Lukas Bengtsson just can't catch a break.
After missing most of last season with a rare POTS diagnosis that left him too sick to get out of bed some days, Bengtsson was finally healthy and looking forward to a chance to play a full season in 2017-18.
For 20 games this season, Bengtsson didn't look like a player who missed almost all of last season. He played on the team's top defensive pairing, as well as the penalty kill and power play units. He racked up nine assists. He was one of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's top defensemen.
Then, at a practice in early December, his goals for a healthy season were derailed.
"We played three-on-three, and I poke-checked the puck. I don't know who it was on our team," he laughed when he recalled the story to me this week. "I just bounced into him or he bounced into my stick. Somehow my wrist got twisted."
"It didn't feel that bad when it happened, but later on that night, the pain started coming," he said. "After X-rays and a MRI, it was worse than we thought."
Bengtsson had partially torn two ligaments in his left wrist. He was in a splint for five or six weeks. He went back home to Sweden for some time to see his family, and did his off-ice workouts there.
When Bengtsson returned to Wilkes-Barre and the splint came off, he said it was only a matter of two weeks before he was "ready to roll" again. His left wrist still gets sore, but he said that the doctors told him it was to be expected, and he can work on exercises to regain his strength.
I spoke to Bengtsson on Thursday, after his first two games back in action, and he said he didn't find it too difficult to become acclimated to playing in real games again. Compared to his experience last year, this was nothing.
"Of course it was frustrating, but at least I could work out and practice when I had this injury," he said. "Last year it was just laying in bed and stuff. Of course it was mentally tough to get this again after just 20 games played. But you got to try to stay as positive as you can and try to get something good out of it."
Someone who was instrumental in Bengtsson's recovery was Tom Kostopoulos, the captain. Kostopoulos was also dealing with an upper-body injury over a similar time frame, and the 39-year-old's work ethic pushed Bengtsson during his recovery.
"It's exciting being a younger guy seeing how hard he works to get back," Bengtsson said. "That's probably one reason why he can still play. He works really hard. He's the oldest guy on the team, and he's still one of the guys first on the ice. It's really impressive how he fuels the young guys with how much work you need to do."
Just over a minute into Bengtsson's third game back, the day after we spoke, he was dealt another blow:
VIDEO: This set the tempo for @AmerksHockey tonight.
Less than 90 seconds into the game, Colin Blackwell (@CB_63) delivers a HUGE (clean) hit on @WBSPenguins Lukas Bengtsson.@TheAHL @News_8 pic.twitter.com/UiEup1EV0Q
— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) February 17, 2018
Bengtsson left the game immediately, and sat out Saturday and Sunday's games as well. Details on the extent of Bengtsson's injury aren't yet known. Colin Blackwell wasn't penalized for the hit, but he was suspended for two games afterwards.
While it must be an incredibly disheartening development in an already frustrating season for Bengtsson, he seems to maintain a positive outlook and hasn't lost any of his drive despite his bad luck.
THOMAS IN PYEONGCHANG
Christian Thomas and Team Canada kicked off preliminary play at the Olympics this week. Canada defeated Switzerland in the opener, 5-1, and lost to the Czech Republic in a shootout, 3-2. Thomas was held scoreless in both games.
On Sunday, Thomas scored the opening goal against South Korea, a goal that eventually stood to be the game-winner:
The win clinched Canada's berth in the quarterfinals. They'll face the winner of Finland and South Korea Wednesday morning at 7 a.m.
Bengtsson said that he and his teammates are keeping up with Thomas, despite the time difference.
"The time difference is kind of hard," he said. "But we've been seeing a little bit in the mornings at the rink. The Canada game was on a little this morning, so we watched a little Christian Thomas. The TV is always on in the mornings at the rink and after practice."
With guys from a few different countries on Wilkes-Barre's roster, is there some friendly chirping going on at the rink?
"Yeah, of course it goes on in the locker room," Bengtsson laughed. "It's back-and-forth there every day."
MORE FROM WILKES-BARRE
• Feb. 16: at Rochester, 12-3 loss (no, that isn't a typo)
• Feb. 17: vs. Utica, 5-4 overtime loss
• Feb. 18: at Lehigh Valley, 4-1 loss
• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton recalled forwards Cody Wydo and Freddie Tiffels from Wheeling on Thursday. Tiffels' recall was his 10th roster move of the season. At the time of Wydo's recall, he was on a 12-game point streak and the team's leading scorer.
• This week, the Penguins acquired forward Joseph Cramarossa from the Stockton Heat in exchange for forward Colin Smith. Cramarossa recorded three goals and seven assists in 37 games with Stockton this season. Smith tallied five goals and 13 assists in 35 games with Wilkes-Barre.
