a 4-3 defeat to the Bears. They will rematch against the Bears on Saturday and then conclude their regular season against the Phantoms on Sunday.
Charlotte cannot get to second now and if the Penguins amass two more points, they can’t get to third either. If they tie, the Pens have one more ROW than the Checkers.
The Checkers are 38-25-7-0 and have 83 points in fourth place. The Checkers have 37 ROW also.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
The kids are alright, aren’t they? Avery Hayes has turned it up, Evan Vierling too. Beau Jelsma made his AHL debut last weekend and didn’t look out of place. When you are young, talented and hungry, you can go places. These kids may not know any better.
The issue for them this weekend is that a lot of their seeding fate is out of their hands. It’s unlikely they get the second seed. All they need is two more points out of their final two games and third is theirs, so there is some work to do. Alternatively, if Charlotte loses two points in any form or fashion over their next two games, third place is the Penguins.
Also, the reinforcements from Pittsburgh will likely push out some guys in the lineup. Here’s who I would bounce if I was J.D. Forrest.
Ryan Shea and Jack St. Ivany for Taylor Fedun and Isaac Belliveau. Let Belliveau eat minutes for Wheeling in ECHL playoffs.
Valtteri Puustinen and Radim Zohorna for Matt Filipe and Matt Quercia. Same story with Quercia, let him eat minutes in the ECHL in the playoffs.
Jonathan Gruden for Raivis Ansons once Gruden is healthy.
Eventually Marc Johnstone for Lukas Svejkovsky, etc. I would keep Mathieu De St. Phalle, Evan Vierling, Avery Hayes and Beau Jelsma in the lineup for asd long as possible and only replace them if you need to.
We may have a special team here. There’s scuttlebutt about a late 2000’s early 2010’s vibe about this team. Who knows. Gotta beat Hershey in Hershey, something they haven’t done all season.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
Puustinen, St. Ivany and Zohorna were sent back from Pittsburgh Thursday. Ryan Shea needed waivers, so he will likely clear and be officially assigned Friday afternoon.
Out: Peter Abbandonato, Marc Johnstone, Sam Houde, Vasily Ponomarev, Joona Koppanen, Taylor Gauthier and Jonathan Gruden were unavailable this past weekend due to injury. The news on Ty Smith wasn’t positive, longer term lower body. The hope is that Johnstone and Gruden are back sooner than later and you see Ponomarev, Abbandonato and maybe Koppanen in a few weeks, if they are still around. I think some combination of those five are vital if they were to have a prayer against Hershey.
Who’s in Goal?
No reason to start Blomqvist in back to back games. I would get Ludovic Waeber in there Friday against Hartford and let Blomqvist go against the Phantoms.
Old buddy Louis Domingue for the Wolf Pack Saturday and Felix Sandstrom for the Phantoms if you make me guess, which you have all season.
Who’s Running the Show?
Mathieu Menniti and Austin O’Rourke are the referees Friday with Jeremy Faucher and Ryan Jackson on the lines. Saturday sees Chad Ingalls and Jake Kamrass as the referees with Shawn Oliver and Kirsten Welsh on the lines.
Looking Ahead…
They are in the playoffs, but won’t know until likely Sunday night who and when they are playing, so look for something here Sunday evening.
Give us a bold prediction…
They will end up as the three seed and will have a first round date with the Phantoms. Penguins in two.
Comments Off on Weekend Preview — Where the Roads Lead…
Posted by nafsnep on April 12, 2024
As things stand, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are just four points away from the second place Providence Bruins. Yes, the Bruins have a game in hand on the Penguins and the Charlotte Checkers are tied with the Penguins in points with the same amount of games played. The Penguins, winners of five straight, seem to be heading in the right directions, all of them positive.
Wait, what’s that I smell? Chocolate. Oh, boy.
The reigning, defending, undisputed 12 time Calder Cup Champions are back on the Penguins schedule this weekend. And they are there twice.
The division and soon the entire AHL will need to run through Hershey, as the Bears locked up the Atlantic Division Championship early last week and are just three points away from winning the regular season title ensuring they have home ice against every playoff victim opponent the Bears may face this postseason.
