DEVIL DOGS 

The Hartford Wolf Pack showed all the signs of a team with momentum and talent that could be starting to peak at just the right time of the year. The boys from Hartford survived a brief scare in the first period but pulled themselves together in the second, led by Mike Ouellette’s first career AHL hat trick en route to annihilating the last place Lowell Devils at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena 8-2 Wednesday night.

Ouellette was simply outstanding from start to finish. Since being recalled from Charlotte in early November, the former Dartmouth line-mate of current Wolf Pack forward Hugh Jessiman, has been earning his keep as the team’s best representative in the face-off circle, especially in defensive zone draws and has been tremendous on the defensive end and killing penalties. He picked up his first two-goal game of the season on March 14th against San Antonio and has been getting more and more scoring opportunities and coming ever-so-close to finishing until tonight.

At just 41 seconds into the first period Devils Center, Erik Rasmussen turned over the puck at his own blueline. The turnover created a 2-on-1 odd-man rush in the offensive zone with P.A. Parenteau coming hard down right wing and Greg Moore bringing up the left side. Parenteau faked a shot that Lowell (22-38-7-4) goaltender Frank Doyle (21 saves) went for and then slid a beautiful pass through the crease right to Moore who sent a bullet into the back of the net from the left doorstop for the quick lead.

Ouellette followed up just 59 seconds later when another turnover, this time in the neutral zone, allowed Thomas Pock to chip the puck ahead of the defense and onto the stick of Mike Ouellette along the right wing. Ouellette made a phenomenal fake that took Doyle out of the play and Ouellette easily tucked in the puck in the vacated net giving the Pack a 2-0 lead just 1:40 into the game.

With as young a team as the Pack are, getting up that fast can cause mental breakdowns as was the case in this match. The Devils took control and possessed the next ten minutes. They struck first at 6:18 off a bad turnover by Jordan Owens to Ryan J. Murphy. Murphy fed Oliver Magnan who sent a pass on to Rasmussen who’s shot beat David LeNeveu (18 saves).

The Wolf Pack (43-19-2-7) then took consecutive penalties first to Andrew Hutchinson and then 20 seconds later to his partner Corey Potter creating a 1:40 5-on-3. The 18th ranked penalty kill came up huge against the eighth ranked Lowell power play and shut them right down.

The Pack were unable to keep them off the score sheet for long. At 18:02, with Hutchinson again in the box, this time on a tripping call, Rasmussen and Rosario Ruggeri set up Olli Malmivaara who’s shot from the point was screened and never seen by LeNeveu tying the score as the period ended.

Starting the second period the lackadaisical effort by the Hartford visitors ended and they came out ready to compete. At 4:43 the Pack broke the deadlock when Hutchinson’s shot from the low left face-off circle beat Doyle high on the short side off of a reverse feed from Thomas Pock and Lauri Korpikoski. The goal was Hutchinson’s 16th which established a franchise record for most goals by a defensemen. Hutchinson’s beat the record that was set by Pock in the ’05-’06 season. Pock’s team record for points (61) is next on the list for the teams’ clear MVP. Hutchinson needs two points to tie that record with nine games remaining.

The Pack struck again just 1:02 later. A bad clearing attempt wound up on Josh Gratton’s stick. Gratton got the puck to Jessiman who shot form a low and bad angle into a virtually empty net as Doyle didn’t see it coming.

Ouellette got his second of the night when a shot from the left point by Brad Brown, who got his first point as a member of the Wolf Pack, bounced off Magnan and right into the slot. Ouellette was standing right there and fired the shot into the empty net for a 5-2 lead.

At 17:20 Jake Taylor worked tremendously hard in the defensive end and made a great outlet pass to Parenteau who rushed it up right wing. Taylor skated real hard up the left side to catch up to Parenteau creating a 2-on-1. Parenteau fired a shot which hit Doyle and ricocheted into the air. Parenteau showed how great the hands he has are by keeping his stick down and popping it into the net from the left doorstep for the 6-2 lead.

The other players on the Pack wanted to see Ouellette get the “trick” and were looking to feed him on every shift. At 5:54 it happened. From below the goal line on the left side, Dane Byers fed Ouellette down low. Ouellette then sent a hard shot that hit Doyle squarely in the chest and bounced back right to him which he returned right to the back of the net. Ouellette did have a previous hat trick in his career in Charlotte but the third goal came on an empty net.

At 13:31 a scramble along the boards led to a scrum between Artem Anisimov and Lowell’s Brad Mills. Mills, a fighter, just pummeled him with hard shots. Jessiman jumped in to break it up. Meanwhile Gratton grabbed Magnan, not fighter at all, and the two had a brief exchange but it was clear that Gratton didn’t want to hurt him and called for the referees to stop it so he wouldn’t have to hurt him. Gratton was given an instigating, fighting and game misconduct while Jessiman took a roughing call while Magnan took a fighting major and Mills got a boarding and roughing call.

The hardest shot of the night clearly went to Jordan Owens. With just 6.3 seconds left in the game, Anisimov and Ivan Baranka set him up in the right face-off circle and just launched a laser of a shot under the crossbar that Doyle had no chance on.

The AHL League News has a feature on Ouellette and the Pack’s game and gave him “First Star of the Night,” League wide. Bruce Berlet’s story in the Hartford Courant is mostly a feature on Ouellette as it should be. Things are so bad for the Lowell Devils that not only did the team apparently given up, but apparently the Lowell Sun newspaper has as well with no local story on the game.

For the game stats check out the Game Summary or the Official Scorer’s Sheet.

*****NOTES*****
* 1,099 was the announced crowd at the Tsongas arena. That number was completely on target if you include counting the limbs of all in attendance.

* Mitch Fritz has begun to skate in practice and could be ready soon.

* Parenteau has the hottest streak in the AHL. In the last five games, from March 16 to present, Parenteau has logged 6 goals and 4 assists for 10 points over the span.

* The Pack’s eight goals is the most for the good guys since the team scored nine in a 9-3 thrashing of Al Monotya’s new team, San Antonio back on Nov. 11, 2006.

* The Pack are 14-7-0-3 when tied after one period and 35-0-1-3 when leading after two.

* The Wolf Pack outshot Lowell 29-20 for the game.

* This margin of victory ties the largest margin of the season when they beat Worcester 7-1 on Dec. 8.

* The Pack are 4-0-0-1 in the last 5 and 6-1-0-1 in their last 8 in regulation games.

* The Pack are 5-1-0-1 versus Lowell with just one game remaining against them on April 6th

* The Wolf Pack may catch a break with the upcoming series against Portland. Rookie sensation Bobby Ryan, (21, 28) looks to be sticking with the Anaheim Ducks for the play-offs and most likely will not be in the lineup when the two teams meet.

*****LINES*****
Korpikoski – Moore – Parenteau
Gratton – Anisimov – Lee
Byers – Ouellette – Pock
Jessiman – Owens

Hutchinson – Potter
Taylor – Sauer
Brown – Baranka

LeNeveu

*****SCRATCHES*****
Dupont – Facial Injuries – Day-to-Day
Fritz – Shoulder – Day-to-Day
Bourret – Concussion – Indefinite
Liffiton – Concussion – Season
Lessard – Knee – Season

*****THREE STARS*****
1. HFD – 44 Mike Ouellette
2. HFD – 17 Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau
3. HFD – 71 Thomas Pock

*****OFFICIALS*****
Jamie Koharski (84), Referee
Tim Low (68), Linesman
Scott Whittemore (96), Linesman

(Mike Ouellette photo courtesy of Rich Zacher via HartfordWolfPack.com)