The wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins took a split this past weekend in Cleveland, winning the first game and losing the second in overtime. WBSPenguins.com with the review:
Friday, Feb. 27 – PENGUINS 3 at Cleveland 2
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took the lead with a pair of quick goals and never looked back to defeat Cleveland in a spirited bout to start the weekend. Atley Calvert and Ville Koivunen scored 45 seconds apart to put the Penguins up 2-0 in the first period. Aidan McDonough buried one 23.8 seconds before the second intermission, keeping the team ahead 3-1. The Monsters made it a one-goal game in the third, but Joel Blomqvist was a fortress late, ensuring Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got the win.Saturday, Feb. 28 – PENGUINS 1 at Cleveland 2 (OT)
Another nail-biter between the Penguins and Monsters went to overtime, where Cleveland picked up its league-leading 10th OT win of the year. The Monsters struck first, but a power-play goal in the second period by Matt Dumba equalized. Koivunen posted an assist on the goal, running his point streak to six games. Sergei Murashov made 27 stops, including a save-of-the-year candidate when the game was tied 1-1.
Sergei Murashov helped the Penguins get to overtime in the Saturday game by flashing the glove with this save of the year caliber stop.
Unfortunately, Murashov would pickup the OT loss, his season stats are up to a 20-6-2 record with a .924 save% and 2.12 GAA and three shutouts. Joel Blomqvist picked up the win on Friday to move his season record to 10-4-3, as usual this year netminding has been a major positive factor in WBS.
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There was more good news from the league office, forward Ville Koivunen was named AHL player of the month in February for his 16 point effort.
The picture in the standings remains positive, WBS is chugging along towards where they’ve been heading for a while: second place in the division and a bye for the first round of the playoffs with now only 17 games still to play in their 72-game regular season.
All eyes will now focus on the upcoming NHL trade deadline and what that might mean for the roster in Wilkes for the rest of the season. There can still be AHL level trades made after the NHL deadline, but all pro players must be on an AHL roster on Friday to maintain eligibility.
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The biggest lingering question for Wilkes figures to be whether or not the NHL Penguins decide to make a transaction to send Avery Hayes back to the minor leagues this week, or come to a decision that Hayes will remain with the NHL team for the balance of the season. At this point it might look like the Ryan Graves AHL experience has come to an end, for this season at least as well. Other prospects and players within the team might be awaiting a call that has seen them included in a trade to send them out of the Pittsburgh organization.
Up ahead is a light two-game schedule this week, Wilkes plays at home tonight against Springfield and then travels for a Friday game against Syracuse. Both opponents are in good form, Springfield is in seventh place but is 3-0-1 in their last four games, Syracuse ranks second in the AHL’s North Division and is carrying a 9-1-0 record in their previous 10 games.
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