Chirps from Center Ice

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Maxim Pavlenko’s AHL career is off to a good start.

First AHL start? First AHL Shutout as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins defeat the Utica Comets 4-0 in a methodical takedown. They needed a get right game after this troubling week and last place Utica was just what the doctor ordered.

Aaron Huglen with his first points of his AHL career, Sam Poulin stayed hot and Valtteri Puustinen returned from injury, so it was a great night at the office.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Gabe Klassen and Sccoter Brickey yielded for Puustinen and Finn Harding.

First Period: Penguins would score on their only power play opportunity of the game when Atley Calvert scored from a familiar spot that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

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Penguins made short work of two Utica power plays in the period.

Second Period: Mathieu De St. Phalle cleaned up a rebound that made it 2-0 and then a pass intended for Sam Poulin was blocked partially, but Poulin stayed on it then shot it and tripled the lead for Wilkes-Barre.

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The dreaded 3-0 Penguins lead! Oh no!

Third Period: Had the sense that if the lead would hold, you would know in the first five minutes.

Well the five minutes came and went and they remained disciplined, taking no penalties in the period and then with time running out Jakub Málek vacated his crease and then Tristan Broz made sure everyone would get free coffee at Abide Coffee Shop with the fourth Penguin goal of the night.

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Three Stars: 3) Aaron Huglen (two assists) 2) Sam Poulin goal, assist) 1) Maxim Pavlenko (20 save shutout)

The Good: Wish they were all this easy. Pens put on a clinic and made it easy for their third or fourth string goalie. Utica never really threatened and the shutout seemed inevitable.

The Bad: You don’t get to complain when your team gets a shutout.

Turning Point: Let’s give it to Poulin and the third goal, he stayed on the puck and by default got himself open, took the shot and it went in. Just a perfect sequence of events.

Around the Division: Providence wins in overtime out in Cleveland 3-2 and will stay a point ahead of the Penguins. All things considered the Penguins are still in pretty good shape when it comes to all the injuries and the division lead….Charlotte beats Syracuse 3-2….Bridgeport pounds Springfield 6-1….The rest of the games are still going on when I hit publish on this thing. Boxes on Toronto / Lehigh Valley here and Hartford / Belleville here. Hershey was off.

Standings: Providence is on 20 points and the Penguins are on 19. Here’s that page if you want to check out the rest of the standings after the later games go final.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are looking for the three game sweep in Greensboro, North Carolina against the Gargoyles. Box on that one here.

Video Highlights: 

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Oh dear, the Pens play a 10:30 a.m. game Wednesday in Bridgeport. I think I am calling in sick from work that day!

Maybe not, but I should still have something for you on that game here.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins haven’t won in Rochester since 2017.

After the first period, where the Penguins. fell in a 4-1 hole, Wilkes-Barre claws out of that hole to tie the game in the third period.

But a Zach Metsa power play goal with about 8 minutes left to play in the game put the Pens back in that hole and this time they couldn’t get out of it as Rochester bags an empty netter and Wilkes-Barre falls 6-4 Friday night.

If you’re wondering about the headline, I’m a Mets fan if you didn’t know and well, suffice to say, I am used to being disappointed.

No time to wallow in their sorrows as they will need to bus home for a 6:05 start against the Utica Comets.

Here’s how they lined up, Rochester didn’t post lines but dressed seven defensemen.

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Lineup Notes: Scooter Brickey for Finn Harding was the only lineup change. The forward lines were the same from Wednesday. Why they took Finn Harding, who had two assists Wednesday, out for Scooter Brickey remained to be seen.

Valtteri Puustinen and Avery Hayes are day to day with upper body injuries and Taylor Gauthier and Sebastian Aho are week to week with lower body injuries.

First Period: Penguins largely controlled the first 15 minutes of play, even had :40 of a two man advantage but failed to score. They owned an 8-2 advantage and then the bottom fell out.

Trevor Kuntar scored a bang-bang goal that put the Amerks on the board first.

:35 later, Mathieu De St. Phalle stripped Vsevolod Komarov of the puck and scored to tie the game.

