"He was shot out of a cannon."
That was how head coach J.D. Forrest described Jordy Bellerive's rush up ice just under three minutes into the three-on-three overtime period in Lehigh Valley on Saturday night.
Bellerive carried the puck nearly the entire length of the ice and cut across the Phantoms' crease, but wasn't able to get a shot off when Phantoms goaltender Zane McIntyre poke-checked the puck off of Bellerive's stick ... and right to an open Kasper Bjorkqvist.
Bjorkqvist buried the shot for the overtime goal to secure the 2-1 win, his first AHL goal of the season after coming over from Finland following the conclusion of his Liiga season. In only took him four games since returning to make such a big impact like he did in this one.
"(Bellerive) goes to the net with a purpose," Forrest said of the overtime goal. "He's had some big goals for us and big points late in games in overtime. He was feeling it a bit. Kasper did a great job following up there and burying the rebound. It was a great play all around."
Wilkes-Barre got off to one of its stronger starts of the season, outshooting the Phantoms 14-6 in the opening frame. Jonathan Gruden scored the lone goal of the first period off of a feed from Drew O'Connor:
The game turned chippy late in the first period, with Wilkes-Barre still clinging to that one-goal lead.
Forward Wade Allison, recently re-assigned to Lehigh Valley after the Flyers didn't make the playoffs, hit P.O Joseph into the boards late in the opening frame. Joseph gave Allison a shove to the back of the head, and Allison tried to challenge Joseph to a fight, and Joseph declined.
Joseph became public enemy No. 1 to the Phantoms, and was getting run for the rest of the game. Former Penguin Garrett Wilson checked Joseph into the Phantoms bench late in the scoreless second period, and then Allison shoved Joseph to the ground and tried to get Joseph to fight in the opening minutes of the third period.
Joseph wasn't interested in fighting, and Felix Robert came to his defense. That's 5-foot-9 Robert, stepping in against 6-foot-2 Allison. Allison got the better of Robert in the fight:
With the way that Robert plays (Forrest has called him a "waterbug" in the past), it wasn't exactly surprising to see Robert step in with no hesitation the way he did against an opponent who definitely had the edge in size.
"The kid never ceases to amaze here with what he's willing to do to help the team, to get into the lineup, to stay in the lineup, to contribute any way possible," Forrest said of Robert's effort. "That's not something that's easy to do. But although he's a smaller guy, he just never ever stops. It was admirable for him to hop in there and fight that guy in regards to the situation. ... Felix on a night in, night out basis just never stops. We've talked about it before, and it's commendable. We use him as an example quite a bit in the way that we want to play and the effort we want to put out there, just doing whatever it takes. That was just another example there."
The fight gave the Phantoms some life, though, and Ryan Fitzgerald tied the game on a breakaway. Billy Sweezey was the only defenseman back, and it looked like he was expecting an interference call on Fitzgerald from the rush up ice:
Cam Lee got in his first professional fight next, stepping up against the Phantoms' Max Willman after a battle in the corner. Lee got the better of Willman:
"You see Cam Lee just playing physical out there, frustrating their team, and the other guy wants to fight him," Forrest said. "There you go. There was a lot of that, and we just want our guys competing for every inch of ice. Whether it's a loose puck in the corner, or a net-front battle, or a fight, we just want them giving their all. They did that in all situations."
The Phantoms continued to run Joseph late into the third, including this late hit that drew a literal shrug from the official two feet away:
"P.O is a really good player," Forrest said of the Phantoms' ire toward Joseph. "He's not shy to voice his opinion toward other guys out there. Maybe they were keying in on him a little bit. But I thought he responded well, our whole team did."
The officials broke the whistles back out to call Penguins captain Josh Currie for tripping with 2:13 remaining in regulation. The Penguins' penalty kill, consistently one of their biggest strengths all season, came up big to keep the Phantoms off the board and force overtime.
