WBS Pens' weekly report - 11/20

[eastonpensfan]

Good morning Pens fans. It hasn't been the best few games in the past 2 weeks. The final record over those 4 games was 2-1-1. One of the wins was a SO, and one of the losses was in OT, so other than the 6-2 loss to Portland, they were all close games. On with my humble, unofficial scouting reports:

GOOD:

C Erik Christensen - This guy just keeps getting better and better. Over the 4 games, his statsheet reads 3+2=5 and a +1. In the SO win over Bridgeport, he made a sick shot to score during his chance. He and Rob Schremp were the 2 scorers in that round. He currently sits in 3rd in the league in scoring and I would be very surprised if MT wasn't already listening to trade offers for him. It still seems like he avoids playing defense as much as possible and hasn't shown much when he plays on the wing (except on the PP). I doubt that he will get a sniff of the NHL with this organization again, even with his great start, due to his past and the fact that there are already 5 legitimate NHL Cs already in Pitt.

RW Jonathan Filewich - His defense and forechecking are getting stronger all the time. His scoring is almost expected now. Filly's confidence level has to be sky high after going 2+2=4 and +3. He didn't have a negative +/- rating in any game, even the big 6-2 loss. Considering 4 of his teammates were -3 that game, that was an accomplishment. I think the recovery of Petro may keep him in WBS for most, if not all, of this year though.

UNDECIDED:

C Rob Schremp - His stats only show him 1+1 with a +2 rating and the GW shootout goal against Bridgeport. The bigger story with him though is that he started this 2 week period on the 4th line after being demoted due to sloppy play. By the end of the Bridgeport game, he was back on the top line with Christensen and Filewich. On a team this talented, it is quite an accomplishment to be on that top line and hopefully, he does the work to stay there. He definitely has the offensive talent.

D Tom Gilbert - He almost made it into the 'Good' section, but not quite. On the PP, he has been a phenomenal point man. He was 1+2 and a -1 for the past 2 weeks. The problem here is his even strength play. Think Noah Welch with Pitt at the end of last year. Lots of points but sometimes looks lost in his own zone on even strength. He will definitely improve though. He is only an AHL rookie.

BAD:

D Micki Dupont - A tale of 2 players here. Last week (2 games) - no points, -6! This week (2 games) - 0+2, +1. The -3 in the Portland game can be brushed off but the -3 against Providence when they only scored 3 goals in the game was alarming. He is an AHL vet and should have been able to do better. Apparently, he realized that too (probably with the coach's help) and made a drastic improvement for the games against Bridgeport and Philly.

F Alexei Mikhnov - A new addition to this team from Edmonton. He was probably showing a rough start due to the disappointment of being sent down. He finished the last 2 weeks 0+1, -4 but showed a marked improvement in the Bridgeport and Philly games like DuPont above.

CONCLUSIONS:

These were all road games and the end of a 9 road games in 10 games stretch. Expect better from the Pens now that they return home to play Albany and Norfolk and then go on the road for Binghamton and Hershey. The Norfolk and Hershey games should be good tests for the Pens and any game with Binghamton is a hard-fought one usually.

[Ron`]

Thanks Easton. One things for certain, we should have a good read on all the Oiler's forward prospects through this deal. Gilbert will need this season in my estimation to grow, but I like him.