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Pierre Olivier-Joseph is flashing the promise that made him a first-round draft pick in 2017.
Not coincidentally, the Penguins are in the midst of one of their best stretches of the season.
With the game tied in the third period Friday night, Joseph jumped in on a play to score the winner in a 4-3 victory over Bridgeport at Mohegan Sun Arena.
It was the third straight game that Joseph, a talented defenseman, scored a goal, giving Wilkes-Barre/Scranton four straight wins over the past week.
Bridgeport had already erased Penguins leads of 2-0 and 3-2 heading into the third. With 11:41 left in regulation, Joseph recognized the Islanders were bunched up in their own zone and pinched in from the blue line to some open ice.
Another former first-round draft pick, Sam Poulin, saw Joseph hitting the right circle and quickly found him as Joseph snapped home his sixth goal of the season.
Poulin has also been heating up for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and he set up the opening goal of the night with a nifty, no-look pass from behind the net to Alex Nylander, who scored his 15th.
Jan Drozg added his second goal in as many games not two minutes later, and the Penguins led 2-0 just 3:27 into the game.
Bridgeport, though, bounced back before the first period ended on goals from Kyle MacLean and Erik Brown.
And when Anthony Angello restored the Penguins’ lead early in the second period after a brutal Islanders turnover, former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton winger Paul Thompson tied the game later in the frame.
Joseph then beat NHL veteran Cory Schneider for the game-winner.
Tommy Nappier got the win in net after Alex D’Orio was tasked with starting the previous eight games. Nappier allowed three goals on 13 shots in the first two periods but stopped all 12 he faced in the third to close it out.
The Penguins finished with a 40-25 edge in shots.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will go for five wins in a row when the homestand continues Saturday with a 6:05 p.m. game against Providence.