Poulin grows from 'learning experience' of being scratched

Sam Poulin said that he knew his healthy scratch was coming.

It was last Friday in Utica, and he had just committed an egregious turnover in his own end that directly led to a Comets goal:

"I made a huge turnover," Poulin recalled to me on Friday. "They scored right away."

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton lost that game in the shootout, 6-5. Poulin's turnover had proved to be costly.

When the Penguins were in Hershey the following night, Poulin was out of the lineup, a healthy scratch.

"It was some repetitive, I would say game growth that needs to happen from him," head coach J.D. Forrest told me this week of the decision to bench Poulin in that game. "There's a few things that happened in the game in Utica that I would say were repeat offenses. The way to hit home most with guys right now is ice time. And we don't want him not playing. We want Poulin to play. That message for us, it's hard to do it. And for him, I know it's hard to take."

Poulin got the message. 

"You know, it's been a couple of times that coach told me those kind of things can really happen," Poulin told me. "So I just took it as a learning experience. At the next level of those type of errors are going to cost way more, so I just wanted to learn from it, and it was the best way to do it by being scratched."

Poulin was back in the Penguins' lineup on Sunday, skating on the left wing of the Penguins' third line. He didn't record any points, but Forrest said that Poulin's response to the scratch was "fantastic," and that he played one of his best games, of not the best game, of the whole season. He was more responsible, held onto the puck when he needed to, and did more of the little things right that can help his line be successful.

"He was on the puck, he had more chances, he did the right things in a lot of the areas that we've been talking about," Forrest said. "He just played a cleaner game. He didn't put himself in tough situations, he put himself at the advantage by getting pucks in the areas where he can really operate, he's tough to play against."

Poulin agreed with Forrest's assessment, saying he thinks he played a "strong game" that Sunday.

"I just wanted to keep it simple, and I was successful doing that," he said. "So I think it's just a thing I need to do consistently."

It's been a challenge for Poulin adjusting to the professional game. He was on stacked Sherbrooke teams in the offense-first QMJHL, eventually being traded to Val-d'Or in his final season, losing in the QMJHL Final with his new team. He was playing against teenagers at that level who weren't as skilled or smart as his opponents now, so he wouldn't get burned as often for mistakes. And playing on such strong junior teams, it was rare for one mistake to be such a difference-maker in the outcome of a game like his mistake in Utica was.

"At this level, guys are better, they're smarter. So stuff I was doing in junior might not work anymore. I learn from it and move on," he said. "Sometimes I wasn't always aware of some some stuff in junior, and it wasn't costing. Here, I've just got to be more aware of the defensive side of the puck."

Poulin played mostly center in his final season of junior hockey. But before tonight, Poulin had played almost exclusively left wing or right wing in Wilkes-Barre, only playing one game as center earlier in the season. He lined up as the team's second-line center in tonight's game, centering Alex Nylander and Jan Drozg. He again had a strong game. He only recorded one shot on goal himself, but he was using his playmaking abilities to get the puck up his linemates, who recorded a combined five shots on goal of their own. Poulin recorded an assist during a 6-on-5 situation late in the game, parked in front of the crease and whacking at the puck. Nylander put in a rebound for his first goal as a Penguin, and Poulin got the primary assist:

"He was really good there," Forrest said of Poulin at center. "He's strong, a really strong kid, so down low he can go to work. He's good defensively, he can handle some bigger bodies down low. That's what we thought he could bring us as a center, maybe keep his pace going a little bit too. So I thought he did a great job tonight. He was solid on draws, he was around the net."

Poulin said that he doesn't have a preference between wing or center now, but said that he likes the responsibility that comes with it. He was seen drawing up plays with his linemates on the whiteboard on the benches between shifts.

"Taking draws, it's a great opportunity to make some plays," he said. "I'm the one kind of in charge of what I run, so I feel a bit more in the game when I play center because of that."

Forrest said he's not certain yet if center is going to be the best spot for Poulin moving forward. 

"It's great for him to have some versatility, be able to step in, take draws and play center when it's necessary," Forrest said. "It's a good tool for him to have to work on here, and I thought he did a great job."

WBS PENGUINS

Sam Poulin, Garrett Metcalf in Friday's game in Wilkes-Barre

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Wilkes-Barre lost, 4-3. They're 1-7-1-1 in their last 10 games and rank last in the entire league with a 9-15-1-3 record.

• This was just a wild game. Felix Robert opened the scoring 3:16 into the game with his seventh goal of the year, set up by defenseman Taylor Fedun:

• The Phantoms tied the game with a power play goal at 14:10 of the first, a shot from Linus Sandin through traffic.

• The Penguins outshot the Phantoms 16-6 in the first period. The second period was scoreless, and the Penguins outshot the Phantoms 16-5.

• Sandin gave the Phantoms the lead early in the third period off of a partial breakaway after a Penguins turnover. Former Penguin Cal O'Reilly extended the Phantoms' lead to 3-1 with a redirect goal.

• Valtteri Puustinen made it a one-goal game with his team-leading 10th goal of the year off of this great play with linemates Sam Houde and Robert:

• The Penguins pulled Alex D'Orio for the extra attacker with about three minutes remaining, and the Phantoms got a fluke of an empty netter. Former Penguin Adam Clendening was attempting to clear the puck out of the Phantoms' zone, and it went off of the boards and rolled on its side into the net to put the Phantoms up 4-2.

