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Valtteri Puustinen was back from his brief call-up to Pittsburgh. The dynamic rookie winger even scored again Friday night.
It wasn’t enough.
Despite a solid showing in net from backup Tommy Nappier, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton struggled to score again in a 2-1 loss to Belleville at Mohegan Sun Arena.
It was the second straight game the Penguins were held to one goal, coming off of a 3-1 loss at Rochester on Wednesday.
Against the Amerks, the Penguins started hot with an early goal before being shut down the rest of the way.
The script was flipped on Friday as the Penguins fell behind 1-0 on a Parker Kelly goal and were outshot 15-5 in the first period.
Former Penguins sniper Andrew Agozzino made it 2-0 with a goal midway through the second.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came to life in the third as Puustinen scored his 14th goal of the season with 12:03 left in regulation. The power play marker came on assists from Alex Nylander and Juuso Riikola.
The Penguins even outshot the Senators 16-6 in the final 20 minutes but couldn’t get the equalizer against Belleville goalie Filip Gustavsson, a former Pittsburgh draft pick.
In the other net, Nappier was able to give Alex D’Orio a night off in the first game of a back-to-back situation. He turned in one of his better performances of the season, stopping 31 of 33 shots and was named the game’s third star.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was hoping to get a boost from the returns of Puustinen and center Michael Chaput, both of whom had been recalled to the NHL for depth purposes and missed the Rochester game.
Pittsburgh, though, was able to send them both back the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier on Friday to get them back on the ice, with Puustinen returning to his customary spot on the right wing of the first line and Chaput working in between Jordy Bellerive and Nathan Legare.
After a making a surge at the end of January and early February, the Penguins have dropped three straight, all by narrow margins.
They will be back on the ice Saturday night at Lehigh Valley for a 7:05 p.m. start.