Penguins Prospect Watch: Sam Poulin surges early in QMJHL postseason
A weekly look at how Penguins prospects and minor leaguers have fared over the past seven days:
• In the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s (QMJHL) postseason, forward Sam Poulin had a power-play goal and an assist for the Val-d’Or Foreurs in a 7-2 home win against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in Game 1 of second round playoff series on Saturday.
• In Game 2 on Sunday, Poulin had two goals, including one on a power-play chance, and an assist for Val-D’Or in a 6-2 home win. Forward Nathan Legare added a power-play goal and an an assist.
Poulin’s first goal:
Poulin’s second goal:
Legare’s goal:
Each drafted in 2019, Poulin (first round, No. 21 overall) and Legare (third round, No. 74 overall) are each signed to three-year entry-level contracts that have yet to begin. Each player is 20 years old.
• In the American Hockey League (AHL), goaltender Alex D’Orio made 24 saves for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3-1 road loss to the Hershey Bears on Saturday.
Undrafted, the 21-year-old D’Orio is in the second-year of a three-year entry-level contract.
• On Sunday, forward Jonathan Gruden had a goal and an assist for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in a 6-3 home win against the Hershey Bears.
A fourth-round pick in 2018 (No. 95 overall) by the Ottawa Senators, Gruden was acquired by the Penguins in an October trade. He is in the first year of a three-year entry-level contract.
• In Finland’s top-tier Liiga, defenseman Niclas Almari’s season came to an end as his team, Pelicans, was eliminated in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs after a 2-1 loss to TPS on Sunday in Game 5 of a best-of-five series.
Almari, 22, was a fifth-round pick (No. 151 overall) in 2016 and is in second year of a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins. This past fall, the Penguins loaned him to Pelicans.
• Elsewhere in Finland, Hermes is one win away from winning the championship of the second-tier Mestis league as it leads Imatran Kettera in the best-of-five championship series, 2-1. In Game 3 on Saturday, Hermes goaltender Joel Blomqvist was pulled after allowing three goals on 17 shots but rebounded to win on the road, 9-5.
Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday.
Blomqvist, 19, was a second-round draft pick (No. 52 overall) in 2020 and has yet to sign with the Penguins.
• In the Western Hockey League (WHL), forward Lukas Svejkovsky had a power-play goal for the Medicine Hat Tigers in a 3-2 road loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Sunday.
A fourth-round pick (No. 108 overall) in 2020, Svejkovsky, 19, has yet to sign with the Penguins.
Statistics
(Players currently on the NHL roster and taxi squad are excluded.)
Forwards and defensemen
Goaltenders
*-Current team
(All figures are through Sunday.)
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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