The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (17-11-3-0) skated in their first game of 2025, dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to the Charlotte Checkers (19-8-1-2) on Friday. Just days after making his NHL debut, defenseman Nathan 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 scores WBS’ first goal, his seventh, at 19:54. Assists on the Penguins’ first goal of 2025 went to Isaac Belliveau and Boris Katchouk.
Then, at 4:34, Clurman buried a shot with assists from Avery Hayes and 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 on the blocker side.
Related: Penguins Prospect Makes NHL Debut On Sunday
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. 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.
