SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scored a season-high seven goals in their 7-2 drubbing of the Springfield Thunderbirds on Wednesday night at MassMutual Center.
Avery Hayes scored a hat trick, his second this month, while Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (33-13-3-2) also received two-goal contributions from Ville Koivunen and Tanner Howe. Eleven different players recorded a point in front of 30 saves by Sergei Murashov.
The game started as a dream for Springfield, as defenseman Theo Lindstein lit the lamp 33 seconds into the action on the first shot of the night. However, the Penguins turned that dream into a nightmare by taking the lead before the game was two minutes old.
First, Hayes chopped in a rebound to tie things up at 1:14. Thirty seconds later, Koivunen was left wide open in the slot and lifted a shot over the pads of T-Birds goalie Will Cranley for a 2-1 lead.
Hayes took advantage of a turnover by Cranley and fired the puck into an empty net midway through the opening frame for his second tally of the night. Once again, a goal by Koivunen followed shortly thereafter, who whipped a shot through Cranley’s five-hole.
Springfield head coach Steve Ott, who had already called his team’s timeout after the Penguins’ first two goals, elected to pull Cranley and replace him with Vadim Zherenko following Koivunen’s second strike.
Zherenko thwarted all 19 of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s shots in the second period, while Dillon Dubé logged a power-play goal at 8:27 to cut Springfield’s deficit down to 4-2.
Hayes solved Zherenko with a one-time blast from the left circle 91 seconds into the third frame, completing the hat trick.
Boko Imama set up Howe in the slot at 8:26 of the third to run the Penguins’ lead to four. Sebastian Aho found Howe in the exact same spot at 11:45 for the rookie to notch his second goal and for the team to reach the seven-goal mark.
Springfield had a chance to throw rain on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s scoring parade seconds later, when Hugh McGring was awarded a penalty shot. However, McGing was thwarted by Murashov for his 27th of 30 saves on the night.
Zherenko finished with 27 saves on 30 shots faced in relief. Cranley was pulled after allowing four goals on nine shots.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next game is Saturday, Feb. 21, and the team returns to home ice for its Military Appreciation Night presented by MetLife. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will take on the Bridgeport Islanders at 6:05 p.m. at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
