Mark Friedman said that he and Ron Hextall had been having conversations on the possibility of a conditioning stint for a little while now.
The Penguins assigned the 26-year-old defenseman to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Monday on a conditioning stint, a designation that allows players like Friedman who haven't played much as of late to play in the AHL without needing to pass through waivers first.
After playing just one game with Pittsburgh since mid-November -- a Jan. 8 game in Dallas in which Friedman played less than seven minutes -- Friedman is just happy to be playing hockey again.
"I felt like I just needed to get some games in and get my timing back in case something happens up in Pittsburgh," Friedman told me of the decision after Wednesday's game. "I'm more ready to go after getting a couple games in."
Friedman jumped right into Wilkes-Barre's lineup for the Penguins' back-to-back games this week, a 3-1 win in Hershey on Tuesday and a 3-2 shootout loss to Lehigh Valley on Wednesday. On Tuesday he was a minus-1 with two shots on goal and one minor penalty, and on Wednesday he had an even plus/minus, no shots, and no penalty minutes.
Friedman told me that he felt "a little out of shape" entering Tuesday's game, feeling winded in the first period and later feeling better over the course of the game. He still feels like he's working on getting his timing back and knowing where his teammates are in the systems, something he's able to work on in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre playing the same system.
Head coach J.D. Forrest was familiar with Friedman's game before this week, dating back to Forrest's time as an assistant coach in Wilkes-Barre and Friedman's time on Lehigh Valley in the Flyers' system.
"He skates really well, he competes really hard, gets up the ice and helps out the offense by supporting the the rush," Forrest said of his impressions of Friedman. "He's just looking to try to get some ice time, get a rhythm here, play some games, some important hockey. He's been good to work with since he's been here for a short period of time."
An element of Friedman's game that we've seen in Pittsburgh is Friedman's ability to get under the skin of opponents, and that was on display in these two games with Wilkes-Barre. Late in the first period on Tuesday, Friedman had a late hit on one of the Bears, drawing the ire of every Hershey player on the ice. Friedman got a roughing minor, but Wilkes-Barre ended up on the power play in the ensuing scuffle:
Friedman drew another power play in Wednesday's game, an interference minor.
"That's part of the way he plays, he's agitating," Forrest said of that element of Friedman's game. "We certainly saw that. We've been on the other side of it, too. We know he's got that element, and he did it last night and again today."
Friedman admitted Wednesday that he wanted to "pick his spots better" moving forward, so he didn't end up in the box himself. But overall, he was happy with his play in these first two games, calling it "pretty good" for not playing much for the last three months.
"I was using my speed, my puck-moving ability and getting up in the ice," he said. "My gaps were good. I've just got to play the way I would play in the NHL. That's a smart, simple game and using my speed. I felt like that's what I did the last two games."
Friedman was in the starting lineup for both games, and played some key overtime minutes during Wednesday's game. He said that being trusted to play in those situations provided him with a boost of confidence, and credited the coaching staff and his teammates with keeping things "real positive."
The adjustment was also made easier by being paired with Juuso Riikola, someone with whom Friedman's been paired with in Pittsburgh before. The two skated on what is listed as the third pairing, though you can't read into the order of the pairings like you would in the NHL. They aren't power ranking. Minutes are distributed more evenly at this level than they are in the NHL.
"We have a connection, I feel, on and off the ice where we hang out together," Friedman said of Riikola. "We sit beside each other in the locker room. He's a real easygoing guy, you can talk to him about pretty much anything. Yeah, it was definitely nice to be paired up with 'Juice' for sure."
Friedman's eligible to spend up to 14 days in Wilkes-Barre on his conditioning stint, and he's not yet sure whether the plan is to keep him in Wilkes-Barre for the full length before bringing him back up to Pittsburgh. He won't be down in the AHL for much longer, but he's enjoying the development opportunity for the time being.
"It's a great organization with Pittsburgh," he said. "Hexy knows what he's doing, and the coaching staff down here with J.D. and (assistant coach Kevin Porter) and (development coach Tom Kostopoulos), they are well-established guys. Ports won the Cup with Pittsburgh, and TK's played, I don't know, 15,000 games of pro hockey (laughs). So they know their stuff. They're a great coaching staff for sure."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Drew O'Connor skated as first-line center in both games and played on the second power play unit. O'Connor's re-assignment isn't technically a conditioning stint -- because he is already waivers-exempt, there's no reason to label it one. He's recovering from what was reportedly a collapsed lung on Jan. 15, he's still not quite 100 percent yet.
"His legs have been good," Forrest told me of O'Connor. "You know, I think he's close to game shape. It's just a long time in between games, getting used to the feel of 10 guys on the ice and just all the movement that's going on, play-reading and the quickness. But he's a hell of a hockey player. So he's been good as far as effort wise. He sees plays, and you can see him making them. But I think consistency is what he's looking to get back. My guess is it won't be long until he's back to normal."
