The Hartford Wolf Pack’s ticket to the post-season Calder Cup tournament to pursue their second league championship is now official. 6,112 at the MassMutual Center watched the Wolf Pack’s score three times in the final 1:54 of regulation en route to a 4-1 victory against the Springfield Falcons Saturday night. The victory clinched a playoff berth for the eleventh consecutive season for the NY Rangers top farm club which also happens to cover all of the team’s existence in Hartford.
The Wolf Pack (42-19-2-7) completed a 7-1-0-0 season against their I-91 rivals by playing almost the entire game in the offensive zone. The Pack attacked the net all night putting 45 shots on Springfield (31-29-5-5) netminder Devan Dubnyk (41 saves). But despite all those shots, the Pack still entered the third period tied at 1. Dubnyk did everything he could do to keep his team in the game and was virtually unbeatable repeatedly making phenomenal saves denying the Pack all game long. But with just 1:54 remaining in the game, the Pack broke through.
P. A. Parenteau took a feed from Greg Moore at the right point and ripped a shot on goal that got through to Dubnyk. Dubnyk made the initial stop but the puck rebounded in front. Tim Sestito however, fanned on the rebound allowing Dane Byers, who had beat Ben Simon to the front of the net, access to the puck. Byers flipped the puck over the out-stretched Dubnyk for what would turn out to be the game winning goal.
The Pack added empty net goals by Mark Lee at 19:00 and then 29.8 seconds later by Josh Gratton for the final margin.
This game didn’t start off on a good note though at all. Just seven seconds into the game, Springfield’s Mike Gabinet and Lauri Korpikoski both reached for a loose puck along the boards. However, Korpikoski shoved Gabinet hard from behind and he fell headfirst into the boards and was in obvious pain. Sestito then jumped on top of Korpikoski for a short “fight,” but it took nearly fifteen minutes to get Gabinet up from the ice surface. Fortunately, Gabinet never lost consciousness and was taken off on a stretcher. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center for a CAT scan as a precaution.
Korpikoski was given a five-minute boarding major, five for fighting and a game misconduct. Sestito was given two-minutes for instigating, five for fighting and a ten-minute misconduct for instigating.
The Pack with the AHL’s third best power play, scored their first goal on their first power play opportunity. Rob Schremp, the Edmonton Oilers first round pick (#25 overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, took a hooking penalty at 15:59. 47 seconds into the man-advantage Ivan Baranka put a shot on gaol from the high slot which was partially blocked by Simon. The puck wound up right in the lap of Parenteau, alone on the right doorstep and slid it past Dubnyk for the lead.
The 1-0 lead lasted for just 1:40. Josh Gratton took a hooking penalty at 17:52 sending the tenth ranked Springfield power play out on the ice to face the 18th ranked penalty killers. With the Pack scrambling after the puck in the defensive zone, T.J. Kemp fed a cross ice pass to Viacheslav Trukhno who saw Jake Taylor cheating over to the left side leaving Schremp all alone inside the right face-off circle. Trukhno then made an excellent pass across ice and hit Schremp right on the stick. Schremp then buried a shot high to the glove side past Miika Wiikman (15 saves) who had no chance.
While Wiikman was only really challenged with 16 total shots on goal he came up big on a number of occasions. His best save came in the third period with the game still in question. Corey Potter gave away the puck which found it’s way into the slot where Sestito was all by himself one-on-one with Wiikman. Sestito fired a shot that was stopped cold by Wiikman, preserving the tie score.
The Wolf Pack grabbed a little tighter hold on second place moving three points in front of third place Portland, 7-3 losers in Manchester. The Pack also hold a game in hand on the Pirates. Manchester moved to within one point of fourth place Springfield for the final play-off spot. The two teams play in Manchester Sunday afternoon in what is sure to be a hotly contested game.
Bruce Berlet fills in all the gaps in the Hartford Courant. Fran Sypek has the Springfield side of the story at Masslive.com.
For game stats there is the Game Summary and of course the Official Scorer’s Sheet.
*****NOTES*****
* For those of you curious why the Ranger’s Petr Prucha has not come to Hartford for a conditioning stint, having not played now in 16 games, columnist Larry Brooks answers that question in the NY Post. Basically he states that after the trade deadline there are no conditioning stints allowed.
* P.A. Parenteau extended his current scoring streak to four games and seven points (5, 2)
* Greg Moore has five points (2, 3) in his last three games
* Dane Byers has four points (2, 2) in his last three games since returning from suspension.
* Mark Lee has four points (1, 3) since being recalled on March 14
* In the games final 40 minutes the Pack out shot Springfield 35-8
* The Pack’s 21 shots in the third period were the most shots taken by the team in any period this season.
* The Pack’s 45 shots for the game is one short of the season high of 46 versus Syracuse in the third game of the season on Oct. 13.
* The 2 shots taken by the Falcons ties a season low for a period.
* From the “Who Cares Except Me Department” – For some unexplainable reason, Dubnyk was named just the “Second Star of the Game.” No disrespect meant to P.A. Parenteau, who also had a very good game, but Dubnyk clearly was the best player on the ice for both teams and should have been rewarded with the games’ First Star.
*****LINES*****
Parenteau – Moore – Korpikoski
Gratton – Anisimov – Owens
Byers – Ouellette – Pock
Graham – Lee
Potter – Hutchinson
Baranka – Brown
Taylor – Sauer
Wiikman
*****SCRATCHES*****
Brodie Dupont – Facial injuries – Day-to-Day
Hugh Jessiman – Groin – Day-to-Day
Mitch Fritz – Shoulder – Indefinite
Alex Bourret – Concussion – Indefinite
Francis Lessard – Knee – Season
David Liffiton – Concussion – Season
*****THREE STARS*****
1. HFD – 17 Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau
2. SPR – 40 Devan Dubnyk
3. HFD – 34 Dane Byers
*****OFFICIALS*****
Kyle Rehman (37), Referee
Chris Low (88), Linesman
Frank Murphy (29), Linesman
(The Calder Cup photo courtesy of legendsofhockey.net)
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