HERSHEY, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins staved off a surge by the Hershey Bears and pulled away late in the third period for a 6-3 victory on Wednesday night at Giant Center.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (14-4-1-0) received multi-point games from every member of its top line. Avery Hayes scored twice, Rutger McGroarty piled up three points (1G-2A), while Phil Tomasino posted a three-point “Gordie Howe hat trick” (1G-2A) in his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton debut.
The Penguins picked up the game’s first goal on a penalty shot from Boko Imama at 6:21 of the opening frame. Six seconds later, Imama dropped the gloves for a fight with Hershey’s Dalton Smith.
Tomasino set up McGroarty for a bullet shot to the near-side top corner at the 12-minute mark of the first period. Tomasino then produced his second assist on Hayes’ tally that made it 3-0 at 14:45.
Hershey settled down in the second stanza and eventually got on the board in the late stages of the frame. Brett Leason slammed in a rebound with 3:54 remaining before the first intermission.
Ilya Protas snagged a shorthanded goal for Hershey two-and-a-half minutes into the third period, bringing the Bears within one.
Hershey had several prime opportunities to tie things up, but Joel Blomqvist made a handful of key saves to keep his club in the lead.
Gifted a power-play when the Bears were called for a faceoff violation penalty, the Penguins stepped up in the clutch. McGroarty whipped a behind-the-back, no-look pass right to Tomasino, who slipped the puck underneath Hershey goalie Garin Bjorklund with 4:09 left to play. The goal not only granted Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 4-2 lead, it also completed Tomasino’s first Gordie Howe hat trick, having scrapped with David Gucciardi earlier in the third period.
Hayes picked up an empty netter shortly thereafter for his second tally of the night. Ēriks Mateiko notched his first AHL goal on a one-timer, bringing the Bears back to a two-goal deficit. However, Sam Poulin salted away the Pens’ win with another empty-net goal.
Blomqvist improved to 3-0-0 on the season with 30 saves. Bjorklund recorded 25 saves on 29 shots in the loss.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton returns to home ice on Black Friday, Nov. 28, when they host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. It also serves as another 28/22 News Fan Control Friday, featuring $2 beers on sale from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. courtesy of Coors Light and postgame player autographs presented by Northeast Music Center. Game time for the Pens and Phantoms will be 7:05 p.m. at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
Season-ticket packages for the Penguins’ 2025-26 season, including Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbook and Premium Seating plans, as well as Corporate Partnership opportunities are available by reaching out to the Penguins directly at (570) 208-7367. Individual-game tickets are also available by visiting Ticketmaster.com, the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza Box Office or calling the Penguins’ front office at (570) 208-7367.
Every minute of Penguins hockey can be watched online with the league’s streaming service, AHLTV on FloHockey. AHLTV on FloHockey provides its subscribers access to not just every regular-season and Calder Cup Playoff game for all 32 AHL teams, but also more than 21,000 hockey contests from other professional and junior leagues on FloHockey, as well as access to all other live event streams and replays across FloSports.
By providing a telephone number, e-mail address, and submitting this form, you are consenting to be contacted by e-mail & SMS text message. Message & data rates may apply. You can reply STOP to opt-out of further messaging. See our privacy policy for more information.
