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Filip Larsson, WBS Penguins (John Mrakovcich/Hartford Wolf Pack)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Are Proving They Can Win With Defense

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Mike Fink | Last updated Mar 24, 2025 11:00 AM ET

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are one of the best teams in the American Hockey League (AHL). That’s not a shock to anyone who has watched them this season. They have a 38-16-6-1 record, which is the second-best in the Atlantic Division and the offense is one of the best in the league, averaging 3.32 goals per game. The Penguins score and they score in bunches.

What might come as a surprise is how their defense has looked lately. The Penguins allow only 2.93 goals per game this season which isn’t a top-of-the-league mark. However, they allowed only two goals in their March 22 win over the Hershey Bears and then only two goals in their March 23 win against the Bridgeport Islanders. The ability to defend goes a long way in this league and will make a difference for a Penguins team looking to make a Calder Cup run.

Penguins’ Defense Stepping Up

The defensive unit is coming into form and looking like a well-rounded group. Owen Pickering, Filip Kral, and Mac Hollowell lead the top two pairings while Sebastian Aho and Jack St. Ivany round out the unit. The Penguins create turnovers in the neutral zone and defensive zone while also moving the puck up the ice to turn defense into scoring chances the other way.

The Penguins play fast, and it forces the defense to pick up the pace as well. The skaters use speed to their advantage as they’ll often chase down opponents on the rush and backcheck. The defense allows plenty of scoring chances, but they also create a lot of turnovers to make up for it (such is the give-and-take of life in the fast lane).

Along with the defense stepping up in their zone and when they don’t have the puck, the unit contributes on the offensive end of the ice as well. In the 5-2 win over the Islanders on March 23, Aho stood out against his former team with three assists to help fuel the dominant performance. Two-way hockey is key to success in the AHL and the defense embodies it for the Penguins.

Reliable Goaltending

The Pittsburgh Penguins have struggled in the net and poor goaltending is letting them down. They would be in the playoff conversation, but the struggles of Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic leave them on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. That’s been far from the case with their AHL team.

Filip Larsson has been great all season. He has a .916 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.64 goals-against average (GAA) on 700 shots and has five shutouts. In his recent start against the Islanders, he didn’t face a lot of pressure, but he got the job done with 24 saves on 26 shots.

Then there’s the newcomer, Sergei Murashov, who has been incredible in the net. He’s won all 10 of his starts since joining the team and has a .916 SV% and a 2.56 GAA while playing his best hockey against the toughest competition. He put together a 27-save shutout on Jan. 29 against the Bears and in his latest start on March 22 against the Bears, he stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced to allow the Penguins to win 3-2 in overtime.

The duo has looked good enough and is allowing the Penguins to win low-scoring games. Throw in Joel Blomqvist, who is inactive at the moment but sure to return for the home stretch, and the team has three goaltenders capable of carrying them. It’s just a matter of finding the one for a playoff run and sticking with him.

Taking the Penguins’ Great Defensive Play With a Grain of Salt

They shut down the Islanders, especially in the third period where the opposition looked hapless on offense. However, whenever anyone faces the Islanders, they must adjust for inflation. It’s a team that has 14 wins on the season and an offense that averages only 2.62 goals per game. In short, the Penguins limiting them to only one goal is nothing special.

It’s also worth pointing out the Penguins lost on March 21 to the Providence Bruins by a score of 10-2. While the defense has looked good in the past two games, it was nonexistent a few games before that. The Bruins also weren’t an outlier, the Bears scored five goals against the Penguins on March 1 and the Syracuse Crunch scored five on March 9. This defensive unit had plenty of rough games mixed in with dominant performances.

The Penguins don’t have the best defense in the league. That said, they have a group that can win low-scoring games when needed. In the Calder Cup Playoffs, that’s what they’ll need. The teams that make deep playoff runs prove they can win high-scoring games but also when the games slow down, they can win them as well. The Penguins are proving with their past two games that they can also rely on great defense and better goaltending.