The latest from Wilkes-Barre
The Wilkes-Barre Penguins went 1-1-2 this week in four games coming against their biggest rivals. All were one goal games, and punctuated by some nastiness. Unfortunately, some of that worked against the AHL Pens, Vasily Ponomarev’s match penalty in the third period opened the door for the Hershey Bears to tie the game that they would eventually go onto win in overtime. Ponomarev would pick up a one-game suspension for his actions.
Vasily Ponomarev and Pierrick Dube engage in a scrum, and Ponomarev loses his cool after things appeared to be settled down.
A glove-on punch gets Ponomarev ejected with 7:29 left. Bad time to take a match penalty with his team ahead 3-2. @InsideAHLHockey pic.twitter.com/le7utJNdZ7
— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) February 16, 2025
Even without Ponomarev, the Penguins rebounded to earn a tight victory over Lehigh Valley on Sunday to pickup four of a possible six points in a three-day stretch to cap off the week.
Here’s Nick Hart’s take on WBSPenguins.com on the week:
Tuesday, Feb. 11 – PENGUINS 4 at Hershey 5
Emil Bemström, Valtteri Puustinen, Avery Hayes and Mac Hollowell found the back of the net for the Pens, but a tying goal with 2.2 left in regulation was nullified after the on-ice officials determined it was touched by a high stick.
Friday, Feb. 14 – PENGUINS 2 vs. Lehigh Valley 3 (SO)
The Penguins never trailed, but the Phantoms hung around long enough to have the Pens their first shootout loss of the season. Sam Poulin and Tristan Broz tallied the Pens’ goals.
Saturday, Feb. 15 – PENGUINS 3 vs. Hershey 4 (OT)
A thrilling, back-and-forth bout ended in heartbreak for the Pens. Hayes scored twice, and Puustinen lit the lamp, but Hershey equalized with 12.5 left in regulation before their OT win.
Sunday, Feb. 16 – PENGUINS 4 at Lehigh Valley 3
Hayes, Poulin, Broz and Filip Král provided the offense on Sunday afternoon as the Penguins held off Lehigh Valley’s rally thanks to a stellar, 31-save effort by Joel Blomqvist.
Avery Hayes has been everywhere as of late. In 14 games since January 10th, the 22-year old winger has recorded at least a point in 12 of them and a total of eight goals and 10 assists. He’s working on an active five-game point streak (4G+3A). Overall he has an impressive 28 points in 33 games this season with Wilkes and has to be working on signing an NHL-level contract this summer.
Hayes has a brother, Travis, who is the 117th ranked North American skater for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Travis happens to play for a team called the Soo Greyhounds, and the Penguins happen to have five total draft picks in Rounds 5-7 of the upcoming draft. The Pens’ organization has gotten into the family business a little recently, signing Logan Pietila to a contract and drafting his brother Chase in 2024, could the Hayes boys be next?
Back to current Wilkes players, Owen Pickering has gotten rave reviews from WBS coach Kirk MacDonald.
“He’s been great. Defends well, does a great job killing penalties; he’s just hitting singles,” MacDonald said. “He does a great job supporting the rush without sacrificing his responsibilities in the defensive end of things.”
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“(Pickering) was doing a great job up there [in Pittsburgh], but do you want him to be a 10-12 minute a night guy up there? Or do you eventually want him to be a 20-24 minute guy up there,” MacDonald said.
Pickering has picked it up offensively too since being re-assigned back to the A, with a goal and three assists in his last five games. Overall he’s played 10 games and competed in the AHL’s All-Star weekend since going back down from Pittsburgh.
The road ahead is literally the road for WBS, they play another Fri-Sat-Sun triple-header in three different cities with visits to Hartford, Springfield and Providence coming up.