Wilkes Weekly: Winning continues

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CLEVELAND, OH - FEBRUARY 27: Cleveland Monsters goaltender Zach Sawchenko (36) traps the puck as Cleveland Monsters defenseman Will Butcher (39) defends Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins left wing Bokondji Imama (14) during the third period of the American Hockey League game between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Cleveland Monsters on February 27, 2026, at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are heating up, currently on a four-game winning streak after taking care of business in both of their games this week. From WBSPenguins:

Saturday, Mar. 28 – PENGUINS 3 vs. Laval 1
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton avenged its loss to Laval the week prior, restoring balance to The Force on Star Wars Night. Avery Hayes gave the Penguins a first-period lead with a shorthanded goal, then tallied an insurance marker in the third. In between, Aidan McDonough scored 14 seconds after the Rocket tied things up late in the middle frame.

Sunday, Mar. 29 – PENGUINS 5 vs. Lehigh Valley 1
The Penguins’ line of Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Joona Koppanen and Tanner Howe spearheaded a Sunday-afternoon thrashing of their turnpike rival, with each linemate recording a goal and multiple points. Howe posted the first four-point game of his career (1G-3A), and McDonough lit the lamp on the power play for his fourth-straight game with a goal. Joel Blomqvist had his shutout bid busted with 78 seconds left in regulation, but he is now 7-1-1 (and one no decision) in his last 10 starts.

Scoring rates are lower in the AHL, Tanner Howe had a respectable 10 points in 19 games headed into Sunday’s game, where he added four points to put a major increase in his season stats to 14 points in 20. Aidan McDonough, a frequent shoutout in Wilkes Weekly, continues his productive ways to help the WBS Pens despite the revolving door of talent like Avery Hayes and Rutger McGroarty leaving the team, Ville Koivunen now being long gone and Tristan Broz out injured the whole month of March. Veteran Rafael Harvey-Pinard is heating up lately with five points (3G+2A) over his last three games to provide another strong option.

Up next for Wilkes is two more games against Lehigh Valley (home on Friday, on the road Saturday), to finally close out the 12 matchups on the season between the two PA teams. WBS has dominated the series this year, going 8-0-1-1 (with OT and shootout losses split) against Lehigh. However, the Phantoms ought to be a desperate team, they need to make some progress in a dog fight at the bottom of the division for playoff status. The top six teams in the division will qualify, Lehigh is currently in 7th place but are only three points away from 4th place, these games are very important to them and they’ll know they need their best to compete against a WBS team that’s mostly had their number over and over again this season. Lehigh has their season basically on the line, Wilkes will need to bring a solid effort to take care of business.

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WBS does have something to play for, they’ll be looking to finish second in the division to ensure a first round bye. They’re in very good shape for that, Charlotte can max out at 97 points, so to remove tiebreakers the magic number for Wilkes is 8 points. Any combination of points the Penguins gain or ones the Checkers lose out for eight more points will clinch that important second spot. On the flip side, Providence has a magic number of 6 against Wilkes to firm up first place officially, which looks like a matter of time for that avenue to close up considering how frequently Charlotte wins their games (49 times out of 64 this season).

All things considered, it’s still right on plan for WBS, they’re getting more than enough offense from a rotating cast and receiving reliably strong goaltending from both Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist. It’s a formula that has worked all year to get them to a 41-16-8 record and one still clicking as the AHL regular season enters its final stretch.

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