In the span of a year, Ethan Prow has gone from healthy scratch for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a viable option for a recall to Pittsburgh if a defenseman is needed.
That shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Defensemen, of course, typically take much longer to develop than forwards. Prow, taking on a larger role on Wilkes-Barre's blue line this season, is showing more of what attracted the Penguins to him when they signed him to an entry-level contract in March 2016.
When Prow played for St. Cloud State, one of his biggest strengths was his offensive play. His production grew over his four years there, culminating in a senior season of eight goals and 30 assists in 37 games. When he came to Wilkes-Barre, the points didn't come nearly as easily for him. Until this season, he had registered only five goals and 29 assists in 104 games.
Prow, though, wasn't discouraged by the sudden change. Instead, he focused on improving his play in his own zone, and becoming a more complete player.
"I think the change has been focusing on your overall game," Prow told me this week. "The points may not come day in and day out (in the AHL). You just stick to the process and try to move your game in the right direction and things work themselves out."
Things are working out for the former Hobey Baker finalist this season. He's playing more minutes each night, and his scoring touch is returning. It didn't take him long to get started this year, scoring the Penguins' first goal of the season:
He's found success just firing the puck from his spot on the right side ...:
... but he's also not shying away from moving up and joining the play:
Through just 14 games, he's already tied his career season-high of four goals. He has five assists, and is on pace to set a new career high in that category as well. The reason? A conscious decision to just shoot the puck more. He averaged just 1.2 shots per game in his rookie season, and 1.52 shots per game last season. This season, Prow leads all Wilkes-Barre defensemen with 34 shots -- just under 2.5 per game.
"Just getting the puck to the net, a lot of good things happen," he said. "Especially for rebounds for forwards. I'm just trying to focus on getting the puck down there more."
Aside from his offense, a big focus for Prow this season is just playing consistently. In previous seasons, he'd have good games but would struggle defensively in other games — and end up watching from the stands the next game. The message from coaches this season has been to find that consistency.
"They just want to see that overall game progressing forward. They want to see that consistency," he said. "If you ever want to make that jump up, it's the consistency aspect day in and day out. No matter if its a three-in-three or whatever, just having your game every night."
Something that could be working against Prow is his size. At 6 feet, 185 pounds, he's the smallest regular member of Wilkes-Barre's defense corps. He doesn't have the reach of someone like Kevin Czuczman or Zach Trotman, and he's not going to be as physical as some of the heavier defensemen.
While Prow would like to work on his physical side this season, he's not going to stray from his fast-skating, puck-moving style of play.
"There's that give-and-take," he said. "You don't want to change your game too much. It's one of those things where you need to find a fine line of when to be physical, or what to change."
Something that could work in Prow's favor? He's right-handed. Only Prow, Trotman, and Stefan Elliott are right-handed shots among Wilkes-Barre defensemen. Only Kris Letang, Chad Ruhwedel, and the injured Justin Schultz are right-handed in Pittsburgh. It's good to have a mix of right-handed and left-handed defensemen, and pair righties with lefties if possible. If a defenseman is to be called up, it may be in Pittsburgh's best interest to call up one who is right-handed.
Prow knows he has a little edge, but he knows that isn't enough to get him to the next level.
"There's so many good 'D' in the organization," Prow said. "If I could have a little advantage being a righty, I'll take it. But there's so many good defensemen, you just have to stick to your game, and hopefully that gets you noticed."
Wilkes-Barre has an older defense this year. At 25, only Prow's defense partner, rookie Matt Abt is younger. Czuczman, Elliott, Trotman, Chris Summers, and Will O'Neill are all veterans, some with NHL experience. While Prow is in Wilkes-Barre, he watches how those defensemen handle themselves, and learns from them.
"I think it plays a big part having those guys on the back-end," Prow said. "Having some veteran presence back there, you see how they bring it every day, practices, everything. You surround yourself with them and learn from them and take what's worked for them and try to instill it in your own game."
Three seasons may feel like a long time to spend in Wilkes-Barre, but a potential call up isn't weighing too heavily on Prow's mind. He's continuing to move forward.
