It's official.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will be taking on the Charlotte Checkers in the best-of-5 first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.
The schedule for the first round is as follows:
Game 1 – Friday, Apr. 20 – W-B/Scranton at Charlotte, 7:00 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, Apr. 21 – W-B/Scranton at Charlotte, 6:00 p.m.
Game 3 – Thursday, Apr. 26 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 p.m.
*Game 4 – Saturday, Apr. 28 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 p.m.
*Game 5 – Sunday, Apr. 29 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 3:05 p.m.
*if necessary
This will be the second time the Penguins meet the Checkers in the postseason. They previously met in the second round of the 2011 playoffs, and the Checkers won that series in six games.
After Sunday's game, head coach Clark Donatelli called Charlotte (more accurately "Chah-lotte", with his Boston accent) a "really skilled, really fast" team.
What do the Penguins need to do to take this series? What factors might give Wilkes-Barre an edge or hurt them in this round? Here are my keys:
1. This is going to be a tight one.
There's little margin for error in any playoff series, but even less in the first round of the AHL's playoffs, which follows a best-of-5 format due to travel. It only takes three wins to advance in this one.
Wilkes-Barre finished the regular season with a 45-22-6-3 record for 99 points, while Charlotte finished with a 46-26-1-3 record and 96 points.
Charlotte won the regular season series with Wilkes-Barre 3-1, with all games being decided by three or fewer goals.
The teams last met on March 14, and Charlotte has added additional reinforcements since. With the Hurricanes missing the playoffs, defensemen Haydn Fleury and Roland McKeown and forwards Valentin Zykov and Nicolas Roy were reassigned to Charlotte. They bring a combined 88 games of NHL action this season with them, most from Fleury, who spent almost the entire season with Carolina.
Donatelli said on Sunday that he didn't think the regular season matchups between the two teams matter, since so much changes over the course of a season.
The Penguins' first-round opponent wasn't decided until Sunday, but assistant coach J.D. Forrest told me that the team had been doing some preparations for either Charlotte or Providence leading up to this week. He called it a "luxury" that Wilkes-Barre doesn't play Game 1 until Friday, so the team can really streamline their focus on Charlotte.
"We'll take a look and see what made us successful against them and maybe what areas we think we need to be better at, and then also look at some of there more recent games," Forrest said. "It's important for us that we still focus on our game and what we do well, and just make some little adjustments to maximize what we can do against our opponent."
2. Win one on the road.
Wilkes-Barre locked up the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division, giving them home ice advantage in this round.
The formatting for the league's playoffs is not consistent across the board. Teams either play a 2-2-1 format or a 2-3 format, as long as building availability allows it. If a series is a 2-3 format, the higher seed can choose between playing the first two games or the last three games at home.
Yeah.
The Penguins were given the 2-3 format due to the distance between Wilkes-Barre and Charlotte, and will play Game 3 at home, and Games 4 and 5 at home if necessary.
Wilkes-Barre finished the regular season with the second-best home record in the league, 26-10-1-1 for a .711 point percentage. They didn't see nearly the same success on the road this season, finishing only 19-12-5-2 for a .592 point percentage.
Even with all of that success at home in the regular season, they don't want to come into Wilkes-Barre already down 0-2 in the series, with every home game then being a must-win situation.
3. Wilkes-Barre's special teams need to figure it out. Fast.
Wilkes-Barre didn't earn their No. 2 seed with any help from their special teams units this regular season, that's for sure.
The power play finished next-to-last in the league in the regular season at a dismal 13.8 percent, only scoring 41 power play goals all season. Daniel Sprong scored 11 of them.
The penalty kill finished 20th in the league, at 82 percent. One of the team's best penalty killers, Zach Aston-Reese, is in Pittsburgh.
Forrest said that one of the team's main downfalls in their first-round exit against Providence last season was the penalty kill. The Penguins were shorthanded 22 times in five games last year, and had the worst penalty kill in the postseason at 72.7 percent.
"Last year was crazy because we finished the regular season so well, our penalty kill was outstanding in the regular season, and then we couldn't seem to get a real important stop against them," Forrest said. "We have to make sure we're ready to go with our penalty kill, and having our discipline so they don't get a lot of chances on the power play."
Forrest said that the power play and the penalty kill have been one of the team's main focuses in practices and games leading up to the playoffs. Now, it is more important than ever to find success in those areas.
"Everything just gets so tight in five-on-five in the playoffs that you really need to capitalize on those power play opportunities and make sure that your penalty kill is doing their best to keep them off the board," Forrest said.
4. Goaltending? Not a problem.
The Penguins have three capable goaltenders in Tristan Jarry, Michael Leighton, and Anthony Peters.
The coaching staff has confidence in all three of their goaltenders, and as J.D. Forrest said, it will lead to some tough decisions.
"We have three really solid goalies," he said. "You could throw any one of those guys in the net and they could steal you a win. It's a luxury to have, it also makes for some tough decisions for Clarky and us. ... Definitely, we have three really good goalies, and they've helped us, all three, throughout the season."
Jarry played 16 games this season, recording a 3.05 goals against average and a .901 save percentage. Leighton played 20 games with a 2.99 goals against average and a .886 save percentage. Peters appeared in 24 games, and recorded a 2.71 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.
