Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Chase Pietila controls the puck against Springfield during Game 5 of the AHL Atlantic Division Final on Saturday at Mohegan Arena. COURTESY OF THE WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON PENGUINS
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins mascot Tux before Game 5 of the AHL Atlantic Division Final on Saturday at Mohegan Arena. COURTESY OF THE WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON PENGUINS
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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Chase Pietila controls the puck against Springfield during Game 5 of the AHL Atlantic Division Final on Saturday at Mohegan Arena. COURTESY OF THE WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON PENGUINS
WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Tristan Broz and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins left no doubt.
Buoyed by a raucous home crowd, the Penguins dominated from opening faceoff to final buzzer and rolled to an 8-1 victory over the Springfield Thunderbirds in the fifth and deciding game of the AHL Calder Cup Atlantic Division Final series before 5,869 at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza on Saturday night.
A four-goal outburst in the first period — sparked by Broz — chased goalie Georgii Romanov, who had backstopped Springfield’s postseason surprising run through the first two rounds and four games of this series, and sent the Penguins on their way to the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Final. They will play the winner of the North Division Final between the Cleveland Monsters and Toronto Marlies. That series is tied, 2-2, with Game 5 scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 3 in Cleveland. Regardless of who wins that series, the Penguins will have home ice and host Games 1 and 2 next week.
Broz finished with two goals and two assists for the Penguins. Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Ville Koivunen also scored twice. Harrison Brunicke and Atley Calvert had the other goals. Finn Harding and Mikhail Ilyin each had two assists and goalie Sergei Murashov stopped 26 of 27 shots.
“Great start to finish. I’m really proud of the guys,” Penguins coach Kirk MacDonald said. “I don’t know how to describe it. All day you could feel it, you could just tell they were ready. They had some adversity, and it was almost like enough is enough. We’re going to put our foot down and announce our presence with authority right from the drop of the puck. That’s what we did.”
Broz made the loudest announcement with two goals and one assist in the tone-setting first period.
MacDonald wasn’t surprised. He said history has shown in both college and the pros that when the game or season is on the line, Broz rises to the occasion and gives his best effort.
“Those are the best games to play in,” Broz said. “The games you dream of playing growing up playing pond hockey, anytime in the basement, in the garage. Those are the moments you dream of, Game 7, or in this case Game 5. Do-or-die moments. I don’t think there’s any tension or any reason to get nervous. You’ve just got to let it all out, let it rip. I just love it.
“I was pretty confident in our group. I have a lot of faith in the guys we have in that locker room. You look up and down the lineup, we’ve got a pretty amazing team. Four lines that are all really great hockey players, bunch of great D-men and obviously a world-class goalie. I’m proud of how we all came out and responded.”
At 3:56 of the first period, Broz opened the scoring. Avery Hayes intercepted the puck at his blue line and skated 2-on-2 with Broz into the Springfield zone. He passed to Broz, who eluded the stick-check attempt of the Thunderbirds defenseman, skated in on Romanov and flipped a backhander over the goalie’s glove to make it 1-0.
A little less than four minutes later, Broz helped make it 2-0. He took a pass from Chase Pietila and broke up the ice 2-on-1 with defenseman Brunicke. He passed to Brunicke, who fired a shot past Romanov at 7:42 of the first.
“Part of my game is reading the offense. When I can go, I’m going to go,” Brunicke said. “There was a puck battle down low, the puck squeaked out and me and Broz broke 2-on-1. He found me and I was able to score.
“He’s a great player. Put us on his back a little bit, had a couple big goals and had a good game.”
However, Broz wasn’t done. A hooking penalty to Springfield’s Otto Stenberg put the Penguins on the power play. With time winding down in the advantage, Mikhail Ilyin centered a pass from the right-wing boards to Broz in the high slot at the top of the circles. Broz rifled a shot past Romanov into the top-left corner of the goal for his second of the period and a 3-0 advantage at 16:17.
As if Mohegan Arena wasn’t already loud enough, the fans nearly blew the roof off the building after the Penguins made it 4-0 with 20.4 seconds left in the first. Harding just barely kept the puck in at the blue line and fired a shot that Romanov saved. But the rebound went right to Harvey-Pinard alone in front and he buried it past Romanov.
After allowing four goals on 12 shots in the first period, Thunderbirds coach Steve Ott pulled Romanov in favor of Vadim Zherenko to begin the second period.
Springfield stepped things up in an attempt to try to mount a comeback, but Murashov stopped all 10 shots he faced in the period.
Late in the second, the Penguins made it 5-0. Aidan McDonough won a puck battle along the left-wing boards. Calvert picked it up at the left faceoff circle and sent a cross-ice pass to Harding, whose shot was stopped by Zherenko. But the rebound went to Calvert, who beat the fallen Zherenko to make it 5-0.
In the third period, there would be no miracle comeback by Springfield like in Game 2. The Penguins never let up and poured it on.
Koivunen scored a power-play goal at 2:52 for a 6-0 lead.
Akil Thomas, whose overtime goal in Game 2 capped the Springfield comeback, spoiled Murashov’s shutout bid when he picked up a loose puck off a turnover in the Penguins zone and beat the goalie at 4:30 of the third.
Moments later, the Thunderbirds thought they scored another. Murashov made a save, but couldn’t find the puck. It eventually trickled through him. However, the whistle blew right before a Springfield player put it in the net to keep it 6-1.
Desperately trying anything to mount a rally, Springfield pulled Zherenko for a sixth attacker with 12½ minutes remaining. But Harvey-Pinard foiled the strategy with an empty-net goal at 8:43, firing the puck from almost the goal line in the Penguins zone.
Another goal by Koivunen off a rebound at 10:42 capped the decisive victory for the Penguins.
As the final minute ticked down, Penguins fans gave their team a standing ovation that it had advanced.
“You could just feel the energy in the building,” MacDonald said. “It certainly gets the juices flowing and the guys feed off it. Even at the end of the game when everybody’s on their feet, it’s awesome. Everybody’s jumping on board and they’re more than welcome.”