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Then the Americans explode for a trio of goals in about three minutes and fifteen seconds of game time when Jake Leschyshyn scored a power play goal with :04 left in it to make it 2-1, Matteo Costantini scored his first AHL goal in his first AHL game that made it 3-1 and then Trevor Kuntar muscled one past Larsson who thought he had the post sealed off that made it 4-1.

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That right there is how you effectively use Twitter.

Second Period: Maxim Pavlenko replaced Filip Larsson in goal and lit a fire under his team.

If anyone came into his crease, he would jab them and give them a faceful of blocker. This seemed to fire up his team who scores two goals in the period to cut it to one.

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Alex Alexeyev from the point made it 4-2.

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Referee Adam Tobias got a little penalty happy in the period and this infuriated Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, who was on the wrong end of Tobias’ decisions. In addition to the two minute minor, Tobias added a ten minute misconduct.

Selfish by Harvey-Pinard there who in my opinion needs to know better as a veteran and a guy they may lean on more to score goals with half the offense either hurt or on recall.

Tristan Broz scored a goal from an impossible angle to cut the deficit to one.

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Broz put the team on his back, also assisting on the Alexeyev goal.

Third Period: Penalty marred third period put a capstone on a penalty marred period, and with Sam Poulin sprung from the penalty box he would score to tie the game at four a piece.

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But the parading to the box continued and this time the Penguins couldn’t hold off the Rochester power play when the Americans scored off the Metsa power play goal here:

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A puck hopped the stick of Sam Poulin and Viktor Neuchev scored into the empty net to ice the game away.

Three Stars: 3) Konsta Helenius (two assists) 2) Matteo Costantini (goal) 1) Trevor Kuntar (two goals)

The Good: Battled back to tie the game after a disastrous final five minutes of the first period. They may have a cult hero brewing in Pavleko.

The Bad: Still haven’t scored a power play goal in a few games, offense looks lost and disjointed as does the defense.

Turning Point: When Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga went down with his hamstring injury after covering first base back in June, the Mets season went to hell from there.

Oh sorry, still have Mets on the brain and really like this pun headline despite the result for the Pens…it’s the Metsa power play goal. I’m just having fun.

Around the Division: Laval beats Hartford 4-2…Providence beats Cleveland 2-1…Charlotte beats Syracuse 4-1…Toronto beats Hershey 5-2 and Bridgeport beats Springfield 6-2. Lehigh Valley had Friday off.

Standings: Providence 18 – Penguins 17 – Lehigh Valley 15 – Charlotte and Hershey 11 – Bridgeport 9 – Hartford 8 – Springfield 4

Wheeling Update: Nailers win a shootout down in Greensboro 3-2. Logan Pietila with the lone goal in the shootout.

Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter is your best bet.

More Saturday after Utica stops by.

Let’s Go Mets Pens!

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Just like their NHL counterparts on Monday, against the same Toronto franchise, a Penguin team had a 3-0 lead heading into the third period and did not win that game.

This time though, the AHL affiliate scraped out a point but lost 4-3 in overtime.

Overtime seemed like a microcosm of how the game went.

Penguins had most of the possession time in the period only to have Toronto end it with a quick rush up ice and a Travis Boyd overtime goal that ended it for the Marlies.

Travis Boyd and overtime are a bad elixir when it comes to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Game 7. Overtime. Hershey. Anyone remember that?

Anyway Kirk MacDonald saw the writing on the wall 3:31 into the third period where he used his time out.

The Penguins had just been scored on when Borya Valis scored at 1:57 to make it 3-1. There was something that MacDonald didn’t like and he let the team know about it.

The message didn’t get through, because the Penguins mustered just four shots to Toronto’s ten and two of those ten went in.

Logan Shaw breaking in the zone to snipe one over the glove of Filip Larsson to make it 3-2 and then Bo Groulx on a backhander that beat him that tied the game.

Wilkes-Barre somehow managed to get the game to overtime to secure a point, held possession for stretches but it was Travis Boyd’s shot that put the capstone on what really was a great effort by the Marlies, who never said die and came back and won the game.

Also, Marlies Artur Akhtyamov deserved credit too. The first shot of the game he sees at :16 off the stick of Trisan Broz goes in, later in the second period Atley Calvert crashed the net and followed a rebound for a goal and then Boko Imama of all people has a shot deflect off of a Marlie in front that made it 3-0.

