BREAKAWAY - Issue 15 - Game 31 - May 15, 2021 by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

COVER

Meet the team behind your team. Michael Moreland, DO Hans Olsen, MD Mark Pallis, DO David Ross, MD Geisinger is the official sports medicine and orthopaedics team that helps keep the Penguins on their skates. Because big dreams need all the support they can get. Learn more at geisinger.org/BigDreams.

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES 6-8: COVER STORY: Season Retrospective PAGE 10: Opponents Roster PAGE TOC 11: Penguins Roster PAGE 13: Around the AHL PAGES 16-17: Declassified - Zack Nastasiuk

BREAKAWAY: Issue 15 / May 15, 2021

ON THE COVER You know how they say a season is a marathon, not a sprint? Not so much this year. We’re already at the end of an abbreviated, but memorable, 2020-21 campaign, with lots to be happy about and to look forward to next year. Take a quick trip through a season unlike any other before (and hopefully any other in the future) in our COVER STORY.

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2020-2021 SEASON

Dear Fans, It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2020-21 American Hockey League season, the latest chapter in a tradition of excellence that can be traced back more than eight decades.

SCOTT HOWSON PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

The last several months have been difficult in so many ways, and this season is going to look and feel different than what we are all used to. But we are looking forward to being back on the ice and continuing our role as the top development league for nearly all of the players, coaches, executives, trainers, broadcasters and officials in the National Hockey League today. Since we first dropped the puck in 1936, generations of our great fans have been able to cheer on future superstars and Stanley Cup champions, as well as more than 100 eventual members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. On behalf of all of our clubs across North America, thank you all for your continuing support of the AHL. Sincerely,

SCOTT HOWSON PRESIDENT & CEO | AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE

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SEASON RETROSPECTIVE By Nick Hart

Suddenly, we find ourselves at the finish line. Less of a marathon and more of a sprint, the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins’ 2020-21 season will be over after this weekend. In their last two games, the Penguins will have a direct influence over who wins the North Division Championship, as they try and play spoiler to a pair of in-state rivals. While the division title race will control most of the headlines this weekend, a look back at the season overall reveals several key storylines to takeaway from this unprecedented season. Here are just a few of the biggest takeaways from the 22nd campaign of Penguins hockey:

No Fluke Late in 2019-20, Jordy Bellerive was taking off like a rocket. In his first 35 AHL games, he scored three goals. Bellerive then erupted for nine goals in the Penguins’ last 18 games, including a handful of game-winners. Then the pandemic arrived and grounded everything. Following the abrupt nature of last season’s conclusion and the extended offseason that ensued, it was reasonable to wonder if Bellerive would be able to reestablish that kind of offensive momentum. Very quickly, he proved the outburst at the end of his rookie season was no fluke. Bellerive scored Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s first goal of 2020-21, setting the tone for a productive season overall. Heading into this last weekend of the season, the North Vancouver, B.C. native is

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tied for the team lead in goals (10) and he continued his penchant for clutch scoring, as well. Bellerive tops the Penguins with three game-winning goals, two of which coming in sudden death overtime.

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Penalty Kill

One consistent – if not underrated – bright spot for the Penguins this season was their penalty kill. The unit enters the last weekend of the season at 83.6 percent, which ranks first in the North Division and Top 10 in the league. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton grabbed the division’s top slot on the P.K. from the Hershey Bears on Apr. 24 and hasn’t stumbled back since. Furthermore, the Penguins’ penalty kill rose to the occasion in crunch time. Three times the Penguins went to the kill in sudden death overtime. All three times they escaped unscathed. Also, the team did not allow a single two-man advantage goal against all season. “Our guys have been really dialed in in that area of the game,” said Penguins head coach J.D. Forrest. “I keep giving a lot of credit to (assistant coach) Kevin Porter, and it’s for a good reason. He really has them playing how we want them to. When we take a penalty, there’s no panic. It’s just, ‘Okay, let’s take care of it and move on.’” “Late-Season Surge” Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had an up-and-down run in the standings for most of the season. For a while, every game it played seemed to come down to the wire and be decided by one goal (or maybe two with an empty-netter). Sometimes, the Penguins came out on top in those nail-biters. Sometimes, they did not. However, in the last few weeks of the season, Forrest’s team found another level and started stringing together the wins. Some of those victories were of the customary thin-margin variety, but the team started earning some convincing triumphs, as well. This was an incredibly promising development, considering the objective Forrest and his staff assigned to this season back in

