TORONTO \u2014 About 40 minutes had elapsed since the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins\u2019 gritty, Game 4 victory Wednesday at the Coca-Cola Coliseum evened their best-of-seven conference final against the Toronto Marlies.<\/p>\n
Members of the Penguins\u2019 AHL affiliate had concluded their postgame routines, but, instead of taking a shower and heading back to the team hotel, most of them were sitting around in folding chairs outside of their locker room in a makeshift workout room. And that was just the beginning of the postgame socializing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredible how close this group is,\u201d said Rutger McGroarty, who scored the winning goal late in the third period to secure the 4-3 victory. \u201cThis is nothing. After games, especially games like this, we all struggle to sleep. We\u2019ll go back to the hotel room eventually and snap the cards around for a while. We never get enough of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is the embodiment of a plan coming to fruition for Penguins president\/general manager Kyle Dubas and assistant GM Jason Spezza. Both members of the Penguins\u2019 brain trust have spoken about their desire for Wilkes-Barre to go on a long playoff run, as playing deep into the spring would not only serve individual prospects well, but also generate togetherness and an understanding of winning hockey that will hopefully someday pay off in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the reasons we want to keep winning is because that means we get to stay together for a while longer, and we want to stay together for as long as possible,\u201d McGroarty continued. \u201cThere\u2019s just a real bond here. Winning games like this? It never gets old.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilkes-Barre dropped the first two games of this series at home but never flinched in Toronto to even the series at 2-2. Game 5 is Friday in Toronto, and Game 6 returns to Pennsylvania on Sunday. If needed, Game 7 will be played Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre.<\/p>\n
Not only was Wilkes-Barre down 2-0 in this series, but they were down 2-0 in Game 4 after Sergei Murashov allowed two weak goals. The Penguins regrouped after the first period and found a way.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, our first period wasn\u2019t good,\u201d forward Avery Hayes said. \u201cBut I think you just saw the character of the people we have on this team. We finally started playing well. And when we play our best hockey, I don\u2019t think too many people can play with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayes and McGroarty have both enjoyed a taste of life in the NHL and are expected to see considerable time in Pittsburgh next season and beyond. Still, they\u2019re clearly getting something out of their time in the AHL. It\u2019s far from a punishment for them to be in the minor leagues. Rather, they seem to be embracing every second of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re able to look at the big picture and see what a great experience it is for us,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of a playoff series, so you\u2019re not really thinking about that kind of stuff. But yeah, it\u2019s great for us. This group, we all just love each other. We want to keep winning together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what else I\u2019m seeing from the AHL playoffs:<\/p>\n
Ten observations<\/p>\n
\u2022 Wilkes-Barre plays nothing like its NHL team in Pittsburgh, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.<\/p>\n
The Penguins enjoyed a surprisingly good season in Pittsburgh, but they still showed many of the flaws that have popped up in their game since winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. They aren\u2019t very good in front of their own net. They aren\u2019t exactly disruptive in front of the opposition\u2019s net. Their defensive breakdowns are comical at times. They don\u2019t typically get clutch goaltending when it\u2019s needed. Team toughness isn\u2019t always on display (though it was improved this season).<\/p>\n
In Wilkes-Barre, they don\u2019t win games based on their talent the way their senior team does. Not having Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson will do that. They don\u2019t out-skill the opposition all that often, but what I saw Wednesday was a team with immeasurable guts that wreaks havoc in front of opposing goaltenders. Yes, the AHL Penguins made some big mental blunders in that game, but from what I\u2019ve watched from afar, those were uncharacteristic mistakes.<\/p>\n
In the coming years, I believe the style and personality of the NHL Penguins will change for the better.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Speaking of comical, Murashov allowed an all-time bad goal to open the scoring in Game 4. He skated behind the net to corral the puck along the boards but misjudged its trajectory, allowing the puck to squirt in front of a wide-open cage for Toronto\u2019s first goal.<\/p>\n
The second goal he allowed wasn\u2019t good, either, as he let a shot from the point seep through.<\/p>\n
It was so bad in that first period that I noticed the always-forgiving world of social media comparing him to maligned former Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry. Ouch.<\/p>\n
