Game Story: Syracuse - 2 at W-B/Scranton - 3 (10/26/24)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Syracuse Crunch appeared to be in another defensive slugfest for the second straight night as the two teams reconvened at the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza Saturday night to complete a home-and-home series.

But after a scoreless first period that saw neither team able to create much of anything offensively, the Penguins were able to get on the attack in the middle frame - tallying three goals and opening up a 3-1 lead that proved to be the difference in a 3-2 win to close out the week with a split of the two-game weekend series with the Crunch.

Sam Poulin opened the scoring, while Avery Hayes extended the Penguins' lead to 2-0 on goals just under five minutes apart. After the Crunch cut their deficit in half, Tristan Broz tallied a buzzer-beating goal with 0.4 seconds left before the second intermission to restore the Pens' two-goal lead - a goal that turned out to be pivotal as it ended up being the game-winning goal.

Syracuse drew within a goal early in the third period, but that's as close as they would get as Penguins' goaltender Tristan Jarry, down with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan from Pittsburgh, made all the necessary saves to close out the 3-2 win for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with 32 saves and perhaps none bigger than the point blank save he made in the final seconds to preserve the two points.

Steven Santini and Gemel Smith tallied the goals for Syracuse Saturday, and Matt Tomkins stopped 24 of the 27 shtos he faced albeit in a losing effort.

GAME STORY

The Penguins and Crunch played low event hockey in the opening 20 minutes of play, similar to how Friday night's game between the two teams was played up in Syracuse, New York.

There weren't many Grade-A chances for either team, and Tristan Jarry (Penguins) and Matt Tomkins (Crunch) gobbled up whatever shots made it through to the net.

The goals started coming in the middle frame, and after a pretty pass the Penguins opened the scoring and took a 1-0 lead 5:09 into the period.

Tristan Broz collected a loose puck that came out to the neutral zone, and headed back to the offensive zone - weaving his way to the blue line and dishing the puck to his right for Emil Bemstrom.

Bemstrom fired a hard cross-ice pass right onto the tape of Sam Poulin atop the left-wing circle and Poulin buried it - going bar-down on Syracuse goaltender Matt Tomkins for his second goal of the season.

The Penguins extended their lead to 2-0 on the power play just prior to the midway mark of regulation.

After a pair of keep-ins at the right point, Mac Hollowell sent the puck across the top to the left point for Ville Koivunen and Koivunen returned it back to Hollowell - with Hollowell faking a shot at the right point and sending it to Avery Hayes just outside the Syracuse crease for a quick re-direct past Tomkins for Hayes' third goal of the season.

Syracuse got one back to cut their deficit in half less than two minutes later after Gabriel Szturc won an offensive zone face-off. Szturc was able to get the puck back to the point for Steven Santini, and Santini's shot through traffic hit the far post and bounced in past Tristan Jarry.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton re-gained their two-goal lead heading to the third period with a buzzer-beater from Broz after he won an offensive zone face-off with less than five seconds to go in the period.

Hollowell collected the puck and got it to Bemstrom for a quick shot that was stopped by Tomkins, but Broz collected the rebound and fired one past Tomkins with 0.4 seconds left to give the Penguins the 3-1 lead heading to the third period.

Syracuse didn't quit, getting a goal early in the third to draw themselves within a goal with 18:39 left in regulation.

Jarry stopped a shot from the slot after a Syracuse offensive zone face-off win, and he was able to stop the rebound attempt from Gage Goncalves, but Goncalves' stick got stuck in Jarry's equipment.

Shortly thereafter, Niko Huuhtanen dug a puck out from the corner and drove to the net - dishing it atop the crease where Gemel Smith was able to slide one under Jarry's pads to make it a 3-2 game.

That made the final frame interesting, as the Crunch continued to press in search of an equalizer.

The Penguins missed an opportunity to regain their two-goal lead when Syracuse took back-to-back penalties in the opening 6:31 of the period, but were able to hold on to the 3-2 advantage in large part due to some timely saves from Jarry.

After giving up the early third period goal, Jarry shut the door - pushing the Penguins to two points despite Syracuse out-shooting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by a 12-5 margin in the final frame.

With Syracuse's goalie pulled for the extra attacker in the final minute of play, Jarry stood tall and made a point-blank save in the final seconds to secure the victory for the Penguins - finishing with 32 saves on 34 shots against.

Syracuse Crunch Lineup Notes

Matt Tomkins got the start in net for the Crunch Saturday, with Brandon Halverson backing him up.

