WASHINGTON — Sam Lafferty’s hot stretch continued Sunday when he helped the Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3.
He scored the Penguins’ first goal at 11 minutes, 46 seconds of the first period. It was his third goal in four games over a span of 10 days.
Granted, two of those goals and three of those games were in the American Hockey League, but Lafferty will take whatever offense he can generate at any level of hockey.
Recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday, Lafferty returned to the lineup after being assigned to the AHL on Jan. 21. He replaced forward Andrew Agozzino on the fourth line with Alex Galchenyuk and Anthony Angello on his wings.
“It’s been kind of all over the place,” Lafferty said of his past week-and-a-half. “But being able to play a lot of hockey, which has been fun. It’s nice to be on the road trip here and get a win today.”
Coming back from their 10-day break, the Penguins opted to leave Lafferty in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to give him more playing time than he had been seeing in the NHL of late.
Over the previous 12 NHL games he was eligible for, he had been a healthy scratch for five of those games and missed two others with an illness. In the five games Lafferty played during that stretch, he averaged only 7:23 of ice time.
During his three most recent games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Lafferty played more while serving as a top-six forward and produced two goals. (Time on ice statistics are not maintained for AHL games.)
“Being able to play more minutes, you just get back to the basics and figure some stuff out,” said the Hollidaysburg native. “It’s definitely helpful. It’s good. I feel more confident now.”
The goal he scored Sunday was pretty good.
At 11:46 of the first period, Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom tried to skate the puck through the neutral zone up the right wing but lost the puck on a poke check by Galchenyuk. Lafferty claimed the loose puck at center ice, raced into the offensive zone with speed on the left wing and lifted a wrister from the left circle to the far side past goaltender Ilya Samsonov’s glove.
“A good turnover, a good play by (Galchenyuk) there,” Lafferty said. “(Capitals defenseman Radko Gudas) was pretty far back because I think he wasn’t really anticipating it. So I had some room to shoot and just let one go.”
It was Lafferty’s fifth goal of the season and his first in the NHL since Nov. 30. It was also his first NHL point in 15 games.
Lafferty professes his focus isn’t on producing points.
“No one really puts too much emphasis on that for me right now,” Lafferty said. “It’s just about playing the right way and back to the basics. What makes me tick as a player. Those are the most important things.”
His impact on the game went beyond his goal.
“He’s had a couple of strong games in Wilkes-Barre,” Mike Sullivan said. “(A few) of the things that we like about Sam is his size and his speed. He’s a guy that, when he’s skating, he’s very effective. We thought against an opponent like Washington, he might be a guy that we could utilize on that fourth line. He had a great game. He was skating out there. He was physical when he had an opportunity. He scores a huge goal for us.”
Lafferty logged only 5:41 of ice time on nine shifts but had three shots on three attempts and was 3 for 3 on faceoffs.
By any measure, he had his most effective games in quite some time.
“When young guys, particularly rookies, score, the whole bench lifts up because you’re excited for him,” said veteran defenseman Jack Johnson. “We need those young guys to be a big part of this. When we’re on the ice with them, we don’t treat them like rookies. We don’t want them to feel that way. They’re no different than guys that have been in the league for 10 years.”
Recalled three different times this season, Lafferty is hopeful his most recent will be his final.
“It’s more just a reminder that back to the basics, what it takes to be successful,” he said of his most recent assignment to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. “I got back to some of those things. I feel like I’m playing good right now.”
Follow the Penguins all season long.
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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