For the Penguins, second place in the division is calling to them. The only issue is that the voice may be a wolf in sheep’s clothing which is actually a bear.
Music to Set the Mood…
Let’s hope that our road leads to a first round bye.
A Quote…
“Fire Forrest” — a lot of us
There’s a reason we are fans and that decision makers are decision makers. No matter what happens here in the next month, month and a half if we are lucky, you got to hand it to J.D. Forrest and the coaching staff of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. He’s navigated choppy waters all season long in losing his top two leading scorers in Rem Pitlick and Alex Nylander to trade and possibly his current leading scorer in Ty Smith to injury.
I don’t think the Penguins are where they are under the tutelage of anyone else other than Forrest. I was wrong, you were too, and we gotta hand it to the guy.
The Setup
Another three in three weekend with Bridgeport here Friday then a home and home with the Hershey Bears Saturday here and Sunday in Hershey.
For the Penguins, they got all six points last weekend in a three in three. An OT thriller against Cleveland on Friday, a 6-3 drubbing of the last place Islanders on Saturday then a 5-1 beatdown of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday. Newcomers Evan Vierling, Mathieu De St. Phalle and the regulars like Avery Hayes and Xavier Ouellet all stepped up huge and got this team all six points and at the doorstep of a possible first round bye.
The Islanders on Sunday lost in a shootout to the resurgent Rochester Americans 5-4. Hershey thumped the Iowa Wild 7-2 on Friday then beat the Wild in a shootout 3-2 on Saturday to continue to rack up points and get closer to the regular season title, a meaningless accomplishment for a franchise that measures itself on Calder Cups.
Records
Penguins are tied for third in the Atlantic with a 36-22-8-1 record good for 81 points and have 67 games played.
Bridgeport is last in the Atlantic with a 24-36-6-2 record good for 56 points and 68 games played.
Hershey is an astonishing 50-12-0-5 with 105 points and 67 games played.
Check Your Surroundings…
Providence is second in the Atlantic with a record of 38-19-6-3 with 85 points and 66 games played.
The Bruins came away with just two overtime loser points thanks to losses handed to them by Lehigh Valley and Rochester. The Bruins have a scrappy Utica Comets team twice at home Friday-Saturday and a flailing Springfield team in Western Massachusetts on Sunday.
The fourth place Charlotte Checkers have a 37-23-7-0 record and 81 points with 67 games played.
The Checkers swept the Hartford Wolf Pack this weekend by an aggregate score of 8-1. Old buddy Magnus Hellberg had a 20 save shutout for the Checkers on Saturday. Charlotte is in Springfield and Hartford Saturday and Sunday respectively, so on account of playing Friday, the Penguins will be in arrears to a game for the Checkers when the dust settles Sunday evening.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
I think this weekend is really the last stand they have against chasing down the first round bye because as I said Providence and Charlotte will have a game in hand on the Penguins heading into the start of next week. I think the guys in the room realize it is a very important weekend to get all six points again if they want to be contenders for the bye but playing the Category Five Superteam known as the Hershey Bears makes for a tall task.
That means Ludovic Waeber will likely see a start for the Penguins because I can’t see a scenario where Joel Blomqvist plays back to back with a travel day in between to Hershey on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps I am wrong. I very well may be.
You need to play a perfect game against the Bears if you want to have hope you are in contention at the end. They have done that back when they were toiling and we were calling for a change at the head coach position. That means limiting power play opportunities given to the Bears and limiting turnovers and general errors made. Hershey forces a ton of that, their record and run of play shows that of late. You just have to execute and keep it close in the end.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
Out: Peter Abbandonato, Marc Johnstone, Sam Houde, Vasily Ponomarev, Joona Koppanen, Taylor Gauthier and Jonathan Gruden were unavailable this past weekend due to injury. We don’t know the status of Ty Smith yet, injured Sunday.
Up: Ryan Shea, Jack St. Ivany, Valtteri Puustinen. Radim Zohorna went up Wednesday, Vinnie Hinostroza went up Thursday.
