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Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins goaltender Sergei Murashov, center, ranked second in save percentage at .931 of the AHL goaltenders who appeared in more than five postseason games. COURTESY OF THE WBS PENGUINS<\/p>\nWilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins goaltender Sergei Murashov, center, ranked second in save percentage at .931 of the AHL goaltenders who appeared in more than five postseason games. COURTESY OF THE WBS PENGUINS<\/p>\n
As the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins finished their locker room cleanout and exit interviews Monday evening, the sentiment of disappointment remained less than 24 hours after their postseason run came to an end in overtime of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it was a good year, but I think it\u2019s always tough to end like this. The guys did a great job. There was a lot of growth, but it\u2019s still pretty disappointing. I\u2019m sure as the weeks go on we\u2019ll look back with good memories, but I think it\u2019s a lot harder when three losses are really overtime losses (with) Game 1 and then Game 2 and (Sunday) night. Really three plays, like we talked about, made the difference,\u201d Penguins coach Kirk MacDonald said Monday afternoon during his final media availability of the season. \u201cAnd it\u2019s tough right now to really talk about the big picture. I know this was great for everybody, and the experience and blah blah blah, but there\u2019s not a guy in there that isn\u2019t disappointed that we didn\u2019t move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
After dropping the first two games of the series on home ice, the Penguins rallied to win two of three games in Toronto to force the series back to Wilkes-Barre for what Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton hoped would be for two games.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the Penguins, an overtime goal from Toronto Marlies forward Alex Nylander \u2014 a former Penguin \u2014 ended the series and the Penguins\u2019 season Sunday night, leaving a disappointed, but prideful, group of players who took one final lap around the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza ice to give their fans one final stick salute before exiting the ice for the final time until fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing to be proud of, for sure, is how we came together as a group. Obviously, it sucks and doesn\u2019t really feel real right now, but hopefully a lot of us can play together for a long time,\u201d Penguins forward Tristan Broz said. \u201cI said to (Rutger McGroarty) if this group plays together for a long time, we\u2019re going to win championships. That\u2019s the way we\u2019re all built, that\u2019s the way that all of us are wired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Future in net bright<\/p>\n
If Pittsburgh Penguins management learned anything during their top minor league affiliate\u2019s extended post-season run, it\u2019s that they have a legitimate goaltending prospect with future No. 1 duties in the NHL in 22-year-old Sergei Murashov.<\/p>\n
Of the AHL goaltenders who appeared in more than five postseason games, Murashov ranked fifth with a goals-against average of 2.11 and second in save percentage at .931.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Murashov\u2019s 182 saves across the six games in the Eastern Conference Final ranked second most in a playoff series in franchise history. Only Rich Parent in the 2001 Calder Cup Final had more (199).<\/p>\n
Even after a heartbreaking overtime loss, a game which he stopped 37 of the 39 shots he faced, Murashov addressed the media with the same humility and philosophical perspective as any other media availability \u2014 a sign of his mental fortitude and maturity well beyond his age.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been saying the whole season, it\u2019s an amazing group and I\u2019m so blessed to be here,\u201d Murashov said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about today. It\u2019s not about this game. It\u2019s about the moment we all came to this small town and went through so many challenges together, so many fun moments, and I think the main thing there are no regrets. We played for each other. Obviously, it\u2019s tough in the moment, but looking back on the season, no regrets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably the main thing, that we gave everything we could. We did everything we could. We were not afraid to step up for each other and going through so many challenges together, and it\u2019s precious.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s very likely Murashov played his last game in a Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins uniform Sunday night, with the net in Pittsburgh essentially looking like it\u2019s his job to lose after a stellar season in his first full year at the AHL level.<\/p>\n
Defensive depth rallied around injuries<\/p>\n
The Penguins were a sum-of-their-parts team all season, with a revolving door that saw the team use 48 players in their game-night lineups in their first 48 games.<\/p>\n
That point was especially prevalent at the end of the team\u2019s playoff run on the blue line, as six defensemen sustained injuries in the postseason that caused them to miss playoff games.<\/p>\n
