Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins head coach J.D. Forrest was reminded during the first period of Wilkes-Barre's matchup with the Binghamton Devils on Saturday of Thursday's game between the parent club Penguins and the Flyers.
In the game between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the Penguins scored three quick goals to start the first period, and then saw the Flyers score four unanswered goals to climb back and win in regulation.
So when Wilkes-Barre found itself down 3-0 not even 10 minutes into Saturday's game, Forrest was looking to emulate the Flyers' resilience in the comeback.
"It was just so early in the game," Forrest told me after the game. "It happened the other night in the NHL. A team is up by three, and then it's hard to keep that lead. We just felt that we hadn't even gotten our legs going yet, and once we did, we turned the tables."
The comeback in this game wasn't exactly like the Flyers' comeback over Pittsburgh. Instead of putting up four unanswered goals, Wilkes-Barre took it a step further and scored six unanswered to come away with the 6-3 win and improve to 5-2-1-1 on the season.
With under five minutes remaining in the first period, Wilkes-Barre caught a break. Devils defenseman Michael Vukojevic high-sticked Felix Robert and drew blood (and perhaps a tooth or two) and gave Wilkes-Barre a four-minute power play.
Less than a minute into the man advantage, Radim Zohorna opened the floodgates with a snipe from the right circle, his third of the season:
Just 26 seconds later, on the second half of the double-minor, Jordy Bellerive cut the Devils' lead to one with his fourth goal of the year:
"That was huge," Forrest said of the two goals on the double-minor. "Our PK has been putting us in position to win games with big kills, whether its in overtime, whatever the case is. Then tonight, our power play was outstanding and able to pick us up when we needed it. ... We went into this game saying if we have an opportunity, we're going to shoot it."
Wilkes-Barre got three more power plays within the first six minutes of the second period, and the third proved to be a charm. Jonathan Gruden, the forward prospect acquired in the Matt Murray deal, tied the game with his first AHL goal after coming so close numerous times in earlier games:
"He's been playing with so much purpose," Forrest said of Gruden. "He's kind of figured out what's working for him in this league so far, and he's stuck with it. He's had some really good scoring opportunities, he deserved that one tonight, just battling in front of the net. There's a reason why we put him on the net-front on that second power play unit. He's smart, and he's willing to work for pucks. He knows what to do around the net. It was just finding a payoff for a lot of hard work there."
Defenseman Cam Lee assisted on all three goals, recording primary assists on the first two and the secondary assist on the tying goal. Lee's three-point night snapped a six-game scoreless streak. Forrest thought that Lee's strong play in the game went beyond the scoresheet."
"I thought tonight, Cam, regardless of the points, had his best game overall," Forrest said. "He's somebody that can rack up the points, but the way he did it in this game in particular tonight, playing the way we'd like to see him play, he made smart decisions. He was still able to trade offense for good defensive positioning, and he's got the wheels to get back and cover up if he gets up ice and it doesn't work out. We're not so much concerned with the point production as we are how he's playing the game, and we feel that if he just plays the right way, that stuff is going to come. Tonight was an example of that."
Defenseman Jon Lizotte scored the eventual game-winner later in the second period, capitalizing on a Devils turnover in the neutral zone:
After outshooting the Devils by a slim 15-14 margin in the first period, the Penguins outshot the Devils by an incredibly 17-3 margin in the middle frame.
They continued that push in the third period, outshooting the Devils 11-4 and adding to the lead on the scoreboard. Jan Drozg scored just over a minute in, his third of the year:
Drew O'Connor, playing on the right side of the top line in his first game since being re-assigned from Pittsburgh, scored the sixth and final goal of the game, a one-timer from Tim Schaller:
P.O Joseph, also playing in his first AHL game of the season after being re-assigned, didn't record a point in the win. He played on the top pairing with Lizotte, his partner from last season. Both Joseph and O'Connor saw penalty kill and top power play time, with Joseph manning the point for the top unit and O'Connor in the net-front role, supplanting Schaller. Forrest was impressed with the way both players fit in in their first games.
"Both of them, I thought were great tonight," he said. "One of the things about Drew and P.O is they fit in as far as being workers. They have a ton of talent and a lot of skill, and they work really hard. I think once Drew got going there after the first half of the first period, you could see his relentlessness on pucks. He's just hard to play against, he has a nose around the net. He could have had a few more goals there for sure, he had some opportunities. It was great to see. Then P.O, he's so confident in his gaps and his skating, it's really tough for other teams to get going on a rush or in the neutral zone against him. I thought they both did a great job, especially coming in after not playing for a little bit."
One of the more impressive parts of the win, though, was how Wilkes-Barre kept pushing back for the full 60 minutes, even late in the third when the game seemed out of reach for Binghamton. They weren't going to give the Devils an inch of room to come back.
"That's the mentality we want," Forrest said. "The score doesn't dictate how we play, the arena we play in doesn't dictate it. We dictate that. We feel that we're at our best when we're going nonstop. That's what they did."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Max Lagace picked up the win with 18 saves on 21 shots. He's now 3-1-1 in his five appearances this season with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.
• Every skater but one recorded at least one of Wilkes-Barre's 43 shots in the win. Drozg, Zohorna, and Sam Miletic led with five each.
• Wilkes-Barre had its first fight of the season when rookie defenseman Billy Sweezey challenged Devils forward Ben Thomson after Thomson attempted an open-ice hit on Lee, that Lee evaded.
"He's been a really tough player to play against," Forrest said of Sweezey. "He has a knack for finding the right opportunity to put a big hit on somebody, he does it with without taking himself out of position. He does it in a clean way. He's so strong and he knows how to put the body on guys. It's been a nice asset for us. Him dropping the gloves, he felt he needed to do that and the whole team appreciates when someone steps up like that."
• In case you missed it yesterday, the Penguins and Jordan Nolan mutually agreed to part ways so Nolan could be with his family during a difficult time.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• AHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Barnabas Health Hockey House
1. Cam Lee, Penguins
2. Jonathan Gruden, Penguins
3. Graeme Clark, Devils
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Zach Trotman underwent right knee surgery Jan. 14 to repair a torn meniscus and is off of Pittsburgh's injured reserve and officially on Wilkes-Barre's roster. He's day-to-day.
• Defenseman Jesper Lindgren left the first preseason game after sliding into the boards and underwent successful shoulder surgery this week. He's out indefinitely for the rest of the season.
• Forward Justin Almeida was injured in practice and is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
• Forward Luke Stevens is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest’s lines and pairings:
Tim Schaller-Freddy Gaudreau-Drew O'Connor
Felix Robert-Radim Zohorna-Jan Drozg
Sam Miletic-Jordy Bellerive-Nick Schilkey
Jonathan Gruden-Chase Berger-Zach Nastasiuk
P.O Joseph-Jon Lizotte
Kevin Czuczman-Will Reilly
Cam Lee-Billy Sweezey
And for Mark Dennehy's Devils:
Danick Martel-Ben Street-Nick Merkley
Nolan Foote-Jesper Boqvist-Graeme Clarke
Travis St. Denis-Nate Schnarr-Marian Studenic
Ben Thomson-Cam Darcy-Fabian Zetterlund
Nikita Okhotiuk-Colton White
Kevin Bahl-Reilly Walsh
Michael Vukojevic-Josh Jacobs
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will host the Phantoms on Monday evening.
THE CONTENT
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