WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – It doesn’t come with a trophy or a banner, but the Pittsburgh Penguins were defending their “championship” from the year prior at this month’s 2024 Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, New York.
The title hung in the balance of last game at the event, featuring the Penguins and the host Buffalo Sabres. After a hat trick by Avery Hayes pulled Pittsburgh out of a multi-goal hole, a four-on-four session opened up the playing surface and put momentum up for grabs.
Tristan Broz and Ville Koivunen stepped on the ice and made sure to seize that momentum for the Penguins. Broz dipsy-doodled to draw attention of defenders, before darting the puck to an open Koivunen, who had enough space to rifle a wrist shot under the cross bar.
And then they did it again.
Later in the game, with the teams once again skating at four-on-four, Koivunen and Broz connected for another tally. This time, it was Broz on the finish after a slick feed from his Finnish teammate, and that goal put the game of reach for Buffalo.
After the game, new Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins head coach had a creative way of describing the pair’s dazzling chemistry.
“It looked like street hockey,” MacDonald said. “It was elite plays by both guys. [Broz’s] release there, the two-touch backhand, forehand to the low blocker was unbelievable.”
The duo put their chemistry on display again in Pittsburgh’s preseason opener, as Broz and Koivunen combined to set up the Penguins’ first goal of the preseason on Saturday.
They’re quickly compiling highlights in these exhibition contests, a far cry from the crucible both Broz and Koivunen were thrust into with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last spring.
After winning the NCAA National Championship with the University of Denver, Broz signed an entry-level contract with Pittsburgh and joined its AHL affiliate for the Calder Cup Playoffs. Koivunen, who was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Jake Guentzel trade, caught a flight across the Atlantic Ocean to Northeast Pennsylvania once his Finnish club team was eliminated from the Liiga playoffs.
New teammates, new coaches, new surroundings, and a whole lot of pressure to immediately succeed in a playoff setting.
Koivunen produced the Penguins’ only goal in Game 1, then added a gorgeous assist in Game 2. Broz was held pointless. And in devastating fashion, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was eliminated from the postseason in two games.
Even though their first foray in Black and…
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