WILKES-BARRE — After spending the last six-plus years in the National Hockey League playing the game at its highest level, Ryan Graves finds himself back in the American Hockey League with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this fall — aiming to rebuild confidence and consistency in his game so he can return to the NHL.

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Graves on the opening day of free agency in 2023, inking the 6-foot-5, 220-pound defender to a six-year contract worth $4.5 million annually.

After eight goals and 18 assists with the New Jersey Devils in 2022-23, Graves recorded four goals and 14 assists in his two seasons with the Penguins.

While his overall game as a member of the Penguins may be more focused on shoring up things in the defensive zone, the fact that he managed just four points (one goal, three assists) in 61 games and was a minus-15 on the year clearly indicates more goals were scored against the Penguins with Graves on the ice than goals were scored for the Pens.

It ate at Graves as last season wore on, and he admitted as much after a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins practice last month.

“The last few years have been stressful, to be honest,” Graves said. “You want to perform. Like, they’re paying you to do that. You feel like you’re letting people down. And you let yourself down, too.

“Like, you have an expectation for yourself. You’ve played at a certain level for years, at the NHL level, and you just expect to continue to do that, and continue to try to improve. It hasn’t been from a lack of effort.”

The early returns on Graves’ body of work in the AHL this fall are mostly positive.

Through the team’s opening eight games, he leads the Penguins defensemen in scoring with five points (one goal, four assists).

Defensively, he’s been on the ice for just one even-strength goal against.

“I think for him too just, like, he’s had to kind of eat a lot of you know what in the last little bit, and I think just getting back to having some fun in the game and some joy in the game,” Penguins coach Kirk MacDonald said. “It’s his effort level in practices, his habits, the way he prepares himself. He’s (been a) great example for guys.”

MacDonald said he has no illusions about Graves, as well as longtime NHL forward Danton Heinen currently on the AHL Penguins’ roster, that they fully intend to work their way back to the NHL and it’s a situation where MacDonald and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will gladly reap the benefits of having their added veteran presence and experiences.

“It’s a bump in the road. It’s not the end of the road. I think you need to take it as an opportunity to kind of find your game. I think I’ve struggled with consistency over the past few seasons since coming to (Pittsburgh) so it’s been a chance to really find it,” Graves said. “I think I’ve really taken it with a good attitude and put in a good effort. There’s no sense of feeling sorry for yourself because no one’s feeling sorry for you.”

While in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, MacDonald has been using Graves in all situations — including a large role on the penalty kill and even as a point man on one of theteam’s power play units.

“It’s been nice to find fun in the game,” Graves said. “I mean, I play a lot in all situations and in situations that I haven’t done and won’t do in the future the NHL, and I understand that,but it has been nice to be able to do that, and to be like a big part of the team.”

Friday’s game

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are back to their winning ways.

The locals scored two goals in the third period to break a 1-1 tie as the Penguins got back in the win column with a 3-2 victory over the Bridgeport Islanders on Friday night at Mohegan Arena. The victory comes after WBS sustained its first loss of the season Wednesday night to Providence.

WBS remains on top of the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of Providence. Lehigh Valley and Hershey round out the top four.

The offense was firing Friday night as the Penguins attempted 34 shots, sneaking three of them past Bridgeport keeper Marcus Hogberg.

Sam Poulin’s second goal of the year gave Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 1-0 lead not even six minutes into the match before the Islanders knotted it at 1-1 on Alex Jefferies’ score.

It stood that way until the third period when back-to-back scores put the locals up for good. Poulin added another goal with 13 minutes left for the 2-1 lead before the Penguins added an empty-net goal by Danton Heinen at the 18:18 mark for the two-goal edge.

Ryan Graves added two assists in the win, while keeper Filip Larsson stopped 22 of 24 shots.

WBS (8-1) finishes off the weekend Saturday with a road match at Utica, which is currently winless. The team has three matches next week, hosting Toronto on Wednesday and traveling to Rochester on Friday. The Penguins finish the weekend on home ice against Utica next Saturday.