They’re cookin’ with gas up towards the northeastern corner of the state. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins secured another two victories this past week to move their overall season record to a perfect 4-0-0.
WBS started the week off with a 5-2 victory over Hartford on Friday night. Atley Calvert scored twice and prospects Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes each chipped in a goal — the other team leaders were the erstwhile former NHL players attached to the club. Danton Heinen recorded three assists and Ryan Graves added a pair of helpers.
Wilkes had perhaps their most enthralling win a night later, scoring six straight goals after falling behind 3-0 to come back against Bridgeport. Much like the first game of the week, this one was veteran-fueled: Heinen ended up with a goal and two assists, Graves had a goal, Rafael-Harvey Pinard added a goal and an assist, Valtteri Puustinen added a pair of assists. There were some younger players on the scoresheet as well – Ville Koivunen scored a goal and added and assist and Owen Pickering registered two assists of his own; but the common theme of the weekend was the older players in WBS coming through and tipping the balance.
Overall, the organization must be thrilled with the start. The vets like Heinen and Graves have paid dividends on the ice. Youngsters like Koivunen, Broz and Murashov have gotten off to great starts of their own. All systems are go right now down at the AHL level, the Penguins have a blend of talent from players young and old that have seemingly melded together in a way to create a very formidable AHL club.
Here were the lines from the two games last week. Due to the veteran rules of which players can dress it was Puustinen and Sebastian Aho who got held out for Friday’s game as healthy scratches. Both of those players rotated back in for Saturday’s game when it was Joona Koppanen and Boko Imama turn to be scratched.
Broz+Koivunen have been working together as an early season staple for one line, and Heinen+Hayes have been the basis for another line with pieces rotating around those building blocks, though Calvert has become a regular third member of that line through his strong start (three goals in four games). Poulin+Harvey-Pinard is emerging as another frequent combination, though the latter is subject to the occasional rotation out of the lineup as the team dances the dance of scratching veteran players.
The defense has been fairly stable with Pickering/Kemp as the usual top pairing and Graves/Pietila forming the second pair at the start of the season.
Murashov played both games on the back-to-back, though his stats have noted a modest decrease in performance in each of the games (allowing one, two and three goals in the course of his small sample).
At 30,000 feet it’s been all positive for the minor league levels, but individual situations can always pop up. One such trouble spot has been the team reportedly suspending rookie defenseman Emil Pieniniemi over the player’s refusal to accept an assignment to ECHL Wheeling.
Pieniniemi, a former third round pick, has been a prospect on the rise lately but was unable to secure a spot on the AHL team out of camp. Per the NHL collective bargaining agreement, players working on an entry level contract (as Pieniniemi is under) are required accept a team’s assignment to the AHL or ECHL. Pieniniemi has balked at that and his status with the organization is now in question as all sides sort out what comes next. The Penguins could loan Pieniniemi to a European team — but such a move would be neutral at best for the 20-year old’s career. (Pieniniemi left Finland to play Canadian juniors last season) and not exactly help him becoming established within the Pens’ organization via playing outside of it.
It’s a tough situation, that partially is a result of the Pittsburgh depth chart. Having veterans like Graves, Sebastian Aho and Alexander Alexeyev in the AHL hurts the chances for a left shot defender in Pieniniemi to get an immediate AHL role. At the same time, AHL rosters are incredibly fluid and Pieniniemi would have likely received an opportunity at some point. No player desires to stick around in the unglamorous land of the ‘Cheese Toast’ league, but sometimes situations dictate starting out at the lowest rung on the ladder and working one’s way up. In many ways minor league hockey is about grinding out personal growth in what can be uncomfortable and far-flung settings. It’s disappointing that Pieniniemi has balked at that and will be interesting to see how he and the Penguins play this situation out.
WBS settles into what will become a familiar and typical rhythm of the AHL schedule: playing games on Wednesday-Friday-Saturday in five of the next six weeks through the end of November. Wilkes hosts Lehigh Valley on Wednesday and then hits the road for a pair of games in Charlotte on Friday and Saturday.
The Charlotte games will be a great test – the Checkers are off to a 3-1 start this season and finished second in the division last season — while making it all the way to the Calder Cup Final last summer (eventually losing in the championship round to Arturs Silovs and Abbotsford).