Each goaltender started a game in this weekend's three-in-three. Jarry made 28 saves on 30 shots on Friday, Leighton made 30 saves on 31 shots on Saturday, and Peters stopped 27 of 29 on Sunday.
Jarry will likely be the starter for Game 1, with Leighton backing up. The Penguins will be in good hands, though, if a goaltender gets injured, recalled, or needs a night off.
5. Don't underestimate the TK factor.
This is the last shot for captain Tom Kostopoulos to win a championship, and it's on everybody's minds.
It inspired the theme and slogan for this year's run -- "One more kick at the Cup."
These guys could not have more respect and admiration for Kostopoulos, and they want him to go out a champion.
"For (Kostopoulos), going into the last season, you want to win it, you want to do good for him and give your best," Andrey Pedan said last week. "That's what I'm going to do."
J.D. Forrest said that he believes that the team wants to pay Kostopoulos back for all he's done for the team over the years.
"He's obviously a big influence on all the guys in our locker room," Forrest said. "He's done a lot for Wilkes-Barre, and a lot for the Pittsburgh Penguins, also. So I think that's a little bit of a motivating factor for the guys. He's well-liked, well-respected, and everybody wants to make sure that they're putting everything out on the table for him, as he's done for so many years for the organization."
My prediction: Penguins in five.
MORE FROM WILKES-BARRE
• Apr. 13: at Springfield, 3-2 win
• Apr. 14: at Lehigh Valley, 2-1 shootout loss
• Apr. 15: at Hershey, 3-2 win
• The last of the Black Aces arrived following the conclusion of Wheeling's season. Forwards Reid Gardiner, Troy Josephs, and Cody Wydo, and defensemen Kevin Spinozzi and Dylan Zink were recalled from Wheeling. Forward Cam Brown and defenseman Kevin Schulze were not previously on AHL contracts with Wilkes-Barre, and they were given professional tryout agreements.
• Freddie Tiffels did not join Wilkes-Barre as a Black Ace because he is joining Team Germany at the World Championships.
• It was reported that Tiffels is in negotiations with a DEL team. I asked him about the reports, and he confirmed that his goal is still to play in the NHL.
• Goaltender Alex D'Orio was released from his amateur tryout agreement after spending two weeks as a Black Ace. Due to his age, 18, he'll be back in juniors next season.
• Anthony Angello and Niclas Almari made their Wilkes-Barre debuts on Saturday -- Angello's professional debut, and Almari's North American professional debut. Members of Pittsburgh's front office were in attendance in Lehigh Valley to watch both players.
• Jan Drozg and Dane Birks made their professional debuts on Sunday. Cam Brown made his Wilkes-Barre debut after being recalled from Wheeling. Brown previously spent time in the AHL this season with Springfield.
• Wilkes-Barre played their No. 1 rival Hershey Bears 12 times this season, and finished with a 10-0-1-1 record, the best single-season record in the rivalry's 19-year history.
• Here are the lines and pairings from Saturday's game, the last game with most of the regulars playing:
Garrett Wilson - Jean-Sebastien Dea - Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson - Gage Quinney - Anthony Angello
Tom Sestito - Jarrett Burton - Christian Thomas
Joseph Cramarossa - Teddy Blueger - Tom Kostopoulos
Chris Summers - Lukas Bengtsson
Niclas Almari - Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi - Zach Trotman
• Here are the lines and defense pairings from Sunday. Many of the regulars were out of the lineup, since the Penguins had already secured their position in the standings:
Adam Johnson - Gage Quinney - Daniel Sprong
Christian Thomas - Jarrett Burton - Jan Drozg
Ryan Haggerty - Sam Lafferty - Anthony Angello
Troy Josephs - Cam Brown - Pat McGrath
Niclas Almari - Ethan Prow
Andrey Pedan - Jeff Taylor
Kevin Schulze - Dane Birks
GOALS OF THE WEEK
This Daniel Sprong goal off a backhand pass from Garrett Wilson. Whoa.
Teddy Blueger scored this goal on Friday:
Sprong's power play tally on Saturday came from his usual spot at the left circle:
Jarrett Burton recorded his ninth goal of the season in Hershey:
SAVE OF THE WEEK
Michael Leighton made this shoulder stop on Saturday to keep the game scoreless in the third period:
BEYOND THE AHL
Jordy Bellerive and the Lethbridge Hurricanes eliminated the Brandon Wheat Kings, and advanced to the WHL's Eastern Conference Finals.
Bellerive had an assist in each of Lethbridge's three games this week, giving him at least one point in each of Lethbridge's 10 postseason games. This week brings his total to eight goals and 10 assists. He's averaging just above five shots per game in these playoffs.
The Hurricanes' opponent will be the winner of the series between the Swift Current Broncos and Moose Jaw Warriors, which will be determined in Game 7 on Monday night.
PROSPECT FUN THING
Wheeling's Kenny Ryan was injured for most of this season. During cleanout day, he interviewed Cam Brown before Brown left for Wilkes-Barre:
As the players were cleaning out their lockers, #Nailers correspondent Kenny Ryan took advantage of his last opportunity to interview his teammates. pic.twitter.com/WrcEcOR88s
— Wheeling Nailers (@WheelingNailers) April 13, 2018