Sam Poulin was returned back to Wilkes-Barre Wednesday.
Down: Justin Addamo, Dillon Hamaliuk are in Wheeling.
Max Cajkovic, Matthew Quercia were released on Wednesday. Cajkovic was loaned to the Slovakian national team.
Lukas Svejkovsky and Taylor Gauthier are up from Wheeling and on the Coal Street roster.
More ATO’s: Emil Järventie, Kalle Kangas, Beau Jelsma were signed at various parts of this past week.
Who’s in Goal?
I think we see Ken Appleby for the Islanders and that two headed monster combo of Hunter Shepard and Clay Stevenson for the Bears. My gut says Ludovic Waeber Friday and Joel Blomqvist on Saturday and Sunday but my heart says otherwise.
Who’s Running the Show?
Jordan Deckard and Jordan Watt are the assigned refs Friday with J.P. Waleski and Tyler Loftus joining them on the lines.
Watt sticks around and has Taylor Burzminski join him with Bill Lyons and Jud Ritter on the lines.
Alex Łepkowski and Jordan Deckard are the assigned referees Sunday in Hershey with Justin Johnson and Richard Jondo on the lines.
A Note About Me…
I will not be at either home game this weekend due to a pre-planned camping trip to Lancaster this weekend. I’m likely not going to be able to watch Friday’s game on AHLTV, so I will do my best to cobble something together. I should have something Saturday and Sunday, though. I’ll be back for playoffs.
Looking Ahead…
Final weekend of the regular season with a stop in Hartford Friday and the season finale in Allentown against the Phantoms on Saturday.
Give us a bold prediction…
No reason to believe that they can’t run the win streak to eight and be a point or two off Providence for second. I think that if not, the Bruins and Checkers falter also and it all gets decided next weekend.
Now the Bruins will have a game in hand on the Penguins, but for the Penguins the inconceivable is now believable and the Penguins may have a shot at a first round bye.
To get there however, they will need to get through Hershey, whom they play twice next weekend in a home and home.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 7, 2024
Lineup Notes: Jansen Harkins was down on an unannounced conditioning stint. He and Matthew Quercia were in for Jagger Joshua and Logan Pietila with Taylor Fedun in for Owen Headrick.
First Period: Penalty marred first, set the tone for the game with the way that it went. The Penguins got a shorthanded goal from Jack Rathbone that put them on the board first off a very nice feed from Avery Hayes.
BONESY WITH THE SHORTY
For every shorthanded goal we score this season, Borland and Borland will donate $250 to the Penguins Goals Foundation. pic.twitter.com/QHIcL1IX2e
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 7, 2024
Joel Blomqvist was sharp, really all game, and had three stops late all in quick succession.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 7, 2024
Big news coming out of the game was the uncalled knee on knee hit that Garrett Wilson threw on Ty Smith.
VIDEO: Penguins Ty Smith injured here on this apparent knee on knee contact with Phantoms Garrett Wilson 4/5 vs. Lehigh Valley. pic.twitter.com/cPA3BXstDZ
You be the judge here. It was away from the play, predatory, and Smith didn’t return to the game.
On the very next shift, referees Mike Sullivan and Mike Zyla nabbed Wilson for a booking penalty putting the Penguins on the power play.
I’ve seen refs at this level come and go. Seen it all from good ones like Jeff Smith and Jim Curtain to abstract disasters like Nygel Pelletier, Dave Banfield and others. It usually follows a pattern. They get an NHL contract (Banfield was one of the refs involved in that Pens / Islanders fiasco from years ago) are so inept at the action at the NHL level that their contract isn’t renewed and it leaves them to toil in the minors for the rest of their lives. Banfield. Reid Anderson is another I can think of off the top of my head who was NHL contracted, fired, and now finishing out his career as a ref back in the AHL. Well, Mike Sullivan is one also. What’s likely the case here is his NHL contract isn’t being renewed and he’s banished to AHL work (I’ve seen his name a lot these past few weeks) and this is what you’re left with. Garrett Wilson was suspended three games earlier in the season for elbowing Ty Smith in the head. There’s a history here. To not watch out for that, especially when those two are on the ice, is unacceptable in a four man system.