Crunch Scratches: Jujhar Khaira, Tristan Allard, Logan Brown, Lukas Svejkovsky, Gabriel Dumont, Dyllan Gill, Conor Sheary, Tyson Feist, and Daniel Walcott

Lines/Pairings:

Gage Goncalves - Gemel Smith - Jesse Ylonen Joel Teasdale - Jaydon Dureau - Lucas Edmonds Kale Kessy - Milo Roelens - Max Groshev Dylan Duke - Gabriel Szturc - Niko Huuhtanen

Derrick Pouliot - Max Crozier Tobie Bisson - Steven Santini Declan Carlisle - Roman Schmidt

Matt Tomkins (Backup: Brandon Halverson)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

The big news was in net as the Pittsburgh Penguins assigned goaltender Tristan Jarry to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Saturday on a conditioning loan.

Jarry got the start in net Saturday against Syracuse, with Filip Larsson backing him up. Goalie Sergei Murashov was loaned to ECHL-Wheeling in a corresponding move, with The Athletic's Josh Yohe reporting that Penguins GM Kyle Dubas expects Jarry to be with the AHL Penguins for two weeks, the maximum allowed time for him to be in the AHL while on the conditioning loan.

One other lineup change from Friday night's game in Syracuse, as Raivis Ansons entered to center the fourth line in place of Marc Johnstone.

Penguins Scratches: Taylor Gauthier, Dan Renouf (week-to-week, lower body since Oct 12), Marc Johnstone, Jimmy Huntington (week-to-week, lower body since Oct. 19), Jagger Joshua (week-to-week, upper body), Isaac Belliveau (day-to-day, lower body since preseason), Filip Kral (week-to-week, upper body since Oct. 18)

Lines/Pairings:

Rutger McGroarty - Boris Katchouk - Ville Koivunen Emil Bemstrom - Tristan Broz - Sam Poulin Jonathan Gruden - Joona Koppanen - Corey Andonovski Boko Imama - Raivis Ansons - Avery Hayes

Sebastian Aho - Mac Hollowell Owen Pickering - Nate Clurman Justin Lee - Scooter Brickey

Tristan Jarry (Backup: Filip Larsson)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

11:42: WBS - (PP) Imama, minor (high-sticking) 16:57: SYR - (PP) Dureau, minor (hooking)

2nd Period

5:09: WBS - Poulin (2) - Bemstrom, Broz 5:45: WBS - (PP) Pickering, minor (interference) 9:28: SYR - (PP) Schmidt, minor (hooking) 9:59: WBS - PPG Hayes (3) - Hollowell, Koivunen 11:58: SYR - Santini (1) - Szturc 14:33: WBS - (PP) Lee, minor (tripping) 19:32: SYR - (PP) Santini, minor (interference) 19:59: WBS - PPG Broz (3) - Bemstrom, Hollowell

3rd Period

1:21: SYR - Smith (1) - Huuhtanen, Gonclaves 3:42: SYR - (PP) Roelens, minor (tripping) 6:31: SYR - (PP) Schmidt, minor (tripping) 9:14: SYR - Crozier, minor (roughing) 9:14: WBS - Koivunen, minor (roughing) 9:14: WBS - (PP) Hollowell, minor (holding) 18:41: SYR - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Roelens) 19:16: WBS - (PP) Aho, minor (holding)

BOXSCORE

Syracuse   0 - 1 - 1 = 2 W-B/Scranton  0 - 3 - 0 = 3

Shots

Syracuse   7 - 15 - 12 = 34 W-B/Scranton  10 - 12 - 5 = 27

Goalies

SYR: Matt Tomkins (24 saves - 27 shots) WBS: Tristan Jarry (32 saves - 34 shots)

Power Play

SYR: 0-for-4 WBS: 2-for-6

Penalty Kill

SYR: 4-for-6 WBS: 4-for-4

Post-Game EXTRA!

WBS Penguins Head Coach Kirk MacDonald

On the slow start in the first period, and the difference in the second period

"Yeah, I thought we were kind of still weren't sure and a little indecisive at times. In the first, we had a couple good looks and I think our F1 was a little slow on the forechecks, we weren't getting the pucks first to create that ozone possession. I think, you know, as we got into the second period, I thought even first shift of this second period, Ansons lined went out, started and they got it up over, got a deep F1 on the fore check created some momentum, and then we did a really good job as the period went on. Just our deep move to transition pucks quick, fore check was outstanding, where we were creating turnovers and it allowed us to, again, we moved pucks quickly, we got it goal line to the blue line and made their coverage to change shape and then, you know, it allowed us to get our activation and start building confidence by having that puck possession and creating scoring chances."

On the power play coming through tonight in the 2nd period.

"Yeah, you win the special teams battle more often than not. You win the game, right? And we won it decisively today. It was a great job by the guys. I think there's a little bit of a come to Jesus moment today with the power play guys in some meetings and just hey, like they need to, need to be better. And it's not a right to be on the power play. It's a privilege, and you got to want to have that privilege and want the pressure that goes along with playing on the power play. I think today, they stepped up in a big way. So again, credit to them, and they stepped up when we needed them."