At least one team in the organization is winning..

Wilkes-Barre downs Hershey 6-2 yesterday afternoon:

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rallied for the final five goals of the game – including three on the power play – to take a 6-2 win over visiting Hershey on Sunday before 6,475 fans at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

Rookie Nick Johnson tallied a pair of goals for the Penguins, and Janne Pesonen racked up a game-high four points (1-3-4) in the winning effort.

As Jonathan Bombulie points out, the Baby Pens (24-13-3) have defeated the mighty Bears (28-11-1) three times in a row following opening night's beat down. Also, anything that puts Mark Letustu and Mario Lemieux in the same sentence has got to be worth a read.

Pesonen was the #1 star of the game and rookie winger Luca Caputi notched three assists. It would be great if one of them could make an impact in the NHL this season, but don't hold your breath.

The Penguins are 7-2-1 in their last ten which is solid, but even more impressive considering that a number of their best players (Chris Minard, Tim Wallace, Dustin Jeffrey and Paul Bissonnette) have been in Pittsburgh for some or all of this stretch.

No sulking here

Good to see that Chris Minard didn't seem to miss a beat when he was returned back to Wilkes-Barre....



The Pens were outshot 37-20 but still managed to hold on to the game by the score of 4-3....Guess it runs in the organization.

Putting down the Bears

Wow, it's almost as if starting the season on a 5 game streak of killing teams would inflate a team's confidence or something...

John Curry's back stiffened up when he was making a save midway through the second period and Adam Berkhoel had to come on in relief. As he skated to the
net, Berkhoel said the Bears reminded him about how his previous two outings went against them. (Not good for him.)

That's some quality chirping by the Bears, nice to see the relatively unheralded Berkhoel keep them at bay, if only for once.

Chris Minard and Ryan Stone led the way offensively for the young Pens, two veteran guys that should be offensive factors in that league every night.

Also if you were wondering how prospect Janne Pesonen is doing in the AHL, the answer is pretty well, he's second on the team in scoring (behind Minard) with 1 goal and 5 assists in four games. Pesonen had a breakout game Friday night with a breakaway goal and two assists.

Brent traded for Danny Richmond

The Penguins today traded forward Tim Brent to Chicago for 23 year old defenseman Danny Richmond.

Richmond has played 49 career NHL games and was originally picked 31st overall in the 2003 draft (one pick before Ryan Stone) by Carolina. He was traded with a 4th round pick in 2006 to Chicago for Anton Babchuk.

Not too much to make of this deal, two teams swapping fringe NHL players--both of whom are restricted free agents and might be looking to stick on a new team. For Richmond though, the task is daunting, as the Penguins have 8 NHL established defensemen on their roster currently, plus impressive prospect Alex Goligoski.

Ray Shero has said he likes to have 10 capable defenseman, and this move gives him that. But by trading Brent, a true center unlike Stone and Jonathan Filewich, this makes it more likely that Kris Beech may be able to stick on the Pens NHL roster. Gah.

The shape of the Wilkes-Barre Baby Pens roster is forming too, and they seem to be solid, if not spectacular. With presumably Goligoski and Richmond on the backline in the 'A', they'll also have TJ Kemp, Deryk Engelland, Joey Mormina, Ben Lovejoy, Jon D'Aversa and perhaps Paul Bissonnette as defenseman. Overall a pretty young and skilled defensive group.

Does this deal signal an idea for another trade down the line--such as the rumored disposal of veteran Darryl Sydor? It appears for now it's going to be a wait and see situation, but the Pens definitely have the defensive depth to go in any direction they choose. And if that choice is to take that reasonably solid organizational depth into the season, well that ought to be a good one for the on ice performance for the big and farm team.

Gee Golly

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.

Congrats Baby Pens

Understandably lost in the shuffle with that other Penguins team going far in the playoffs, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have won the AHL's Eastern Conference. So they win the prestigious Richard Canning trophy (props to JB for that).

The Baby Pens won a game seven against Portland by defeating former Pen (and not a Sweater Ted favorite) Jean-Sebastien Aubin. Aubin is a great goalie at the AHL level and made 37 saves on 40 shots before an unstoppable bid by Tim Brent won it. That alone would be impressive, but consider that Aubin missed the previous four games with an undisclosed lower-body injury and spotted in a walking cast. Tip of the cap to him.

