Written by Davin Ridall
WILKES-BARRE, PA – The Hartford Wolf Pack entered the 2026-27 season under new leadership, hiring Jay Leach as head coach, and in their first regular season game of the year, they got a 5-2 road win over Lehigh Valley. They were able to keep that momentum going in their second game of the season, taking down the defending Atlantic Division champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 3-2, completing their opening weekend sweep.
Both of the Penguins’ opening weekend games ended in 3-2 home losses to division rivals. Along with that, the Penguins outshot the opposition drastically in both contests. Sunday’s matchup with Hartford featured 40 shots on net from the Penguins, 38 of which were denied by Hartford goaltender Callum Tung. This was now two straight games that the Penguins had 40 or more shots on goal, but only had two goals to show for it when the final scoresheet came out.
“The shots will start going in when we start getting into the blue paint,” Penguins head coach Kirk MacDonald said about the team’s number of shots. “Sometimes you’ve got to shoot yourself into possession, shoot yourself into momentum, and we’re too satisfied to play on the perimeter and to just make the nice play.”
Similarly to their opening night game against the Thunderbirds, the Penguins started fast offensively, outshooting Hartford 13-6 in the first frame, which included being up 12-3 in shots entering the final two minutes of the period. The only shot of the 13 that got past Tung was the first one, and it came from Jake Livanavage, who fired it from the blue line over the top of Tung’s right shoulder, giving the Penguins a 1-0 lead and giving Livanavage his first career AHL goal.
“Both nights we’ve come out really good in the first and it kind of felt like we didn’t get anything to show for it,” coach MacDonald said about the Penguins’ fast starts in their first two games. “It’s not easy, and I think at times based on the way last year went, I think the guys felt that it was going to be just easy.”
In their season opener, Hartford found themselves trailing 2-1 early in the second period, before flipping the momentum with 4 unanswered goals to close out the game. The Wolf Pack saw a similar situation against the Penguins, turning a 1-0 deficit in the first period, to a 2-1 lead in the second period.
Just 21 seconds into the middle frame, Owen Pickering was sent to the box for a holding penalty, and just under a minute later, Hartford capitalized with a goal from Marc Del Gaizo. Penguins’ head coach Kirk MacDonald took advantage of the AHL’s new rule, challenging that the play was offsides, however after about a five minute long review the goal was confirmed, sending the Wolf Pack to a second straight power play that was ultimately killed off.
The score remained tied at one goal a piece for another 13 minutes before Hartford took their first lead of the game. After chasing the puck down behind the net, Cole Beaudoin made a blind backhand pass from behind the goal to Taylor Raddysh who one timed the puck past Penguins’ goaltender Taylor Gauthier, giving the Wolf Pack a 2-1 lead.
Despite Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s number of shots in the game up to this point, coach Kirk MacDonald noted a severe lack of urgency from the team to create offense, both on even strength and man advantage opportunities.
“We’re putting a lot of pucks to the net, but I don’t think we’re good at getting to the net,” coach MacDonald said. “We were far too satisfied with the perimeter, so when we did get a puck to the net, we really didn’t have a chance to create a second-chance opportunity. We did a good maintaining possession and tilting the ice most of the weekend, we just didn’t get to the net like we needed to.”
Even though Hartford was outshot by the Penguins 14-6 in the third period, the Wolf Pack still were able to create more high quality chances in their limited opportunities. Nathan Aspinall’s tally with 2:37 left in regulation ended up being the difference for the Wolf Pack in the win, as it gave Hartford a 3-1 cushion in the late stages.
Hartford committed two penalties in the final three minutes of the game, giving the Penguins life late in the contest. Shortly after the first penalty, the Penguins pulled Gauthier to create a 6 on 4 advantage, and just over a minute later Avery Hayes brought Wilkes-Barre/Scranton back within a goal.
A tripping penalty on Hartford’s Anton Blidh with just 39 seconds left gave Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the opportunity to pull Gauthier once again and create a second 6 on 4 power play. The Penguins gave the Wolf Pack everything they could in the final seconds, but their rally attempt was just too little too late.
Hartford plays their next game this Friday, October 9th, staying on the road for the third straight game taking on the Providence Bruins. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next game comes this Saturday, October 10th, on the road against this same Hartford Wolf Pack team.
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