The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins suffered a heartbreaking late-game collapse on Wednesday night, falling 4-2 to the Toronto Marlies in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. Despite dominating the pace of play and outshooting the Marlies by a staggering 36-16 margin, the Penguins were repeatedly stymied by Toronto goaltender Artur Akhtyamov, who turned aside 34 shots. With the game deadlocked late in the third period, the Marlies struck twice in the final two minutes of regulation to steal the opening matchup of the best-of-seven series.
Alex Alexeyev opened the scoring for the Penguins late in the first period, but Toronto answered with goals from Easton Cowan and William Villeneuve to take a 2-1 lead into the third. Rutger McGroarty tied things up for the Penguins early in the final frame by banking a second-chance shot off the Toronto netminder from below the goal line. However, Michael Pezzetta scored the game-winner from the slot with just 1:36 remaining, and an empty-net goal by Logan Shaw sealed the victory for the visitors. Fans can hear the Penguins try to bounce back in Game 2 this Friday night at 7:05 p.m. live on WILK Newsradio at 103.1 FM, 910 AM in Scranton, 980 AM in Wilkes-Barre, or via the free Audacy app.
