Following last Saturday’s win over the Bridgeport Islanders, Filip Hallander began to reminisce about his previous time with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after his first – and only – home game back with the team while on a conditioning loan from Pittsburgh.

Though he had played in Wilkes-Barre three years ago, it seems like a lifetime ago the then 21-year-old was lacing up his skates at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.

“Being back here brings back some memories from a couple of years ago,” Hallander said. “Seeing some people around that you haven’t seen in a long time is pretty fun.”

After spending the last two years back home in Sweden playing for his hometown Timra in the country’s top pro league the SHL, Hallander returned to North America this season determined to live out his dream and break through to the NHL full-time.

Coming into training camp in the fall, Hallander ultimately earned a spot on Pittsburgh’s opening night roster, appearing in 13 games with Pittsburgh and recording his first career NHL goal Oct. 16.

Just as things were finally coming together for Hallander and he was solidifying his place as an everyday NHL player, he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg Nov. 7, sidelining him indefinitely.

At first, there were concerns about whether Hallander would be able to resume his playing career.

Hallander faced his adversity head-on and has tried to keep things in perspective – a maturity well beyond his 25 years of age.

“It’s been challenging, but it’s probably been my best three months, too,” Hallander said. “It’s kind of weird. It’s time you have to reflect and you get perspective on things when it was so close that I wouldn’t be able to play again.”

Thankfully, Hallander was able to resume skating and continued his recovery process before joining his teammates in Pittsburgh for an on-ice practice Feb. 17.

He was fully cleared to return to game action and joined Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan Feb. 18 in advance of their game last Wednesday in Springfield.

“He looks the part. He looks like an NHL’er in my book,” AHL Penguins head coach Kirk MacDonald said. “He skates, competes, makes the right play all the time. Just outstanding.”

Last Saturday, in his second game with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hallander scored a first period goal that ended up sparking the Penguins to four straight tallies on their way to turning a 2-0 deficit into a 4-3 win.

“Like, that goal is just a byproduct of all the other stuff he does,” MacDonald said. “He’s huge for us while we have him, that’s for sure.”

While on the conditioning loan with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hallander was able to shake off the proverbial rust from not playing in three-and-a-half months and get into “game-shape” before returning to Pittsburgh, hopeful he will be able to pick up where he left off in the NHL this fall.

“Just every day you come to the rink now. It’s a different type of gratitude — to be around and just do what you love.”

Pens hold on to beat Cleveland

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins got off to a good start on their weekend trip to Cleveland.

The Pens jumped out to a two-goal lead after one period, and held on in the final minutes for a 3-2 win over the Monsters on Friday night at Rocket Arena.

Entering Saturday, WBS was four points back of Providence for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, but remained 13 points away of Charlotte for second. Hershey and Bridgeport round out the top five.

The Pens got out to a fast start in the opening 10 minutes as Atley Calvert’s 11th goal, coupled with a score from Ville Koivunen, gave the locals a 2-0 lead just eight minutes in.

Cleveland’s Luca Del Bel Belluz’s power-play goal cut the deficit to 2-1 with 11:15 left in the second period before Aidan McDonough’s 13th score with 23 seconds left gave WBS a 3-1 lead entering the third.

Guillaume Richard cut it to 3-2 with 1:15 left, but the Monsters couldn’t get the equalizer in the final seconds.

Joel Blomqvist got the start in goal for the Pens, stopping 22 of 24 shots he faced.