GAME STORY: Hartford - 1 at W-B/Scranton - 5 (3/30/22)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins broke a scoreless tie in the middle frame, tallying four straight goals on their way to a decisive 5-1 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack Wednesday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

With the win, the Penguins moved back into sixth place in the Atlantic Division in what is the final playoff spot.

Kasper Bjorkvist opened the scoring early in the 2nd period before three Penguins goals in a span of 3:43 late in the period paved the way. Will Reilly, Sam Poulin, Felix Robert and Michael Chaput all tallied goals in the win while Louis Domingue stopped 24 of 25 to backstop the home team to a crucial two points.

"We've been scratching and clawing for months now, so that's nothing new for us," Penguins JD Forrest said of Wednesday's win moving them back into sixth place in the Atlantic Division. "We had a tough December that put us in a hole, but our guys have been great ever since in terms of the effort every night and the urgency that they've been playing with

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Louis Domingue got the start in net for the Penguins Wednesday night against Hartford. Tommy Nappier served as the team's backup.

Penguins Scratches: Filip Lindberg, Taylor Fedun, Corey Andonovski, Jamie Devane, Clayton Phillips, Colin Swoyer, and Ty Glover

Lines/Pairings:

Filip Hallander - Drew O'Connor - Valtteri Puustinen Jonathan Gruden - Sam Poulin - Alex Nylander Felix Robert - Michael Chaput - Nathan Legare Kasper Bjorkvist - Jordy Bellerive - Kyle Olson

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

Louis Domingue - Tommy Nappier

Hartford Wolf Pack Lineup Notes

Keith Kinkaid got the start in net for Hartford Wednesday night against the Penguins. Adam Huska served as the team's backup.

Wolf Pack Scratches: Tyler Wall, Jeff Taylor, Nils Lundqvist, Abbott Girduckis, Justin Richards and Tim Gettinger

Lines/Pairings:

Ryan Merkley - Maxim Letunov - Lauri Pajuniemi Matt Lorito - Tanner Fritz - Austin Rueschhoff Ty Ronning - Patrick Khodorenko - Anthony Greco Cristiano DiGiacinto - Mike O'Leary - Alex Whelan

Brandon Scanlin - Zac Jones Jarred Tinordi - Hunter Skinner Matthew Robertson - Zach Guittari

Keith Kinkaid - Adam Huska

GAME STORY

1st Period

Hartford came out firing pucks at will in the offensive zone, thanks to an early-period Valtteri Puustinen boarding minor. They opened up a 7-2 edge in shots on goal early, though most of their chances were generated from the perimeter of the offensive zone.

Penguins goalie Louis Domingue was equal to the task, and the Wolf Pack actually ended up negating the tail end of their man advantage when Austin Rueschhoff was whistled for holding 2:06 into the opening period.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton wasn't able to generate much in the way of shots on goal on the brief power play once Puustinen's penalty expired, and had a hard time getting pucks through to Wolf Pack goalie Keith Kinkaid in the opening 20 minutes - managing just six shots on net.

Hartford had a late period power play opportunity, but were unable to break the scoreless tie despite doubling up the Penguins in the shots on goal by a 12-6 count.

2nd Period

While the shots were listed at 14-7 in favor of Hartford early on in the frame, the Penguins rattled off seven of the next eight shots toward Kinkaid.

The Penguins broke the scorless tie off-the-rush early in the middle frame, with Kasper Bjorkvist taking a pass from Kyle Olson and wiring one to the top shelf high-glove on Kinkaid 4:27 into the period.

It was an NHL-caliber snipe on a quick release from between the circles for Bjorkvist's seventh of the season, with the Pens' fourth line getting on the scoresheet.

It seemed like the Pens upped the ante in the middle frame, controlling large portions of play in the period - largely out-shooting and out-chancing the Wolf Pack in the period.

They added to their lead with 6:53 left before the second intermission after a good cycle down low opened things up for Will Reilly to creep in from his position at the right point.

Puustinen, from behind the Wolf Pack net, got a puck to Drew O'Connor in the bottom of the left-wing circle and O'Connor spotted Reilly cutting to the net on the backdoor - firing a hard pass right into Reilly's wheelhouse for a quick shot past Kinkaid to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead on Reilly's first goal of the season.

Then, the wheels came off for Hartford and the Penguins tallied two goals 42 seconds apart to break open the game and take a 4-0 lead

First, the Penguins converted on a power play. After some solid puck movement opened things up, O'Connor slid a pass through the circles to Sam Poulin in the left-circle. Poulin made no mistake, firing a high-rising shot that hit the top shelf for Poulin's 13th of the season.

On the next shift after Poulin's goal, Nathan Legare won a race to a loose puck in the right-wing circle and flung one toward the net. Kinkaid made the initial save, but kicked the rebound up the middle and right to Felix Robert for the put-back to give the Penguins a commanding lead.

Hartford was able to get one back late in the period thanks to Anthony Greco's 17th of the season, and perhaps gave Hartford some momentum heading to the third.

Third Period

The Wolf Pack opened the final frame playing with purpose.

Maxim Letunov appeared to cut the Wolf Pack deficit to 4-2 with 17:06 left in regulation, as he re-directed one past Domingue, but the goal was overturned due to some contact between Lauri Pajuniemi and Domingue prior to the goal.

It seemed like the disallowed goal really took the sails out of the Wolf Pack's attempted comeback, as they never recovered before ultimately conceding a goal to Michael Chaput with 6:19 left to close out a 5-1 loss as Hartford continues to slide down the Atlantic Division standings.

For the Penguins, the big win lifted them over Bridgeport and back into the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division heading into the final month of the regular season.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

0:55: WBS - (PP) Puustinen, minor (boarding) 2:06: HFD - (PP) Rueschhoff, minor (holding) 16:30: WBS - (PP) Lee, minor (holding)

2nd Period

4:27: WBS - Bjorkvist (7) - Olson 13:07: WBS - Reilly (1) - O'Connor, Puustinen 15:11: HFD - (PP) Khodorenko, minor (slashing) 16:08: WBS - PPG Poulin (13) - O'Connor, Riikola 16:50: WBS - Robert (14) - Legare, Chaput 17:26: HFD - Merkley, minor (roughing) 17:26: WBS - Lee, minor (roughing) 18:58: HFD - Greco (17) - Kohodrenko, Jones

3rd Period

6:47: HFD - (PP) Rueschhoff, minor (high-sticking) 11:17: WBS - (PP) Chaput, minor (high-sticking) 13:41: WBS - Chaput (8) - Poulin, Gruden 16:22: WBS - Bellerive, ten-minute misconduct 18:47: HFD - Ronning, minor (roughing) 18:47: HFD - Ronning, ten-minute misconduct 18:47: WBS - (PP) Lee, minor (roughing - served by Puustinen) 18:47: WBS - Lee, minor (roughing) 18:47: WBS - Lee, ten-minute misconduct

BOXSCORE

Hartford       0 - 1 - 0 = 1 W-B/Scranton  0 - 4 - 1 = 5

Shots

Hartford       12 - 6 - 7 = 25 W-B/Scranton  6 - 13 - 8 = 27

Goalies

HFD: Keith Kinkaid (22 saves - 27 shots) WBS: Louis Domingue (24 saves - 25 shots)

Power Play

HFD: 0-for-4 WBS: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

HFD: 2-for-3 WBS: 4-for-4