PENGUINS OUTDUELED ON OPENING NIGHT, LOSE 7-6
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins came up short in an opening-night scoring bonanza, losing to the Charlotte Checkers, 7-6, on Saturday night at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton received goals from six different players, but Charlotte’s four-goal run in the third period and hat trick from Aidan McDonough proved too much to match.
The Checkers scored quickly to start the offense-fueled feud, as a seeing-eye shot by Jaycob Megna found its way through traffic and into the net 94 seconds into the game.
However, the Penguins took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission after newcomers Jimmy Huntington and Emil Bemström lit the lamp.
Charlotte evened the scales with a shorthanded goal by MacKenzie Entwistle two minutes into the second period. Avery Hayes fished a loose puck out of a net-front scramble and put the Penguins back ahead at 5:52.
McDonough’s first of the night briefly tied the game again, but roughly two and a half minutes later, a rifle off the stick of Tristan Broz gave the 22-year-old his first AHL goal and the Penguins a 4-3 lead.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton seized the first two-goal lead of the night with a man-advantage marker from Filip Král early in the third period.
Charlotte proceeded to rattle off four-straight goals to flip a two-goal deficit into a two-goal lead. Two of those tallies came from McDonough, who completed his hat trick with 4:51 left in regulation.
Marc Johnstone pulled the Penguins within one with an extra-attacker goal and 21.4 seconds left on the clock.
Filip Larsson made 31 saves in his Penguins debut. Chris Driedger also posted 31 saves for the Checkers.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next game is tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, Oct. 13, against the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Penguins aim to bounce back against the T-Birds at 3:00 p.m. at MassMutual Center.
The Penguins’ next home game is on Friday, Oct. 18, when they take on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The first matchup of the season between the Keystone State rivals is also the first Eyewitness News Fan Friday of the season, featuring $2 select draft beers on sale form 6:00-7:30 p.m. courtesy of Coors Light and postgame player autographs presented by Northeast Music Center.
Puck drop between the Penguins and Phantoms is slated for 7:05 p.m. at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
Season-ticket packages for the Penguins’ 2024-25 season are on sale now. Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbook and Premium Seating plans are available by reaching out to the Penguins directly 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.
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