PENGUINS WEEKLY – 2/4/25

Penguins exit All-Star Break with fresh matchups on home ice

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (24-11-4-0) puts its home record to the test against Bridgeport, Cleveland

 

Weekly Rewind

Wednesday, Jan. 29 – PENGUINS 9 vs. Hershey 0
The Penguins rewrote their record books against the Atlantic Division leaders. The Penguins had dueling hat tricks from Ville Koivunen and Vasily Ponomarev, setting a new franchise record for hat tricks in a season (7). The Pens’ nine tallies tied the franchise for goals in a single game, and the result set the best margin of victory in team history (+9).

Friday, Jan. 31 – PENGUINS 2 at Charlotte 3
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fell short by inches in its first matchup of the weekend. Sam Poulin scored a power-play goal midway through the game, and Ville Koivunen struck twine in the third. Koivunen had an opportunity to equalize in the dying embers of regulation, but his one-timer bid zipped wide of the net.

Sunday, Feb. 1 – PENGUINS 3 at Charlotte 2
The Penguins flipped the result from the night before thanks to Jonathan Gruden’s third-period shorthanded game-winner. A back-and-forth opening frame saw a 2-2 score in the first 7:31 of regulation. Vasily Ponomarev scored 16 seconds into the game, the team’s fastest goal of the season. Sergei Murashov made 29 saves to improve to 5-0-0 in the AHL.

The Week Ahead

Friday, Feb. 7 – PENGUINS vs Bridgeport
The Penguins return from their All-Star Break for their first showdown with the Islanders since Nov. 22. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is 2-1-0-0 against the Isles, and Gruden has scored half of his six goals this season against Bridgeport.

Saturday, Feb. 8 – PENGUINS vs. Cleveland
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton squares off with Cleveland for the first of four meetings on the season. The Penguins have never lost in regulation on home ice to the Monsters, going 9-0-1-0 (.950). Also, Saturday is the rescheduled Crosscheck Cancer night.

Ice Chips

– The Penguins own the No. 1 power play in the AHL at 25.2%. The franchise record for best single-season power play is 21.0% set in 2006-07.

– At 15-5-1-0 (.738), Wilkes-Barre/Scranton owns the best points percentage at home in the Eastern Conference.

– Vasily Ponomarev is currently on a five-game point streak, tallying eight points during that span (5G-3A).

– Owen Pickering is the first Penguins rookie to be named to the AHL All-Star Classic since Daniel Sprong in 2017-18.

– Ville Koivunen leads all AHL rookies with 36 points (15G-21A).

 

DIVISION STANDINGS

TEAM LEADERS

* = rookie
x = not on current roster

UPCOMING GAME SCHEDULE

DATE                    OPPONENT              LOCATION                                TIME        

Fri. Feb. 7            Bridgeport               Mohegan Arena                       7:05 p.m.

Sat, Feb. 8           Cleveland                Mohegan Arena                       6:05 p.m.

 

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

DATE                  PLAYER                                                              TRANSACTION

Sat, Jan. 25       (D) Owen Pickering                                 Reassigned by PIT

Sat, Jan. 25       (LW) Boko Imama                                        Recalled by PIT

Sat, Jan. 25       (D) Isaac Belliveau                   Reassigned by PIT to WHL

Mon, Jan. 27    (C) Atley Calvert                                    Recalled from WHL

Mon, Jan. 27    (RW) Jesse Puljujärvi                                   Recalled to PIT

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