Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's goaltending depth has been put to the test this season.
Filip Lindberg has been out with a lower-body injury since Nov. 12. Louis Domingue was injured in practice on Dec. 2. Alex D'Orio was recalled from Wheeling, and was hit by Wilkes-Barre's recent COVID outbreak and remains in protocol.
With Tommy Nappier the lone healthy goaltender on the roster entering this week, the Penguins had to get creative to complete the tandem. Sebastien Caron (yes, former Penguin Sebastien Caron) was brought in on a PTO to practice with the team during the week. But with back-to-back games this weekend, the Penguins didn't really want to rely on the 41-year-old goaltender who retired back in 2016
The Penguins were forced to look outside the organization for help.
The Penguins on Friday signed 24-year-old Matt Jurusik to a professional tryout contract. Jurusik, an undrafted goaltender with no AHL playing experience before Sunday, spent his college career split between the University of Wisconsin and Michigan Tech. He made his professional debut last season in the ECHL, playing eight games for the South Carolina Stingrays, and also spent some time as the AHL's Texas Stars' backup goaltender, though he never played a game. He spent the start of this season with the ECHL's Idaho Steelheads, posting a 5-2-1 record, a 1.86 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
With Nappier starting Saturday's game against Hershey, the Penguins turned to Jurusik for the Sunday afternoon matchup with the Springfield Thunderbirds. Jurusik earned No. 1 star honors in his AHL debut with a 28-save shutout in the Penguins' 6-0 win.
"It was a really great game for him," head coach J.D. Forrest said of Jurusik. "What a way to get your first AHL win. You know, his puck handling was surprising to me. I was pretty happy with that. He made some nice plays with the puck, and then he's a quick, agile goaltender. So he was able to get across for a few of those saves."
Jurusik said that he has "a little bit of nerves" to start the game, but he settled in quickly.
"Whenever you're playing a game in a new league, it's natural to have those," he said. "But after the first couple of shots or so then I'm just trying to play my game."
Jurusik was one of three goaltender free agent invites (the others being Nappier and UMass' Matt Murray) who attended the Penguins' 2019 development camp. Though Jurusik didn't earn a contract out of that camp, Penguins goaltending coach Andy Chiodo kept in touch, checking in with Jurusik last season when he was still a free agent. After D'Orio was added to COVID protocol, the Penguins reached out to the Steelheads on Thursday in order to bring in Jurusik.
"We have a really good management, scouting and development staff," Forrest said. "That was the case there for us. ... When we needed somebody, they looked around and felt like he might be able to step in and actually play a game and not just come and be a token backup there for us."
Jurusik isn't undersized at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds, but he's relatively small for a goaltender in today's game. He described his style as more "reactive, athletic" goaltending.
"I'm not the prototypical 6-4 guy that you see in the league a lot this year," he said. "You know, I watch guys like Jonathan Quick, Antti Raanta, Juuse Saros, Casey DeSmith, those guys their athleticism, their positioning at 5-11 to 6-1. I just try to play my own style, but those are definitely guys that have had success at this size and at this level, and at the next level, so I like watching them."
With Domingue's status just "day-to-day" and D'Orio expected to come out of COVID protocol within the week, Jurusik will likely be released from his tryout contract with the Penguins and returned to the Steelheads, who still own his ECHL rights. But a strong showing like this could help Jurusik's chances of moving up the ladder and into the AHL in the future, be it with Wilkes-Barre or another organization.
"I just want to play the game, have fun and stop the puck," he said of his future. "That's all I'm really interested in doing. This opportunity came as a bit of a surprise, honestly, just kind of came out of nowhere. I just got out here as quick as possible and got in the net."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Wilkes-Barre is now 9-8-1-2 on the season and ranks fifth in the Atlantic Division by points percentage.
• In just his second game of the season after returning from injury, Anthony Angello opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal, the first shorthanded goal for WIlkes-Barre this year:
• Felix Robert made it a 2-0 game in the second period with his sixth goal of the season, now tying him with Valtteri Puustinen for the team lead.
"He just continues to adapt," Forrest said of Robert's growth this season. "Last year, making the jump to pro hockey, he had to figure it out as a smaller guy how to how he needs to play. Then this year, just the league being a little bit different, more depth than we had last season. So he's had to figure that part out as well. But he always adapts, he finds holes, he learns how to operate in tight areas. He's fearless. So it's just a continuation of what he's always done his whole career. And it's really fun to watch."
• P.O Joseph came off the bench, picked up a pass from Kyle Olson and scored for his second goal of the year:
"I think Ollie's been playing pretty good the last games and just getting his confidence back," Joseph said of the play. "And he's been playing with a lot of a lot of trust in his ability. So I think he just gave me a great pass, and I just saw an opening there and hoped for a shot there, and it went in. So cap off for Olli for seeing me, he made a great play."
• Matt Bartkowski's tally 26 seconds later was his first as a Penguins:
• Later that period, Bartkowski's shot from the point hit Olson in the chest and deflected in for Olson's fourth goal of the year:
• Justin Almeida's third-period goal from Nathan Legare was Almeida's first in the AHL this season:
• Almeida and Jordy Bellerive made their returns from COVID protocol this game.
"We were conscious of their minutes and where we had them playing," Forrest said. "But since we were able to go with four lines and roll guys through, we didn't run into a scenario where we thought we were over-utilizing that or put them in a situation where they might be too tired. They both are great professionals as far as how they take care of themselves. And that makes that comeback from the COVID protocol easier, when you start off at the point that they started off. So fantastic job
• Just D'Orio, Sam Poulin, Juuso Riikola and Jan Drozg remain in COVID protocol. I asked Forrest if he has a sense of when they might be able to come out of protocol.
"There's a few guys on different days that we kind of have an idea, but they're kind of scattered about here," he said. "So in the next week we get one guy here, one guy there, it'll kind of trickle in. Then it's also different how it affects everybody, and the time that it takes for guys to come back, what they need. We're treating every individual as an individual case and seeing how they can adapt to getting back into hockey shape."
• This was captain Taylor Fedun's 500th professional game.
• The power play went 0-for-1.
• The penalty kill went 3-for-3.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza:
1. Matt Jurusik, Penguins
2. P.O Joseph, Penguins
3. Matt Bartkowski, Penguins
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Goaltender Filip Lindberg is week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained during the game on Nov. 12.
• Goaltender Louis Domingue is day-to-day with a lower-body injury sustained during practice on Dec. 2.
• Forward Kasper Bjorkqvist is day-to-day with a lower-body laceration sustained during the game on Nov. 24.
• Goaltender Alex D'Orio, forwards Jan Drozg and Sam Poulin, and defenseman Juuso Riikola are in COVID protocol.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest's lines and pairings:
Felix Robert - Radim Zohorna - Valtteri Puustinen
Filip Hallander - Michael Chaput - Anthony Angello
Justin Almeida - Jonathan Gruden - Nathan Legare
Jamie Devane - Jordy Bellerive - Kyle olson
Cam Lee - Taylor Fedun
P.O Joseph - Matt Bartkowski
Niclas Almari - Mitch Reinke
And for Dru Bannister's Thunderbirds:
Hugh McGing - Nikita Alexandrov - Nathan Todd
Alexey Toropchenko - Tanner Kaspick - Patrick Bajkov
Jacob Pritchard - Drew Callin
Blake Christensen - Robbie Payne - Ryan Smith
Tyler Tucker - Michael Kim
Griffin Luce - Josh Wesley
Patrick McNally - Nick Albano
Dominic Cormier
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will host the Bears on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