Brent has been one of the stars of the AHL playoffs, he leads the league in goals (11 in 17 games and is tied second in points (20). Similarly awesome has been rookie Alex Goligoski who is also in that tie for second place in scoring (Golly has 3 goals and 17 assists in 17 games). Goligoski also leads all defensemen in playoff points.

The opponent in the finals is the always dangerous Chicago Wolves. They are Atlanta's farm team and seem to always stock up on the experienced players that are good at the AHL level but don't have much NHL aspiration. Of Chicago's top eight playoff scorers just one (Brian Little) is under the age of 25. The Baby Pens, by comparison, have five of their top eight scorers (Brent, Goligoski, Ryan Stone, Connor James, Mark Ardelan) coming in under 25 years old.

Since Ty Conklin's callup, Wilkes-Barre has relied on two very young and untested goalies (John Curry and Dave Brown). Curry, an undrafted player in his second year with the Pens organ-eye-zation, emerged as the man and has played like it; boasting a 12-5 record, 2.48 GAA and 90.8 save percentage. One area Chicago is young at is the goaltending position where Ondrej Pavelec, a 20 year old former second round pick, is the 'tender.

We don't follow the AHL that closely, so we haven't (and won't) be making a prediction. And with the Pens in the Stanley Cup finals, the Calder Cup isn't on our radar that much. However it's good to see the success on the farm and hopefully the boys can keep it rolling.

Funny thing happening in Dallas

For one of our features this summer we were planning on doing a little "where are they now" type five year roundup with the group of Wilkes-Barre Scranton Baby Pens that were followed around and had their season made into a documentary by NHL Productions.

Well unlikely happenings have forced an early first entry to that feature.

Kuklaskorner pointed out an interesting article from Dallas about former WB/S alternate captain that year, Toby Petersen, and the lift that he's provided to the Dallas Stars in neutralizing the uber-dangerous Detroit duo of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

How Petersen (generously listed officially at 5'10 and 197 pounds) has been able to foil legitimate stars has been something of a surprise. He left the Pens organization as a free agent after the 2003-04 season and caught on with Edmonton, spending two more seasons in their farmclub. "Petey" has great speed, good offensive instincts and is a real "heady" player but lacks the pure skill and an opportunity to be a regular NHL Top 6 forward. With the landscape of the bottom two lines being mainly filled out with grinders, checkers, PK specialists and young players, Petersen doesn't fill that niche either. He's been over-looked from the very beginning, when he was a 9th round draft pick of the Penguins in 1999. This is a player with 133 goals and 203 assists (336 points) in 506 career AHL regular season games, he has had success and admirable staying power in the professional level.

Then in the spring of 2006 he got called up for the taxi squad for the Oilers Stanley Cup final run and got two play two games in a 4th line capacity when the flu bug bit the Oilers lockeroom. Petersen made something of this opportunity, scoring the first goal in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals to help the Oilers win against the Anaheim Ducks 5-4.

Petersen hasn't been able to catch on in the NHL, going back to the minors for the past two years before he got the chance to play most of the season on a weak Edmonton team in 2006-07 [scoring 6 goals, 9 assists in 64 games]. Still he could not crack the youth movement of the Oilers and they let him slide where he signed on with Dallas' organ-eye-zation, where he was back to the familiarity of minor league life.

Until this spring, when (thanks to injuries) he's been in Dallas' lineup for 15 of their 17 playoff games, back to his role as a spare part 4th liner playing anywhere from 2-9 minutes on any given night. Until he got matched up against Datsyuk and Zetterberg when Dallas was down 3 games to 0 and seemingly had no hope. While, against all likelihood and reason, Petersen has stuck around and is now doing enough to get noticed again (if you're noticing this is something of a trend, you're catching on).

The NHL playoffs often produce unlikely heroes; guys who step out of nowhere and have a magical stretch of games (like John Druce in 1990 or maybe even Johan Franzen this spring) and then hang around but eventually fade away just as fast as they've come. Now it's looking like a center too small and not valuable enough to stick anywhere for too long (one with zero goals and zero assists this playoff at that!) is making a huge difference. Another reason why hockey, beneath the surface, is the most captivating sport.

