PENS WIN SERIES AGAINST BEARS WITH 4-1, GAME 4 VICTORY

BOXSCORE

HERSHEY, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins won their best-of-five, Atlantic Division Semifinals series against the Hershey Bears by defeating Hershey in Game 4, 4-1, at Giant Center on Thursday night.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton wins the series against its oldest rival, 3-1, after taking back-to-back victories on Hershey’s home ice. Sergei Murashov stonewalled the Bears with a playoff career-high 37 saves. The Penguins also scored a pair of shorthanded goals to propel them onto the next round of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Penguins seized control early, lighting the lamp 75 seconds into the contest. Joona Koppanen whipped a backhand shot past Clay Stevenson’s blocker after taking a feed from rookie Tanner Howe.

Hershey pulled even with a power-play goal when only 5.1 seconds were left in the first period. Ivan Miroshnichenko chopped a loose puck across the goal line, scoring for the second-straight game.

A high-energy, back-and-forth second period saw the Penguins jump back ahead with a shorthanded strike. After Hershey hit the post on a two-on-one rush, the Penguins charged the other way, and Harrison Brunicke cleaned up a rebound at 6:20 of the middle frame.

The third period saw the Bears go to the power play four different times, but Murashov and the Penguins never sprung a leak. Ville Koivunen put his team ahead by a pair shortly after the first of those successful kills, finishing a pretty passing play with his linemates, Mikhail Ilyin and Tristan Broz.

Hershey pulled Stevenson for an extra attacker when on its sixth man advantage of the night. Gabe Klassen launched in an empty net goal from the Penguins’ zone for another shorty, resulting in a jubilant celebration at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton bench.

Stevenson posted 26 saves on 29 shots faced in the loss. Murashov finished the four-game series with a .937 save percentage and 1.99 goals against average.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will now face the Springfield Thunderbirds in the Atlantic Division Final. The best-of-five series starts with Games 1 and 2 at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza on Tuesday, May 12 and Thursday, May 14, respectively. Both games have a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.

If necessary, the series will return to Northeast Pennsylvania for Game 5 on Saturday, May 23 with a 6:05 p.m. start.

Individual playoff game tickets can be purchased by calling the Penguins’ front office at (570) 208-7367 or at wbspenguins.com. Penguins Playoff Packages are also available only by reaching out to the Penguins directly.

Playoff packages, which are billed on a pay-as-we-play basis, include tickets to every confirmed home game during the postseason. Each package also comes with an $8 voucher for every home game, which can be redeemed at Savor concession stands or at the Penguins Igloo Team Store located inside Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza on each designated game date.

Every minute of Penguins playoff 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.