Penguins goaltending prospect Filip Lindberg was named the AHL goaltender of the month for the month of October, the AHL announced on Monday.
Lindberg, 22, has a 4-0 record, a 1.71 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage through the first four starts of his professional career this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Lindberg made his professional debut on Oct. 16 vs. the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and made 30 saves on 31 shots in the 2-1 win:
Wilkes-Barre head coach J.D. Forrest said after the game that his impressions of Lindberg have been that he's "poised, in control, confident."
"It's not easy for sure, especially when you get peppered early on and you're counting on to make some big saves on a penalty kill," Forrest said of Lindberg's workload. "But I just think this kid uses the pressure cooker, whether it's his first pro game, a national championship game. They played a lot of big big games at UMass when he was there and one of the main reasons is because he was the goalie there. I think he's kind of built for it."
Lindberg, though, wasn't totally satisfied with his performance in his debut.
"You always want to stop 30 out of 30," Lindberg said after the game. "There's a lot of areas where we can improve. Me personally, playing pro is a little different from playing college. There's a lot of veterans and really skilled older guys here, so it's it's a faster game, more skilled game. You can always get better."
He was back in the Penguins' net six days later for their game against the Hartford Wolf Pack, where he again recorded a 30-save performance on 31 shots in a 2-1 overtime win:
"A lot of confidence, and really solid," Forrest said of Lindberg's play after that game. "I thought he settled into the game at the beginning, some of those pucks were bouncing on him but he's the type of guy that's going to find a way. The tighter it got, the further along it went, the better he got, the more comfortable he got. We've touched on it before, just his tendency to rise to the challenge. I think he felt better when things got tighter, actually."
Lindberg started again on Oct. 27 vs. Lehigh Valley, and recorded 20 saves on 22 shots in a 4-2 win:
"That was a big save there in the second," Forrest said of Lindberg after that game, referring to the save above. "Kind of a wide-open tip shot there on the side. He read that, he was right on top. Like I said last game, it seems like the tighter it gets, just the more dialed in he is. I think he kind of knew, or maybe he said to himself, 'Enough is enough' and he really took control after that. Another solid performance."
Lindberg's most recent start was Tuesday in Springfield against the Thunderbirds, and made 34 saves on his 37 shots faced in a 4-3 overtime win.
Kain Tisi, one of the Penguins' two goaltending development coaches, is in Wilkes-Barre and joined a recent broadcast to talk about his impressions of Lindberg
"The thing that strikes me first and foremost is the kind of person he is," Tisi said of Lindberg. "He's such a good human being No. 1, obviously being a national champion himself. With that kind of pedigree, you don't win a championship without having that mental focus and strength within him. The first thing that strikes me with him is also his competitiveness, he can be in any situation, whether it's his first NHL exhibition in Pittsburgh, his exhibition game here with us and then his first pro debut in the regular season. He's confident, he's calm, he's got swagger, and to me, he just breathes confidence throughout our whole lineup and our coaching staff for sure."
The last Wilkes-Barre goaltender to be named AHL goaltender of the month was Casey DeSmith in 2019-20. Lindberg is the eighth goaltender in franchise history to earn the honor, joining DeSmith, Brad Thiessen, John Curry, Jeff Zatkoff, Peter Mannino, Eric Hartzell and Matt Murray.
