FURIOUS FIRST LEADS PENGUINS PAST ISLANDERS, 5-2
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins used a supercharged start to breeze past the Bridgeport Islanders, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon at Total Mortgage Arena.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (35-18-7-1) wasted no time lighting the lamp and carried a 4-0 lead into the first intermission. Sam Poulin recorded three points (1G-2A) in the team’s early blitz, and defenseman Sebastian Aho finished the day with three assists.
Poulin opened the scoring with the Penguins’ first shot of the game four minutes into the contest. Matt Nieto tipped in the team’s second shot for a 2-0 lead before the seven-minute mark of the first period.
Valtteri Puustinen unleashed a sizzling shot that roared over the glove of Islanders netminder Jakub Škarek for a power-play goal at 17:26. The opening-frame onslaught continued when Boris Katchouk stuffed in a rebound with 46 seconds left in the period.
Bridgeport swapped Škarek for backup goalie Henrik Tikkanen at the start of the second period, and Tikkanen made a pair of strong saves off the hop to prevent Wilkes-Barre/Scranton from going up by five.
The Islanders got on the board thanks to Marshall Warren three and a half minutes into the middle frame. They then cut their deficit to 4-2 with a strike by Alex Jeffries at 14:28 of the period.
The Penguins received some insurance from Chase Stillman, who notched his first goal in a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton uniform before the second intermission.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton cleaned up two penalty kills in the third period to walk to a tidy 5-2 victory.
Filip Larsson recorded 22 saves in net for the Penguins. Škarek exited the game after stopped four of eight shots faced. Tikkanen denied 12 of 13 in relief.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will have a chance to clinch a berth in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs in its next game, Wednesday, Mar. 26 against the Hartford Wolf Pack. Game time for the Penguins and Wolf Pack is 7:05 p.m. at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
Season-ticket packages for the Penguins’ 2024-25 season, including Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbook and Premium Seating plans, as well as Corporate Partnership opportunities are available by reaching out to the Penguins directly at (570) 208-7367. Individual-game tickets are also available by visiting Ticketmaster.com, the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza Box Office or calling the Penguins’ front office at (570) 208-7367.
Every minute of Penguins hockey can be watched online with the league’s streaming service, AHLTV on FloHockey. AHLTV on FloHockey provides its subscribers access to not just every regular-season and Calder Cup Playoff game for all 32 AHL teams, but also more than 21,000 hockey contests from other professional and junior leagues on FloHockey, as well as access to all other live event streams and replays across FloSports.
The post FURIOUS FIRST LEADS PENGUINS PAST ISLANDERS, 5-2 appeared first on WBS Penguins.