Scooter Brickey, David Breazeale and Emil Pieniniemi became the eighth, ninth and 10th defensemen to appear in the Penguins\u2019 postseason run, and all received praise from MacDonald and their Penguins teammates \u2014 especially so in the case of Brickey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was unreal. (Scooter) was kind of getting the short end of the stick all year, and he jumps in and he\u2019s just a dog and he performs,\u201d said defenseman Owen Pickering, who broke his foot and tried to return during the Eastern Conference Final. \u201c(Pieniniemi and Breazeale) too. They make it to the Eastern Conference Final in the ECHL, and they\u2019re jumping in and you have to play, like we need you to play, and they\u2019re doing well. It was great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brickey played sparingly down the stretch and hadn\u2019t played since mid-April when he was called upon in the Eastern Conference Final at the end of May, but it didn\u2019t stop him from making a big impact \u2014 recording three assists in his five games and serving as a bit of a reward for an unsung hero who continued to put in the work even when he was on the outside looking in in terms of the game-night lineups.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough for sure, but at the same time the coaches and players kept me in it. It\u2019s playoffs, anything could happen,\u201d Brickey said. \u201cI was just waiting and to be ready to help the team any way I could. Everyone kept me involved, coming to the rink every day and just a joy to be around everybody. Credit to them for helping me through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growth for young forwards<\/p>\n
Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton was one of the youngest AHL teams this season, with 13 players under the age of 23 appearing in the team\u2019s postseason run and a 14th \u2014 20-year-old forward Melvin Fernstrom \u2014 who recorded eight points (two goals, six assists) in his first nine games with the team in late February before an injury at the end of March ended his season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sucks. It\u2019s really hard, but at the same time it\u2019s a learning experience,\u201d Broz said. \u201cIt was the first seven-game series I ever played in, and a lot of other guys ever played in, sothere\u2019s a lot to learn from, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broz led the Penguins with 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 15 postseason games, rising to the occasion when the team needed it most with a two-goal, two-assist performance to lead his team to an 8-1 blowout victory in a winner-take-all Game 5 of the Atlantic Division Final against Springfield to advance Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2014.<\/p>\n
Rutger McGroarty had a six-game points streak in the postseason and finished with nine points in (four goals, five assists) in 15 games.<\/p>\n
Ville Koivunen had the same stat line as McGroarty, as the two had similar years this season spending time bouncing between the AHL with Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton and the NHL with Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
Both will likely vie for an NHL roster spot out of training camp in the fall.<\/p>\n
Newcomer Mikhail Ilyin joined the team in April following his season in the KHL, and the 21-year-old made an immediate impact, adjusting to the smaller ice in North America quickly and finishing the playoffs with nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 15 games.<\/p>\n
MacDonald, Kemp establish strong culture<\/p>\n
Every team says they have a tight-knit locker room, but Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton proved it this season with the way the team rallied during adversity throughout the regular season and postseason.<\/p>\n
That camaraderie provided an environment conducive to not only on-ice success, but growth and character development over the course of the season, from development camp in the summer, to training camp in September and the postseason stretching into June.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe standard has been set for Penguins hockey at the NHL level, obviously it\u2019s a pretty concrete standard. For us, it was really just about competing. We weren\u2019t coming in talking about all this rah-rah stuff. It\u2019s just we\u2019re going to compete,\u201d Pickering said. \u201cWe have confidence in ourselves that we think we can beat anybody. Obviously, that didn\u2019t happen in the end, and it\u2019s unfortunate. It\u2019s going to hurt for a while, but I feel the culture we built this year was pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation was lain in Wilkes-Barre, and with several young, talented prospects returning in 2026-27 under the guidance of MacDonald and the coaching staff \u2014 along with returning captain Phil Kemp \u2014 there\u2019s no reason to think a return toward championship contention is out of the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s everything. Once you go to bed and wake up and look in the mirror, that\u2019s the biggest thing. I think every guy on this team built a winning culture, just a bunch of goodguys in that locker room and it was some of the most fun I\u2019ve ever had playing hockey,\u201d McGroarty said. \u201cJust growing every day together, battling each other in practice and going to war with other teams in games was super fun and huge (for our development).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins goaltender Sergei Murashov, center, ranked second in save percentage at .931 of the AHL goaltenders who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1902,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-218821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-penguins","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}