Game Story: Cleveland - 1 at W-B/Scranton - 5 (10/26/22)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (4-0-1) made it four straight wins Wednesday night in convincing fashion, disposing of the Cleveland Monsters (3-3-0) by a 5-1 count.

Drew O'Connor had a game-high three points (two goals, assist) while the Penguins also got goals from Ty Smith, Alex Nylander and Valtteri Puustinen in the big win. Filip Hallander added two assists, while goaltender Dustin Tokarski stopped all but one of the 33 shots he faced as he continues his stellar start to the season.

Cole Fonstad was the only player to get one past Tokarski for Cleveland, while goalie Jet Greaves surrendered five goals on 28 shots in the loss.

The Penguins got off to a solid start in the first frame, taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission on goals from Smith and O'Connor.

First, Smith opened the scoring 3:58 into the contest after picking up an errant breakout attempt from the Monsters while in the right-wing circle, after Filip Hallander was first in on a forecheck to disrupt things. Smith gained possession of the puck, weaved his way to the slot and fired a wrister toward the net that caromed off a defender's skate and in past Monsters goaltender Greaves for Smith's second tally of the season.

Cleveland had their fair share of chances in the opening period, actually out-shooting the Penguins 11-10 in the first 20 minutes thanks to three power play chances, but Tokarski was equal to the task - stopping all 11 Monsters' shots to lead the Penguins' penalty kill and preserve the two-goal lead into the middle frame.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was unable to cash in on some carryover power play time to begin the middle frame, but later extended their lead to 3-0 after a bit of confusion.

Lukas Svejkovsky flung a puck to the net from the right-wing wall with bodies in front, and one of them - Nylander - was able to get a piece of the puck to re-direct it past Greaves 4:32 into the second period. The goal was initially waved off as it was scored, but a conference among the officials later changed the decision and they deemed it a good goal.  Xavier Ouellet added a secondary assist on Nylander's team-leading fourth of the season.

Cleveland made the most of their fourth power play opportunity to break Tokarski's shutout bid with 7:11 left before the intermission as Cole Fonstad re-directed a center point shot from Samuel Knazko to get the Monsters on the board. Jake Christensen added an assist on Fonstad's first of the season.

But that's as close as the Monsters would get, as the Penguins added two more in a span of 2:15 in the middle part of the third to complete the 5-1 final score.

Hallander was denied on a 2-on-0 breakaway with O'Connor, but Valtteri Puustinen was first to the rebound for a quick put-back to the top shelf for Puustinen's second goal in as many games on the season.

Later, O'Connor fed a puck from behind the net out to the right point for Jack St. Ivany, whose shot was stopped before O'Connor netted the rebound goal for his second goal, and third point, of the contest.

Penguins Post-Game EXTRA!

Head coach JD Forrest

Thoughts on tonight's game

"I mean, we talked about improving our starts. I thought that that was the best portion of the game for us, you know, maybe the first 10 minutes. And then we kind of got away from it - although we were able to get the result we wanted, the outcome we wanted and we were able to score some goals, you know that there's still things in the way we went about it that we know we can be better. Like everyone in that locker room feels like, alright, this is one of those games where our goalie played really well. We capitalized on a few chances here and there. [It] didn't feel like a five-one game. But we will take it at this time of the year and then see if we can't learn from it."

Forward Drew O'Connor (two goals, one assist Wednesday night)

On getting that first goal 'off his back' and using it to open things up offensively

"You know, it definitely feels good to get the first one out of the way. You're always kind of dreading that to get that [first] one. So it felt good. But, you know, I think our team is playing really well right now. We've won four in a row. So you know, it feels good to contribute offensively, but just just finding other ways to help out. You know, it's been a lot of fun so far early in the season here."

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for the Penguins Wednesday night against Cleveland, with Filip Lindberg serving as Tokarski's backup goaltender.

Penguins Scratches: Mitch Reinke (injured), Jordan Frasca (injured), Colin Swoyer, Raivis Ansons and Jamie Devane (injured)

Lines/Pairings:

Alex Nylander - Drew O'Connor - Lukas Svejkovsky Filip Hallander - Sam Houde - Valtteri Puustinen Kyle Olson - Jonathan Gruden - Nathan Legare Ty Glover - Tyler Sikura - Corey Andonovski

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

Dustin Tokarski - Filip Lindberg

Cleveland Monsters Lineup Notes

Jet Greaves got the start in net for Cleveland Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre, with Pavel Cajan serving as Greaves backup.

18-year-old defenseman David Jiricek (6th overall - 2022 NHL Draft) was called up to Columbus prior to Wednesday night's game. He had recorded four assists in five AHL games with Cleveland prior to his call up.

Cleveland went with an 11-forward, seven defensemen lineup Wednesday.

Monsters Scratches: Tyler Irvine, Dillon Simpson (injured), Robbie Payne (injured), Brett Gallant (injured) and Tyler Angle (injured)

Lines/Pairings:

Kirill Marchenko - Brendan Gaunce - Carson Meyer Emil Bemstrom - Justin Richards - Trey Fix-Wolanski Roman Achan - Josh Dunne - Owen Sillinger Cole Fonstad - Jake Gaudet - xxxxxx

Jake Christensen - Marcus Bjork Tim Berni - Billy Sweezey Samuel Knazko - Cole Clayton Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm

Jet Greaves - Pavel Cajan

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

3:58: WBS - Smith (2) - unassisted 6:11: WBS - (PP) Smith, minor (hooking) 10:45: WBS - O'Connor (1) - Andonovski, Glover 12:57: WBS - (PP) Lizotte, minor (hooking) 19:43: CLE - (PP) Knazko, minor (cross-checking)

2nd Period

4:32: WBS - Nylander (4) - Svejkovsky, Ouellet 11:48: WBS - (PP) Ouellet, minor (delay of game) 12:49: CLE - PPG Fonstad (1) - Knazko, Christensen 15:20: CLE - (PP) Meyer, minor (boarding) 15:52: WBS - (PP) Puustinen, minor (slashing) 18:41: WBS - (PP) Andonovski, minor (slashing)

3rd Period

1:05: CLE - (PP) Richards, minor (tripping) 7:47: CLE - (PP) Gaunce, minor (cross-checking) 8:05: WBS - PPG Puustinen (2) - Hallander, O'Connor 10:20: WBS - O'Connor (2) - St. Ivany, Hallander 11:56: CLE - Clayton, major (fighting) 11:56: WBS - Olson, major (fighting)

BOXSCORE

Cleveland  0 - 1 - 0 = 1 W-B/Scranton  2 - 1 - 2 = 5

Shots

Cleveland  11 - 12 - 10 = 33 W-B/Scranton  10 - 6 - 12 = 28

Goalies

CLE: Jet Greaves (23 saves - 28 shots) WBS: Dustin Tokarski (32 saves -  33 shots)

Power Play

CLE: 1-for-6 WBS: 1-for-4

Penalty Kill

CLE: 3-for-4 WBS: 5-for-6