GAME STORY: Bridgeport - 5 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - 6 (4/16/22)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins found themselves trailing the Bridgeport Islanders 2-0 in the opening 4:47 of the contest Saturday night, but responded in a big way - getting goals from six different players in a big 6-5 win over the Islanders as the Penguins move to within two points of fourth place Hershey with a game against the Bears coming up on Tuesday night.

The Penguins' attack seemingly ran through Juuso Riikola as he factored in four of the team's goals with a game-high four assists. Michael Chaput, Filip Hallander, Drew O'Connor, Valtteri Puustinen, Mitch Reinke and Felix Robert all tallied goals in the win for the Penguins while Tommy Nappier stopped 17 of the 22 shots he faced to pick up his second win in as many nights in the Penguins' net.

As it turned out, the Pens needed all six of those goals as Simon Holmstrom tallied his second of the game with 10.1 seconds left in the second period, and Paul LaDue made it a one-goal game with 6:11 left in the third. The Islanders pulled goalie Cory Schneider (28 saves - 34 shots) for the extra attacker in the final 1:25 but were unable to force overtime.

The Penguins bent but did not break, securing the 6-5 win and two big points in the Atlantic Division standings - setting up a Tuesday night showdown with the Hershey Bears for what could be a battle for fourth place in the division depending on how Hershey fares Sunday evening against the Providence Bruins.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Tommy Nappier got the start in net for the Penguins Saturday night, with Alex D'Orio serving as his backup for the second straight night.

Three changes from Friday night for the Penguins, as Will Reilly returned on defense and forwards Anthony Angello and Felix Robert re-entered the lineup up front. Colin Swoyer, Jordy Bellerive and Jamie Devane were scratched to make room for the aforementioned returnees.

Scratches: Joel Blomqvist, Filip Lindberg, Taylor Fedun, Jordy Bellerive, Corey Andonovski, Jamie Devane, Niclas Almari, Nathan Legare, Clayton Phillips, Colin Swoyer and Ty Glover

Lines/Pairings:

Filip Hallander - Sam Poulin - Valtteri Puustinen Radim Zohorna - Drew O'Connor - Anthony Angello Felix Robert - Michael Chaput - Alex Nylander Kasper Bjorkvist - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson

Juuso Riikola - Mitch Reinke P.O. Joseph - Will Reilly Cam Lee - Matt Bartkowski

Tommy Nappier - Alex D'Orio

Bridgeport Islanders Lineup Notes

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

Scratches: Cole Coskey, Koby Bender, Cole Bardreau, Blade Jenkins, Robin Salo, Arnaud Durandeau, Reece Newkirk and Trevor Cosgrove

Lines/Pairings:

Chris Terry - Andy Andreoff - Simon Holmstrom Michael Dal Colle - Otto Koivula - Austin Czarnik Kyle MacLean - Jeff Kubiak - Paul Thompson Erik Brown - Felix Bibeau - Collin Adams

Seth Helgeson - Mitch Vande Sompel Samuel Bolduc - Paul LaDue Parker Wotherspoon - Mike Cornell

Cory Schneider - Jakub Skarek

GAME RECAP

1st Period

The Islanders came out strong in the opening five minutes, tallying goals on their first two shots to open up an early 2-0 lead.

Mike Cornell started a breakout play, giving the puck ahead to Parker Wotherspoon who caught Simon Holmstrom in stride through the netural zone. Holmstrom did the rest, burning past the Penguins' defense before going backhand to forehand past WBS goalie Tommy Nappier to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead 3:37 into the 1st period.

Just 1:10 later, Otto Koivula won a puck battle along the right-wing wall and fed Michael Dal Colle in the right-wing circle for a subsequent snipe from Dal Colle that beat Nappier clean to the far post to extend the Islanders' lead to 2-0.

Down 2-0 in the opening 4:47 of the contest, the Penguins went back to work - drawing themselves a power play less than a minute later.

They didn't score on the ensuing power play, and they actually took an interference minor shortly after their man advantage expired, but after killing off Kasper Bjorkvist's penalty they were able to cut the Islanders' lead in half with 9:03 left in the first frame.

Mitch Reinke got the puck down low for Felix Robert, who cycled it down behind the goal line to Drew O'Connor before cutting to the net. O'Connor put the puck on Robert's tape and Felix sniped Islanders goalie Cory Schneider to the glove side to get the Penguins within a goal at a 2-1 deficit.

The Penguins continued to battle, and found themselves tying the game at 2-2 on a hack and whack play at the side of the net by Filip Hallander. The goal light didn't come on, but the referee in position behind the net signaled the puck crossed the line and was in fact a goal.

