WBS gets hard-earned OT win: 'We wanted that game more than them'

When the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins played the Binghamton Devils last Wednesday, Jordy Bellerive continued his habit of stepping up in clutch moments and score the overtime goal in a 3-2 win.

In Saturday's rematch with the Devils, Bellerive did it again and scored in overtime to finish off a great effort from P.O Joseph on the rush up ice, securing a 5-4 win for the Penguins.

"Belly scored very huge goals lately," Felix Robert said. "But P.O did a great rush on that and a great pass. Just very happy, we deserved that win. That's huge."

After Saturday's goal, 12 of Bellerive's 20 career goals have come in either the third period or overtime.

"I'm not surprised at all," coach J.D. Forrest said of Bellerive stepping up yet again. "Once I realized it was him coming down the middle, P.O made a great play using his legs to slide it over to him, I thought if anyone's going to put this one in, a rolling puck in a tough situation, he would find a way. He certainly didn't disappoint."

Wilkes-Barre trailed 2-0 in the game after a first-period goal from Binghamton's Nate Schnarr and an early second-period goal from Nolan Foote. Wilkes-Barre got on the board at the 6:17 mark of the middle frame when Justin Almeida scored his second goal of the year off of a pass from Jonathan Gruden:

The goal came in Almeida's fourth game of the season and first since March 21. He initially missed time earlier in the season with an injury, but had been a healthy scratch as of late.

"We had a conversation with Justin a couple of weeks ago," Forrest said. "We came up with a plan that we thought that would suit him well and put him in a position to focus on a few things in practice for a couple of weeks and get a good game in. We had this day circled for him. It was great to see him find the back of the net, but he did a lot of other things that we had been discussing with him throughout the game, little things. It was nice to see from Justin, that the hard work over the last couple of weeks paid off for him."

Schnarr regained the two-goal lead for Binghamton minutes later. Then in the final minute of the period, Robert got the Penguins back within one goal with an incredible individual effort.

He downplayed his effort on the goal when I asked about it after the game.

"It was maybe a little lucky bounce," he said. "I just fell on the ice, the puck, and when I got up the puck was there. I just shoveled it, my backhand. But I was tracking the puck. It's a gift, but I'll take that any game."

What Robert's goal did for the momentum going into the third, though, can't be understated.

"That was a huge goal," Forrest said. "It's just a little small picture of his game throughout the season. He's just a relentless kid out there, he never, never gives up. Just a diving play to put pressure on somebody, it hits a foot and goes to him and he buries that goal right before we go in there for the third. It really gave us a lot of life, and also just played into the work ethic that we want to emulate. Felix was a great example of that, and I thought we did that, each man."

Wilkes-Barre controlled the play for much of the third, outshooting the Devils 12-4.

"We were hunting pucks since the first minute of the game," Robert said. "It was an important goal, but it's the work ethic by the whole team that made that. ... We wanted that game more than them."

The Penguins got the equalizer at the 5:31 mark with Cam Lee's first AHL goal, set up by Robert:

"It was a 4-on-3 rush," Robert said. "Cam yelled for the puck, then just a great, great shot. I was happy for him to get his first goal there."

"That was nice," Forrest said. "He's had plenty of chances, I knew he felt a little bit snakebitten. It was a really nice play again by Felix getting him the puck there. Cam made no mistakes. He's had opportunities, I know that has to feel good to finally put that first one in. Hopefully it creates a domino effect there for the next one."

Lee appropriately celebrated with the "monkey off the back" move, a display that apparently upset Devils forward Ben Thomson, who yanked Lee down to the ice when Lee was on the way to the fist bump line:

Lee's teammates were more fired up about it than Lee himself, who still had a smile on his face.

Wilkes-Barre's penalty kill has been strong all year, ranking No. 5 in the league with an 84.1 percent success rate. Until this game, a shorthanded goal had eluded the group. Chase Berger changed that, finishing off a play by Gruden give Wilkes-Barre the lead:

The Devils pulled their goaltender in favor of the extra attacker late in the game, and scored in the final minute to force overtime, setting the stage for Bellerive to be the hero yet again. Before Bellerive's goal though, there was a crucial penalty kill beginning at the 1:05 mark of the extra frame. The Penguins' penalty kill killed it off, going 4-for-4 when down a man in the game.

"It's very huge for us," Robert said of the penalty kill. "Most importantly in overtime, you kill the 4-on-3, then we go back 3-on-3 and score a goal. We have to credit the PK on that. In the first three periods too, but in the overtime it's even more huge."

"I can't say enough about the work that (assistant coach) Kevin Porter has done with them," Forrest said of the penalty kill. "It came up big in overtime, and the shorthanded goal, you couldn't ask for much more from that unit today."

It was the Penguins' first win at home since fans have been allowed back at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. 

"It was really fun," Robert said. "We didn't get fans for the first half of the year. They cheer for us, so that's a way to show up on the ice and get the win. It's fun for us."

"It was great," Forrest said. "We really have a team that puts in a lot of hard work on a day-in and day-out basis. It's a bizarre year for everybody, and to have fans back in the building for a little while has been great. To get them a win like this where it's a comeback, they see the type of team that this is. There's just no quit in them. It's nice that we could put that on display for the Penguins faithful tonight."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Zach Trotman left the game in the second period and didn't return. I didn't see what might have happened to him, and Forrest didn't have an update after the game.

"He's being evaluated," Forrest said. "We'll have more information from the docs later on."

Wilkes-Barre tightened up defensively in the third period playing down a man, and held the Devils to just four shots.

"Playing with 5 D, sometimes you can get into a rhythm," Forrest said. "But I thought our forwards did a nice job once they recognized that we were down a guy, just to play more responsibly and try to make sure that they're giving (the defense) chances to change and not putting them in situations where they're on the ice for a long time. They handled it well, the forwards definitely helped out in that scenario."

• Max Lagace earned the win with 17 saves on 21 shots.

• This was the debut of the new third jerseys.

• This was from earlier in the week. I just need everyone to see what Lee (right) wears to golf. No shoes, just vibes:

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• AHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE THREE STARS

As selected at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza:

1. Jordy Bellerive, Penguins
2. Nate Schnarr, Devils
3. Felix Robert, Penguins

THE INJURIES

• Defenseman Jesper Lindgren left the first preseason game after sliding into the boards and underwent successful shoulder surgery. He's out for the rest of the season.

• Defenseman Zach Trotman left Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury in the second period and didn't return.

THE LINEUPS

Forrest’s lines and pairings:

Justin Almeida-Jordy Bellerive-Nick Schilkey
Tim Schaller-Chase Berger-Jan Drozg
Felix Robert-Jonathan Gruden-Kyle Olson
Luke Stevens-Zach Nastasiuk-Sam Miletic

P.O Joseph-Jon Lizotte
Cam Lee-Zach Trotman
Kevin Czuczman-Josh Maniscalco

And for Mark Dennehy's Devils:

Nolan Foote-Brett Seney-Graeme Clarke
A.J. Greer-Travis St. Denis-Danick Martel
Aarne Talvitie-Nate Schnarr-Fabian Zetterlund
Ben Thomson-Ryan Schmelzer-Tyler Irvine

Colton White-Matt Tennyson
Kevin Bahl-Connor Carrick
Jeremy Groleau-Reilly Walsh

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins will play the Bears in Hershey on Sunday at 3 p.m.

THE CONTENT

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