It's good to see good people do well. We're pulling for you Petey, if only for tonight and Wednesday.

Saturday Morning Roundup

Various thoughts and tidbits this morning...

• The Flyers lost both other Game 1's they've had this year too. First it was Alex Ovechkin picking Lasse Kukkonen's pocket and scoring the winner in the dying moments. The next series it was Alexei Kovalev scoring with just :29 seconds to go in regulation for the tie the game, and former Penguin Tom Kostopolous winning it in OT just 48 seconds into that stanza. So don't say Philly doesn't know how to bounce back from deflating losses, they won Game 2 and 3 in both of those series.
• The Penguins have now won all six of their home playoff games and have a 14 game home winning streak dating back to the regular season.
• In the other Pittsburgh/Philly series, the Wilkes-Scranton Penguins have defeated the Philadelphia Phantoms 4 games to 1, including four straight wins. The Baby Pens are being paced by Tim Brent (9 goals, 8 assists in 10 games) and rookie defenseman Alex Goligoski (3 goals, 11 assists). Brent and Goligoski are 1/2 in scoring for the AHL playoffs.
• It's hard to imagine Goligoski not on the NHL roster at the beginning of next season if he keeps playing like this. He's the prototypical "post-lockout" puckmoving defenseman. Kris Letang has slid into the lineup almost seamlessly. Goligoski's development has taken a little longer (three years of NCAA play and this one in the AHL) but could he finally be the one to break the curse of Greg Malone?
• While on young players, ATO's Luca Caputi (2 goals, 2 assists in 7 games) and Dustin Jeffrey (2 goals and 1 assist in 5 games) are stepping right into the AHL playoffs and playing well. As you know, we've had these guys on the radar since early in the year with their impressive statistical performances in the OHL, but doing it at the professional level is another matter. While Caputi and Jeffrey haven't dominated like Jeff Carter [23 points in 21 games] and Mike Richards [14 points in 15] did for the Phantoms in the 2005 AHL playoffs, they've still made contributions.
• The Baby Pens will play Portland (Anaheim's minor league team) in the Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. The other remaining teams in the West (with the NHL affiliation in parenthesis) are Syracuse (Columbus) and Toronto Marlies (Toronto) with that winner to meet the winner of the Chicago Wolves (Atlanta) and Rockford (Chicago).
• So Pittsburgh has the only NHL and AHL team in the conference finals at both levels. Not a sure sign of superiority or anything, but a tribute to how stocked the organ-eye-zation is right now.
• Quote of the day may be from Mr. Gary Roberts in the Toronto Sun talking about Geno..."He is taking it to a whole new level, both goals tonight came late in shifts. By then, most of us are dead tired. He's on the ice a minute, a minute and a half into his shift and he finds the strength. I don't think he's human like the rest of us. And then he makes these plays ... I've never seen anything like him before."
• Over in the West, Detroit's got a seven game winning streak going...Even though we picked against them, we still said a Pittsburgh/Detroit matchup has looked inevitable for a while, and it's continuing to look that way one game into the conference finals. One game, of course, is not a series, but unless Philadelphia/Dallas can recover and drastically make some changes it won't be long until the Cup finals start.

Boys will be boys

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins captain Nathan Smith will be suspended for
the first game of the second round of the playoffs, coach Todd Richards announced Tuesday morning.

Smith was charged with public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, open lewdness and indecent exposure after he ran naked into the street as part of what he called "a prank that went wrong" early Sunday morning in Scranton.

It's young men running around naked at 2:30 in the morning. Is it a good idea? No. Was their alcohol probably involved? Yes. But at least they weren't driving or brawling or being aggressive to women. Plenty of worse stories happen at this time.


On the other hand, Smith is the captain of the team and is a professional. He should be acting a little more mature and owes it to the organization, fans and his teammates to not put himself in a situation where he's streaking around during the playoffs


This article doesn't mention it, but teammate Ryan Stone was also arrested for public drunkeness, his 2nd one of this season. Not good.


