Game Story: Bridgeport - 5 at W-B/Scranton - 1 (12/3/22)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Bridgeport Islanders (13-3-4) spoiled the party Saturday night as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (10-6-3) inducted three new members to the franchise's Hall of Fame prior to puck drop.

Former Wilkes-Barre Board of Commerce CEO Steve Barrouk, the franchise's original play-by-play broadcaster Tom Grace and longtime Penguins forward and current Penguins development coach Tom Kostopoulos were inducted into the Penguins Hall of Fame prior to Saturday's game, but the fans at Mohegan Arena didn't have much to cheer for on the ice as the Islanders handed the Penguins a 5-1 setback.

Ruslan Iskhakov, Collin Adams, Andy Andreoff, William Dufour and Chris Terry each tallied a goal for Bridgeport in the win, while Cory Schneider stopped all but one of the 33 shots he faced to improve his personal record on the season to 9-1-1.

Nathan Legare broke Schneider's shutout bid with 5:21 left in the third period, but that was it offensively for the Penguins who had trouble finding the back of the net. Dustin Tokarski had a rare off-night, stopping 22 of the 27 shots that came his way.

The two teams played a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes with veteran goalies Schneider and Tokarski each making a few strong saves to keep the game scoreless heading into the middle frame. The Penguins had some chances late in the opening period on the game's opening power play opportunity, but three big shot blocks from Robin Salo prevented the Penguins from getting much of anything to the net.

The Islanders surged to begin the second period, scoring two goals in a span of 1:29 to break open the game to the tune of a 2-0 lead.

First, the Penguins attempted to pinch in their offensive zone to keep a puck alive and were unsuccessful - resulting in Iskhakov skating down the left wing on a fast-break and firing a hard wrist shot five-hole past Tokarski.

On the ensuing shift, the Islanders' fourth line created havoc on the forecheck - causing a turnover and leading to Adams potting a rebound goal atop the crease to extend Bridgeport's lead.

The Islanders continued to pressure the Penguins, later making it 3-0 with 10:15 left in the period after Terry was able to somehow keep a puck in the Bridgeport offensive zone at the left point before firing a perfectly placed hard pass to the net-front as Andreoff skated there and re-directed one over the shoulder of Tokarski and under the crossbar.

The Islanders didn't let up in the third period, cashing in on a power play with Dufour getting his eighth of the season and Terry finishing a blocked Vincent Sevigny point shot to blow open the game to the tune of a 5-0 rout.

Legare worked hard along the boards and took it to the net on the Penguins' lone goal of the night with just over five minutes left to play to cap the scoring in the team's 5-1 loss.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is back in action Sunday afternoon in Hershey. Bridgeport returns home to host Springfield. Both games are scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET.

Bridgeport Islanders Lineup Notes

Cory Schneider got the start in net for Bridgeport Saturday in Wilkes-Barre. Jakub Skarek served as the Islanders' backup goalie.

Forward Aatu Raty did not make the trip with the team and missed his second straight game due to a non-COVID illness.

Cole Bardreau, assigned from New York Saturday afternoon, was in the Bridgeport lineup.

Islanders Scratches: Grant Hutton, Paul LaDue, Kyle MacLean, Aatu Raty, Blade Jenkins, Nikita Soshnikov, Trevor Cosgrove and Ryan MacKinnon

Lines/Pairings:

Ruslan Ishkakov - Andy Andreoff - Chris Terry Arnaud Durandeau - Otto Koivula - William Dufour Erik Brown - Jeff Kubiak - Cole Bardreau Collin Adams - Jimmy Lambert - Paul Thompson

Seth Helgeson - Robin Salo Samuel Bolduc - Dennis Cholowski Vincent Sevigny - Parker Wotherspoon

Cory Schneider - Jakub Skarek

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for the Penguins Saturday night against Bridgeport. Filip Lindberg served as the team's backup goaltender.

Saturday morning, the Penguins announced they assigned defenseman Colin Swoyer to Wheeling (ECHL). Swoyer appeared in just three games with W-B/Scranton in the team's opening 18 games, going pointless with a minus three in those outings.

Alex Nylander missed Saturday's game. Lukas Svejkovsky moved up onto the second line right-wing in place of Nylander Saturday night.

Penguins Scratches: Mitch Reinke, Jordan Frasca, Raivis Ansons, Alex Nylander, Jamie Devane and Ty Glover

Lines/Pairings:

Drake Caggiula - Drew O'Connor - Valtteri Puustinen Filip Hallander - Sam Poulin - Lukas Svejkovsky Sam Houde - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson Nathan Legare - Tyler Sikura - Corey Andonovski

Ty Smith - Mark Friedman Xavier Ouellet - Taylor Fedun Jon Lizotte - Jack St. Ivany

Dustin Tokarski - Filip Lindberg

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

17:52: BRI - (PP) Wotherspoon, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

1:47: BRI - Iskhakov (6) - Terry, Sevigny 3:16: BRI - Adams (1) - Lambert, Thompson 9:45: BRI - Andreoff (11) - Terry 12:41: BRI - Cholowski, minor (hooking) 17:46: WBS - (PP) Sikura, minor (cross-checking) 18:06: BRI - (PP) Koivula, minor (cross-checking)

3rd Period

0:53: WBS - (PP) Friedman, minor (roughing) 2:08: BRI - PPG Dufour (8) - Cholowski 5:17: BRI - (PP) Durandeau, minor (holding) 7:23: BRI - (PP) Terry, minor (hooking) 11:44: BRI - Terry (5) - Sevigny 14:39: WBS - Legare (3) - Andonovski 16:58: WBS - (PP) Fedun, minor (tripping) 18:58: BRI - (PP) Thompson, minor (slashing) 20:00: BRI - Kubiak, 10-minute misconduct 20:00: WBS - Caggiula, minor (roughing) 20:00: WBS - Caggiula, minor (slashing)

BOXSCORE

Bridgeport   0 - 3 - 2 = 5 W-B/Scranton  0 - 0 - 1 = 1

Shots

Bridgeport   6 - 12 - 9 = 27 W-B/Scranton  9 - 7 - 17 = 33

Goalies

BRI: Cory Schneider (32 saves - 33 shots) WBS: Dustin Tokarski (22 saves - 27 shots)

Power Play

BRI: 1-for-3 WBS: 0-for-6

Penalty Kill

BRI: 6-for-6 WBS: 2-for-3