Islanders head coach Brent Thompson wasn't happy with the call and asked for an explanation. The four officials then conferenced at center ice and appeared to signal they were going to take a look at the overhead camera to review if the puck did indeed cross the goal line, but a review never came. The call on the ice stood, and the game was tied at 2-2 with 1:38 left before the first intermission.

2nd Period

The Penguins began the middle frame on a carryover penalty kill from the tail end of the first frame, and after killing the rest of it off found themselves back in the penalty box 3:16 into the period.

Shortly after another successful penalty kill, Juuso Riikola started a rush up ice - getting it to Sam Poulin on a 2-on-1 with Valtteri Puustinen. Puustinen elected to shoot from the left-wing circle, beating Schneider with a deceptive shot to give the Penguins their first lead of the night. It marked Puustinen's 20th goal of the season, joining Alexander Nylander for the team's lead in goals on the season.

The Penguins made it four unanswered goals just under three minutes later after Riikola got it to his defense partner Mitch Reinke along the right wing wall. Reinke faked like he was going to carry the puck down low, instead dangling around the top of the circle before firing a hard shot that pinballed its way in past Schneider to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead with 11:42 left in the second stanza.

Bridgeport responded with a power play tally from Chris Terry to make it a one-goal game just two minutes later, a bar-down one-timer from the right-wing circle off a feed from Austin Czarnik, but the Penguins responded with a power play goal of their own with six minutes left before the second intermission to restore their two goal lead, at 5-3.

The goals kept on coming as the teams traded goals once more before the middle frame came to an end.

First, Drew O'Connor tucked one in past Schneider with 2:25 left in the period following an offensive zone face-off win. Radim Zohorna and Anthony Angello were credited with assists on O'Connor's 12th of the season.

Then, with Cam Lee in the box for holding, the Islanders power play converted again to keep them within striking distance heading to the final frame. Holmstrom tallied his second goal of the contest with 10.1 left before the second intermission to draw Bridgeport within a 6-4 score before the middle frame concluded.

3rd Period

The Penguins penalty kill got more work in early in the period after a too many men penalty was assessed to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton just 2:25 into the period, but after the successful kill the home team kept their foot on the gas - out shooting the Islanders by a 9-4 count in the opening half of the period.

But the Islanders didn't fade away quietly into the night. Paul LaDue got a hard shot through traffic and past Nappier with 6:11 left to play to cut the Penguins' lead to 6-5 with 6:11 left, setting up a frantic finish between two teams battling for a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.

That's as close as the Islanders would get, however, as the Penguins tightened up defensively and held on for the 6-5 victory.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

3:37: BRI - Holmstrom (11) - Terry, Wotherspoon 4:47: BRI - Dal Colle (9) - Koivula 5:18: BRI - (PP) Vande Sompel, minor (cross-checking) 7:57: WBS - (PP) Bjorkvist, minor (interference) 10:57: WBS - Robert (16) - O'Connor, Reinke 18:22: WBS - Hallander (12) - Puustinen, Riikola 19:32: WBS - (PP) Reilly, minor (hooking)

2nd Period

3:16: WBS - (PP) Chaput, minor (high-sticking) 5:57: WBS - Puustinen (20) - Poulin, Riikola 8:18: WBS - Reinke (3) - Riikola, Nylander 9:32: WBS - (PP) Olson, minor (hooking) 10:18: BRI - PPG Terry (29) - Czarnik, Vande Sompel 12:57: BRI - (PP) LaDue, minor (holding) 14:00: WBS - PPG Chaput (11) - Riikola 17:35: WBS - O'Connor (12) - Zohorna, Angello 18:23: WBS - (PP) Lee, minor (holding) 19:49: BRI - PPG Holmstrom (12) - Wotherspoon, Koivula

3rd Period

2:25: WBS - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Puustinen) 8:27: BRI - (PP) Bibeau, minor (instigating) 8:27: BRI - Bibeau, major (fighting) 8:27: BRI - Bibeau, ten-minute misconduct (instigating) 8:27: WBS - Bartkowski, major (fighting) 13:49: BRI - LaDue (4) - Holmstrom, Bolduc

BOXSCORE

Bridgeport    2 - 2 - 1 = 5 W-B/Scranton  2 - 4 - 0 = 6

Shots

Bridgeport    10 - 6 - 6 = 22 W-B/Scranton  11 - 12 - 11 = 34

Goalies

BRI: Cory Schneider (28 saves - 34 shots) WBS: Tommy Nappier (17 saves - 22 shots)

Power Play

BRI: 2-for-6 WBS: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

BRI: 2-for-3 WBS: 4-for-6