…AND THEY’RE OFF… 

VERSUS

Ryan Potulny’s deflection of a Taylor Chorney shot midway through the third period turned out to be the difference-maker as the visiting Springfield Falcons turned a three-goal first period deficit into a 4-3 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack in front of 9,530 at the XL Center in Hartford Saturday night.

The Wolf Pack are a young and talented bunch. The New York Ranger’s top farm club sports one of the AHL’s least experienced defensive corps and by the end of this one, it showed. After the team exploded out of the gate with an incredibly dominating first period, they lost focus, took a lot of penalties, and as a result came up short in its third consecutive one goal loss on opening night.
After the contest, forward Dane Byers spoke to the press and said that, “Obviously the first period was great with guys flying and doing all the right things,” the 6’3” left wing said. “Then we got away from doing the little things like carrying the puck instead of chipping it deep, and that’s how the penalties came. They took over, and we weren’t able to keep the flow going and that really hurt us. We had some pressure at the end of the second period and in the third period, but the game is 60 minutes for a reason.”

After the first period, the team was outworked in all facets of the game, which certainly didn’t make Wolf Pack head coach, Ken Gernander a happy man. “We had a very good first period, and then it was mental things like unnecessary penalties and poor decisions with pucks,” Gernander told reporters.
“There are no little things, but it was a series of little things that caused us to implode.

“They’re too good a team, and it’s too good a league not to play 60 minutes. I don’t know what we thought, that you just play 20 minutes and then wait until April. But they have good players, so if you’re going to put them on the power play all night, they’re going to cash in. They had only two shots in the third period, but how many does a good player need? You have to make people earn things.”

The Pack scored at just 1:06 into the game when rookie defensemen, Vladimir Denisov, scored on the Pack’s first shot of the season. The 5’11” Belarusian pinched in on the rush and took a pass from returning forward Brodie Dupont in the slot. The pass met Denisov’s stick perfectly and the 24 year old fired a wrister from point blank range past Springfield starter Devan Dubnyk (34 saves).

The Pack’s only challenge came about midway through the first period. The team found themselves on the wrong side of an extended five-on-three penalty kill, yet they rallied defensively and allowed but a single shot to make it through to Miika Wiikman. (18 saves)

Wiikman did not play with the Pack at all during the preseason. He remained with the parent NY Rangers, played a bit there and then went as a spare netminder with the team on their European tour. The Swedish import did not look sharp in this outing and may well have been rusty from his limited playing time during the preseason and for having only faced a total of six shots between the first and third periods combined.

Gernander is not placing this loss on his top netminder.

“For the first period he didn’t get a lot of work, and then in the second, he was really left exposed,” Gernander said.

There was a lot of emotion in the first period which led to three fights. Despite being a third year pro, defensemen Chris Murray has just 17 total AHL games worth of experience. Murray got into the first of the teams’ brawls in the period. The Dover, Massachusetts native scored a decisive victory over Springfield’s Hans Benson. The California born right winger, Benson, took an extra instigator penalty which sent the Pack to the power play.

Just 19 seconds of the man-advantage time remained when Dane Byers perfectly deflected a point shot off the stick of rookie Bobby Sanguinetti past Dubnyk doubling Springfield’s deficit at 2-0.

Moments later Mike Ouellette technically fought with Springfield’s Sebastien Bisaillon. However the “fight” was more like a gloves-off wrestling match and ended in a draw.

Five minutes later, Jordan Owens levied a filling loosening hit on a Springfield player in the offensive zone. Tough man, Theo Peckham jumped the second year Pack forward, and ECHL all-star and both landed some hard shots.

