Kelsey and Hannah discuss the World Junior Championship and how some Penguins' prospects are faring at the tournament. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins [http://www.wbspenguins.com] (17-11-3-0) skated in their first game of 2025, dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker [https://theahl.com/stats/game-center/1026954] to the Charlotte Checkers (19-8-1-2) on Friday. Just days after making his NHL debut, defenseman Nathan Clurman [https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/353810/nate-clurmanhttps://theahl.com/stats/player/8689/86/nate-clurman] had one of the Penguins' goals, tallying his second goal of the year in the second period. In the dying seconds of the opening period, Ville Koivunen [https://theahl.com/stats/player/9649/86/ville-koivunen] scores WBS' first goal, his seventh, at 19:54. Assists on the Penguins' first goal of 2025 went to Isaac Belliveau [https://theahl.com/stats/player/9803/86/isaac-belliveau] and Boris Katchouk [https://theahl.com/stats/player/6779/86/boris-katchouk]. Then, at 4:34, Clurman buried a shot with assists from Avery Hayes [https://theahl.com/stats/player/9816/86/avery-hayes] and Vasily Ponomarev [https://theahl.com/stats/player/9092/86/vasily-ponomarev], giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. However, the Checkers responded with a goal by Will Lockwood at 10:03. When Koivunen took a tripping penalty at 15:40, Charlotte tied the contest up at 2-2 with a goal from Ben Steeves at 16:28. Neither team scored in the final three minutes, which led to overtime, and the extra period didn't last long. Just 1:12 into overtime, John Leonard sent the home crowd home happy with his 15th goal of the season, fired one home on a 2-on-1, beating Joel Blomqvist [https://theahl.com/stats/player/9126/86/joel-blomqvist] on the blocker side. In his return to AHL action, Clurman scored a goal, took a penalty, and had two shots, earning third-star honors behind Leonard and Steeves. The win propelled the Checkers into a tie with the Hershey Bears for the top spot in the AHL Atlantic Division [https://theahl.com/stats/standings]. Meanwhile, the Penguins are not tied with the Providence Bruins (17-11-3-0) for third in the division. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is back in action on Saturday night in Hartford, where they take on the Wolf Pack (14-13-2-1) at 6:05 p.m. ET. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjEwNjYwNDIwMDI3OTUwOTI5/thnpitbanner.png]
