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<p>Danny Kristo is no stranger to his new home with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.</p><p>Acquired in a trade with the St. Louis organization for Reid McNeill on Saturday, Kristo, 26, participated in his first practice on Monday at the Toyota Sportsplex.</p><p>After spending all of last season in the Western Conference with the Chicago Wolves, Kristo is happy to be back in the East.</p><p>And he&#8217;s excited to be playing for a first-place team.</p><p>&#8220;Come to a team that&#8217;s in first place and you know there are a lot of good players and a good coaching staff,&#8221; Kristo said. &#8220;It&#8217;s just exciting to come to a winning organization.&#8221;</p><p>Before joining Chicago, Kristo spent the first two seasons of his pro career with Hartford. In his three-year AHL career Kristo scored more than 20 goals in each, though he was held without a goal through eight games with Chicago this season.</p><p>That&#8217;s something that Kristo is anxious to turn around.</p><p>&#8220;I consider myself a goal-scorer and a shooter. I think I&#8217;ve proved that at this level a couple years in a row,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But right off the bat here I want to keep it simple and try to establish my role on this team, and hopefully the offense will come.&#8221;</p><p>There is a chance Kristo will get to establish himself on a line with a former teammate, Carter Rowney. Kristo and Rowney were also teammates for four years while playing college hockey at the University of North Dakota.</p><p>While the pair didn&#8217;t skate on a line together until their senior season, Kristo said his familiarity with Rowney will help both on the ice and in getting adjusted to his new team.</p><p>In fact, when news of the trade broke Kristo said he called Rowney right away.</p><p>&#8220;It helps coming in and knowing some guys &#8212; a guy I played four years with and I consider one of my best friends,&#8221; Kristo said. &#8220;It does make it easier coming to a new team.&#8221;</p><p>During Monday&#8217;s practice Kristo skated on a line with Rowney and Tom Kostopoulos, and while head coach Clark Donatelli wouldn&#8217;t commit to keeping the trio intact for Wednesday&#8217;s game in Hershey, Kristo was excited about the possibility.</p><p>&#8220;Coming into a new system and being able to ask him questions about certain situations and being able to talk, it will be easier playing with him,&#8221; Kristo said of skating with Rowney.</p><p>With leading scorer Jake Guentzel recalled to Pittsburgh on Monday and Dominik Simon still sidelined with an injury, the addition of a 20-goal scorer in Kristo couldn&#8217;t have come at a better time.</p><p>Donatelli said he&#8217;s happy to have Kristo no matter what the depth chart looked like.</p><p>&#8220;Even when we had (Guentzel and Simon) it&#8217;s always good to get a 20-goal scorer. He&#8217;s a good player,&#8221; Donatelli said. &#8220;Our report on him is that he can score but he also plays the right way. A good two-way player. That&#8217;s what we liked about him.&#8221;</p><p>Donatelli wasn&#8217;t worried about Kristo&#8217;s slow start this season and he emphasized that he will get a new look by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with no pre-determinations.</p><p>That&#8217;s fine with Kristo, who is happy to be back in the East and have a second chance to turn his season around.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s only November and there&#8217;s still around 60 games left, so there&#8217;s almost a full season,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I know the teams and the rinks pretty well (in the Eastern Conference) and I&#8217;m excited to come in here with a clean slate and hopefully make the best of this opportunity.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>Read the online version of this story for video of Clark Donatelli discussed his plans for Danny Kristo.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Danny Kristo joins the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins ready for a new opportunity