The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' third period in the season opener against the Binghamton Devils on Monday wasn't pretty.
The Penguins entered the final frame of regulation on Monday sitting on a 3-1 lead before being outshot by the Devils 15-4 and allowing two goals, setting the stage for Reilly Walsh to score the overtime winner for the Devils and hand the Penguins a 4-3 loss to start the season.
"We were holding onto pucks longer than we needed to," head coach J.D. Forrest said of the third period. "We were giving them a chance, they were playing desperate there, trying to come back. And they were able to stay on the forecheck a little longer because we weren't advancing pucks. We brought it back into our zone a little bit, and they made us pay. We just have to be smarter there, we'll learn from that."
Despite the mini-collapse in the third period, there were a lot of positive takeaways in this game for the Penguins. Here are a few:
JORDY BELLERIVE
Bellerive was ... well, Bellerive to start the game. He opened the scoring at 14:28 of the first period by chipping the puck out of the corner and driving to the net. His initial shot was stopped, and the rebound went off of a Devils defenseman and in:
Jordan Nolan and Cam Lee picked up the assists on the goal, with the latter earning his first point as a pro in North America.
A few minutes later, he flattened the Devils' Danick Martel with a hit and started a scrum in the corner:
"He played the way we envisioned him playing," Forrest said. "You know, he's picked up a step in the offseason. He's always had that grit, that hard-style of playing. And now he's just on guys quicker. He still has the same mentality, he's just got a little faster step to his game. He just never quits. He's a nice guy to have in the lineup, for sure."
POWER PLAY
Wilkes-Barre went 2-for-4 on the power play in this game.
The first goal on the man advantage came :42 seconds into the second power play attempt of the night. Forrest's top unit was defenseman Cam Lee at the point, forward Tim Schaller at the net-front, Josh Currie at the right circle, Nick Schilkey in the slot and Radim Zohorna on the left half-wall.
Earlier in the day, I wrote about why Lee was quarterbacking Wilkes-Barre's top power play.
"He's hard to read up there," said Forrest. "And we've got two guys on the flanks who are pretty dangerous on their forehand. So if he can dish pucks to those guys pretty quickly, and without making it obvious where he's going."
We saw that on display in this game when Lee fed the puck to an open Currie, who buried it:
Lee picked up a primary assist, his second assist of the game. Schilkey picked up the other assist.
"I feel like we might have been able to have a few more," Currie said of the power play. "But I'm happy with how it went overall for our first game. We were clicking pretty good, creating offense and momentum, and that's what the power play needs to do. So I was pleased with how it went, but I still think that we can clean up a few areas and get a little more crisp around the net."
"I thought they did a really nice job of supporting each other and having different options," Forrest said. "Cam did a nice job up top of finding guys and being able to dish pucks. Of course we had some great net-front there by Timmy, and Josh was able to get a few shots off there. It was a good look for us, you can tell that guys are starting to be able to read off of each other more. One of the things I liked best was just our loose puck recovery and movement. It gave us second and third opportunities."
The second power play goal was ... weird. The Devils had goaltender Evan Cormier pulled for the extra attacker on a delayed slashing call on Michael Joly. Smart strategy for the team about to receive the power play, as long as you just avoid putting it in your own net. The Devils, however, couldn't manage that:
Justin Almeida was credited with the goal, the second AHL goal of his career. Surely, it was just how he drew it up.
EMIL LARMI
Larmi made 30 saves on 34 shots in the loss.
Currie, after the game, called Larmi "fantastic ... definitely our best player from the start to finish."
One of the highlights of Larmi's performance was in the final minute of the third period. The Devils came at him on an odd-man rush, and Larmi made the initial save. He then dove to his right to stop Ben Street on the rebound attempt.
"He made some real big saves in some real key times," Currie added. "We kind of left him out to dry a bit in the third period, but I mean he definitely stole the show for us. He was fantastic, and I mean it doesn't surprise me. He's tremendous in practice, he works hard. He competes all the time. It was good to see him out there and playing well, we just have to do a better job in front of him."
"He had a good game," Forrest said of Larmi. "He bailed us out numerous times. It's a continuation of how he started the year. Hopefully he can continue to build on it, it would have been nice if we could have stepped up in front of him and got him a win there to start off, but that will come."
Overall, Forrest was pleased with a lot of elements of his team's performance, although the final result fell a goal short. They know what they need to do to get on the right side of the win column for next game.
"I thought we had a good start, we had our legs going," he said. "We were putting some pressure on them, there were some moments where it was a back-and-forth-game as far as momentum. They had a good third period against us, we kind of got back on our heels a little bit. ... The biggest takeaway is we can be real effective when we're smart with the puck. The times we got intro trouble were really self-inflicted, even in our own D-zone. ... We talked to guys a little bit there after the game, and for some this is a learning process. Some guys are new to this league, and you kind of expect some mistakes like that. We just want to make sure that they're not repetitive."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Jan Drozg wasn't in the lineup. I asked Forrest after the game and he said that Drozg is in COVID Protocol, but that they hope to have him back soon.
• Jon Lizotte and Jordan Nolan were the alternate captains. Currie was named captain on Friday.
• Director of player development Scott Young joined the coaching staff behind the bench behind the game.
• The curse affecting the Penguins' left-handed defensemen twice tried to come for Wilkes-Barre left-handed defensemen in this game, but they appear to remain unscathed. Matt Miller spent some time in the locker room after taking a puck to the head while trying to block a shot in the slot, but he later returned to the game. Jon Lizotte was shaken up by a hit in the corner not long after and was briefly down on the ice and appeared to be in a lot of pain while skating to the bench, but he too returned to the game.
• Like in the NHL, the glass behind the benches were removed to allow for better airflow. Forrest pointed to that as the biggest COVID-related change for him in the game.
"There's a little more room without the glass back there," Forrest said. "I've got to be careful leaning back, I'm not used to not having the glass there."
Forrest was a left-handed defenseman in his own playing days, so he's smart to be wary of injury while working in the organization.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• AHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza:
1. Reilly Walsh, Devils
2. Danick Martel, Devils
3. Cam Lee, Penguins
THE INJURIES
• Forward Sam Miletic is day-to-day with what Forrest simply called a "medical issue." He participated in Pittsburgh's camp but was absent for the final three days.
• Defenseman Zach Trotman underwent right knee surgery Jan. 14 to repair a torn meniscus and is expected to be out 4-6 weeks. He's still technically on Pittsburgh's injured reserve, but physically in Wilkes-Barre, so he figures to start the season in the AHL when he's healthy.
• Defenseman Jesper Lindgren left the first preseason game after sliding into the boards and is expected to be out "awhile" with an injured shoulder. Forrest said it wasn't yet clear whether Lindgren would require surgery
THE LINEUPS
Forrest’s lines and pairings:
Tim Schaller-Josh Currie-Nick Schilkey
Justin Almeida-Radim Zohorna-Michael Joly
Jordan Nolan-Jordy Bellerive-Kyle Olson
Jonathan Gruden-Chase Berger-Zach Nastasiuk
Jon Lizotte-Will Reilly
Cam Lee-Billy Sweezey
Matt Miller-Josh Maniscalco
And for Mark Dennehy's Devils:
Brett Seney-Ben Street-Nolan Foote
Brandon Gignac-Travis St. Denis-Fabian Zetterlund
Marian Studenic-Cam Darcy-Nate Schnarr
Danick Martel-Ryan Schmelzer-Tyler Irvine
Colton White-Jeremy Groleau
Nikita Okhatiuk-Josh Jacobs
Michael Vukojevic-Reilly Walsh
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will host the Hershey Bears on Thursday at 5 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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