The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled defenseman Alex Goligoski from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL), it was announced Sunday by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.
Goligoski currently ranks second in the AHL playoffs with 25 points (four goals, 21 assists) in 19 postseason games as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has advanced to the Calder Cup Finals vs. the Chicago Wolves.
This one came out of left-field to us.
Goligoski has had a really fine AHL playoff, but the difference between the Calder Cup and the Stanley Cup has to be immense. With Kris Letang rightfully (but sadly) 1000 miles away, the Pens needed something. Darryl Sydor hasn't been bad since being thrown back into the fire, but he hasn't been good either. Could Rob Scuderi (who got banged up but continued playing in Game 4) be too injured to go? Time will tell. JB reported that Pens assistant GM Chuck Fletcher did mention an injury situation and we don't recall who that could be, other than Scuderi.
Hopefully Golly will get the powerplay minutes on the left point that we've been calling to replace Evgeni Malkin. It's un-natural for Malkin, he doesn't like playing there and he hasn't been effective.
From Wilkes-Barre's perspective (who's down 2-0 to the Chicago Wolves in their series) this doesn't mean too much. Their next game isn't until Wednesday, by that point unfortunately Goligoski (along with maybe Tyler Kennedy) could be back by then.
But we'll have to see how it works out. Desperate times do call for desperate measures and the Pens are pulling out all the stops in a last gasp effort to win Game 5 in Detroit and force a Game 6 with renewed confidence in friendlier confines.
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