AHL News

Penguins lean on Tokarski’s steady hand | TheAHL.com

Penguins lean on Tokarski’s steady hand | TheAHL.com

📝 by Patrick Williams


The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins really needed this one.

A 6-0-1-0 start had put the Penguins in the running for the American Hockey League lead, but that start had dissolved amid four consecutive losses to begin November. Now the Hershey Bears, one of the Penguins’ longest-running rivals, were in town on Friday, riding a six-game winning streak and having already beaten the Penguins twice this month.

Moreover, the Penguins were beginning a stretch of six games in nine nights, including a visit to Bridgeport, another team pushing for first in the AHL, the following evening. The AHL schedule is picking up speed now, and this losing streak had the possibility of growing into something much more concerning.

The first couple of months of the season can be a tricky time for any AHL club. Offseason turnover means that time is needed for chemistry to build and for players to mesh. There are systems to implement and refine. First-year players are learning the pro world both on and off the ice. And teams must do all of that all while winning at least often enough to keep themselves in contention for the final two-thirds of the season. The pressure that comes with those second-half games matters a lot to NHL front offices.

Nights like these are where having a two-time Calder Cup winner like Dustin Tokarski really can help a young AHL club.

With the Penguins clinging to a 1-0 lead and Hershey on a 5-on-3 power play in the third period, Tokarski was there, including two stops on the dangerous Mike Sgarbossa. Then he cut off a Bears dump-in and started the Penguins’ transition to offense, earning an assist on a big insurance goal by Jonathan Gruden with 6:14 to play. Tokarski would go on to stop all 26 shots he faced in a much-needed 4-0 win.

Afterward, with the Penguins scurrying to pack their gear, shower, and head to the bus for the overnight trip to Bridgeport, head coach J.D. Forrest had plenty to say about his goaltender.

“When [Tokarski is] seeing the puck the way he did, it’s hard to put it by him,” Forrest said. “It starts with him, and then everyone kind of fed off that. There’s no panic, and he reads the play like an expert.”

Now in his 14th pro season, Tokarski spent all of 2021-22 in the National Hockey League — a career first for him — and played 29 games with the Buffalo Sabres. He has tended goal for the venerable Montreal Canadiens, in the…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League…