WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — It was the AHL equivalent of a Game 7 and the Pittsburgh Penguins prospects that fill the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins roster flexed their potential in the biggest game of the season. Oh, and Tristan Broz repeated his big game credentials with a brilliant performance.
From the opening puck drop, the Penguins overwhelmed the Springfield Thunderbirds 8-1 at Mohegan Arena Saturday.
“We had 20 f**king players playing well,” coach Kirk MacDonald.
Big Game Broz
Tristan Broz, 23, is finishing his second full season of pro hockey, but before he arrived in Wilkes-Barre, he led Denver to the 2024 NCAA national championship by scoring a pair of overtime goals in the tournament. And in the afterglow of a championship with coach David Carle, Broz signed his entry level contract and reported immediately to WBS.
After a couple of disappointing play-in series losses over the last two years, Broz and his fellow Penguins prospects are finally asserting themselves in the postseason and will play the Toronto Marlies or Cleveland Monsters in the Eastern Conference Final.
But Broz. Four points, including a pair of goals. It was he who was the assassin that ended Springfield’s season.
After creating a couple of scoring chances in the opening minutes, Broz made his own luck at 3:56 when he seized the lane in the slot, dragging a defenseman with him. The defenseman blocked Broz’s short pass attempt across the slot, but Broz kept moving forward and the puck followed.
It became a very short breakaway, but Broz adjusted and beat goalie Georgii Romanov with a backhand deke.
The goal was red meat to the Penguins and Broz.
“I can’t describe it. There just a feeling all day,” said coach Kirk MacDonald. “But you could just tell. They knew. They were ready. We had some adversity, and they were like enough’s enough. We’re going to come out and put our foot down.”
After more swarming attack, Rutger McGroarty beat a pinching defenseman to the puck and sprung Broz and Harrison Brunicke on a two-on-one. Just as the defenseman tried to take away the pass option, Broz slipped it to his right, perfectly on Brunicke’s stick.
Brunicke scored his second playoff goal when he blistered a top corner wrister past Romanov. It is not an exaggeration to say that referees were checking the integrity of the netting and Romanov’s water bottle after the shot.
More on Brunicke–much more–in the Grades section.
Later in the first period, Broz showed some puck poise on the power play. He was the bumper in the slot, but realized he had a few feet of space. Rather than dishing back to the wall or point, he pivoted and in the same motion, picked the corner stick side for a 3-0 lead at 16:37 of the first.
The Penguins added a late goal with 20 seconds remaining in the first period when defenseman Finn Harding barely kept the puck in the zone and Rafael Harvey-Pinard quickly buried the rebound.
WBS held serve in the second. They settled some wild play at the start of the period and stayed above the puck for the remainder. Atley Calvert slipped a rebound into the cage late in the second for a 5-0 lead.
The Penguins kept Sergei Murashov clean, and most of his saves were more routine than challenging, though he made a couple of dandies early in the second.
By and large, the game was decided in the first period and cemented when WBS settled down in the second. From there, it was a matter of coasting home, which they did.
Bill Zonnon sprung Ville Koivunen for a short breakaway behind the defense early in the third period. On a WBS power play, the penalty killers focused on Zonnon at the top of the zone, but he threaded a pass to Koivunen at full speed. Koivunen swept around Vadim Zherenko to make it 6-0. Oh, and Broz assisted.
Shortly after Koivunen’s tally, Springfield broke the shutout with a long-range goal that deflected off forward Mikhail Ilyin.
Koivunen scored a late goal, as did Rafeal Harvey-Pinard, to cap the scoring, and the WBS Penguins advanced to the ECF.
Note: WBS Penguins top defenseman Owen Pickering did not play due to injury. Sebastian Aho dressed in his place. When asked to clarify Pickering’s injury, MacDonald quipped, “Whole body.”
MacDonald said Pickering was crushed, but he was in too much pain for the team to let him play. They hope to have him for Game One, but are confident he’ll return at some point in the series.
Both MacDonald and Broz talked about the team rallying around Pickering.
“Not that it helped, but Pick was devastated. And you could feel–like, his buddies were not going to let him go out like this,” MacDonald said.
Penguins Prospects
Tristan Broz: A+
Broz was quiet after the Penguins claimed a 4-0 lead. Sheesh, eh?
Sometimes it is obvious that a player is going to have a game. Sometimes, you can just see the puck offering its willing obedience like a trained puppy to follow the player around the ice. Broz commanded the first period with attacking rushes, strong strides past defenseman into the zone, and pinpoint passes.
Most importantly, he finished his chances, and he set up Brunicke with a chance that would have been criminal to miss.
“These are the types of games you love to play in,” was about all the unusually concise Broz had to say. “When you’re a kid on the ice or in the garage, you dream of (big) games.”
After the score was lopsided, Broz retrenched to a proper defensive role, and his line with McGroarty and Avery Hayes shutdown Springfield. Call it Broz’s signature game in the Penguins organization.
Harrison Brunicke: A
The Penguins defenseman is a different player from his struggles in the fall. There are no mistakes, there are no shaky pinches or overaggressive efforts that leave him exposed.
When Springfield tried to take him deep, he was able to step quickly to pinch off the rush on the wall.
Brunicke is noticeably stronger. Not just more defensively responsible, but more aware. That’s a big difference. He’s now playing a man’s game rather than a kid playing up to his competition.
Bill Zonnon: Observations
Zonnon wasn’t necessarily an impact player in the first 30 minutes as he and Atley Calvert were spotted with fourth-line duty, but that can be a tough game, too. The obvious things about Zonnon are his awareness–he doesn’t get out of position or chase the game; he’s where he should be.
Also, he’s a little bit gangly. He’ll need to gain weight this summer to be assertive in an NHL training camp, but his speed is deceptive. Because he’s tall and on the slender side, he might not look like he’s fast, but if you look closely, he covers a lot of ice in a short time and his sweater flaps in the wind.
He made a spectacular pass to Koivunen for the power play goal. In fact, he made a few nifty little passes throughout the game, too. Not big time plays, but sneaky little moments that kept the puck moving in the right direction.
Categorized:Penguins Prospects