"You trust the process. I know they say you have to groom defensemen a little more, so I'm just kind of sticking to that, and taking the first couple years as lessons to be learned -- how to play defense, focusing on your overall game. You just trust that and move forward."
MORE FROM WILKES-BARRE
• Nov. 9: at Providence, 2-1 overtime loss
• Nov. 10: at Hartford, 4-1 win
• Nov. 11: at Providence, 5-2 loss
• Sam Miletic and Trotman are week-to-week with undisclosed injuries. Joey Cramarossa has been out since the start of the season with an upper-body injury.
• With captain Garrett Wilson in Pittsburgh, Czuczman was given the third "A" on his jersey. Teddy Blueger and Summers have been alternate captains for the entire season.
• With both leading goal-scorers Wilson and Zach Aston-Reese in Pittsburgh, Sam Lafferty was the Penguins' lone goal-scorer on Friday. Lafferty's goal pushed him into a tie with Wilson for the team lead in points. He now has four goals and seven assists in 14 games.
• Thomas Di Pauli was the No. 1 star on Saturday. After a slow start to the season, Di Pauli scored his first goal of the year, and tacked on two assists to his totals. Derek Grant scored in his second game after being reassigned from Pittsburgh. Teddy Blueger moved within one goal of the team lead when he scored his fifth of the season, and Jimmy Hayes scored his second goal.
• It was a combination of three road games in three days, and the loss of Miletic, Wilson, and Aston-Reese, but Wilkes-Barre's offense is struggling. It caught up to them on Sunday -- by the midpoint of the game, Wilkes-Barre had only totaled four shots on goal. They rallied in the end, and ultimately were just outshot 39-22, but that's quite a drop from a team that was averaging over 35 shots per game entering this weekend. Grant scored his third goal in his fourth game in Wilkes-Barre, and Anthony Angello scored his fifth.
• Tristan Jarry started on Friday and Saturday against Providence. He took two losses, through no real fault of his own. He faced 38 and 39 shots respectively. Allowing a high number of shots is increasingly becoming a problem for this team. Providence ranks at the bottom of the league at 5-7-0-2, and only averaged 30 shots per game entering this weekend, and should not have been able to produce as much as they did against Wilkes-Barre.
• Hartford entered Saturday's game only averaging 28 shots per game. They put 32 shots on Anthony Peters, and Peters stopped all but one of them.
• Lines and defense pairings from Sunday:
Adam Johnson – Derek Grant – Jimmy Hayes
Jarrett Burton – Sam Lafferty – Ryan Haggerty
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Anthony Angello
Pat McGrath – Linus Olund – Tobias Lindberg
Kevin Czuczman – Stefan Elliott
Chris Summers – Will O'Neill
Matt Abt – Ethan Prow
• After this week, the Penguins have a record of 7-5-1-1. They rank fifth in the Atlantic Division, dropping one spot in the standings for the second consecutive week. The power play fell to 15.9 percent, and the penalty kill fell to 76.9 percent.
• The Penguins will have an early 10:30 a.m. game Wednesday in Springfield (7-3-0-2) for the Thunderbirds' annual School Day game for kids. The Penguins will then host the league-leading Charlotte Checkers (11-3-0-1) on Friday and Saturday.
GOALS OF THE WEEK
Lafferty was a one-man show on Friday. He forced a turnover and scored the Penguins' lone goal:
Di Pauli's snipe was his first:
Grant's goal on Saturday was all hustle:
Blueger showed off one of his biggest strengths, his stickhandling:
Hayes showed off his wicked shot on his initial chance, then was all alone in front for his second:
Grant's goal on Sunday wasn't the prettiest. Tobias Lindberg impressed with his work protecting and flipping the puck for an assist:
Providence goaltender Zane McIntyre misplayed the puck to set up this Angello goal:
WILKES-BARRE FUN THING
Former Penguins Lukas Bengtsson and Andrey Pedan, now playing in their home countries of Sweden and Russia, reunited this week:
