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When the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins posted a season-high seven goals on the road last Sunday in a 7-0 win over Bridgeport, Brian Dumoulin said the team realized something.
“That showed we can deflate teams when we do that,” he said. “Every chance we got, we buried.”
Granted, the 7-spot came against a Bridgeport team that is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but this weekend the Penguins will try to deflate two teams that surround them in the conference standings as they wrap up a six-game stint on the road.
Tonight and tomorrow they’ll face a Manchester team that is second in the conference, and Sunday they’ll travel to Springfield to take on a Falcons team that’s tied with the Penguins with 70 points.
“It’s a very important weekend for us, playing two top teams, and it’s an important weekend to see where we’re at,” Dumoulin said.
The importance stretches beyond the weekend as the next seven games will be against teams currently among the top six in the conference standings. Not only is it a time for the Penguins to see how they stack up against the best, but also an opportunity to gain some points and move up in the standings.
Still, head coach John Hynes said his team’s approach won’t change.
“Just because we’re playing teams at the top of the conference doesn’t change our focus level,” he said. “We want to make sure we have the same mentality no matter who we play. All the points are the same.”
While the Penguins will wrap up a stretch of six road games that began on Feb. 21, the stretch hasn’t had the feel of a lengthy road trip thanks to long practice weeks in between games. Hynes said that formula has been a benefit.
“It’s been a road trip, then come home for three or four days for practice and down time. Then on the weekend everyone’s rested and ready to play,” he said. “It’s been a nice couple of weeks for us.”
Despite playing three games in three days this weekend, there is yet another benefit in that Saturday’s and Sunday’s contests are both in the afternoon, giving the Penguins a chance to get right into game mode without having to spend the day waiting for the puck to drop.
“I like the afternoon games,” Dumoulin said. “You get up, go to the rink and do it. You also have a little more rest between Saturday and Sunday because you’re not playing the night before, so that’s a positive too.”