Oula Palve had to wait a little longer than he would have liked for his first professional goal in North America.
Palve, a 27-year-old undrafted free agent signing by the Penguins this summer, scored his first of the season on Saturday, in his 22nd game of the season. It wasn't the prettiest of goals, but it was a goal:
"It hit my thigh, my pants and went in," Palve recalled to me on Sunday. "Sometimes when you're not scoring you just have to go in front of the net and you get lucky. That's kind of what happened. But I got my goal, so I'm happy."
"It gives me some confidence and releases some tension," Palve said of snapping his drought. "When you're an offensive-minded player, you want to produce."
One goal in 22 games isn't ideal, but the 6-foot, 180-pound Palve looked pretty strong otherwise in his first season in North America. He's always been more of a guy who sets up goals more often than he scores them -- in his last season in Finland, he scored 16 goals and 35 assists in 51 games.
That goal is a nice reward for his work, but he's still focusing more on the playmaking aspects of his game as he adjusts to a new league.
"I had some good scoring chances, but I feel like I'm more of a playmaker," he said. "I'm usually the guy who passes the puck, that's more what I'm thinking. There was quite a stretch where I didn't even get an assist, even though I made some good plays. Sometimes things don't go the way you want, the goals just don't come. It feels great that I had a goal, and an assist too."
Palve's assist on Saturday was his fifth of the season. That's still low for him, but he's been taking on a different role this season. In Finland he was always a top-six guy and one of the leading scorers on his team. As of late, he's primarily played a bottom-six role here, and has settled in as the third-line center between Thomas Di Pauli and Ryan Haggerty.
When I asked Palve about what the adjustment has been like moving from Finland to the AHL, he did note that the pace of the game is faster here, but that the adjustment for him has been more about that bottom-six role, not the style of North American hockey.
"It's just different situations," he said. "I feel like I was playing a lot differently in Finland than playing here. ... I think I've been playing a little more of a different role, I'm not on the top scoring unit. It's nice to help my team with secondary scoring, too."
Palve said that going that long without showing up on the scoresheet was easier on him mentally because the team as a whole has been strong lately. In the month of November, Wilkes-Barre went 9-2-1-1.
"It's always the main thing that the team does well," he said. "Even though I'm not playing on the top line that I wanted to, I'm still trying to contribute every night. If the team is winning, it affects so much in the day-to-day mood in the rink. It's a lot more fun to be around the guys and be around the rink when the team is doing well."
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THE ROSTER MOVES
• Justin Almeida was re-assigned to the Nailers on Nov. 25. He only played in seven games with Wilkes-Barre prior to the assignment, and had been a healthy scratch of late. He's played in four games with the Nailers since being sent down, and has one goal and one assist in four games.
• Joseph Blandisi was recalled by Pittsburgh on Nov. 29.
THE INJURIES
• Forward Ben Sexton has been dealing with an upper-body injury since camp.
• Forward Kasper Bjorkqvist is out until May after undergoing knee surgery, effectively ending his season. He last played on Oct. 19.
THE NEWS
• The team's Teddy Bear Toss will be on Dec. 7. Fans can bring new, unwrapped plush toys to be thrown on the ice after the first goal of the game.
THE GAMES
• Nov. 27: vs. Lehigh Valley, 6-2 win
The Phantoms' Tyler Wotherspoon opened the scoring 1:22 into the first period, and Stefan Noesen answered with his 13th goal of the season, a power play tally to tie the game 1:27 later. Adam Johnson extended the lead with his first AHL goal of the year.
Noesen scored his second of the game and 14th of the season to open the middle frame, and the Phantoms' Pascal Laberge cut the Penguins' lead to one goal 1:21 later. Blandisi scored a power play goal, his third goal of the year, to regain the two-goal lead.
In the third period, the Phantoms pulled their goaltender with just over three minutes remaining, and Di Pauli scored an empty net goal, his second goal of the season, shortly after. The Phantoms put their goaltender back in net afterward, and Di Pauli scored another goal in the final minute.
Defenseman Jon Lizotte led the team with five shots on goal, and the Penguins were outshot 32-30.
Casey DeSmith earned the win with 30 saves on 32 shots.
The Penguins went 2-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
• Nov. 29: vs. Lehigh Valley, 6-5 overtime loss
The Phantoms scored four goals -- including two on the power play -- to put the Penguins in a serious hole entering first intermission.
