Tristan Broz scored twice in a four-goal first half, setting the stage for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to finish off Springfield with a dramatic 8-1 victory in Game 5 of the Atlantic Division finals at Mohegan Arena on Saturday evening.
The Penguins will face the winner of Sunday’s Game 5 in the North Division between Cleveland and Toronto. The Eastern Conference Finals begin in Wilkes-Barre next week, marking the Pens’ first conference finals appearance since 2014.
Broz opened the scoring 3:56 into the contest, driving through the Springfield defense and getting a shot past. George Romanov.
Then he helped Harrison BrunickeThe goal at 7:43 came off a 2-on-one to make it 2-0, making the Thunderbirds’ head coach Steve Ott to use his downtime.
Broz scored his second goal on the power play as he found himself alone between the hoops when he put a wrister on Romanov’s blocker at 3:43 of the opening frame.
Rafael Harvey-Pinardback in the Penguins’ lineup after missing the last five games with an injury, scored his first goal of the postseason with 20.4 seconds left before halftime.
Atley Calvert extended Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s lead to 5-0 when he put the backup pitcher through Vadim Zherenko at 17:21 in the second half, and Places to stay in KoivunenA power-play tally at 2:52 of the third made it 6-0. Broz got an assist on that goal for his fourth point of the night.
Akhil Thomas finally got Springfield on the board at 4:30, but Harvey-Pinard hit an empty-netter from 170 feet and Koivunen scored the eighth goal with 9:18 left.
Sergei Murashov stopped 26 of 27 shots for the Penguins, finishing the series with a 1.55 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage in five games.
The seven-goal margin of victory matched the most ever in a Calder Cup Playoff game won, joining Grand Rapids’ 7-0 win over Houston in 2013 and Quebec’s 8-1 victory over Providence in 1969.
The Thunderbirds began and ended their Calder Cup Playoffs with an 8-1 loss; In 10 games, they went 7-3, allowed 16 goals and knocked off two of the top five teams in the AHL.
(WB/Scranton wins series, 3-2)
Game 1 – Tues., May 12 – WB/SCRANTON 2, Springfield 0
Game 2 – Thursday, May 14 – Springfield 4, WB/SCRANTON 3 (OT)
Game 3 – Tue., May 19 – WB/Scranton 2, SPRINGFIELD 1
Game 4 – Thursday, May 21 – SPRINGFIELD 2, WB/Scranton 0
Game 5 – Sat., May 23 – WB/SCRANTON 8, Springfield 1
