It was an uncharacteristic week for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coming out of the AHL All-Star break. The Pens phoned in a 5-0 loss to Syracuse on Saturday before battling back to force OT before falling to Cleveland on Sunday. From Nick Hart at WBSPenguins:
Saturday, Feb. 14 – PENGUINS 0 vs. Syracuse 5 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton saw its five-game win streak stalled by being shut-out for the second time this season. On both occasions, the culprit was the Syracuse Crunch, who held the Penguins to a season-low
16 shots on goal in Saturday’s loss out of the All-Star break.
Sunday, Feb. 15 – PENGUINS 3 vs. Cleveland 4 (OT)
The Penguins fought tooth and nail against the Monsters in a back-and-forth bout, but Cleveland captain Brendan Gaunce put his team over the top in OT. Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen both scored in the first period, while Emil Pieniniemi potted his first AHL goal early in the third.
It was a tough week for many, Sergei Murashov gave up five goals on 29 shots on Saturday in a game where no one else on his team had much juice. The next night, Joel Blomqvist got pulled after allowing a few weak goals in the middle of the second period. Superior goaltending has been the great equalizer and a hallmark for WBS this season, it was a notable blip in performance there (though Murashov came in cold to make 13 saves on 14 shots and help the team battle back against Cleveland). Matt Dumba might have had it the worst of all, losing several teeth after taking a puck to the mouth on Sunday.
On the positive side, it was nice to see the names that NHL Pittsburgh is going to want to see play well from the Sunday game at least, where McGroarty and Koivunen scored goals. Avery Hayes added an assist and a fight in another standout week. 20-year old prospect Emil Pieniniemi notched his first career AHL goal as his season gets in gear after a delayed start due to his standoff over the Pens’ plan for him.
As usual, nothing has changed overall in the standings – the Penguins remain locked into second place in points and points% in the division-focused AHL outlook. The chances of catching first-place Providence have become even more slim after the P-Bruins won both of their games over the last week to push their current winning streak up to an impressive 12. On the plus side, there hasn’t been any pressure from beneath WBS, since third-place Charlotte lost both of their recent games in regulation it meant that WBS’s 0-1-1 week added one point to that cushion. Thus, as it probably will remain for a long time (if not the rest of the 72-game season already), WBS remains solidly in second place of their division – an important spot to be in to earn a bye for the first round of the playoffs.
The Pens will look to get back on track with three games this week – they visit Springfield (down in the standings but riding a two-game winning streak) tonight before returning home for the start of a weekend home-and-home with Bridgeport beginning on Saturday and carrying over for a rematch on Sunday. The Saturday game at 6pm eastern will be streaming free online for anyone jonesing for some good old AHL hockey action.