Continued ON Page 8 BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 7

Continued From Page 7 training camp. He said this season was about “getting better”, that every player on this overwhelmingly young team should experience quantitative and qualitative improvement. The club’s positive ads results late in the year are emblematic of that goal being achieved. “You can see the growth there on a night-to-night basis,” Forrest said. “With the late-season surge, you like to see that upwards trend like we’ve had at the end of the year. I think that’s a good indicator of where a lot of our guys have come from, especially our young guys which have found another level.” D’Orio’s Ascension One late-season entry for storyline of the year with the Penguins is that of goaltender Alex D’Orio. A second-year pro (whose first two seasons have been rendered short by the pandemic) who went from reeling in Wheeling to receiving standing ovations in Wilkes-Barre. After getting shelled with the Penguins’ ECHL affiliate, D’Orio slowly turned his game around and earned a call-up to Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton. Yearning to find some consistency between the pipes, the Penguins got that and more from D’Orio. He visibly improved with each start he made, eventually producing a handful of game-saving performances. Forty-one saves in an overtime win at home on his 22nd birthday cemented him as a legit, bonafide prospect as well as a fan favorite. The Penguins’ faithful almost instantly latched onto the athletic netminder whose aw-shucks personality only adds to his underdog charm.

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LEHIGH VALLEY RECORD 18-7-3-1 HEAD COACH Scott Gordon ASST. COACH Kerry Huffman NHL Affiliate Philadelphia Flyers

# Pos. Player 31 G Zane McIntyre 32 G Felix Sandstrom

# 4 5 6 7 8 9 13 14 15 19 20 21 22 24 25 26 27 29 38 49 51 71 86

GP MP GA GAA W-L-OT SO 18 1016:51 40 2.36 11-3-2 1 10 556:19 30 3.24 5-3-2 0

Pos. Player GP D Egor Zamula 23 D Tyler Wotherspoon 22 D Linus Hogberg 24 F Tanner MacMaster 19 D Mason Millman 13 C Cal O’Reilly 30 LW Ryan Fitzgerald 26 F Zayde Wisdom 26 RW Maksim Sushko 9 LW Isaac Ratcliffe 22 LW Max Willman 28 F Linus Sandin 24 D Logan Day 23 RW Ralph Cuddemi 8 C Conor Bunnaman 13 F Brennan Saulnier 14 D Chris Bigras 19 F Pascal Laberge 14 RW David Kase 17 LW Garrett Wilson 25 D Derrick Pouliot 23 F Tyson Foerster 24 C Chris Mueller 30

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G 0 0 2 2 0 4 10 7 0 2 8 5 1 1 1 4 2 3 3 1 3 10 6

A PTS PIM +/6 6 8 2 4 4 16 2 5 7 2 E 1 3 21 3 3 3 8 -3 17 21 12 1 8 18 8 1 10 17 31 4 0 0 2 -5 6 8 15 -7 7 15 4 11 4 9 6 -5 13 14 12 3 1 2 0 5 1 2 10 E 3 7 39 6 5 7 8 5 1 4 2 -2 6 9 6 -3 8 9 28 E 11 14 18 -6 7 17 16 -3 8 14 8 -16

