All Eyes On Tommy Nappier As Penguins Battle Bears

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - As the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins get set to host the Hershey Bears in Game One of their best-of-three series Friday night, the burning question for the Pittsburgh Penguins' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate is similar to that of the big club.

Will the goaltending hold up?

For Pittsburgh, an injury to Tristan Jarry pressed Casey DeSmith into game action for their series against the New York Rangers and forced the NHL club to come calling for Louis Domingue - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's go-to netminder - just prior to the end of the regular season for both teams.

Then, DeSmith went down in the second overtime of the first game of that series. It was later revealed DeSmith had core muscle surgery and will miss the remainder of the postseason - causing Pittsburgh to call up Alex D'Orio to back up Domingue until Jarry is able to resume skating and get back into game action.

For the AHL Penguins, that has opened up a big opportunity for Tommy Nappier to step in and be the go-to guy in net.

"[I've] just been working all year waiting for an opportunity and just gonna try to take advantage of it," Nappier said last month.

Nappier has embraced the challenge - going 4-2 in his final six games of the regular season as the team's #1 goalie with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. On April 19 against Hershey, his third game in the starter's role after Domingue's call up, Nappier recorded his first career shutout - a 24-save effort - in a 3-0 win over the rival Bears.

"It's great to get out there and play every day, play every game and just get the confidence going and keep it up," Nappier said after that April 19 shutout.

With Domingue in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future, it's Nappier's net in Wilkes-Barre for the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs and while the AHL club is only one game into their first round best-of-three series with Hershey it couldn't have gone much better for Nappier in his AHL playoff debut as the Penguins shutout Hershey by that same 3-0 margin as their final meeting of the regular season to put the Bears on the brink of elimination.

Nappier has had the Bears' number of late, now 5-0-0 in his last five starts against Hershey including both his first career pro shutout and his first career shutout in the postseason.

"He's got a pretty calm demeanor about him," Penguins head coach JD Forrest said after Friday's playoff win. "And when he was faced with a few challenging shots there, he was up to the task."

Despite only facing three shots in the first period of Friday night's Game One, Nappier settled into his playoff debut as the game wore on - making timely saves and preserving his team's lead.

"He looked pretty relaxed to me," Forrest said of Nappier's play. He's not somebody that gets shaken too easily. And that can be settling when things are going on faster or the other team has a push. He's kind of relaxed in his position and he believes in his abilities. You couldn't ask for any more for a first outing, first shutout, you know, what more could you want?" he asked rhetorically.

Nappier's strong performance not only builds confidence for himself, but also allows the team in front of him to focus on playing their own game and not having to worry about their goaltender making difficult saves or being able to handle this newfound opportunity.

"I think when you know you have a solid goalie behind you, it gives us a lot of confidence," Penguins' defenseman P.O. Joseph said. [To] make plays, and stuff like that. So we love we love his mojo. We love the confidence he has in net and again, it was great to see [that from him] tonight."

For the Penguins to have any chance of making a serious run at the Calder Cup this spring, they'll need continued strong play in net from Nappier in addition to the tenacious and relentless effort on the forecheck they displayed in Friday night's Game One win.

After all, defense wins championships right?