Yeah, I get it. Human element, fast game, etc. I get it. But Sullivan was questionable Friday vs. Cleveland and was equally as awful if not worse Sunday. Rare that I go off on a tangent about AHL officials anymore because it has gotten better, but it’s a loss for Wilkes-Barre losing their highest point producer to a goon in front of an inept officiating crew.
Moving on…
Third Period: You didn’t want them to collapse. Hold the fort. All the clichés.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 7, 2024
First pro goal by Mathieu De St. Phalle in a very big spot that gave the Penguins at three goal lead.
More penalties for the Penguins on ticky tack stuff. More ineptitude from the firm of Zyla and Sullivan refereeing the scoreboard instead of the action of the ice.
Penguins were 6/6 on the kill against the Phantoms and the four dummies wearing stripes.
Garrett Wilson fought Matthew Quercia, one of the only players on the Penguins that actually knows how to fight. Wilson handled Quercia quite easily but it was Quercia that got Wilson off the ice for five minutes ensuring that at least for that time the Penguins would not have any more players sent off the ice to the trailers room due to Wilson’t antics and the officials ineptitude.
Ian Laperriere pulled his goaltender Sandstrom with about six minutes to play and Jacob Gaucher scored on a third effort that put the Phantoms on the board with 5:03 to play.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 7, 2024
Ballgame. A six point weekend.
Three Stars: 3) Mathieu De St. Phalle (first pro goal) 2) Joel Blomqvist (35 saves) 1) Vinnie Hinostroza (goal)
The Good: 6/6 on the kill. Battled through that and losing Ty Smith to injury to complete the six point weekend. Also, they scored two power play goals.
The Bad: Losing Ty Smith to injury was the lone speck on an overall good day for the Penguins.
Turning Point: De St. Phalle’s first pro goal came at a great time that gave the Penguins the boost they needed to not blow it in the third, which we have seen them do.
Standings: Hershey 105 – Providence 85 – Penguins and Charlotte 81 – Hartford 70 – Lehigh Valley 67 – Springfield 63 – Bridgeport 56
Wheeling Update: Nailers with a HUGE win over the Indy Fuel to help in Wheeling’s playoff push. Tanner Laderoute with a goal and an assist. Nailers win 5-3.
Video Highlights: It’s late and they aren’t up yet, so the AHL VideoCenter is your best bet.
Have a great week. A lot to talk about next weekend with Hershey twice.
Comments Off on Hats Off Rueschhoff — Pens WIN 6-3
Posted by nafsnep on April 6, 2024
@
6 3
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A hat trick for Austin Rueschhoff, four assists for Ty Smith and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have won their fourth game in a row with a 6-3 win in Bridgeport Saturday evening.
The Penguins will keep pace with the Charlotte Checkers, who also won Saturday, and each team has 79 points with six games remaining for each.
Here’s how they lined up, Bridgeport didn’t post lines…
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 6, 2024
Lineup Notes: Logan Pietila made his AHL debut, replacing Matthew Quercia up front and Owen Headrick replaced Taylor Fedun on defense. If the Penguins can keep rotating decent players in and out of the lineup and get unavailable players back at some point down the line, who knows how far this car can go.
First Period: Penguins struck, and struck swiftly, for three goals before the Islanders recorded their first shot of the game. Wilkes-Barre strikes for not one, but two power play goals that give themselves a 3-0 lead quite quickly.
Vinnie Hinostroza with a power play goal that deflected off of starting goalie Jakub Skarek, off Seth Helgeson and in for a 1-0 Penguins lead.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 6, 2024
Then Evan Vierling keeps his goal streak going with his second goal of the weekend with a tap in from a feed from Corey Andonovski that made it 2-0 Penguins.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 6, 2024
Then Austin Rueschhoff scored a power play goal on a relentless display for the Penguins who kept the puck in the Islanders zone the entire time and Rueschhoff struck far side with a roof job that made it 3-0 and the rout was seemingly on.