Importantly, though, for the remainder of the game, Murashov stopped 22 of 23 shots, two of which were breakaways, and a handful of others that were Grade-A looks. The third Toronto goal probably shouldn\u2019t have counted, as a mad rush around the Wilkes-Barre net knocked Murashov to the ground twice before he was finally beaten.<\/p>\n
You can look at the first goal he allowed and call it a mental blunder, and sure, it was. You don\u2019t love to see that from the franchise goalie-in-waiting. He\u2019s still a work in progress, and he does allow bad goals on occasion, but his mental toughness afterward was what jumped out at me. How many goalies give up a goal like that in a road playoff game, go down 2-0, and then erase it from their minds and play as he did?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a goldfish memory,\u201d McGroarty said. \u201cSpecial human, special player.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Just as comparing Murashov to Jarry is unfair, comparing the young goaltender to future Hall of Famers is, too.<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s difficult to watch him and not think of a young Marc-Andre Fleury, at least in some ways. Like Fleury, Murashov\u2019s raw athleticism is eye-catching. Murahsov isn\u2019t that athletic \u2014 no one is \u2014 but some sequences make you think of Flower. And let\u2019s not forget, especially when he was young, Fleury allowed his share of terrible goals. It\u2019s part of his legacy. And like a young Fleury, Murashov doesn\u2019t always handle the puck well. He was horribly hesitant with the puck on a few occasions, including turning over the puck on a play that led to a Wilkes-Barre penalty and eventually, Toronto\u2019s tying goal.<\/p>\n
Murashov also has an interesting tendency to jump into every post-whistle altercation. His fiery competitiveness is reminiscent of Fleury, too.<\/p>\n
No, I\u2019m not comparing them. Fleury is one of the most gifted goaltenders ever, but there are so many similarities that it\u2019s silly to ignore them. The biggest similarity would seem to be how much his teammates adore him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s our backbone,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cTo respond like that? It says a lot about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 I predict Hayes will be a valuable member of the NHL Penguins\u2019 bottom six for a long time. He can really play.<\/p>\n
Hayes can also really irritate people. He nearly ignited multiple brawls on Wednesday night. I mentioned this to him after the game.<\/p>\n
He grinned.<\/p>\n
\u2022 It was interesting that McGroarty got the game-winner. For most of the night, he wasn\u2019t at his best. He took two bad penalties and, by his own evaluation, played his worst game of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, my first 12 games have been really good,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cTonight, not so much. But I\u2019ll learn from it. I\u2019m progressing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Talk with people in the organization, and they\u2019ll tell you that McGroarty is coming of age one day at a time. He\u2019s never going to skate like Carl Hagelin. He\u2019s never going to stickhandle like Alex Kovalev. Still, there\u2019s something there, especially in the way he thinks about the game.<\/p>\n
As with Hayes, McGroarty is going to be in Pittsburgh next season, probably for the duration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best development is playoff hockey,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty obvious. Going on a run with guys you hope to play with for a very long time, it\u2019s huge. Learning to win together? Learning to fight for each other? We\u2019re doing that. It\u2019s making me a better player, and it\u2019s making all of us better players.\u201d<\/p>\n
His best friend on the team was impressed with McGroarty\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s so hard on himself,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cAnd he knows it wasn\u2019t his best game. But it tells you something about him that he scored that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 The best player on the ice was 20-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke, and no one else was particularly close. I\u2019ll go more in-depth on him in a future story.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Owen Pickering wasn\u2019t flashy in Game 4. He never is. It\u2019s not his thing. However, the 22-year-old defenseman also didn\u2019t make any mistakes. He played a very strong game defensively.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ville Koivunen showed some flashes and made a pretty play to set up Gabe Klassen\u2019s goal in the second period. Still, the 22-year-old forward doesn\u2019t look like the guy who was so impressive at the end of the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tristan Broz does everything perfectly well. I don\u2019t know if the 23-year-old is dynamic enough to do everything well at the NHL level. Time will tell.<\/p>\n
\u2022 This team plays with a nasty edge. You know how Penguins fans prefer their team to avoid all of those post-whistle scrums? Their AHL team initiates most of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 About 40 minutes had elapsed since the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins\u2019 gritty, Game 4 victory Wednesday at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,1790,99],"class_list":["post-684365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}