The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (22-10-4) finished the first half of their 2024-25 regular season on a high note, with wins on Saturday and Sunday.

Another busy three-game week is on the horizon before the team enters the All-Star break.

Jan. 24: Utica 5, Penguins 3

The Penguins got off on the wrong foot to start their three-game weekend, falling behind early and playing catch up for most of the night in Utica.

It wasn’t the start goaltender Tristan Jarry was hoping for in his return to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, as he surrendered a goal on the first shot he faced 4:36 into the contest and finished with 22 saves on 26 shots.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got goals from Dan Renouf, Jesse Puljujarvi and Sam Poulin to keep the game close, but the loss saw the Penguins extend their losing skid to a season-high three games.

Jan. 25: Penguins 2, Utica 1

In Saturday night’s rematch, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got off to a slow start, getting outshot, 13-1, before Utica scored the game’s first goal. However, strong play in net by Sergei Murashov kept the team afloat until they settled into the final 40 minutes.

“Yeah, terrible start,” Penguins head coach Kirk MacDonald said. “We weren’t ready. I think it was one of those games [where] we thought we were just going to put our skates on [and have success].”

Rutger McGroarty tied the game up at 1-1 late in the first period, while Vasily Ponomarev’s goal early in the third period gave the Penguins a lead, behind a 29-save outing from Murashov in net.

“That’s my job, to be in the fire,” Murashov said. “Sometimes I [face] more shots, sometimes less. I can’t control it. So, I was ready for the fast start, and that’s my job. I just wanted to help my team win.”

Jan. 26: Penguins 5, Lehigh Valley 1

In the tail end of a three-in-three weekend for both teams, the Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and never looked back.

The Penguins’ top line — Emil Bemstrom (hat trick, assist), Boris Katchouk (two assists) and Ville Koivunen (four assists) — and the success of the power play (3-for-4) proved pivotal in pushing the Penguins to two points.

“They’ve basically been together all year, and they do that. They play really well off each other,” MacDonald said. “We’ve talked [a lot] about Bemstrom, he can hammer the puck and he’s got an NHL release. Ville is only getting better, and he does a great job distributing pucks. The way he slows the game down to his pace and can find guys. It’s elite.”

Mac Hollowell (goal, assist) recorded his first goal of the season with two seconds left in the first period, while Avery Hayes also scored a crucial goal late in the first period. Tristan Jarry stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced in Sunday’s win.

“I thought he was great, MacDonald said. “I thought we did a good job in front of him, just allowing him just to make the first save. I thought our play in the defensive zone was really good. We killed a lot of plays.”

Notes

Defenseman Jack St. Ivany returned to the Penguins lineup Friday, after a six-week absence due to an upper body injury he suffered in his second game back with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on December 7.

“Yeah, it was frustrating. I was excited to come down here and just get back to playing heavy minutes and playing for this team,” St. Ivany said. “That sucked, but you know, there’s worse things in life that could happen to you.”

Pittsburgh’s depleted forward core desperately needed a forward over the weekend, prompting a call that woke up Boko Imama from his pregame nap. Imama made the cross-country flight, arriving in time to make his NHL Penguins debut in Seattle on Saturday afternoon.

Forward Jesse Puljujarvi was held out of Sunday’s lineup against Lehigh Valley. He was officially called up to Pittsburgh Monday, joining the team for their game day skate in San Jose.

The roster changes required Pittsburgh to reassign one of their eight defensemen back to the Penguins. With Owen Pickering being the only player that didn’t need a day to clear waivers, he was the odd man out.

Although he didn’t make it back to Wilkes-Barre in time for Saturday night’s game, Pickering was with his teammates after the game and made his return to the lineup Sunday.

“[Pickering] was doing a great job up there, but do you want to be a 10-12 minute guy up there? Or do you want to eventually be a 20 to 24 minute a guy up there?” MacDonald said. “Just come back here, play big minutes and get some solid puck touches where we’re making hard plays.”

Halfway through the regular season the Penguins appear to have adapted well immediately under first-year head AHL head coach MacDonald.

“It’s always a process, new staff, everybody’s getting to know each other,” MacDonald said. “The way it’s come along since we lost to Toronto in December, we’ve really taken a step as a group on what we want to be about, the way we do things and our preparedness. I think it’s shown in our results.”

At the end of the day, it’s about the development of the players on the roster.

Rookie forward Ville Koivunen leads all rookies in the league with 22 assists, while his 32 points are second-best. Rookie forward Tristan Broz’s 12 goals were tied for the most among rookies at the time of his absence due to mono.

First year forward Rutger McGroarty has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his last 26 games, and 22-year-old forward Vasily Ponomarev has been at a point-per-game pace after recovering from a preseason injury.

“Those guys are taking another step, and it creates an enormous amount of depth throughout the lineup,” MacDonald said. “The guys have done a great job with their effort and their attitude, it’s been great to see.”

The Penguins sit in fourth place in the Atlantic Division heading into the final week of January before the AHL All-Star break, but have played fewer games than the teams in front of them in the standings.

In fact, the Penguins have won a higher percentage of their games than every team in the Atlantic Division, except for the Hershey Bears. With games against Hershey and Charlotte this week, there’s an opportunity to tighten up the division race.

“Arguably this biggest week of the year, right? You got Hershey [on] Wednesday, and then we’re heading down to Charlotte, so we’re playing the two other best teams in the division, in my mind,” MacDonald said. “It’s a really good test.”