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Michael A. MacDowell: The best bang for the welfare buck

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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2019-20 season preview: Meet the Penguins

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; As the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins go through the final stages of preparations for tonight&#8217;s season opener, fine-tuning the offense, particularly at even strength, has moved to the top of the list of priorities.</p><p>&#8220;We only scored two even-strength goals in four games,&#8221; first-year Penguins head coach Mike Vellucci said Wednesday when asked about current areas of concentration. &#8220;We always work on our specialty teams. That&#8217;s something we did pretty well on in exhibition and we&#8217;ll continue to work on that.</p><p>&#8220;Probably, I&#8217;d say five-on-five.&#8221;</p><p>Ryan Haggerty, last year&#8217;s team scoring leader with 23 goals, scored the only goal in Sunday&#8217;s 4-1 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to conclude the exhibition season.</p><p>&#8220;I thought we played a pretty quick, fast game with Lehigh,&#8221; Haggerty said. &#8220;The new system coming in, the new faces, I think we&#8217;re all trying to get on the same page and get a little chemistry.</p><p>&#8220;I think that&#8217;s the biggest thing going into Saturday &#8211; playing the right way, getting some chemistry between guys and going into Saturday with confidence.&#8221;</p><p>The Penguins look to return to their history of regular-season success under the leadership of a coach coming off regular-season and postseason triumph. Vellucci received the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as AHL Coach of the Year after leading the Charlotte Checkers to the league&#8217;s best record at 51-17-7-1 and topping that with a Calder Cup title.</p><p>While the Checkers were emerging on top of the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Penguins were not even involved. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton&#8217;s league-high streak of 16 straight playoff appearances came to an end last season.</p><p>The Penguins will get started on trying to make their playoff return when they head to Hershey Saturday night. The home opener is scheduled for Oct. 12 against the Utica Comets.</p><p>When the Penguins debut in the regular season after a 1-2-1 exhibition season, it will be with a young group and a potentially faster style of play.</p><p>&#8220;We have some younger guys, some draft-picks coming in; some new names and some high-end talent type of guys,&#8221; Vellucci said. &#8220;I like to play fast. I like to play offensively.</p><p>&#8220;I like our guys to compete and never give up.&#8221;</p><p>That pace made the Checkers the second-highest scoring team in the 31-team AHL last season.</p><p>With players returning from injury and coming down from the parent Pittsburgh Penguins during training camp, Vellucci has been able to get started on implementing his systems.</p><p>&#8220;We got most of the guys back this week, so now we can get them up to speed on how we want to play,&#8221; Vellucci said.</p><p>Special teams success was a hallmark of the Checkers championship run.</p><p>Charlotte killed a league-high 86.6 percent of power plays in the regular season, led the AHL in playoff special teams scoring differential with a 17-9 advantage over opponents and scored six short-handed playoff goals when no other teams produced more than two.</p><p>The Checkers had tied for second-best in the league in the regular season by outscoring teams by 18 goals in special teams situations.</p><p>Only the Binghamton Devils were outscored by more on the special teams than the Penguins were last season.</p><p>Despite their power-play struggles in 2018-19, the Penguins were above average in producing goals last season and squarely in the middle of the pack in goals allowed while finishing 36-30-7-3.</p><p>Adam Johnson, who was third on last year&#8217;s team in goals and fourth in points, is another returnee. He missed part of training camp in Pittsburgh with an injury but said he is ready to go for this weekend.</p><p>&#8220;I missed about two weeks and was just doing rehab the whole time,&#8221; he said Wednesday. &#8220;I just started skating about 4-5 days ago.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m feeling really good so far, so as long there are no setbacks, I&#8217;ll be ready to go Saturday.&#8221;</p><p>Sam Lafferty is back after leading the 2018-19 team in assists.</p><p>While waiting to see which young players emerge as scoring threats in the AHL, Haggerty, Johnson and Lafferty again could be offensive leaders.</p><p>&#8220;As the years go on, you get a little more maturity and you get looked to a bit more,&#8221; said Haggerty, who does not expect much change in his style of play.</p><p>Johnson hopes to find a bigger role defensively on the special teams.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had some ups and downs,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This year, I want to contribute a little more offensively and maybe try to get some time on the (penalty kill) and contribute there a little bit defensively.</p><p>&#8220;Just try to keep improving and playing with confidence.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Winger Ryan Haggerty led last season&#8217;s team with 23 goals. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Ryan-Haggerty1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Winger Ryan Haggerty led last season&#8217;s team with 23 goals. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Practice.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Penguins get ready for tonight&#8217;s season opener with a practice at Toyota SportsPlex. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Practice.jpg</photo1><caption1>The Penguins get ready for tonight&#8217;s season opener with a practice at Toyota SportsPlex. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Emil-Latin.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Goalie Emil Larmi will be making his North American debut this season after winning a Finnish league title. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Emil-Latin.jpg</photo2><caption2>Goalie Emil Larmi will be making his North American debut this season after winning a Finnish league title. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Casey-DeSmith.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Veteran goalie Casey DeSmith reported to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier this week after clearing waivers in a salary cap-related move by Pittsburgh. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Casey-DeSmith.jpg</photo3><caption3>Veteran goalie Casey DeSmith reported to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier this week after clearing waivers in a salary cap-related move by Pittsburgh. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Dustin-Tokarski.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dustin Tokarski helped the Charlotte Checkers win the Calder Cup last season as part of a tandem in net. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Dustin-Tokarski.jpg</photo4><caption4>Dustin Tokarski helped the Charlotte Checkers win the Calder Cup last season as part of a tandem in net. </caption4><photoCredit4>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Mike-Vellucci2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">New Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach Mike Vellucci opens his first season at the helm of the team tonight in Hershey. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Mike-Vellucci2.jpg</photo5><caption5>New Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach Mike Vellucci opens his first season at the helm of the team tonight in Hershey. </caption5><photoCredit5>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit5></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Adam-Johnson1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Adam Johnson was one of the Penguins&#8217; most productive forwards a season ago. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo6>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Adam-Johnson1.jpg</photo6><caption6>Adam Johnson was one of the Penguins&#8217; most productive forwards a season ago. </caption6><photoCredit6>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit6></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Mike-Vellucci1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mike Vellucci will serve as coach and general manager for the Penguins this season after winning the Calder Cup with the Charlotte Checkers in 2018-19. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo7>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100419PENS-Mike-Vellucci1.jpg</photo7><caption7>Mike Vellucci will serve as coach and general manager for the Penguins this season after winning the Calder Cup with the Charlotte Checkers in 2018-19. </caption7><photoCredit7>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit7></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Robinson</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2019-20 season preview: Penguins start new era tonight