• The Penguins again pulled D'Orio for the extra attacker, and Nylander scored the 6-on-5 goal with seven seconds remaining to make it a one-goal game again, as seen in the clip in the lede of this story.

Poulin and Robert got the assists, giving Robert a three-point night. This was Poulin's first game alongside Nylander, and he thought they had chemistry early.

"Tonight we had a few chances," Poulin said. "As the games are going to come this chemistry is just going to build up even better. He's a smart guy to be on the ice with, he skates well and can shoot the puck."

• The Penguins were unable to score in the final seven seconds, making the flukey empty-netter the game-winning goal. The Penguins outshot the Phantoms by a massive 42-16 margin in the game, making it all the more frustrating that the team wasn't able to pull out the win.

"Just some frustration, that's about it," Forrest said. "I don't think we could really ask for much more from our players. Throughout the last four games we've had really, really good efforts. I know they want nothing more than to come out with the right result, so it's frustrating. I feel for our guys when they put that type of work in and walk away with the loss. Nobody wants that."

• D'Orio took the loss with 12 saves on 15 shots, and it's hard to fault him for any one of those goals. The Phantoms' Garrett Metcalf just played out of his mind.

• The power play went 0-for-2. 

• The first power play unit was P.O Joseph, Mitch Reinke, Nylander, Poulin, Puustinen.

• The second power play unit was Cam Lee, Jordy Bellerive, Drozg, Houde, Robert.

• The penalty kill went 2-for-3.

• Of the Penguins' 42 shots, 22 came from defensemen. Joseph led the entire team in shots with nine, a new single-game career high.

"We had some good opportunities off the rushes with our D joining as well," Forrest said. "Something we're always looking for is offense from the back end. A lot of times you get that amount of shots, something finds its way in. It just didn't for us tonight."

WBS PENGUINS

Nathan Legare in Friday's game in Wilkes-Barre

• This was Nathan Legare's first game since being healthy scratched last Sunday in Hershey. Forrest told me on Wednesday that he thought Legare had responded well to the decision in the ensuing practices, and that it was just a matter of putting those things into action in games. He thought that Legare had a much better game tonight.

"It was what we were looking for," Forrest said. "He played a much more involved game, he was around the puck more, he was moving his feet more, a lot of these little things that I think make his game go. We were just looking for that tonight, he did a nice job today of adjusting those things and trying to be consistent with shift to shift. Whether it was being physical around the net there or making his wall plays strong, or even just keeping his feet moving with the puck, you can tell that he was paying attention to those aspects of his game. We like the way Leggy responded to missing last game."

• Before the game, Wilkes-Barre signed forward Pascal Laberge to a professional tryout contract. Laberge, 23, was the Flyers' second-round pick in 2016, and he played 54 AHL games over the last four seasons with the Phantoms. He's been in the ECHL this season playing for the Maine Mariners, where he leads the team with 13 goals and 16 assists in 24 games. He got into Wilkes-Barre Thursday night and participated in Friday's morning skate, and is expected to play sometime this weekend.

"When you look at his numbers that he's put up, he's got some really, really good numbers in the East Coast league. Some of our scouts are familiar with him," Forrest said. "He seems like a bigger body (6-1, 172) that has some skill, and you can always use a bit more skill in any lineup."

• The Phantoms' two assistant coaches were both in COVID protocol, so former Flyer Danny Briere was behind the Phantoms' bench as an assistant coach. Briere, who was definitely offside on that goal in the 2012 playoffs, doesn't work in the organization otherwise. He's the president of the ECHL's Maine Mariners, the Bruins' affiliate.

• This is just an incredible video from after practice earlier in the week:

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE THREE STARS

As selected at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza:

1. Linus Sandin, Phantoms
2. Felix Robert, Penguins
3. Garrett Metcalf, Phantoms

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• Goaltender Filip Lindberg is day-to-day with an ankle injury sustained during the game on Nov. 12. Forrest said that it's the type of injury that's tough to get to 100 percent, and that there's no timeframe for his return. Lindberg was practicing with the team before the holiday break, but hasn't been in a full practice since then.

• Forward Michael Chaput is week-to-week with an lower-body injury. He skated on his own for the first time, without any other gear, before Friday's morning skate.

THE LINEUPS

Forrest's lines and pairings:

Felix Robert - Sam Houde - Valtteri Puustinen
Alex Nylander - Sam Poulin - Jan Drozg
Nick Hutchison - Jordy Bellerive - Nathan Legare
Jamie Devane - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson

P.O Joseph - Mitch Reinke
Matt Bartkowski - Taylor Fedun
Cam Lee - Will Reilly

And for Ian Laperriere's Phantoms:

Maxim Sushko - Cal O'Reilly - Charlie Gerard
Garrett Wilson - Connor Bunnaman - Wade Allison
Isaac Ratcliffe - Matthew Strome - Linus Sandin
Brennan Saulnier - German Rubtsov - Alex Kile

Linus Hogberg - Adam Clendening
Egor Zamula - Wyatte Wylie
Mason Millman - Cooper Zech

THE SCHEDULE

It's a busy week. The Penguins play the Phantoms tomorrow night in Lehigh Valley, then host the Bears on Sunday. They'll play the Phantoms again on Wednesday at home.

THE CONTENT

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