Game Story: Hartford - 1 at W-B/Scranton - 4 (1/24/24)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never really looked back in a big 4-1 win over Hartford Wednesday night, providing the Penguins a little separation from the Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division as they're now four points clear of Hartford for third place with just two points separating them from second place Providence heading into this weekend's games.

The Penguins scored early and often, with Jesse Puljujarvi (goal, assist) getting things going offensively 65 seconds into the contest.

Alex Nylander, Jack St. Ivany and Sam Poulin also scored goals for the Penguins in the win while Ty Smith recorded two assists to pace the Penguins' attack.

Brennan Othmann broke Joel Blomqvist's shutout bid with 12:12 left in regulation, but credit the Penguins goalie with some big time stops in crucial moments on his way to a 27-save performance and his 13th win of the season.

Post-Game EXTRA!

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins head coach JD Forrest

On the hot start

"I mean, it was an important game for us. I know they're behind us point-wise, but they have a lot of games in hand. So we kind of looked at as a team we were chasing, I think our guys just came up ready to go tonight."

Penguins defenseman Jack St. Ivany

On the sequence leading up to his goal to make it 3-0 after Blomqvist made a breakaway save

"Yeah, I feel like it's kind of been the story all year with our goaltending. Joel was unbelievable tonight, and really saved us. And I feel like if he's saving us, we have to put some in the net for him every once in a while. So, yeah, he had those crucial saves for us and, yeah, he's a gamer."

On defending well in front of Blomqvist at the net-front

"Yeah, I mean our best player is in the net for us, so we have to protect him. He's the heart and soul of our team, so anyone that's going in there.. they're going to have to pay the price."

GAME STORY

The Penguins came out firing Wednesday night, taking an early 1-0 lead and generating consistent offensive pressure in the opening minutes of the contest.

Radim Zohorna started an odd-man rush in transition, zipping it from left wing to right wing through the neutral zone to Puljujarvi before Puljujarvi skated down the right wing and fired a hard shot that was able to dribble through Domingue to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead just 1:05 into the contest.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton kept their foot on the gas, and made it 2-0 with 16:18 left in the first frame after good work at the offensive zone blue line from Jack St. Ivany to keep the puck from exiting the zone.

St. Ivany fed Peter Abbandonato at the right wing wall, and Abbandonato spotted an open Nylander heading to the top of the left wing circle.

The pass was on the money, and Nylander was able to skate to the slot before firing one past Domingue for his 13th of the season.

The Pens took a pair of penalties in the second half of the first frame, but were able to come away unscathed thanks to Blomqvist and the penalty killers.

In fact, the Penguins began the middle frame shorthanded on a carry-over penalty from a Corey Andonovski delay of game penalty - only to draw even when Marc Johnstone drew a roughing minor at the tail end of the Wolf Pack's power play.

A crucial moment in the game occurred just before the midway mark of regulation when a Hartford stretch pass caught the Penguins on a line change, resulting in Artem Anisimov breaking in all alone on Blomqvist.

The Penguins goalie came up big with a sliding right pad save to prevent Hartford from getting on the board and making it a one-goal hockey game.

Instead, shortly thereafter at the other end of the rink, Johnstone won an offensive zone face off and the Penguins went D-to-D with Ty Smith serving up a one-timer for a big time blast by St. Ivany to extend the Penguins' lead to 3-0 with 9:16 left in the middle frame.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton added another goal after Puljujarvi forced a turnover in the Penguins's defensive zone, with the Finnish winger sending a pass across to Poulin. The Hartford defender got a piece of Puljujarvi's pass, but Poulin was able to get a stick on it and direct it into the net to give the Penguins a commanding 4-0 lead with 6:59 left before the second intermission.

Hartford, to their credit, didn't just pack it in and call it a night down four goals entering the third period.

The Wolf Pack generated some offensive pressure in the first half of the period, and - after an Andonovski slashing minor - were able to break Blomqvist's shutout bid with 12:12 left in regulation on a power play tally from Othmann.

Things nearly got out of hand later in the period after Brandon Scanlin went hard to the net and got his stick caught on a WBS defender, causing the Wolf Pack blue liner to clothesline the Penguins goaltender with his stick in a violent-looking collision.

The Penguins on the ice during the incident jumped to Blomqvist's defense and tackled Scanlin to the ice. Blomqvist appeared to be okay, and remained in the game for the final 9:29.

Hartford Wolf Pack Lineup Notes

Dylan Garand got the start in net for Hartford Sunday, with Louis Domingue serving as the Wolf Pack's backup goalie.

Wolf Pack Scratches: Bryan Yoon, Ben Harpur, Matej Pekar, Zach Berzolla, Riley Nash and Adam Edstrom

Lines/Pairings:

Adam Sykora - Alex Belzile - Anton Blidh Brennan Othmann - Karl Henriksson - Bret Berard Turner Elson - Artem Anisimov - Matt Rempe Bobby Trivigno - Ryder Korczak - Christiano DiGiacinto

Connor Mackey - Brandon Scanlin Matthew Robertson - Mac Hollowell Blake Hillman - Nikolas Brouillard

Louis Domingue (Backup: Dylan Garand)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Joel Blomqvist got the start in net for the Penguins Wednesday night against Hartford. Magnus Hellberg served as the team's backup goaltender.

Two lineup changes for the Penguins from Sunday's win over Springfield, with Will Butcher and Matt Filipe entering the lineup and Xavier Ouellet and Dillon Hamaliuk being the odd men out.

Penguins Scratches: Garret Sparks, Taylor Fedun (veteran), Jonathan Gruden, Sam Houde (lower body), Xavier Ouellet (veteran), Dillon Hamaliuk, Raivis Ansons (lower body) and Avery Hayes (upper body)

Lines/Pairings

Alex Nylander - Peter Abbandonato - Vinnie Hinostroza Sam Poulin - Radim Zohorna - Jesse Puljujarvi Matt Filipe - Joona Koppanen - Austin Rueschhoff Jagger Joshua - Marc Johnstone - Corey Andonovski

Ty Smith - Dmitri Samorukov Jack Rathbone - Jack St. Ivany Will Butcher - Owen Headrick

Joel Blomqvist (Backup: Magnus Hellberg)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

1:05: WBS - Puljujarvi (3) - Zohorna 3:42: WBS - Nylander (13) - Abbandonato, St. Ivany 9:12: WBS - (PP) Koppanen, minor (tripping) 19:41: WBS - (PP) Andonovski, minor (delay of game)

2nd Period

1:29: HFD - (PP) Robertson, minor (roughing) 10:44: WBS - St. Ivany (2) - Smith, Johnstone 13:01: WBS - Poulin (9) - Puljujarvi

3rd Period

6:51: WBS - (PP) Andonovski, minor (slashing) 7:48: HFD - PPG Othmann (10) - Hollowell, Belzile 8:43: HFD - (PP) Blidh, minor (slashing) 10:31: HFD - (PP) Scanlin, minor (roughing)

BOXSCORE

Hartford   0 - 0 - 1 = 1 W-B/Scranton 2 - 2 - 0 = 4

Shots

Hartford   7 - 9 - 12 = 28 W-B/Scranton 14 - 11 - 6 = 31

Goalies

HFD: Louis Domingue ( saves - shots) WBS: Joel Blomqvist (27 saves - 28 shots)

Power Play

HFD: 1-for-3 WBS: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

HFD: 3-for-3 WBS: 2-for-3