AHL: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins vs. Springfield Thunderbirds | 12/14/2024

On a cold holiday season night, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins held their teddy bear toss game against the Springfield Thunderbirds.

First Period:

In the opening frame, rookie forward Rutger McGroarty made the teddy bears rain down on the Mohegan Sun Arena ice at 1:53. He was assisted by Joona Koppanen and Vasily Ponomarev. At 16:06, Emil Bemstrom scored his seventh goal of the season on a power play, off of the assist of Boris Katchouk and Ville Koivunen. There were no goals scored for Springfield during the opening frame.

First Period Penalties:

Nate Clurman- Tripping and Holding- Two Minutes

Dylan Peterson- Hooking- Two minutes

Second Period:

Opening the middle frame with scoring was Springfield’s Marcus Sylvegard at 5:17. He was assisted by Dalibor Dvorský and Aleksanteri Kaskimäki. Wilkes-Barre answered back at 8:33 when Valtteri Puustinen netted one past Vadim Zherenko on a power play. Ponomarev and Mac Hollowell earned the helpers. This was Hollowell’s 15th assist on the season thus far. At 19:41, Bemstrom netted one in past Zherenko again, with the assist coming from Filip Král and Koivunen.

Second Period Penalties:

Hugh McGing- Tripping- Two Minutes

Dan Renouf- Hooking- Two Minutes

Third Period:

Springfield came out swinging for the beginning of the final frame. Matthew Peca earned the second goal for Springfield off of the assist of Hugh McGing and Corey Schueneman at seventeen seconds. At 4:08, Scott Harrington earned his first goal of the season off of the assist of McGing and Matt Luff. At 18:04, Kaskimäki nets one past Larsson off of the assist of Luff on a power play goal.

Third Period Penalties:

Johnathan Gruden- Interference- Two Minutes

Mathias Laferriére- Hooking- Two Minutes

Isaac Belliveau- Slashing- Two Minutes

Ville Koivunen- Tripping- Two Minutes

Overtime:

At 4:27 of the overtime period, Emil Bemström netted his third goal of the game in past Zherenko, with the assist being awarded to Koivunen and Král.