Ruesch putting the 'power' in power play with his 7th power play goal of the season! pic.twitter.com/3m6JXKdAkS
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 6, 2024
Until it wasn’t.
The Islanders got a late goal from Daylan Kuefler that got the Islanders on the board and gave them a 3-1 deficit heading into the…
— Bridgeport Islanders (@AHLIslanders) April 6, 2024
Second Period: Whatever vibe they had in the first where everything was going their way and every puck they shot was going in, was gone baby gone. Three penalties taken by the Penguins in the period. Bridgeport has, if you can believe it, a worse power play than the Penguins (dead last at 32nd) and didn’t score, but William Dufour scored to bring the Islanders back within one with a great second effort here.
— Bridgeport Islanders (@AHLIslanders) April 6, 2024
+1 for the pun use there.
One other thing. Ken Appleby replaced Jakub Skarek in goal at some point that wasn’t featured on TV and mentioned late by Penguins play by play man Nick Hart.
The Islanders were eating this elephant one bite at a time.
Third Period: It’s hard to eat a whole elephant.
Austin Rueschhoff, in beast mode, scores his second of the game off a nice feed by Ty Smith, his fourth assist of the game, that gives the Penguins some breathing room and a 4-2 lead.
— x-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 6, 2024
Good to see this. They were reeling, and they rely on their leaders and glue guys to pull them out the mud.
But Bridgeport wasn’t going away, never seemed out of it. Ruslan Ishakov shot blocked to Matthew Maggio who scores the Islanders goal on their first shot of the period that makes it 5-3.
— Bridgeport Islanders (@AHLIslanders) April 6, 2024
The Islanders, if they were going to get back into it, weren’t doing themselves favors by taking penalties late that gave the Penguins a brief two man advantage.
Wilkes-Barre didn’t score, but they did get a third goal from Austin Rueschhoff who scored it on an empty Bridgeport net.
Three Stars: 3) William Dufour (goal, assist) 2) Ty Smith (four assists) 1) Austin Rueschhoff (hat trick)
The Good: They battled and came out on top on the road. That’s all you can ask for.
The Bad: A last place Islanders had no business having it be as close as it was at times against this Penguins team. It may be nitpicky, but you aren’t going to have teams like Bridgeport come late April and beyond.
Turning Point: The second Rueschhoff goal gets it here and took some of the heat off the Pens who were reeling.
Comments Off on Vierling’s Yearlings — Pens WIN 3-2 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on April 5, 2024
vs.
2 3
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There are a lot of guys either hurt or on recall for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins right now.
So the Penguins have had to plug deep into their ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, for players.
One of those players is Evan Vierling.
A two point night for the man, a goal and an assist and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are off to the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 overtime win against the Cleveland Monsters.
I’m burying the hero of the night, Radim Zohorna, who scored the overtime game winning goal for the Penguins. It was Zohorna who took a penalty in the third period who put the Penguins down a bit against the Monsters but it was Zohorna who kept the puck the entirety of overtime it seemed and scored a beautiful goal crashing the net to give the seemingly masterful Penguins yet another overtime game winning goal all of a sudden.
— Cleveland Monsters (@monstershockey) April 5, 2024
It’s a totally tubular night for Mathieu De St. Phalle (he’s making his AHL debut tonight!) pic.twitter.com/5v4N94LZVW
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 5, 2024
Lineup Notes: As the graphic states, the AHL debut for Mathieu De St. Phalle. Jagger Joshua returned from injury. A reader was nice enough to fill me in that he heard that Joona Koppanen was injured in practice and Jonathan Gruden is injured. Owen Headrick out for Scooter Brickey was the other change.
First Period: Evan Vierling scores his first AHL goal with a nice hardworking play set up by Lukas Svejkovsky who was like a hungry dog on a bone with the puck, keeping it in. Svejkovsky throws a puck at the net and Vierling is there to deflect it home.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 5, 2024
Second Period: I didn’t like the way they presented themselves. Something seemed off, and it was proven true when Roman Ahcan tipped in a shot similar-ish to the way Vierling tipped his (in exactly the same spot, almost) that tied the game at one a piece.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 6, 2024
Clutch, indeed, he nearly scored seconds before.
