PLAYING OUT THE STRING 

These last four games ultimately don’t matter in the grand scheme of things as everything has already been settled as far as the playoffs their seatings and even the schedule is concerned. However the last thing that the organization wants is to enter the second season flat or not playing well. The Wolf Pack (47-20-2-8) blew past the Lowell Devils, (24-40-7-5) who offered little to no resistance for the first forty minutes but out-hustled the Wolf Pack in the final frame and made the score much closer than the game actually was, dropping this one 3-2 before an announced crowd of 4429 at the XL Center Sunday night.

The Pack benefited by another strong performance from Hugh Jessiman, who has once again found his game and playing like the power forward that he was imagined to be by the parent NY Rangers, with two goals and excellent play all over the ice.

Jessiman got his first of the night just 3:30 into the first period. Jessiman brought the puck in over the blew line and handed it off to Lauri Korpikoski. In turn, the Finnish forward found Corey Potter alone on the left wing and put it right on his stick. Potter then sent a hard shot into the chest of Devils netminder Frank Doyle (33 saves). The puck which hit the 6’1″ 185 pound, Guelph, Ontario native in the chest and bounced off into the crease. Jessiman powered his way in past two defenders and kept whacking away at it until he finally slid it under Doyle for the tally. The goal marked the eighth in the last ten that Jessiman has put up points.

The first period blew by in just 22 minutes and the Pack dominating with a shot margin of 22 to 4. The 22 shots were the most taken by the Pack in a period this season.

In the second period the Pack wasted little time getting on the board. After applying strong forecheck pressure the puck found it’s way to Doyle behind the cage. At 1:10, the Devil’s goaltender feeling the pressure from the Pack fore-checkers then sent an attempted clearing pass off the glass but instead it went straight up and over the glass prompting a call from referee Francois St. Laurent to make a two minute delay of the game call which put the AHL’s second most prolific power play unit onto the ice. They didn’t disappoint.

Thomas Pock, who has been tremendous all season long as a power play quarterback, sent a pass across the ice from left to right to Lauri Korpikoski. The right wing took the puck and fed it low below the red line to Dane Byers and crashed the net. Byers recognized the give and headed for the net. Byers put the puck in the perfect place to score and did beating Doyle through the five hole for the 2-0 Wolf Pack lead.

By the end of the second period the Pack were outshooting the Devils by a hefty 22 shot difference, 32-10.

Jessiman’s second goal, and what would prove to be the game winning goal, came at 8:55 of the third period. From the left side half boards, Byers fed Jessiman in the left corner. The Darien, Connecticut native went around the Devils D-man, Oliver Magnan-Grenier, faster than UConn men’s basketball, Head Coach Jim Calhoun talks, charged in on net shooting. He followed the rebound in on Doyle and knocked in his own rebound at 8:55 and it seemed like this game was over…but it wasn’t.

3:30 minutes later, at 12:32, Magnan-Grenier redeemed himself a bit, when he fed 24 year old Zach Tarkir, who turned and fired a hard shot from the high slot and the puck was defected in according to the official scoring by Brad Mills, who was credited with his first AHL goal, although on the replay it looked more like Sean Zimmerman. and the shut out was history.

The Devils pressed for more and their hard work paid off when at 16:35, Mills, now added his first multi-point game to his resume, got a mini-odd man rush going in the Pack zone setting up a two-on-one between Peter Vrana and Ivan Khomutov who beat David LeNeveu (25 saves) as Potter was slow getting back into position.

Only two questions remained at that point; would LeNeveu keep the Pack on top and two would the Pack go the entire game without a penalty? Yes, LeNeveu held on despite a fabulous opportunity Mills had all alone in front of the net but missed and no they didn’t.

Michael Sauer broke the penalty-less streak with 1:38 remaining in the game when he as called for hooking. But the Pack held it together and got the win.

The Pack finish the season series against the Devils with a 6-1-0-1 record.

Bruce Berlet adds color to an otherwise black-and-white night in the Hartford Courant. The Lowell newspaper, the Sun, does not have a story on this Devils game.

For stats on the game there are always the usual sources. First is the Game Summary and the second the Officials Scorer’s sheet.

*****NOTES*****
* The Pack have only had one game where they had no penalties and this was only the second where they had only one.

* The Pack are 26-2-2-1 when leading after one, 39-0-1-3 when leading after two. Interestingly enough, the Pack are 29-15-1-5 when outshooting their opponents and surprisingly enough are just 20-11-2-8 in one goal games.

* On the converse side, when they are tied after one period they are 6-7-1-3, after two 6-10-0-4 and they just don’t come back on other teams either. When trailing after one they are 6-10-0-4 and 2-13-0-2 when trailing after two.

* The Pack have lost two of their last three first round playoff series. In 06′-’07 they lost in the first round to Providence. In ’05-’06 they beat Manchester in the first round before succumbing to Portland in the Division Finals and in ’04-’05 they lost to Lowell (The Lock Monsters then when they were Carolina’s minor league affiliate. They will look to get back to their winning way when they take on third place Portland starting on April 16th at the XL Center. Thanks to Laurie C. for pointing this out.

*****LINES*****
Zaborsky – Moore – Korpikoski
Byers – Anisimov – Jessiman
Owens – Ouellette – Gratton
M. Taylor – Fritz

Sauer – Pock
Potter – Hutchinson
Taylor – Sanguinetti

LeNeveu

*****SCRATCHES*****
2. Dave Liffiton – Concussion – Season
6. Brad Brown – Healthy
8. Brodie Dupont – Mild Concussion – Day-to-Day
16. Alex Bourret – Flu – Day-to-Day
17. P.A. Parenteau – Ankle – Day-to-Day
22. Francis Lessard – Knee – Season
23. Ivan Baranka – Undisclosed – Indefinite

*****THREE STARS*****
1. HFD – 27 Hugh Jessiman
2. HFD – 28 Lauri Korpikoski
3. LOW – 37 Brad Mills

*****OFFICIALS*****
Francois St. Laurent (38), Referee
Scott Cherrey (50), Linesman
Robert St. Lawrence (10), Linesman