PENGUINS WEEKLY – 10/6/26

Pens played two tight, opening-weekend games; head to the road to hunt for first win

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (0-1-1-0) piled up 85 total shots in its first pair of contests

Weekly Rewind

Saturday, Oct. 3 – PENGUINS 2 vs. Springfield 3 (OT)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton opened its 2026-27 season in front of an excited, passionate crowd in Northeast PA. However, Springfield scored payback after being eliminated by the Penguins in last year’s playoffs. Atley Calvert scored both of the Penguins’ goals, including a shorthanded tally midway through the second period. The Thunderbirds won 1:50 into overtime.

Sunday, Oct. 4 – PENGUINS 2 vs. Hartford 3
The Penguins seized an early lead a mere 86 seconds into the contest when D-man Jake Livanavage notched his first AHL goal. The Wolf Pack flipped the game in the middle frame, scored twice to take a 2-1 lead. Hartford ran its lead to 3-1 late with its second man-advantage marker of the day, but Avery Hayes quickly buried an extra-attacker goal to pull the Pens within one.

The Week Ahead

Saturday, Oct. 10 – PENGUINS at Hartford
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will attempt to spoil Hartford’s home opener when the two Atlantic Division foes meet for a rematch. Despite Sunday’s setback, the Penguins are 10-3-0-0 (.769) against the Wolf Pack during Kirk MacDonald’s tenure with a 49-24 (+25) goal differential. Hartford rookie Cole Beaudoin is off to a scintillating start to his pro career, as he produced five points (1G-4A) in his first five periods of the season.

Sunday, Oct. 11 – PENGUINS at Providence
A Sunday matinee is the setting for the first meeting of the year between the Penguins and Bruins. Providence is the defending MacGregor Kilpatrick Trophy winner as the AHL’s best regular-season team in 2025-26, but they are 0-2-0-0 to start this year under first-year head coach Trent Whitfield. The Penguins went 3-1-0-0 against Providence last season, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has points in eight of its last nine visits to Rhode Island (5-1-2-1, .722).

Ice Chips

– Wilkes-Barre/Scranton out-shot its opponents by a combined total of 85-46 in its first two games.

– The Penguins’ 45 shots on Saturday was their second most in a season opener in team history, only eclipsed by 46 shots in 2018, also against Springfield.

– Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was the only team to score a shorthanded goal on opening weekend.

– The Penguins are 18-9-0-0 (.667) in road openers and 15-3-0-0 (.833) in their road openers since 2008.

– Saturday is both Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes’ 24^th birthdays.

DIVISION STANDINGS

TEAM LEADERS

UPCOMING GAME SCHEDULE

DATE                  OPPONENT         LOCATION                                    TIME        

Sat, Oct. 10       Hartford               PeoplesBank Arena             6:00 p.m.

Sun, Oct. 11      Providence          Amica Mutual Pavilion         3:05 p.m.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

DATE                  PLAYER                                                    TRANSACTION

Sun, Oct. 4        (C) David Gustafsson                          Reassigned from PIT

Mon, Oct. 5       (LW) Max Graham                               Assigned to FLA

Mon, Oct. 5       (LW) Tiernan Shoudy                         Assigned to FLA