The Penguins had a power play with 3:03 left to play. I said at the time that a goal here would be huge.
They didn’t get a goal and instead Cleveland got a goal that tied the game at 19:00.
Stanislav Svozil with a shot from the point.
two helpers on Stan's goal brings our Assists for a Cause total to 354 🍎
For every assist the Monsters make this season, @TitosVodka will donate $10 to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo bringing the running total to $3,540 pic.twitter.com/Vt0n24VqlM
— Cleveland Monsters (@monstershockey) April 6, 2024
Brief huddle by the officials to discuss goaltender interference but since no one knows what it is or what it looks like, why bother. The goal stood.
Overtime: By this time the Springfield score went final so it didn’t matter, the Pens were in, but what would the vibe be?
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 6, 2024
I would say, pretty, pretty good.
Three Stars: 3) Jagger Joshua (two assists) 2) Evan Vierling (goal, assist) 1) Radim Zohorna (overtime game winning goal)
The Good: Ticket punched. All that matters is securing at least third place and trying to possibly chase down Providence for second place for a possible First Round bye.
The Bad: They got murdered on the face-off dots and that led to both Cleveland goals.
Turning Point: The Zohorna goal gets it here, it’s late, let’s not overthink it.
The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have qualified for the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs as a result of a Radim Zohorna overtime game winning goal that beat the Cleveland Monsters 3-2.
After being down the past few seasons, we back up.
Comments Off on Weekend Preview — Soon…
Posted by nafsnep on April 5, 2024
The magic number to sew up a berth in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins is two. A win Friday against Cleveland, whom the Penguins have mastered for years, will do it for them. If not, if the Springfield Thunderbirds lose in Belleville against the Senators, the Penguins are in as well.
I’m not looking at overtime or shootout losses, that’s too much math, even for me.
Music to Set the Mood…
All of this talk of them making the playoffs…the purpose of qualifying is to win it all. Do I think they qualify for the playoffs? Yeah, it’s inevitable. Do I think they win it all?
Someday…
A Quote
Some say Better things will come our way No matter what they try to say – Lyrics from “Someday” – Sugar Ray
I think, if they do manage to qualify for playoffs, they would be favored against Hartford and/or Lehigh Valley. Charlotte I am not so sure about but of the four teams that are in position today, the Checkers make the least amount of sense because of seeding in the First Round.
As for being favored over the Providence Bruins or Hershey Bears?
Someday…
The Setup
Anyway, bloviating about playoffs is something we will save for the appropriate time, they have a three in three weekend they have to get through first starting tonight at home against Cleveland, then an afternoon Saturday visit to Bridgeport and then a Sunday home game against Lehigh Valley.
The Penguins played just one game last week, last Saturday against the Phantoms and won 4-3 in overtime after a third period game tying goal by Avery Hayes, his first AHL goal and then the game winning overtime goal from Corey Andonovski.
Cleveland dropped a pair against Rochester in a home and home which went Saturday in Cleveland (4-3 OT loss) and Wednesday in Rochester (6-1) loss. That was a big series for each because the Americans and Monsters are level on 77 points each, three off Syracuse, who leads the division.
Bridgeport has been quite active, losing 4-1 to the Checkers on Friday and then beating Charlotte 1-0 at home in overtime on Saturday, then losing 4-1 at home against Utica then winning 4-1 in Hartford on Wednesday. The Islanders are off Friday.
After losing in overtime against the Pens last Saturday as noted above, the Phantoms lost 1-0 in Hershey on Tuesday. Lehigh Valley will host Providence Friday then Cleveland on Saturday. A three in three for the Phantoms as well as they try to pursue Hartford for fifth and stay ahead of Springfield for the final playoff spot in the division.
Records
Pens are 33-22-8-1 with 75 points, good for fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 64 games played.
Cleveland is 35-23-4-3 with 77 points, good for third in the North Division with 65 games played.
