One month into the hockey season here are three Pens prospects that have impressed and three that have some work to do.
Three up:
• Five points in two games, including two goals and one assist on Saturday night, propelled forward Jake Guentzel to the top of NCAA scoring charts with 16 points in 10 games. Give Guentzel some credit for helping the Mavericks jump up to the sixth spot in the rankings after helping the team advance to the Frozen Four last season.
• Though disappointed with being sent down at the start of the season, Derrick Pouliot continues to impress in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, co-leading blueliners with 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 12 games, including two points (one goal, one assist) on the weekend. Defensively, Pouliot checks in with a +7 rating, behind only Niclas Andersen on defense.
• After making 15 saves on 16 shots on Saturday to best the Rochester Americans 3-1, rookie goaltender Tristan Jarry relieved Matt Murray after the Penguins went down 5-1 in the first period against the Hartford WolfPack on Sunday. The Penguins answered with five goals in the second and eventually won 7-6 in overtime with Jarry making 15 saves in two periods of work. Jarry now boasts a perfect 4-0-0 record with a .938 save percentage and 1.64 goals against average.
Three down:
• Expecting to emerge as somewhat of a force for Maine as a junior in 2015–16, Blaine Byron recorded three points in the first two games of the season but zero in nine games since. Finishing second on the team with 12 goals last season, the 0-8-3 Black Bears need Byron to start producing at a consistent rate.
• Scoring a goal in the season opener for Brown, sophomore Sam Lafferty extended a pointless streak to four games with a pair of goose eggs on the weekend. As a freshman last season, Lafferty finished fifth on Brown with 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 31 games.
• Tyler Biggs scored two points (one goal, one assist) in a debut with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the end of October and waited over two weeks crack the lineup again. In a 7-6 overtime win for the Penguins on Sunday, Biggs contributed only seven penalty minutes and likely a healthy scratch assignment for the foreseeable future.
Photo credit: UNO Athletics
