WILKES-BARRE TWP, Pa. –The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins returned to the ice at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza for their penultimate game of the 2025-26 regular season on Friday night. With a strong showing from the penalty kill and power play units, the Penguins notched a 4-1 win over the Bridgeport Islanders.
With the Friday night victory, the Penguins improved to 45-17-7-2, picking up their 20th win at home this season. The Islanders fell to 33-30-3-5.
Coming off a loss against the Hershey Bears on Wednesday night, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton looked to rebound and finish strong ahead of the playoffs. And rebound, they did.
It was all Penguins in the first period as they tallied three goals on the board to open the game. Finn Harding notched the first goal of the contest with a wrist shot, beating the blocker side of Isles netminder Henrik Tikkanen.
After two successful penalty kills, the Penguins went on a five-on-three power play with a chance to double their lead. That’s exactly what they did, when Avery Hayes tucked one in past the right pad of Tikkanen for 2-0.
Late in the first period it was Ville Koivunen’s turn as he pushed the lead to three off a pass from Rutger McGroarty.
Joel Blomqvist didn’t have much work to do in the opening period, but it was a goaltending battle in the second. Each side racked up the scoring chances, with the two netminders coming up large for their respective sides.
Blomqvist made 13 saves in the period before the Islanders grabbed a lifeline, cutting the deficit to two. Chris Terry scored his 10th goal of the season, beating Blomqvist to make it a 3-1 contest.
Going into the third period, the Penguins six-shot advantage reached just one, with the home side outshooting Bridgeport 19-18.
In the third period, it was evenly matched as the two sides traded stride for stride and shot for shot. However, much like the middle period, Blomqvist and Tikkanen made impressive saves.
However, the scoring wasn’t over as Tristan Broz, making his first appearance since mid-February lit the lamp to re-establish the Penguins’ three-goal advantage.
Talking about his goal postgame, Broz credited his faith for getting through his recent injury struggles.
“It [the goal] was just a faceoff play, got the puck in the middle and kind of turned and shot it, nothing really that special,” he said.
“Just now, glory to God there. Getting taken out obviously sucks, but at the same time I feel it was an important opportunity to reset–my values and kind of just the way I go about things and to do it the right way this time and through God.”
Alongside his goal, Broz added an assist on Koivunen’s goal. The two forwards spoke highly of one another, as well as line-mate Rutger McGroarty.
“We’ve played together a lot, so it was nice to slide back in with those guys that I’m pretty familiar with,” said Broz.
“Always fun to play with those two great players,” Koivunen said. “Kind of make plays, work hard on passing the puck, so it’s always fun to play with those two.”
Blomqvist made 25 saves en route to the win for the Black and Gold, while Tikkanen made 22 stops for the Isles.
Penguins head coach Kirk MacDonald was impressed with his netminder’s performance, explaining that his goaltending situation is in a very good spot, with both Blomqvist and highly touted prospect Sergei Murashov manning the blue paint.
“I know Sergei’s gotten all the press, and rightfully so, but I’d argue we have two number-one goalies,” he said.
“Bloomer’s been outstanding…he got pulled in the Cleveland game, back in early March, late February, but he’s been great ever since.
So credit to him for taking that ‘getting yanked’ the right way. And he;s been outstanding ever since that point of course.”
The Penguins return to Mohegan tomorrow, April 18 for their final game of the 2025-26 regular season with a 6:05 start against Rochester.
They are looking to split the season series against the Americans before going idle for at least a week ahead of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Bridgeport has clinched a playoff spot already, and finish their season tomorrow as well. They’ll take on the Hershey Bears in Chocolatetown at 7 p.m. from the Giant Center.
