Wilkes-Barre/Scranton thanks fans after 101-point season ends in overtime loss
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's 101 points delivered a first-round bye and a 12-year return to the conference final before a 2-1 OT loss ended the run.
A 101-point season built more than a place in the standings for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. It gave the Penguins a first-round bye, carried them to 46 wins and the third-best record in the American Hockey League, and pushed them back into the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 12 years. The run ended with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Marlies in Game 6 on June 7, 2026, but the regular season had already changed the standard for what this team expects to be.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton finished 46-17-7-2, a pace good for 101 points and the fourth-best record in franchise history. The Penguins also cleared the 100-point mark for the first time since 2016-17, a sign that this group was not just winning, but sustaining it over months. That kind of consistency put the club near the top of the league for long stretches and set up the kind of playoff position every AHL team wants: time to reset, a rested roster and a path that could stretch deep into June.
The postseason answered with real pressure. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton reached the conference final for the first time in 12 years and had enough fight to make Toronto work for every inch. The Penguins’ Game 3 win at Coca-Cola Coliseum, a 5-3 result, showed they could punch back in the series, even though Toronto ultimately took the matchup 4-2. The Marlies went on to win the Richard F. Canning Trophy as Eastern Conference champions and advance to the 2026 Calder Cup Finals.
The final horn in Wilkes-Barre came after overtime, with the Penguins falling just short of the championship round on home ice at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. That is why the thank-you to fans carried extra weight. The season was shaped by nights in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, by the people in the building and the ones following from home, and by a roster that included names such as Aidan McDonough, Avery Hayes, Harrison Brunicke, Bo Groulx, Logan Shaw, Alex Nylander and Kirk MacDonald around the spring push. Toronto moved on, but the bigger story in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is that 101 points made next season look different before it even begins.
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