• Oh, my. Where to start with Friday's game? The 12 goals allowed were the most in Wilkes-Barre team history, and the most allowed by any AHL team since Dec. 8, 2002. Casey DeSmith started the game, and was pulled after 22 minutes, allowing four goals on 14 shots. Anthony Peters allowed eight goals on 23 shots in relief.
Wilkes-Barre was given three power plays during the game, and scored one power play goal. Rochester had nine power play opportunities, and capitalized on six of them. Daniel Sprong was a minus-5 in the game.
• After losing defensemen Bengtsson, Frank Corrado, and Chris Summers to injury in Friday's blowout, Wilkes-Barre recalled defensemen Dylan Zink, Kevin Schulze, and Jeff Taylor from Wheeling.
• The Penguins showed a bit more fight the following night against Utica, even with their depleted lineup. Their efforts (including 35 saves on 40 shots from DeSmith) earned them a point in the standings, but Utica eventually sealed the win in overtime. Cramarossa scored his first goal as a Penguin in the loss, in his second game with the team.
• With the three defensemen (among others) still missing from the lineup, the Penguins (Nailers?) were just outmatched on Sunday against the division-leading Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They only had 23 shots on net all game, including only four in the third period. They were unable to solve the Phantoms' John Muse until the third period, when Jean-Sebastien Dea scored shorthanded. The Penguins weren't able to capitalize on any of their seven power play opportunities, and the Phantoms scored on two of their eight power play opportunities.
• Lines and defense pairings from Sunday:
Thomas Di Pauli - Jean-Sebastien Dea - Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson - Jarrett Burton - Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson - Greg McKegg - Joey Cramarossa
Cody Wydo - Gage Quinney - Troy Josephs
Kevin Spinozzi - Ethan Prow
Jeff Taylor - Kevin Czuczman
Dylan Zink - Jarred Tinordi
• After this week, the Penguins dropped to second place in the Atlantic Division, now trailing the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
• The Penguins (30-15-4-1) have another three-in-three this coming weekend. They'll host the Rockford IceHogs (26-22-3-3) on Friday, travel to Syracuse (30-18-2-3) on Saturday, then host the Hershey Bears (21-25-3-4) on Sunday.
GOALS OF THE WEEK
Greg McKegg and Daniel Sprong teamed up for this goal on Friday, McKegg's fifth goal of the season:
Garrett Wilson bat the puck in on Saturday:
SAVE OF THE WEEK
DeSmith was in better form on Saturday night and made a number of big saves in Wilkes-Barre's overtime loss:
BEYOND THE AHL
Jordy Bellerive, the 18 year-old center signed by Pittsburgh last summer after attending development camp and the prospect tournament, is having an outstanding season with the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes. Bellerive has recorded 41 goals and 40 assists in 57 games, far surpassing his totals from the previous season (27 goals, 29 assists) in 13 fewer games.
Bellerive's strengths include his speed and puck possession, which could make him a good fit for the Penguins system in a few years. Although he's on the smaller side at 5-foot-10, he's not afraid of getting physical. One thing that has been a problem for Bellerive throughout his junior career has been his discipline. This season he's racked up 65 penalty minutes in 57 games, not far off from last season's pace of 86 penalty minutes in 70 games.
Earlier this month Bellerive led the Hurricanes to an impressive comeback against the Edmonton Oil Kings. The Hurricanes trailed the Oil Kings 2-0 with only five minutes remaining in the game. Bellerive scored his first hat trick of the season in only 3:40 to give the Hurricanes the win. You can check out the highlights from that game here:
TOP PICK TRACKER
• Defenseman Zachary Lauzon (second round, 2017) returned to game action on Feb. 14 after being out since Nov. 26 with a neck injury.
Zack is BACK!! C’est bon de te retrouver #29! pic.twitter.com/DmpVlrqGTF
— Huskies RN (@HuskiesRn) February 15, 2018
Lauzon was scoreless and an overall plus-2 in his first three games back. Even though he missed so much game action, he had been practicing and skating with the team in recent weeks and felt comfortable in his first game back.
"The legs were there. I had really prepared for that," he told the Rouyn-Noranda outlet La Frontière after his first game back. "After the first, I was a little tired, but I had a second wind afterwards."
Coach Gilles Bouchard liked what he saw from Lauzon, saying "It's never easy to come back after a long time. He got involved physically and did the simple things."
• Goaltender Filip Gustavsson (second round, 2016) and Luleå were off this week as the league takes its Olympic break and allows its stars to showcase their talents on an international stage. What a concept!
• Defenseman Connor Hall (third round, 2016) is week-to-week in Kitchener with an upper-body injury and did not play this week.
This week will take a look at enforcer Jeremy Beirnes. He's fun.
PROSPECT FUN THING
Sprong was fishing for DMs with that caption on Valentine's Day: