The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins gear up for the AHL playoffs
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins completed a stretch of three games in as many days over the weekend and the results were pretty decent. WBS went 2-1, dropping the first game to first-place Hershey but then coming back to pick up wins over Springfield and Bridgeport to salvage the weekend. Wilkes was beating Hershey 2-0 entering the third before giving up four straight goals to make for a regrettable finish.
Some good news was provided with Joel Blomqvist coming back from injury and playing well in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Springfield.
The team the Pens are chasing, the Charlotte Checkers, mustered a 1-1-0 weekend themselves. That allowed WBS to pull within two points of Charlotte for the all-important second place finish in the division that earns a bye in the opening round of the Calder Cup playoffs. Time is getting short, there are only three games to go for each team. The Pens are also tied with Providence, though the P-Bruins have played one additional game at this point.
For schedule watching purposes, below are the remaining games for each team in contention. All games will be completed by this upcoming Saturday (April 19th), with Wilkes playing a slate of games tomorrow, Friday and Saturday.
Charlotte: @Hartford, @Springfield, @Springfield
WB/S: Providence, @Hershey, Cleveland
Providence: @Wilkes, Bridgeport
On paper it’s a tough schedule for the Pens, probably the most difficult of the three. Providence will be a strong opponent, WBS is 0-3-0 against them so far this season. The Hershey Bears are one of the best team’s in the AHL and have had the Pens’ number as of late as well. Cleveland is a playoff team in the North Division. Not easy, but on the bright side at least two of the games are at home.
All of Charlotte’s games are on the road but the quality of competition is not that high. Then again, the Checkers also boast a very impressive 20-9-4 away record this season so playing road games haven’t been a big issue for them. Hartford has been eliminated from playoff contention (though at 5-3-2 in their last 10, they haven’t rolled over as an easy win for opponents). Springfield has qualified for the playoffs but is going to be a lower seed in the division. It’s not an extremely easy path for Charlotte, but at the same time it’s not incredibly daunting either.
Providence needs a lot of help from Charlotte and Wilkes losing to make it to the No. 2 seed. Luckily for the Bruins, the game against Bridgeport (on a 5-game losing streak and with a lowly 15-48-7 record this season) is as close to an automatic win as it gets being as the Islanders are the worst team in the AHL and limping to the finish line.
The Pens/Bruins game tomorrow is an absolute must-win for Providence for hopes to stay alive for the second seed. At the same time, the Penguins still need to make up ground on Charlotte making the game a virtual must-win situation for WBS as well. If WBS loses they wouldn’t be outright eliminated for second place, but the hill to climb would become much steeper. Something has to give there.
The first tiebreaker is regulation wins (RW) where Charlotte currently holds a 33-32 edge over WBS. The second tiebreaker moves to ROW, where Charlotte holds an insurmountable 39-37 lead. (In the rare chance Wilkes wins that tiebreaker, they would outright pass Charlotte on points to not need a tiebreaker). That sets WBS in an even deeper hole since a tie in points is likely to break in Charlotte’s favor barring a narrow path where WBS goes 2-1 this week with two RW’s and Charlotte goes 1-2 with no regulation win.
For now, the best Wilkes can do is attempt to get as close as possible to their maximum remaining possibility of 92 points and hope that Charlotte picks up three or fewer points in their remaining three games (or four points with no regulation wins along the way). It’s conceivable but becoming a difficult outlook on WBS’s quest for the second seed.
In the event the Penguins aren’t able to pass Charlotte this week, the Pens would be looking at a best-of-three opening round playoff series against either Lehigh Valley or Springfield, depending on how all parties end up at the regular season finish line since the matchups go 3/6 and 4/5 in the division. WBS would have home ice advantage.
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Roster changes, injuries and hints of goalie usage?
As is always the case in the minor league world, the rosters have been fluid with several players going up to the NHL Pittsburgh, and several other players making the shuttle back and forth from ECHL Wheeling.
Sergei Murashov was moved to the ECHL roster on Monday. The AHL playoffs won’t start until/around April 23rd, Wheeling’s first round series kicks off tomorrow with Game 1 against Norfolk in a best-of-5. Game 2 on Thursday, the series continues up through April 26th. There’s been no direct indications of plans in net for the AHL or ECHL but that move seemingly sets the stage for Murashov to be the playoff goalie for Wheeling, leaving either Filip Larsson or Joel Blomqvist to be the focus in net for Wilkes.
Defenseman Filip Kral got his first call-up of the season to the NHL at the last possible time. Kral will help the NHL Pens get through their last game and then be back for Wilkes.
Injuries have struck, Matt Nieto was declared out for the NHL season and it remains unknown if he will be returning to the AHL to help WBS’s efforts in the playoffs. Even worse, Rutger McGroarty’s broken foot has his immediate future in doubts. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said the team was “hopeful that Wilkes-Barre will play long enough” for McGroarty to get healthy again, but it didn’t sound promising that the rookie will be back any time soon. He very well could have played his last game of the season already unless Wilkes goes on a long run.