We're not the moral police and don't tell others how to run their lives; we're no saints ourselves. But having fun and rockin' out is one thing, but being smart and keeping your head on your shoulders is another. Hopefully the lessons sink in to not only Smith and Stone but other young players on the team about responsibility (or at least how to stay under the radar).

(Credit the Baby Pens news to who else, Bombulie)

The Wilkes-Barre Pens ride again

So if you're keeping track the Penguins top two organ-eye-zations are a combined 6-0 right now.

A 6-2 win over the Hershey Bears throw the Baby Pens up 2-0 in their series, goals scored by Tim Brent (2), David Gove, Chris Minard, Ryan Stone and defenseman Alex Goligoski push the Baby Pens in a great position going forward.

It's a great time to be alive.

Baby Pens doing some winning too

Pittsburgh's NHL squad isn't the only team in the organization off to a good post-season start. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are up 1 game to none over one of their rivals the Hershey Bears (Washington's AHL team).

Wilkes-Barre is in a unique situation; since Pittsburgh had so many injuries it pulled many of their players away. Eight players in the Baby Pens lineup for Game 1 (Chris Minard, Tim Brent, Connor James, Alex Goligoski, Alain Nasreddine, Nathan Smith, Jonathan Filewich and Ryan Stone) saw NHL action this season, combining for 62 games played "in the show". And this doesn't even count contributors like Jeff Taffe, Tyler Kennedy, Kris Letang who've all graduated to the NHL. Or the only goaltender with experience, Ty Conklin. By contrast only 2 of Hershey's players (Sami Lepitso and Chris Bourque) played with the Caps and they combined for just 11 games. We should point out they did graduate Quintin Laing and Eric Fehr and Coach Bruce Boudreau to the NHL.

Regardless of the higher level experience, the Baby Pens face two large hurdles: 1)having two rookie goaltenders on their roster (compared to the seasoned Freddy Cassivi that Hershey has) and 2)generating consistent offense.

Wednesday night they only got 2 goals (from James and Minard) but it was enough for a 2-1 over-time winner.

This series will be interesting to keep an eye on. Both of these AHL clubs are no stranger to post-season success, and very fimiliar with one another. If the Baby Pens goaltending stays strong and they can find a scoring spark they should have no problem advancing deep into the Calder Cup trophies....Just like the other team in the organization.

Two Draft Picks to Join Baby Pens

According to Bombulie, the Penguins signed two 2007 draft picks Luca Caputi and Keven Veilleux to Amateur Try-Out contracts. ATOs are good for the player (gives them a little bit of monetary gain and a chance to make the team) plus they are good for the organization as they don't count against the 40 SPC's (standard player contracts) that they have, which is obviously near the limit this late in the season. Plus, to our intrepretation, the player on an ATO doesn't start on their traditional three year entry level contract (and start the clock ticking towards unrestricted free agency).

The Baby Pens have a pretty deep set of forwards, but lack explosive offensive players. It will be interesting to see how much of a chance they give Caputi (who scored 111 pointss in the OHL). Veilleux is a 6'5 center who was about a point-per-game player in the Q.

The AHL playoffs are less about developing these young players and more about sticking with who got ya there and trying to win. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter signed ATOs and really jumped out for the Philadelphia Phantoms but they are the exception, not the rule. Still, it's good to get some prospects in and training/practicing with the team to get a taste of how intense the professional level gets.

Brilliant Idea: Bobblefists

The soon to be retired uber-popular pugilist that they honored actually changed the course of the game for his team too. But it wasn't with a fight, it was with scoring a goal. Somewhat ironic, we suppose.

Hidden Gem Blog of the Day

It belongs to Wilkes-Barre Scraton's own, Ben Lovejoy.

Lovejoy is an interesting story; he went un-drafted but has pretty good size and is a stay-at- home type defenseman. He scratched and clawed his way onto the AHL roster in training camp and has carved out a pretty good niche in that lineup.

Lovejoy's blog is hilarious, especially the latest edition where he roasts a bunch of his teammates. A first reaction might be to say he's "well spoken, for a hockey player", but please, dude graduated an Ivy League school we'd expect he knows how to form a sentence or two.