Akhtyamov also made this save on Rafaël Harvey-Pinard to preserve the 3-3 deadlock in overtime.

https://twittter.com/TorontoMarlies/status/1986261056256159891

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Here’s the rest of the goals in order of which they were scored.

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They practice Thursday before boarding a bus for Rochester later that day. If I am MacDonald I have some of them start walking now.

Too much standing around and too much cycling of the puck waiting for the perfect shot, especially in overtime. They were world beaters, smothering Toronto 12-5 in shots in the first. The Marlies tried to counterpunch in the second but only went down two more goals. They managed just seven shots (four in the third, three in overtime) after and see a team get one over on them that had no business doing so.

An 8-1, 8-2 record is great and yeah the points count all the same, but you can’t rest on what got you that record for the rest of the season. They are facing adversity now for the first time all season with a lot of guys up and now Avery Hayes hurt, so role guys and tweeners need to step up and step in or get stepped on and shipped out.

For posterity (it’s late and I have work in the morning) here’s how they both lined up:

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Sucks that Marc Johnstone was injured and couldn’t play. Other lineup notes were no Danton Heinen, Ryan Graves or Sergei Murashov (recall) Alex Gallant and Gabe Klassen for Heinen and Avery Hayes, who mentioned earlier was injured (upper, day to day). Owen Pickering back in on defense with Finn Harding also. Harding had a fine game with two assists. No Scooter Brickey, Valtteri Puustinen, Sebastian Aho or Taylor Gauthier due to injury.

They better figure bleep out and quick because Rochester is a hell of a lot better then Toronto is structurally.

Out the door, Wilkes-Barre leads the division by one over Providence. Lehigh Valley beat Bridgeport in the division’s only other action 6-2.

Highlights, because the front office works hard on them and I appreciate them doing so on a work night for them as well, and we will talk Friday.

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Let’s Go Pens!

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The Utica Comets earned third place first win of the 2025-26 AHL season by beating the top team in the Eastern Conference in the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 3-1 Saturday night in Utica.

It was Mike Hardman’s power play goal that stood as the game winning goal in the second period before the Penguins tried to come back via an Aidan McDonough goal.

Hard Times, indeed, daddeh.

I gave you a tease of if the Pens beat the Bruins (they didn’t but played them tight) and lost to the winless Comets Saturday in my Weekend preview. Something seems off. They wore down Bridgeport Friday and never seemed in it Saturday in Utica. They don’t have long to get things straight, the Toronto Marlies stop in Wednesday.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Valtteri Puustinen didn’t make the trip, upper body injury with no timetable but it isn’t expected to be long term. I have no idea what the hell that is supposed to mean. Joona Koppanen is away from the team at this time. On ice, Matty De St. Phalle slotted in for Puustinen and Daniel Laatsch made his AHL debut replacing Finn Harding.

First Period: Utica has light up boards, first in the AHL and I think first in North America. Once of their sponsors is the Utica Coffee Company whose mottos is, “WAKE THE HELL UP” – well, you can guess what I was yelling at my television for the first period as it was a slow start for the Penguins.

They had a meh five shots in the period and the most memorable one is this Matty De St. Phalle chance here.

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Angus Crookshank took a pass from behind the net and beat Sergei Murashov for a 1-0 Utica lead.

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Second Period: Things went from bad to worse for the Penguins when Mike Hardman scored on an early power play that made it 2-0 Utica.

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Penguins had a power play shortly thereafter. I got the sense that they just thought they could waltz into a place like Utica, where the Comets were winless coming into the day’s action, and walk away with points for everyone and an easy two points.

Sergei Murashov was dialed in, with a ten bell glove save in the lurch to keep it a 2-0 Utica lead.

Aidan McDonough scored with under a minute and a half to play to give the Penguins some jump heading into the…

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Third Period: Penguins had a power play to open the period with a prime chance to get the game level and failed. Utica played well and kept the Penguins chances limited.

Time dwindling, Penguins vacate Sergei Murashov for an extra attacker then referee David Elford nabs Aaron Huglen for high sticking old pal Jonathan Gruden. It was Gruden who put the icing on the cake and scored on the still empty net a few seconds later to seal the first win for the Comets over the Penguins.

