Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Maybe what the Springfield Thunderbirds put in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will be a blessing.
After winning Game 1 and taking a 3-0 lead in the third period in Game 2, Springfield turned the series over to the Penguins. The Thunderbirds responded with a four-goal overtime win. Going to Springfield, the Penguins were able to win Game 3 to give themselves two shots to oust an opponent who has already eliminated the Charlotte Checkers and the Providence Bruins.
The Penguins missed that first chance in Game 4, leaving them facing their first postseason exit. But they certainly didn’t miss that next opportunity. They returned home in Game 5 and routed the Thunderbirds, 8-1, to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
It was a statement delivered tirelessly and mercilessly by a team that had worked to finish third overall in the AHL regular season and would not see that effort come to an end.
Springfield is finally behind the Penguins, who will host Toronto in Game 1 tonight at Mohegan Arena in Casey Plaza. This will be Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s deepest entry in the Calder Cup Playoffs since 2014.
They go into this game with the Marlies as a team with two important parts. They have a goalkeeper and were included in the trials that ended up winning the Calder Cup.
Start by saying Sergei MurashovDominating the scoring this postseason. Check out the four clubs left in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Having a great goaltender is important, and the Penguins certainly have one.
At the turn of the century, goalies won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the Calder Cup Playoffs for six consecutive years. It was a team that included a member of the AHL Hall of Fame Frederick Cassvi as well as Carey Pricerookie before he went on to become a Montreal Canadiens legend. Recently, Artūrs Šilovs he received that award last year with the Abbotsford Canucks, and Hershey’s Hunter Shepard do the same in 2023.
Murashov, 22, is 6-3 with a 1.74 GAA and a .943 save percentage. Stellar regular season performance had already made him a strong candidate for promotion to the Pittsburgh Penguins next season.
And even though the Penguins are still very young, they have gone through some of those necessary playoff scares. Thank you Thunderbirds for that. The last team to win the Calder Cup and go undefeated was the Hershey Bears, but that was 38 years ago and in a shorter playoff format. Winning the Calder Cup this time means being able to bounce back, even really painful ones, get over them and move on.
Youth group. The new one Bill ZonnonA 2025 first-round pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins, he’s 19 years old and has quickly shown he’s ready for the Calder Cup Playoffs. So is another addition from the Canadian Hockey League, a defenseman Harrison Brunickenow he is normal. Rutger McGroarty, Places to stay in Koivunen, Atley Calvert, Gabe Klassen, Owen Pickering, Tanner Howe again Finn Harding all are 22 years old or younger Kirk MacDonaldlist.
When Kyle Dubaswho won the Calder Cup as general manager of the Marlies in 2018, arrived in Pittsburgh in 2023, inheriting an organization that had paid for years of making a strong push for the Stanley Cup. That push paid off with Stanley Cup titles in 2009, 2016 and 2017. But it meant giving up picks for those many years.
But the draft pick that Dubas received is paying off this spring. Murashov and Pickering come from the 2022 draft class. Tristan Brozthe team’s leading scorer in the postseason, was picked up in 2021. They already have four 2024 picks on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton roster in Brunicke, Harding, Howe and defense. Oppose Pietila. Pittsburgh made 13 picks last year, drafted by Zonnon.
Now those players have won eight in the Calder Cup. If they’re not on the MacDonald’s list, at least they’re on call to jump into action if necessary. They ski every day in late May and June. They are in a playoff win situation.
The Calder Cup Playoffs are not linear, without pressure. It’s a sad night.
Nothing is guaranteed except a pro hockey education.
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