It's always interesting to see the way professional hockey players interact with each other, especially in the AHL where most the players are so young and there's a light-hearted and carefree vibe in the air.

So check it out, you're guaranteed to have a chuckle or two and learn a little more about the personalities of some of the boys, not just the players that play.

Maffy, Maffy, Maffy

Regardless, his final AHL numbers are remarkable: 3-1, 1.51 goals-against, .951 save percentage. You have to wonder how the WBS Penguins will fare without an NHL-caliber goalie behind them this weekend, but you don't have to worry if Fleury is sharp enough to return to The Burgh. He is.

link

I wore some pads for you, and they were yellow

And now to answer your question.....Why?!

"Just for fashion. I always kind of wanted to have a yellow jersey. I thought it looked pretty good. A little yellow, but that’s OK.”

Uhh, sure Marc...If you say so...

As far as things that matter here's a look at Fleury's stats in 3 rehab starts. They have been, from all reports, very, very strong.

Record: 2-1-0
Goals Against: 1.35 GAA
Save %: .957

Fleury is expected to stay with Wilkes-Barre until the weekend, but Pittsburgh, starting today plays 4 games in the next 6 days so there's reason to believe he will be back in the NHL sooner than later. Whether the Pens will risk sending Dany Sabourin through waivers or hold onto the awkwardness of having 3 goalies on the roster remains to be seen.

(Hat-tip to Penguins Insider for the picture and quote)

Why 3 may not be a crowd

Jonathan Bombulie up in Wilkes-Barre weighs in on the roster decision the Penguins are going to have to make coming up here soon:

I don't think Pittsburgh can afford to get rid of any of its goaltenders. They can't send Conklin down because he might be the No. 1, depending on how Fleury plays. They can't really risk sending down Sabourin either. It's not likely, but what if he gets claimed and Fleury re-aggravates his ankle? Then you have to make a trade or a waiver claim on a goalie because you couldn't realistically go into the playoffs with a Conklin-Curry tandem.

It's not that big a deal, really. NHL rosters expand at the trade deadline Feb. 26, so you only have to worry about using a roster spot on a third goalie for about nine more days. From a WBS perspective, it's good to get Curry and/or Brown some playoff
experience.

They just have to make sure Sabourin stays active in practice because they might need him in the playoffs. I've seen Michel Therrien use three goalies in a series before. Twice, in fact.

JB makes some good points, but usually in the NHL nobody is happy with a 3 goalie rotation; the goalies don't like it because it limits the amount of work the get, obviously in games but practices too. There are only two nets on the ice, after all.

Really though most of his hypotheticals center around another team claiming Dany Sabourin off of waivers. Sabs has had his moments, both good and bad this season but looking at the other teams in the league it's difficult to see one that might claim Sabourin this late in the season.

If we had our finger on the button (an last time we checked, we don't) Sabourin would be back in Wilkes-Barre. We'd roll with the risks that Fleury won't re-injure his ankle and Sabs wouldn't be claimed.

Oh yeah, and if Therrien ever ends up using 3 goalies in one series (short of having injuries), well then we are all in a world of hurt.

Stone, Lannon Recalled

The Penguins were sitting at having the minimum number of healthy skaters, 18, on their NHL roster. So, while getting ready to embark on a 3 game southern swing for a week, they figured they might need the flexibility just in case an injury strikes.

Enter 2 Ryans: (Stone and Lannon).

I wouldn't mind seeing Stone get a crack in the lineup for one game, he plays a role that could fit in well on a lower line.

Lannon, barring injury, will likely not sniff the lineup. No worries there.

More interesting to me, is that regular callup Alain Nasreddine was left in Wilkes-Barre.

On one hand, the Penguins regular 6 defenseman are all filling their roles well and there's no place in the lineup for Nasreddine. His services can be better spent in the AHL where he's a big part of a team that's made a turnaround in the standings right about when he got there. Plus to keep him in game shape there's no need to sit him every single night.

But, then again consider that it is unusual to carry six defensemen. Lannon is an emergency option and it doesn't seem like he is an NHL caliber player and perhaps never will be.

So why no Naz? Could he be falling victim to a provision in the CBA over re-entry waivers?

