Penguins winger Johnson learns lesson
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A day after being recalled, Penguins forward Nick Johnson was demoted to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.
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It was fast coming up on 24 hours since Nick Johnson had pulled into Pittsburgh when he stood in the Penguins' locker room Thursday at Mellon Arena and talked about his night.
The right winger knew he should be upset about losing, and he was, but he couldn't completely quell his excitement.
After all, he had just played in his first NHL game, a highly hyped rivalry match between the Penguins and the Washington Capitals. He also scored his first goal, and it came on an assist from center Evgeni Malkin, the reigning league scoring champion and playoff MVP.
"I wanted to play well, I wanted us to win, and it hurts a little bit," Johnson said. "But overall it was kind of a cool night."
The memory might have to last for a while. Although Johnson, a 6-foot-1, 183-pound power forward, apparently remains firmly on the Penguins' radar, he and forward Dustin Jeffrey were reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League yesterday, a day after they filled in for forwards Max Talbot and Pascal Dupuis.
That's an indication that Talbot (undisclosed injury) and Dupuis (facial injury) might be ready to return tomorrow when the Penguins play at Philadelphia. The team had the day off yesterday.
Johnson could return to the big-league roster when there is an opening.
He plays on the top line for Wilkes-Barre with Jeffrey and Mark Letestu. Johnson had seven goals, 22 points in 26 games before the Baby Penguins played at Springfield last night.
Johnson, 25, was a third-round draft pick by the Penguins in 2004, just after he was named Canadian Junior A player of the year after getting 71 points in 51 games for St. Albert, and just before he began his four years at Dartmouth, where he won two Ivy League titles and earned a psychology degree.
In 12 shifts over 9:21 of ice time against the Capitals, he played mostly on a line with Malkin and left winger Ruslan Fedotenko, who each had three assists.
"They were on. They were going," Johnson said. "I tried to just chip in there when I could, skate when I could. On that one play it worked out."
That would be his goal. Later, there was a play that didn't work out so well.
Johnson tied the score, 2-2, at 2:50 of the second period, less than a minute after Washington had taken its first lead.
The play developed down the left side. Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore stopped Fedotenko and Malkin, who finally got the puck to Johnson. He had come down the right side and to the net unmarked and had only to pull the puck from his backhand to his forehand and push it into a gaping net.
First Published January 23, 2010 12:00 am