"That was huge," Forrest said. "It was an interesting call, late in the game. But that happens, and you just have to battle through it. (Assistant coach Kevin Porter) has done a great job with our kill all year. There's a lot of confidence in the room that if we go down a man, we can handle it, especially in big situations like that. We had some really good plays from guys that have been killing all year, so it was more of the same there. It's just something we can depend on night in and night out."
With Bjorkqvist's overtime-winner, the Penguins secured at least a .500 season. After a slower start to the season, the Penguins are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, finishing the season on a higher note. With the AHL not having a postseason this year, and the Penguins being mathematically eliminated from winning the division title for some time now, it's encouraging to see this type of effort to finish these games.
"We've spoke about it before, just making each game count here," Forrest said. "Whether it's the start of the season and your first game, or the end of the season and it's your last for the year, especially without playoffs, just making sure everybody goes out with a really good effort and showing the best versions of themselves as a player. Guys have been doing that. It's been fun to be a part of as a coaching staff."
While there's no Calder Cup playoffs to look forward to, Forrest issued a challenge to his team several games ago to treat these remaining games like playoff games, and it's looking like the players are living up to the challenge.
"We've got our own internal challenge here with our team that we've been at for a little while now," Forrest said. "They've responded really well. We just figured that we would have something to shoot for toward the end of the year, and we've had a really good buy-in with that and some good games and results that we've been digging for for the whole season. It's been a really good response from our players."
The Penguins will wrap up the season Sunday afternoon in Hershey, where they'll look to go out with a win and finish above .500 for the year.
I asked Forrest what it feels like to finally reach this moment in such a unique season, and what he's looking to see from the team tomorrow.
"Tomorrow, just more of the same," Forrest said. "It's an odd way to finish a season, but it's also a season that we feel like we're lucky to have. To get through it the way we did is commendable to our players and our staff. (Head athletic trainer) Seamus (McKelvey) did a tremendous job dealing with all of the COVID protocol stuff that we've had to deal with throughout the year. Players did a good job being responsible, just our organization from top to bottom. It'll be a nice way to bookend a bizarre but lucky-to-have season. We're just looking forward to another day of competing."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Alex D'Orio got the win with 23 saves on 24 shots, including this point-blank stop in the final seconds of the second period.
D'Orio as of Saturday ranks fourth in the AHL among qualified goaltenders with a 2.18 goals-against average, and sixth with a .915 save percentage in his 11 games. With Tommy Nappier expected to get the start on Sunday in the second of the back-to-backs, those are D'Orio's season-ending numbers in the AHL. He's been a great story this year, starting on the taxi squad before being sent to Wheeling, and eventually working his way up to Wilkes-Barre then taking over as starter. It's a weird season for everyone, especially goalies with the taxi squad, and he handled the challenge well.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• AHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPL Center:
1. Kasper Bjorkqvist, Penguins
2. Ryan Fitzgerald, Phantoms
3. Alex D'Orio, 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 is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
• Forward Kyle Olson is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest’s lines and pairings:
Tim Schaller-Josh Currie-Anthony Angello
Drew O'Connor-Jonathan Gruden-Nick Schilkey
Kasper Bjorkqvist-Jordy Bellerive-Sam Miletic
Felix Robert-Chase Berger-Jan Drozg
P.O Joseph-Jon Lizotte
Cam Lee-Billy Sweezey
Kevin Czuczman-Will Reilly
And for Scott Gordon's Phantoms:
Ryan Fitzgerald-Cal O'Reilly-Wade Allison
Max Willman-Chris Mueller-Linus Sandin
Garrett Wilson-Connor Bunnaman-David Kase
Brennan Saulnier-Tanner MacMaster-Zayde Wisdom
Derrick Pouliot-Chris Bigras
Tyler Wotherspoon-Linus Hogberg
Cam York-Egor Zamula
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will wrap up the regular season Sunday at 3 p.m. in Hershey, and then that's the end of it all. No playoffs in the AHL this year.
THE CONTENT
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