Wilkes Weekly: Even up weekend on the road

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins split their two-game road trip, falling 4-3 to the Utica Comets before rebounding with a 5-0 shutout against the Hershey Bears. Against Utica, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton surrendered a 3-1 lead, conceding a late game-winner with just 30.8 seconds left. They bounced back emphatically against Hershey behind a 43-save shutout from goaltender Taylor Gauthier, alongside goals from Melvin Fernström, Bill Zonnon, Rutger McGroarty, Mikhail Ilyin, and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard.

Writer Jim Rixner highlights an emerging goaltending discrepancy ten games into the AHL season between Gauthier and Joel Blomqvist. Blomqvist holds a 3.41 GAA and an .864 save percentage through five starts, whereas Gauthier boasts a 2.02 GAA and a .939 save percentage. Sitting third in points percentage within their division, the Penguins next face the first-place Charlotte Checkers for a weekend series.