Bridgeport is 24-35-6-1 with 55 points, good for last in the Atlantic with 66 games played.
Lehigh Valley is 28-27-6-3 with 65 points, good for sixth in the Atlantic with 64 games played.
Check Your Surroundings…
– Providence, in second place in the Atlantic, beat Utica 7-4 last Friday then lost 4-0 in Syracuse last Saturday. The Bruins have the Phantoms in Allentown Friday then return home to face off against the Rochester Americans on Saturday.
The Bruins are second in the Atlantic with 83 points, with 64 games played.
– Charlotte, in third in the Atlantic, noted above split a series in Bridgeport last weekend and host Hartford for a pair this weekend.
The Checkers are third in the Atlantic with 77 points, with 65 games played.
The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have 64 games played and have a game in hand against the Checkers.
Hartford has been in free fall mode, losing 6-2 last Friday at home against Springfield, 2-1 in a shootout against Hershey on Saturday and 4-1 against Bridgeport on Wednesday. They have a pair in Charlotte Friday and Saturday.
The Wolf Pack are fifth in the Atlantic with 70 points, with 65 games played.
Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?
ATO season is upon us, with Coal Street adding Mathieu De St. Phalle, a forward out of Wisconsin and forward Logan Pietila out of Michigan Tech this week.
Joel Blomqvist went up then came back to and from Pittsburgh.
Justin Addamo and Dillon Hamaliuk were sent back to Wheeling.
Sam Poulin was recalled to Pittsburgh.
Remaining up in the NHL are Ryan Shea, Jack St. Ivany and Valtteri Puustinen.
Raivis Ansons, Owen Headrick and Lukas Svejkovsky are the longer term Wheeling recalls. I think we can consider Ansons up for good as well as Headrick to some extent.
Taylor Gauthier, Matthew Quercia, Max Cajkovic and Evan Vierling were the recalls made by Coal Street last week.
Peter Abbandonato, Marc Johnstone and Sam Houde remain out with injuries. Jagger Joshua and Vasily Ponomarev joined those three last week but I think Joshua may be good to go because he’s appearing at the last Pitt Stop next week, and they don’t normally send hurt guys to appearances.
What can we learn about the Penguins this week?
Do they lock up the playoff spot on their own or do they have someone do it for them? Can they make a push for third again and make any serious gains on Providence for second?
Their schedule is extremely favorable, a Cleveland team they own, especially at home, a last place Bridgeport team and a Lehigh Valley team barely hanging on to the final playoff spot in the Atlantic. Six points is not out of the realm of the reasonable this weekend for the Penguins.
Charlotte has Hartford at home twice, the Wolf Pack are one of the few teams that actually beat the Checkers in North Carolina, but the Wolf Pack can’t win to save their arse, so you use the game in hand you have on the Checkers and hope for a better fate next week, maybe.
Does Joshua return? Can they stay hot on the power play? Will there be any third period collapses again? If they are a playoff team, what kind of playoff team will they be?
Can they give any team in the division fits? Save for Providence, yeah. But this discussion is for another day.
Does Gauthier get a game this week and if so, how does he do?
Who’s in Goal?
Joel Blomqvist will get both home games and his playoff backup will start Saturday. Who will that be?
Malcolm Subban, Jakub Skarek, Felix Sandstrom for the competition.
Who’s Running the Show?
Mike Sullivan and Mike Dietrich are your referees Friday, with Richard Jondo and Patrick Dapuzzo on the lines.
Mathieu Menniti and Michael Zyla have the officiating duties Saturday in Bridgeport with Dan Kovachik and Dylan Lewis on the lines.
Sunday sees a mix of a Friday ref (Sullivan) and a Saturday ref (Zyla) with Bill Lyons and Chandler Yakimowicz on the lines.
Looking Ahead…
Cripes another three in three. Home game Friday against Bridgeport, home Saturday against Hershey and Sunday in Chocolatetown against the Bears.
Give us a bold prediction…
I’ll try to keep the next Weekend Preview under 1000 words.
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Chirps from Center Ice 