Faceoff Factor

WBS Penguins Weekly Report - 11/19

Kyle Dreibelbies | WBS "Baby" Penguins

Nov 19, 08:27 PM | Hype this story!

Over the weekend, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins lost two games, one to the Albany River Rats by a score of 4-0 and one to the Binghamton Senators by a 3-0 score. So, did anyone on the Penguins team play well?

The answer is relative, because no one put a single puck in the net. Obviously, the Penguins goaltending wasn’t sharp either. John Curry did play his first game in a Penguins jersey in the Binghamton loss. He only allowed two goals. The third goal was an empty-net goal. On the first goal, he was screened so that wasn’t his fault. It was a decent debut for a rookie goalie, but he did not get the win.

On to the report card:

GOOD:

LW Chris Minard and C Jeff Taffe – Each of these players created several chances for themselves and have worked hard along the boards. However, they haven’t converted. Minard’s streak is especially frustrating to him. After a hat trick on opening night, he has not lit the lamp since.

Ds Ryan Lannon and Alain Nasreddine – You would think that defensemen didn’t play particularly well when they give up seven goals in two games. As a group, that is correct. However, Lannon and Nasreddine have played their simple, stay-at-home style of defense well. They were not the reason that the Penguins have played poorly lately.

AVERAGE:

Rookie D-Men – This list includes Ben Lovejoy, Jonathan D’Aversa and Alex Goligoski. They would be in the bad category, but they do get a break because some of their poor play may be the result of poor decision-making due to the speed of the pro game. Hopefully, they will improve on their passing and turnovers as they gain experience.

BAD:

D Mark Ardelan – The rookies get a free pass, but Ardelan does not. There’s no reason that a defenseman who has played 79 games in the AHL last year should be turning the puck over or whiffing on his passes with the frequency that he had this past weekend.

Borderline Skill Players – This list includes Kurtis McLean, Joe Jensen, Connor James, Tim Brent, Nathan Smith and Ryan Stone. These players have the skill to put in goals fairly often. None of them will lead this team in scoring, but they need to show intensity. James skates hard but is content, at the moment, to take perimeter shots. Jensen has crashed the net hard, but isn’t as tenacious or smart in his own zone. McLean, Brent, Smith and Stone are all veterans at this level and need to start leading by example.

To wrap it up, this team needs something to light a fire under them. RW Jonathan Filewich is out with concussion after-effects but, frankly, hasn’t been doing well anyway. Any of the players mentioned above have the ability to put the puck in the net or at least set up other players who can score, but none of them are.

Come on, gentlemen, let’s show some intensity and heart.