# 30 33 38

WBS RECORD HEAD COACH Assistant Coach NHL Affiliate Pos. G G G

12-12-4-2 J.D. Forrest Kevin Porter Pittsburgh Penguins

Player Brett Brochu Alex D’Orio Tommy Nappier

GP MP GA GAA W-L-OT SO 0 0:00 0 0.00 0-0-0 0 10 598:52 23 2.30 5-3-1 0 3 177:11 12 4.06 1-2-0 0

# Pos. Player GP G A PTS PIM +/2 D Dylan MacPherson 10 0 1 1 6 3 4 D Zach Trotman 8 0 2 2 4 -3 6 D Billy Sweezey 20 0 4 4 22 1 7 D Kevin Czuczman 26 0 4 4 4 -3 8 D Will Reilly 24 3 3 6 23 -5 10 LW Drew O’Connor 18 6 11 17 14 -1 12 D Jesper Lindgren 0 0 0 0 0 E 13 RW Jan Drozg 28 5 2 7 8 -1 14 LW Justin Almeida 10 2 2 4 0 -4 15 C Jordy Bellerive 27 10 7 17 47 -6 17 LW Anthony Angello 10 6 4 10 13 E 18 C Josh Currie 22 10 12 22 17 -8 20 RW Kasper Bjorkqvist 3 0 0 0 0 -1 21 LW Luke Stevens 12 0 0 0 4 -4 24 D Josh Maniscalco 8 0 0 0 4 1 26 RW Zach Nastasiuk 22 1 2 3 2 -9 28 D Cam Lee 29 1 12 13 12 E 34 C Chase Berger 27 4 3 6 12 -14 36 C Felix Robert 25 6 7 13 10 2 37 LW Sam Miletic 20 2 3 5 4 -4 39 RW Kyle Olson 23 2 4 6 15 -2 44 C Jonathan Gruden 30 5 8 13 13 5 47 RW Nick Schilkey 30 7 12 19 6 -14 55 D Jon Lizotte 30 3 6 9 18 -6 57 D Pierre-Olivier Joseph 20 1 12 13 26 -12 59 C Tim Schaller 30 10 7 16 14 -9

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 11

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AROUND THE AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE DEVILS, COMETS MOVE AHL AFFILIATES: American Hockey League President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Howson announced that the AHL Board of Governors, convening for its Spring Meeting, has approved the following franchise transactions: • The AHL franchise owned by the Vancouver Canucks will relocate from Utica, N.Y., to Abbotsford, B.C., to play at the Abbotsford Centre beginning with the 2021-22 AHL season. • The AHL franchise owned by the New Jersey Devils will relocate from Binghamton, N.Y., to Utica, N.Y., to play at the Adirondack Bank Center beginning with the 2021-22 AHL season. GOODBYE SOUND TIGERS, HELLO ISLANDERS: The New York Islanders’ top development affiliate playing in the American Hockey League has been renamed the Bridgeport Islanders. The new Bridgeport Islanders logo features an iconic mark for the team’s future. The strong letter “B” recognizes the great city of Bridgeport. The stick which forms the letter “B” has the parent Islanders “NY” logo as the tape on the blade, a subtle nod to the affiliation between the two clubs. The iconic Islanders blue and orange colors remain the same. Bridgeport and the New York Islanders hold the fifth-longest current AHL-NHL affiliation, dating back to Bridgeport’s inaugural season in 2001-02. The New York Islanders purchased the club on July 22, 2004. “This renaming is just the first step in some exciting new initiatives happening within our organization,” Bridgeport team president of business operations Brent Rossi said. “As we continue to work closely with the New York Islanders, the City of Bridgeport and Oak View Group, we are eager to unveil more progress at Webster Bank Arena as the 2021-22 season approaches.”

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 13

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NAME: Zach Nastasiuk Hometown: Barrie, ON What Age Did You Start Skating: 4 years old Favorite NHL Team Growing Up: Toronto Maple Leafs Favorite NHL Player Growing Up: Mats Sudin Your Greatest Hockey Accomplishment: Winning Calder Cup in 2019. If you were shipwrecked on a deserted island, but all your human needs (food, water, etc) were taken care of, what two items would you want to have with you? A Fantasy Sports app and golf clubs If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be? Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran Would you rather be an astronaut or a deep sea diver? Astronaut What is the best Disney or Pixar movie? The Mighty Ducks If You Could Eat Only One Food For The Rest Of Your Life What Food Would You Choose? Chipotle or Chick-Fil-A Page 16 - BREAKAWAY 2020-21

If you had a choice between two superpowers, being invisible or flying, which would you choose and why? Probably invisible - so I could walk into the masters and watch it without no one knowing Crunchy or Creamy Peanut Butter? Creamy Have you ever walked out of a movie because it was so bad? If yes, which movie? I have not. If you could visit any place in the world for a day, where would you go? Grand Canyon Do you believe in ghosts? No not really. What would be the coolest animal to scale up to the size of a horse? Eagle. How do you feel about putting pineapple on pizza? Not for me You just bought a brand new boat. What do you name it? Serendipity. What household chore do you hate doing the most? Vacuuming/Sweeping. What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of ? We’re the Millers Which charity or charitable cause is most deserving of money? All charities help Do you eat food that’s past its expiration date if it still smells and looks fine? No chance If any actor could play you in a movie, who would it be? Ryan Reynolds

BREAKAWAY 2020-21 - Page 17

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