The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to a 2-1 start this season, and they have played a bit better than most had expected up to this point.
And their AHL affiliate is off to a hot start, too.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins earned back-to-back victories – first a 2-1 win over the Hartford Wolfpack and then a 4-1 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. And there are already 12 different players who have been involved on the scoresheet for WBS.
On Saturday, forward Valtteri Puustinen opened the season scoring for the WBS Penguins in the second period with the Penguins trailing Hartford, 1-0. They carried the tie into second intermission, and then, a little more than three minutes into the final frame, defenseman Owen Pickering shot one from the point and through traffic to write the final 2-1 score.
Then, in game two against the Phantoms, one of the young forwards who nearly cracked the NHL roster out of training camp really shone through.
Aidan McDonough registered the first goal of the game on the power play a tick more than four minutes in, and the primary assist came from Tristan Broz, who impressed many with his NHL training camp. Avery Hayes – another camp standout – tallied WBS’s second power play goal of the game on a feed from Ville Koivunen, who was playing in his first AHL game since being re-assigned from Pittsburgh.
Helge Grans cut the deficit to 2-1 for Lehigh Valley on a power play of their own late in the second period, but in the third, Broz took it home. In the early part of the third, he pounced on a rebound in the slot off of a Koivunen shot, and then he added the empty-net goal at the end of the night to cap off the 4-1 win – giving him three points on the evening.
Penguins’ Prospect Shines In First KHL Action Of Season
There are several Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospects who have been making headlines as of late.
On the young season, there are four players with multiple points on the season in Broz (3), Hayes (2), Koivunen (2), and Sam Poulin (2). WBS’s next set of games starts Friday, when they play a weekend back-to-back against Hartford and the Bridgeport Islanders.
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Going into Pittsburgh Penguins’ training camp this season, it’s safe to say that most folks did not have 2025 11th overall pick Ben Kindel making the NHL roster out of the gate.
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