ATLANTA -- Ray Shero has a plan. Pretty much the same one he had two months ago.

It didn't change when the Penguins opened the season with a 7-3 surge, and it isn't going to change now that they're 1-4-3 the past eight games.

	Scouting Report Matchup: Penguins at Atlanta Thrashers, 7:08 p.m. today, Philips Arena. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WXDX-FM (105.9). Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Kari Lehtonen for Thrashers. Penguins: Are 1-5-2 in past eight games on road. ... D Ryan Whitney is pointless in six of past seven games. ... Have been outscored, 6-0, in four-on-four situations. Thrashers: Have won two consecutive games at home, where they are 8-4-1. ... Ex-Penguins RW Jon Sim does not have a goal in past 15 games. ... Are outscoring opponents, 37-23, in third period. Hidden stat: Atlanta LW Ilya Kovalchuk had more diving penalties (4) than entire Penguins team (3) last season. Related article Penguins Notebook: Malkin gets push from coach

And there is absolutely nothing -- not even a wisp of a scrap of a shred -- in it about making personnel moves for the sake of giving his roster a short-term upgrade.

Or about replacing Michel Therrien as coach.

Both have been predicted and suggested, if not flat-out demanded, by some people outside the organization. Shero isn't oblivious to such talk, but isn't particularly influenced by it, either.

That doesn't mean he enjoys losing, or accepts it. Just that Shero's primary objective since succeeding Craig Patrick as general manager in May has been to assemble a team that eventually will be able to compete for the Stanley Cup on an annual basis, not necessarily one that will have the best possible chance of earning a playoff berth in 2007.

Competing for a playoff spot remains an important objective for this season -- "Everybody's goal is to make the playoffs, and I don't want to lower the bar for these guys," Shero said -- but will not eclipse the goal of constructing a perennial contender.

Shero won't take his cues from the scoreboard or the standings.

Not in the relatively near future, anyway.

"I don't want to be judging this team on points," he said. "I've said all along that we want to see improvement."

Consequently, he has no plans to sign aging free agents or to trade for blowout patches that can cover some immediate deficiencies.

Shero is more concerned with finding out what the players, particularly the young ones, already on his depth chart can do, and how they might fit into the franchise's future.

So forget bringing in Peter Bondra or trying to acquire Markus Naslund.

Shero's priority to is learn whether, say, he can count on Erik Christensen to be a reliable source of goals, and whether Chris Thorburn or Jarkko Ruutu can be a significant part of his personnel mix.

The Penguins enter their game tonight against Atlanta at Philips Arena with an 11-11-5 record. That's an 82-point pace, which would be a dramatic upgrade on the 58 they earned in 2005-06.

But the cautious hope many observers had for the Penguins in early autumn flared into wild-eyed optimism after they piled up so many victories the first four weeks of play.

"The expectations for this team going into the season [were modest]," Shero said.

"Then all of a sudden, you start out four games over .500, and everybody's like, 'Wait a second.' "

When that strong start mutated into the skid that has carried the Penguins toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the calls for Shero to begin shopping for a new coach began.

But even though Shero inherited Therrien, he is adamant that he wants to thoroughly evaluate how he fits with this team, how his strengths and style work with this group of players, before he would even consider replacing him.

"That's not on my mind," Shero said. "It really isn't.

"I don't want to judge this coaching staff just by wins and losses, or anything like that. It's the first 25 or 30 games for Therrien with a number of these players."

Including some who haven't been producing the kind of offense the Penguins anticipated.

Scoring goals has been a major problem in recent weeks -- they have gotten more than three just once in the past 17 games, and had two or fewer nine times in that span -- which is why Therrien put such emphasis on it, in drills and words, during practice yesterday at Philips Arena.

"In this game, if you don't score three goals, it's tough to win," he said.

"We need to get that killer instinct."

That's particularly true of his wingers. Mark Recchi is the only one to score as many as seven goals, and the nine wingers on the Penguins' 23-man roster have accounted for 28 goals in 174 man-games.

By contrast, their top four centers -- Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Dominic Moore and Jordan Staal --have 36 in 100 man-games.

"We definitely need some more production from our wingers," Shero said.

Nonetheless, he is willing to give them a chance to prove they can -- or cannot -- do it instead of rushing to add players from outside the organization.

Which dovetails perfectly with the patient, methodical approach Shero, and the people who work under him, have employed the six-plus months he has been in charge.

"We're doing it the right way," Therrien said.

"We know that when we get there, we're going to get there for a long time."