Three Stars: 3) Mike Hardman (goal) 2) Nico Daws (25 saves) 1) Angus Crookshank (goal)

The Good: Not much to write home about. Sergei Murashov came to play, the rest of them?

The Bad: Power play still looks lost. Ville Koivunen wasn’t the straw that stirred the drink, was he?

Turning Point: Mike Hardman’s goal gets it here. Let me talk to you about textiles!

Around the Division: Game 7 of the World Series is on and there are games still going on. Here’s tonight’s scoreboard if you want to check them out for yourself. Baseball is the best, man.

Standings: Penguins will either still lead the division if Providence loses to Hershey or be tied. Here’s the standings page for you also.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are in one against the Norfolk Admirals. Box here.

Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter.

Have a good rest of the weekend and we will talk to you Wednesday mid-morning with the Weekend Preview.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Sam Poulin’s pair of goals put the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins ahead of the Bridgeport Islanders in a closer then it should have been type of game for the Penguins.

It’s one where you thought they played sloppy because you are spoiled by the first three weeks of the season, where they were steamrolling teams and scoring five or six goals a night.

But they have to play tight games and Bridgeport, as improved as they were from last years disastrous finished, played the Penguins tough and Islanders goaltender Marcus Högberg earned his paycheck.

Penguins win 3-2 and are back on their winning ways and ahead of an idle Providence Bruins team for tops in the Atlantic.

Here’s how they lined up, note Bridgeport didn’t post lines.

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Lineup Notes: Aaron Huglen for Gabe Klassen and Nolan Renwick for Matty De St Phalle up front were the only lineup changes, but for Filip Larsson getting the nod in net.

First Period: On their 14th shot of the period, Sam Poulin scores at 14:14 of the period to edge the Penguins ahead 1-0.

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The Penguins were smothering the Islanders all period.

Wilkes-Barre would see Valtteri Puustinen get boarded with no call. Puustinen was helped off, skating off on his own with help, and didn’t return to the game.

On the one hand, it would free up a guy like fellow veteran Joona Koppanen to get back into the lineup, but you don’t like losing that firepower if it a more longer term deal.

Alex Jeffries would score to tie the game when the Islanders got a two on one out of thin air.

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Second Period: The deadlock continued. Atley Calvert missed on a breakaway attempt.

Third Period: Refs Rob Hennessey and Patrick Hanrahan, seemingly quiet through the first 40 minutes of action, found their whistles and started calling infractions. The third period was penalty marred with five power plays total.

Seemed as time was dwindling that a dirty goal was needed.

Enter Sam Poulin, again.

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Bridgeport pulled Högberg for an extra attacker. It didn’t work because Danton Heinen, whom you could argue has been invisible these past two games, gets an empty net goal that makes it 3-1.

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But Bridgeport would get a goal with Högberg pulled when Cole McWard was the last to tip the puck through a line of bodies in front of Larsson with 11 seconds to play.

(no GIF of the goal, it’s likely in the highlight package below)

Bridgeport would get no closer.

Three Stars: 3) Danton Heinen (goal) 2) Ryan Graves (two assists) 1) Sam Poulin (two goals)

The Good: Couple things. Nice to see Sam Poulin get hot for one, good to see them stay in there when they are creaming the other team with zone and shot generation but no goals to show for it and finally wear a team down throughout the sixty minutes allowed to do so.

The Bad: Nick Hart mentioned it in postgame, the power play hasn’t scored in two games.

Bonus Bad: Halloween and all and nice to see the front office passing out candy at the fan assistance booth but seriously, Hershey’s?

Turning Point: The second Poulin goal gets it here, as it would in a game like this.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley wins in overtime in Hartford 4-3 and Hershey wins 3-2 in Springfield, also in overtime. Providence and Charlotte had the night off.

Standings: Penguins 16 – Providence 14 – Lehigh Valley 11 – Hershey 9 – Charlotte and Hartford 7 – Bridgeport 5 – Springfield 3

Wheeling Update: The Nailers have to be one of the few North American teams to be holding opening night ceremonies. Wheeling opens its home schedule Saturday against the Norfolk Admirals.

Video Highlights: 

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Back at it Saturday in Utica at 6 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!