Last week, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach J.D. Forrest said that he was sure that Sam Poulin "will find the scoresheet here soon."
Entering Friday's game against Hartford, Poulin had recorded just two assists in his first five games with Wilkes-Barre, averaging two shots on goal per game. He's spent the beginning of the season on Wilkes-Barre's top power play unit, and has primarily played on the top line alongside Radim Zohorna and Valtteri Puustinen.
Though Poulin hadn't scored a goal yet, Forrest liked what he was seeing from Poulin.
"When he gets pucks down low, he really is able to make some plays and protect pucks, dominate, and make it tough on other teams, especially the D," Forrest said of Poulin. "He's been great, he's been real coachable. He's committed to getting better at the areas that he needs to get better at. But he's got such a good set of tools that we want to make sure he maximizes those, and he's been able to do that."
Poulin finally netted his first professional goal on Friday in Wilkes-Barre's 3-2 shootout loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Wilkes-Barre opened the scoring in the game, but two goals from Hartford had the Penguins trailing 2-1 late in the third period.
Forrest pulled goaltender Louis Domingue in favor of the extra attacker, and Wilkes-Barre capitalized on the 6-on-5 advantage.
Poulin passed the puck to P.O Joseph, who passed it back to Poulin as Poulin moved toward the slot. Poulin unleashed a wrist shot through traffic that tied the game in the final minute to force overtime:
After Pittsburgh's preseason game against the Red Wings in Detroit, Mike Sullivan praised the "raw talent" of both Poulin and Nathan Legare, but thought that both players still had a ways to go in order to become better well-rounded players.
"You can also see some of the immaturity in their game, where they need to learn certain details in order to develop a more mature game," Sullivan said. "That's just part of the natural development of a player."
In speaking with Forrest this season, he offered a similar assessment of Poulin's weaknesses. Poulin is coming to the pro game after a couple of years playing for stacked QMJHL teams, where one bad decision wouldn't come back to bite him as easily. Now that he's in the AHL, where the players are older, bigger, and more experienced, he has to learn what he can and can't get away with, as well as what will make him successful at this level.
"He just has to adjust a little bit the decision-making in certain areas of the ice, and it's only because he's been able to do that for a long time now," Forrest said. "Now we're just at a level where things get tougher and tougher, so you've got to play to your strengths."
There's no rush to bring Poulin up to the NHL just yet. He'll continue to develop and learn in Wilkes-Barre this season until the time is right for him.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Wilkes-Barre is now 4-1-0-1.
• It initially looked like Legare also got his first pro goal in the first period, but the official scoresheet eventually said otherwise. Legare forced a turnover and took a shot from the right circle that was stopped. Jordy Bellerive took a whack at the rebound, and the rebound from that shot bounced over to Legare to the left of the net. Legare took a shot from the goal line that found a hole and opened the scoring. The goal was credited to Sam Houde, an AHL-contracted forward out of the QMJHL who is also in his first professional season. Hartford doesn't offer any replay angles, so my assumption is that the puck hit Houde -- who was at the net-front -- on the way in. It was Houde's first pro goal:
• Domingue made 35 saves on 37 shots and was outstanding. He's now 1-0-0-1 in his two appearances this season, with a 1.44 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage
• Hartford had the lone goal in the shootout. Domingue made a pad save on Hartford's Zac Jones to start the first round, then Puustinen hit the side of the net on his attempt. Domingue stopped Morgan Barron with a poke check in the second round, followed by Zohorna hitting the post. In the third round, Domingue made a pad save on Jonny Brodzinski, then Poulin was stopped by Keith Kinkaid. In the extra fourth round, Hartford's Tim Gettinger beat Domingue five-hole, and Bellerive shot the puck wide.
• The power play went 0-for-1.
• The penalty kill went 3-for-4.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at XL Center:
1. Tim Gettinger, Wolf Pack
2. Keith Kinkaid, Wolf Pack
3. Anthony Greco, Wolf Pack
THE HIGHLIGHTS
📹 POSTGAME HIGHLIGHTS: The #WBSPens picked up a point, but fell in the shootout to the @WolfPackAHL, 3-2. Postgame highlights courtesy of @PALottery pic.twitter.com/H6RJcstFBK
— WBS Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 30, 2021
THE INJURIES
• Forward Anthony Angello is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest's lines and pairings:
Sam Poulin - Radim Zohorna - Valtteri Puustinen
Filip Hallander - Michael Chaput - Kasper Bjorkqvist
Jordy Bellerive - Sam Houde - Nathan Legare
Jamie Devane - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson
P.O Joseph - Taylor Fedun
Matt Bartkowski - Cam Lee
Niclas Almari - Chris Bigras
And for Kris Knoblauch's Wolf Pack:
Tim Gettinger - Jonny Brodzinski - Anthony Greco
Ty Ronning - Morgan Barron - Lauri Pajuniemi
Patrick Khodorenko - Justin Richards - Tanner Fritz
Pierre-Cedric Labrie - Mike O'Leary - Alex Whelan
Anthony Bitetto - Zac Jones
Matthew Robertson - Braden Schneider
Tarmo Reunanen - Hunter Skinner
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will play the Springfield Thunderbirds on the road on Saturday evening.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