The Phantoms extended their lead to 5-0 1:01 into the second period. Jamie Devane, playing in his second game of the season for the Penguins after returning from injury, scored his first goal of the season to finally get the Penguins on the board.
Andrew Agozzino scored his ninth goal of the season midway through the third period to cut the Phantoms' lead to three, and Anthony Angello scored his fourth of the year 1:44 later. Agozzino then scored his second of the game and 10th of the year 1:03 later to cut the Phantoms' lead to one goal. Johnson scored his second of the year with two minutes remaining to force overtime.
The Phantoms' T.J. Brennan scored four minutes into the overtime period to win the game.
Agozzino led the Penguins with seven shots on goal.
Emil Larmi, playing in his first game since he started to faint during an intermission on Oct. 25, made 20 saves on 26 shots. He shared a screenshot of these messages he received from DeSmith after the game.
The Penguins went 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill.
• Nov. 30: vs. Bridgeport, 5-2 win
Sam Miletic opened the scoring with a power play tally, his third goal of the year. Bridgeport's Parker Wotherspoon (whose brother Tyler scored against the Penguins earlier in the week) tied the game midway through the period.
Defenseman Matt Abt scored his first AHL goal at 6:07 of the second period to take the lead, and Johnson's third of the year extended the lead. The Sound Tigers cut the Penguins' lead back to one goal before the end of the middle frame.
Angello scored his fifth goal of the season 5:13 into the third period to regain the two-goal lead, and Palve scored his first pro goal in North America to put the game away.
Angello and Noesen were tied for the team-lead in shots on goal with four each.
DeSmith earned the win with 26 saves on 28 shots.
The Penguins went 1-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
The win capped off a month of November that saw the Penguins go 9-2-1-1.
THE LEADERS
• Goals: Noesen, 14 in 22 games
• Assists: Agozzino, 12 in 21 games; Johnson, 12 in 14 games; Miletic, 12 in 22 games; Warsofsky, 12 in 19 games
• Points: Noesen, 22 in 22 games; Agozzino, 22 in 21 games
THE COMBINATIONS
Sam Miletic — Andrew Agozzino — Stefan Noesen
Adam Johnson — Chase Berger — Anthony Angello
Thomas Di Pauli — Oula Palve — Ryan Haggerty
Jamie Devane — Jordy Bellerive — Jake Lucchini
Niclas Almari — Macoy Erkamps
Pierre-Olivier Joseph — Jon Lizotte
Matt Abt — Michael Kim
THE STANDINGS
• After this week, the Penguins’ record is 13-6-2-1, tied for second in the eight-team Atlantic Division. They trail the first-place Providence Bruins (14-7-1-2) by two points.
• The power play sits at 20.5 percent, ninth in the 31-team league. The penalty kill is operating at 78.5 percent overall, 25th in the league.
THE SCHEDULE
• The Penguins will have a three-in-three this week. They'll host the AHL's worst team, the Texas Stars (6-13-1-2) on Friday and Saturday, and visit the Hershey Bears (9-9-2-3) on Sunday.
GOALS OF THE WEEK
Johnson's spin move was his first goal of the season:
Noesen's second goal of the night went up and in:
Di Pauli scored a breakaway goal:
Johnson tied the game in Lehigh Valley off of a tough angle:
Johnson was patient with the puck:
Angello finished off this 2-on-1 with Johnson:
THE PODCAST
• Chase Berger joined Nick Hart on the podcast:
WILKES-BARRE FUN THING
Niclas Almari, Bjorkqvist, and Larmi got weird at Wegmans:
Happy thanksgiving! Still trying to figure out how to celebrate it. #whengymislife #finnismafia ?? pic.twitter.com/YOsCxi7Nd6
— Emil Larmi (@emillarmi) November 28, 2019
There's a four- to six-year age difference between those three and Palve. He said he likes being able to speak Finnish with them, but don't expect him to make an appearance in any of their goofy videos this season.
"They sometimes do some weird stuff that I don't want to be a part of," Palve laughed. "They do their own thing outside of the rink. It's too much for me."
The guys also figured out how to have five people play ping pong at once, while getting some extra cardio in. Innovators:
Nothing to see here. Move along. pic.twitter.com/UTP1WMQe7y
— Emil Larmi (@emillarmi) November 26, 2019
This section isn't meant to be all Larmi, but it probably will be for most of the season. Here's Noesen messing with Larmi at the end of Saturday's game:
