After Wilkes-Barre/Scranton clinched a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs, Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen got some excellent news: they were getting called up to Pittsburgh. The timing worked out well for the rookie forwards to get some experience at the NHL level ahead of that postseason run,

Rickard Rakell is familiar with what Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty are about to encounter. Once upon a time, Rakell was a prized prospect about to burst into the NHL, much like Koivunen and McGroarty are at the present.

McGroarty and Koivunen, two of the more hyped Penguins prospects in quite some time, have been recalled from the AHL.

After a disastrous road trip, the Pittsburgh Penguins are calling up some reinforcements from the AHL. On Friday morning, they announced that prospects Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty are bound for Pittsburgh.

As long as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was playing meaningful hockey games it seemed possible — if not likely — that the Penguins were going to let them keep playing important games instead of meaningless games in the NHL.

In their last three games - all losses - against the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Buffalo Sabres, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been outscored, 17-7.