For those who may not know, Nasreddine would be exposed to re-entry waivers if he was recalled. He is a decent option as a 6/7 veteran guy.

But, better than that, his salary would be a steal....Nasreddine's cap hit would be half of his $535,000 contract. But, since the season is half over, the Penguins have paid him half of that (or the equilivant for being in the minors).

Re-entry waivers would force the Pens to pick up half his remaining salary, leaving the new team to pay just 1/4 (or $133,750) for Nasreddine's services for the rest of the year.

That would be quite the bargain for a team with defensive injuries, and especially if they're nearing the salary cap.

Those financial considerations are likely the reason it's Lannon, and not Nasreddine, that got the call this morning.

Report from the Farm: Unsettling times

Overall, things are pretty well balanced for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at first glance. In 6 games played; 3 up and 3 down. 19 goals for, 19 goals against.

But there's some unsettling news: Uber-prospect Kris Letang (0g, 5a, 5p) was scratched for the last game, despite averaging a point per game. Guys who are having their pro prospects fade, Ryan Stone and Jonathan Filewich have spent a lot of time of the 4th line, in the doghouse and even in the press box for a night. Though Filewich did score 2 goals last game, so maybe he's turned the corner.

Chris Minard, hailed in these parts as maybe even a NHL caliber prospect has been bad since his opening night hat trick. "Invisible" was the word used by their beat writer. Minard too, spent some time in the press box, instead of on the bench.

But that's how things go in the American Hockey League. It's a constant rollercoaster of highs and lows, wins and losses. Instability from the young players is to be expected, but given how things are shaking out it's a little concerning right now, especially for Stone, Filewich and Letang. Hopefully they get the wakeup message that head coach Todd Richards is clearly sending.

One bright spot has been the offense of Jeff Taffe. He might never make it to the NHL, but he's putting up some great numbers, 7 goals and 2 assists in 6 games. So he has 9 points and the Penguins have 19 total.

The Penguins blueline (Bobby Scuds in particular) has played above expectations, especially in the past few games. There is no need to promote Letang in the forseeable future. So he needs to settle down, realize he's going to be in the A for a while, and just work on his game in the pros; particularly in his own end.

Forwards wise, Georges Laraque's having a nagging groin injury, but Adam Hall and Jarrko Ruutu have been sensational at grinding, hitting and cycling (now if Ruutu could only stay out of the penalty box!). So it doesn't look like Pittsburgh is in need of any forwards either at the moment.

This is all adding up to a lot of bus riding in the future for most of the Penguins closest prospects to the NHL. So close, but so very far.

Wilkes-Barre a Winner in Game 1

The Wilkes-Barre Penguins opened their season last night against AHL powerhouse and division rivals the Hershey Bears with a 5-4 win. Some notes and observations:

--Chris Minard had a natural hat trick for the first three goals of the game. He's an unhearlded prospect but perhaps someone to keep an eye on.
--Ty Conklin reportedly gave up a few softies.
--Alex Goligoski was victimized in his first professional game, looked bad on the 3rd goal allowed, welcome to the pros kid! It should be noted however, that he played well on the powerplay. As expected. Goligoski and Letang manning the points is pretty formidable. Definitely raw, but very formidable.
--Most observers expected defensive mainstay Alain Nasreddine to be back in the AHL. He's not. With Mike Weaver getting claimed by Vancouver, the blueline was very young and doesn't have a real defensive dman to hang your hat on that you need in the AHL level. Ryan Lannon was the most experience player, and that's not going to cut it over a long season.
--Uber-pest Louis Robitaille was running his mouth as usual, and Lannon dropped him. Good times.

The lines were:
Stone-Taffe-Filewich
James-Smith-Kennedy
Minard-Brent-Wallace
Jensen-Bonvie

Lannon-Engelland
Letang-Goligoski
Ardelan-Lovejoy

--Given that lineup, one has to wonder if tough guy in the making, Aaron Boogaard is about to spend some time in the Coast (ECHL). Certainly there will be no shortages of takers for a fight there.

A win is a win, so that's nice. But it's obvious that there's several good, experience forwards, but this team will need more foundation defensively. Given so many were making their pro debuts against a solid lineup, that's not to be unexpected.