Wilkes-Barre/Scranton saw its five-game point streak come to an end with a a 4-0 shutout loss to the Phantoms in Lehigh Valley on Wednesday.
It wasn't for lack of opportunity.
Wilkes-Barre had eight power play opportunities in the game, half of which came in the second period alone, and they weren't unable to convert on any of them.
The Penguins' first power play of the game certainly had its chances, and had a promising start despite not scoring a goal. After the Phantoms' Adam Clendening was called for closing his hand on the puck late in the first period, the Penguins managed to record five shots in the two-minute man advantage, with Valtteri Puustinen, Sam Poulin, Nathan Legare, and Cam Lee (twice) getting denied by Phantoms goaltender Felix Sandstrom.
It went steadily downhill from there.
In the second period, the Penguins didn't register a single shot on goal on their next power play, but allowed one shot. The next three second-period power plays only saw a combined three shots on goal for the Penguins, and the Penguins only managed to record one shot on goal in the three power plays in the third period.
The power play is now 5-for-33 on the season for a 15.2 percent success rate, ranking 20th in the league.
Though the Phantoms' penalty kill is perhaps the team's biggest strength -- ranking sixth in the league with an 87.1 percent success rate -- the Penguins have managed to solve it this season, with three of their five power play goals coming against Lehigh Valley.
The Penguins will have a practice on Thursday before their pair of games this weekend against the Bruins and Wolf Pack, teams with penalty kills ranking 10th and 3rd in the league respectively. I'd expect the power play to be a major point of emphasis in Thursday's practice.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Wilkes-Barre is now 5-2-0-1, ranking third in the eight-team Atlantic Division in terms of points percentage.
• With P.O Joseph up in Pittsburgh, AHL-contracted defenseman Mitch Reinke made his season debut.
• Michael Chaput returned from injury and centered the top line in place of Radim Zohorna, who is now day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
• Filip Hallander missed the game with a non-COVID illness. Forward Matt Alfaro, signed out of Wheeling to a professional tryout contract with Wilkes-Barre, made his AHL debut in Hallander's place. Alfaro was first signed by Wheeling out of the University of Calgary last season, and finished No. 3 on the team in scoring with 13 goals and 28 assists in 61 games. He had one assist in four games to start the season in Wheeling this year.
• It's worth noting given Kris Letang's status not yet being known for Thursday's game against the Flyers that no defensemen were held out of this game for Wilkes-Barre. Taylor Fedun (a natural righty) and Lee (who naturally plays on the left side, but played the first seven games of the season on the right) would be my first two picks for a recall, in that order. Both played in this game.
• Louis Domingue was in net for the Penguins, and stopped 22 of 25 shots from the Phantoms, including this penalty shot attempt from German Rubtsov in the second period.
• The penalty kill went 4-for-5, conceding a 5-on-3 goal in the first period.
• Legare led the team with five shots on goal, Poulin was right behind with four.
• Poulin got hit up high with a Puustinen shot late in the game. He didn't take another shift, but that could be because only a few minutes remained in the game. He remained on the bench.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPL Center:
1. Felix Sandstrom, Phantoms
2. Maxim Sushko, Phantoms
3. Tyson Foerster, Phantoms
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Forward Anthony Angello is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and has been since the start of the season.
• Forward Jamie Devane is out "longer-term" with a lower-body injury. It's not clear how he was injured.
• Forward Radim Zohorna is day-to-day with an upper-body injury after an open-ice hit on Saturday.
• Forward Filip Hallander missed Thursday's game with a non-COVID illness.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest's lines and pairings:
Sam Poulin - Michael Chaput - Valtteri Puustinen
Kasper Bjorkqvist - Jordy Bellerive - Nathan Legare
Matt Alfaro - Sam Houde - Jan Drozg
Felix Robert - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson
Cam Lee - Taylor Fedun
Matt Bartkowski - Mitch Reinke
Chris Bigras - Will Reilly
And for Ian Laperriere's Phantoms
Max Willman - Cal O'Reilly - Tyson Foerster
Garrett Wilson - Morgan Frost - Gerald Mayhew
Maxim Sushko - German Rubtsov - Hayden Hodgson
Isaac Ratcliffe - Connor Bunnaman - Jackson Cates
Cam York - Logan Day
Yegor Zamula - Adam Clendening
Cooper Zech - Wyatte Wylie
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will be back at home Friday to host the Providence Bruins. They'll play the Wolf Pack in Hartford on Saturday.
THE CONTENT
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