Wilkes-Barre/Scranton suffered its first regulation loss in seven games on Sunday with a 6-2 loss to the Phantoms in Lehigh Valley.
The Penguins fell behind early when Phantoms forward Brennan Saulnier opened the scoring at the 2:03 mark, and then later completed the natural hat trick before the midway point of the first period.
"They had a few plays at the net-front there with some tips," head coach J.D. Forrest told me of the team's start after the game. "We just had to do a better job in front of Tommy (Nappier) there, letting him see the puck or even making sure they weren't able to get some sticks on it. The first goal was a nice shot by them, where he got lost in between coverages and we didn't really communicate well. Other than that, it was a lot of stuff around the net that we just have to be stronger and more committed in that area. That's all."
Felix Robert slowed the Phantoms' momentum with his sixth goal of the year at 16:25 of the opening frame.
The Phantoms scored two early goals in the second period, with the latter coming on the power play. They extended their lead to 6-1 in the third period with another power play goal. The Penguins' penalty kill went 3-for-5 in the game, a rare night for a group that's been one of the team's biggest strengths throughout the season, entering the game as the third-best penalty kill in the league.
"It's nothing we haven't seen before," Forrest said of the Phantoms' power play. "One play right at the net-front where we don't get down there and win a battle, I don't think it was anything in particular. Just one of those days, I guess."
Captain Josh Currie scored his 10th goal of the year later in the period off of a scramble in front of the net on the power play:
The team improved defensively as the game went on, and only allowed two shots on goal in the third period.
"When we were trying to press there in the third, anything can happen," Forrest said. "There were some penalties here and there, it was a different type of period there to finish things off. I don't know if (the Phantoms) were just kind of in lay-back mode, but there just wasn't much going on there in the third. It's tough to judge much on that one."
The regulation loss brings the Penguins' record back down to .500, now 12-12-4-2 on the season. The regular season ends next week after a pair of weekend road games, against the Phantoms on Saturday and against the Bears on Sunday. Finishing above .500 and ending the season on a high note would obviously be the goal. But for this final week of practice, another goal is just to have fun in these last days that the team will be together until next season's training camp.
"We're going to try to make sure we get some work done here," Forrest said. "But enjoy it, because we won't be back together as a team for some time after we play Hershey. So as disappointing as tonight was, it's our first regulation loss in a little while. We want to make sure that we don't lose sight of what made us successful there for a stretch and get back to it through the week. And then compete as hard as we can and have as much fun for the last two games of the year so we can carry it over to next season."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Josh Maniscalco's game was his eighth of the year and his first since April 16. I asked Forrest after the game how he thinks Maniscalco has handled playing so infrequently in this first professional season, and what steps he's made throughout.
"The first stretch, he was out for quite some time, and he came into the lineup and I thought he played some pretty solid games," Forrest said. "That was a reflection of how he practiced in the meantime. We insert him tonight in another tough environment and I thought he held his own. It's definitely not an easy thing to do for anybody. But we have plenty of players here that are capable on a night in, night out basis. So we're trying to give that ice time to guys that have earned it. When he gets the opportunity he usually does well, but we have some other guys in the wings that we'd like to see here to close out the season. So not an easy situation for any of those guys, but he handles it pretty well."
• Nappier made his second start in as many days and his third start of his professional career. He made 20 saves on 26 shots in the loss.
• It was a physical game, with Jordy Bellerive especially stepping up in that regard, with open-ice hits like these:
Bellerive had another clean, hard hit late in the game and fought Saulnier afterward:
"It's a big part of how we play as a team," Forrest said of the physicality. "We have a lot of guys that are willing to engage in that. When we lay off it, we're probably not as effective. The message was just to do what you do and do it well here for the rest of the game. A lot of our guys have that as something that they do well. I guess there was a little more of a focus on it, perhaps."
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPL Center:
1. Brennan Saulnier, Phantoms
2. Chris Mueller, Phantoms
3. Zayde Wisdom, Phantoms
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 is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
• Forward Kyle Olson is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
• Defenseman Will Reilly is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest’s lines and pairings:
Tim Schaller-Josh Currie-Anthony Angello
Kasper Bjorkqvist-Drew O'Connor-Nick Schilkey
Felix Robert-Jordy Bellerive-Jonathan Gruden
Justin Almeida-Zach Nastasiuk-Jan Drozg
P.O Joseph-Jon Lizotte
Cam Lee-Billy Sweezey
Kevin Czuczman-Josh Maniscalco
And for Scott Gordon's Phantoms:
Ryan Fitzgerald-Cal O'Reilly-Tyson Foerster
Isaac Ratcliffe-Chris Mueller-Linus Sandin
Garrett Wilson-Connor Bunnaman-Max Willman
Brennan Saulnier-Tanner MacMaster-Zayde Wisdom
Tyler Wotherspoon-Linus Hogberg
Egor Zamula-Wyatte Wylie
Derrick Pouliot-Chris Bigras
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will play their two final games of the regular season on the road, back-to-back games next weekend in Lehigh Valley on Saturday and then Hershey on Sunday, and then that's the end of it all. No playoffs in the AHL this year.
THE CONTENT
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