The Penguins benefited from the success of several players who were called up from the team's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the &lt;a href="Wilkes-Barre/Scranton%20Penguins"&gt;Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins&lt;/a&gt;. Forward Tyler Kennedy was first recalled on October 27. Defenseman Kris Letang was recalled on November 13 and immediately contributed to the Penguins shootout, scoring on all of his first five attempts, including during the Winter Classic on January 1. Of his five shots, three won the game for the Penguins. Kennedy and Letang were selected to compete in the YoungStars competition for rookies during the All-Star break.