Through the two O'Connor recorded one secondary assist (in Wednesday's loss), a combined seven shots on goal and minus-1 rating.
WBS PENGUINS
Drew O'Connor in Wednesday's game in Wilkes-Barre.
• Radim Zohorna centered Wilkes-Barre's second line on Tuesday, was first-line left wing on Wednesday and played on the second power play unit in both games, his first games since Feb. 10 in Ottawa. He recorded no shots on goal and an even plus/minus in both games. If third assists were a thing, he deserved one for his role in setting up Wilkes-Barre's second goal on Wednesday.
"I think he's going through the same thing, it's been a little while since he's played some games," Forrest said. "A lot of times here he plays more minutes than he does up there. So it's managing his shift length and his energy out there. He definitely plays well at either level. So when he comes down, there's no real drop in this game. I think it's just getting used to the ice time."
WBS PENGUINS
Radim Zohorna in Wednesday's game in Wilkes-Barre.
• Wilkes-Barre led 2-0 after the first period Wednesday with a goal from Jonathan Gruden and a power play tally from Filip Hallander, the fifth of the year for each player:
The Phantoms cut the Penguins' lead to one goal midway through the second period, then tied the game midway through the third on the power play. The game went into a shootout after the scoreless three-on-three five-minute overtime period. Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen and O'Connor were all stopped on their attempts, and the Phantoms scored on one of their two for the win.
"It wasn't really good enough the last 45 (minutes)," Forrest said of the game. "We came out the way we wanted to. First period was solid. Then we just got away from it. We had a hard time finding our way back to what makes us tick there. It's tough to give away a point at home like that, especially in that fashion. We never got back after the first and that was pretty disappointing."
WBS PENGUINS
Alex D'Orio in Wednesday's game in Wilkes-Barre.
• Forrest noted the strong play of goaltender Alex D'Orio, who made 36 saves on 38 shots, including this highlight-reel stop in the first period:
• Gruden's goal was his second in the back-to-backs, after scoring a bar-down empty-netter to close out Tuesday's game. His linemate on the fourth line Kyle Olson had two goals on Tuesday.
"They've been solid," Forrest said of his fourth line as a whole, which also includes Jordy Bellerive."We can always count on them, and they can change the tone of the game for us, the penalty-killing that they contribute to, just all different areas of the game. Their compete level really gets the bench going too. They're doing a great job and find an identity as a line, hard to play against, a north-south game. That's a solid line for a fourth line. I don't know too many better ones."
• P.O Joseph had the primary assists on both goals, and now has 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in his last 12 games.
"Tonight was just getting a shot through," Forrest said of Joseph. "You know, he's been pretty good at finding different holes and jumping in those quickly. It's just a few years of experience here, a little bit of confidence knowing that he can contribute offensively. I think it's kind of an accumulation of a lot of things."
• The power play went 1-for-2. The top unit went unchanged after the additions from Pittsburgh: Riikola, Sam Poulin, Anthony Angello, Puustinen and Nylander. The second unit is Joseph, Mitch Reinke, Hallander, O'Connor and Zohorna
• The penalty kill went 4-for-5.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza:
1. Adam Clendening, Phantoms
2. Kirill Ustimenko, Phantoms
3. Alex D'Orio, Penguins
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Goaltender Filip Lindberg is out "longer-term" with an ankle injury sustained during the game on Nov. 12. Lindberg was practicing with the team before the holiday break, but hasn't skated since then. Forrest said that Lindberg didn't suffer a setback, but rather the team learned more information about his injury.
• Forward Jamie Devane is out "week-to-week" after suffering an upper-body injury in a fight on Jan. 21. There were no specifics given regarding the nature of the injury, but he was reaching for his jaw after the fight. He is skating on his own but not practicing.
• Defenseman Chris Bigras is out "week-to-week" with an undisclosed upper-body injury. He is skating on his own but not practicing.
• Forward Felix Robert missed the last two games and is day-to-day with "dings and bruises." He is skating on his own but not practicing.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest's lines and pairings:
Radim Zohorna - Drew O'Connor - Valtteri Puustinen
Alex Nylander - Sam Poulin - Anthony Angllo
Filip Hallander - Michael Chaput - Nathan Legare
Jordy Bellerive - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson
P.O Joseph - Mitch Reinke
Matt Bartkowski - Taylor Fedun
Juuso Riikola - Mark Friedman
And for Ian Laperriere's Phantoms:
Connor Bunnaman - Cal O'Reilly - Hayden Hodgson
Garrett Wilson - Tanner Laczynski - Charlie Gerard
Jackson Cates - Adam Johnson - Nick Lappin
German Rubtsov - Matthew Strome - Maksim Sushko
Linus Hogberg - Adam Clendening
Cam York - Wyatte Wylie
Egor Zamula - Logan Day
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will have another set of back-to-back over the weekend with a game in Bridgeport against the Islanders on Saturday and a game at home against the Syracuse Crunch on Sunday.
THE CONTENT
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