Thomas Pyatt’s excellent training camp and preseason was no fluke. Pyatt earned himself a spot on this Wolf Pack roster after spending most of last year in Charlotte with the Checkers. Pyatt demonstrated that he was at very least, an AHL caliber talent, when he first blocked a Springfield shot and raced down right wing to track it down with defenseman Bryan Young right on his trail. However, Pyatt turned on the afterburners and blew right past Young. Pyatt turned towards the net making a tremendous move off right wing to the slot while falling down put a shot over the glove of Dubnyk that left the Calgary native shaking his head at 19:16. Had Pyatt not scored on the play, he would most likely have been awarded a penalty shot as Young threw his stick at Pyatt’s feet on the play.

Going into the second period this one had all the signs of an impending rout, only someone forgot to tell that to the Falcons. Meanwhile over in the home locker room, apparently the team lost focus and played like it. The team was not motivated and had no sense of urgency on the bench.
“You have to give them credit, but the only people to blame are ourselves,” Wolf Pack wing P.A. Parenteau said. “We were all over them in the first period but had a terrible second period, weren’t sharp at all, and let it get away from us and lost all our momentum.

Just 42 seconds into the start of the second period, Denisov took an interference penalty. A power play goal 46 seconds later by Cody Wild put Springfield on the board. Wild’s goal resulted from an impressive no-look pass from center Tyler Spurgeon along the left wing. Wild’s shot beat Wiikman (18 saves) who did not play with the Pack during the preseason as he remained with the parent NY Rangers on the team’s European tour. The Swedish import did not look sharp in this outing and may well have been rusty from his limited playing time during the preseason.

Wiikman’s defensemen did not help him in the second period at all. On any number of defensive stands the blueliners looked out of position and quite often were nowhere to be found. These lapses cost them dearly. At 7:42 a Liam Reddox pass to the front of the net found Ryan Potulny completely alone. The center-man took two shots into the pads of Wiikman, who desperately tried to get the puck out of harm’s way, but Potulney’s persistence paid off on the third try as he lifted it over the Pack’s top netminder making for a 3-2 score.

More sloppy play led to the Pack taking more penalties. After stopping yet another Springfield power play and with just 1:02 remaining in the period, Gilbert Brule showed why he was a sixth overall pick in the 2005 NHL draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets when he took a long pass off the stick of Vischeslav Trukhno and raced past defenseman Brian Fahey beating Wiikman with a backhanded shot over the glove and knotting the score.

Brule joined the Falcons after being failing to make the squad of their parent team, the Edmonton Oilers. He came to Edmonton in a deadline deal last season for former Bridgeport Sound Tiger, Raffi Torres.

The Wolf Pack were completely outplayed, outhit, and out-worked, the entire period. The tally sheet showed them outshot, 16-8 in the period.

The home team put up a valiant effort in the third period outshooting the visitors 12-2, but it was more of a case of too little too late as Dubnyk stood up to the challenge.
“It’s a bad loss,” Parenteau said. “But we’re a young team and have to learn quickly because we have a game at 4 o’clock (Sunday against Bridgeport). We have to put this behind us and make sure we win (Sunday).”

Follow the link for the Game Summary, and Official Scorer’s Sheet.

If you were not aware, Bruce Berlet has retired from the Hartford Courant. Shawn Courchesne steps in and t has a feature story about defensemen Chris Murray.

Garry Brown of The Republican has the Falcons perspective.

***** NOTES *****

* Former Wolf Pack defenseman Jake Taylor played in his first game against the Pack after spending the last four seasons with the Wolf Pack. Taylor was originally drafted by the Rangers in the 6th round of the 2002 NHL draft.

* As mentioned above, the Pack have lost their last three opening night games each by a single tally, prior however, they were 7-1-1 in their first nine opening night tilts.

* The Wolf Pack’s average age is 23.25 years with newcomer Brandon Sugden the oldest at 30 while Dale Weise is the youngest having just turned 20 years of age in August.

* The Pack owned Springfield last season with a record of 9-1-0-0 over their rival to the north. Over the past five years, the Pack have a commanding 21-8-1-1 record against the Falcons.

* Expect the Falcons to be even better the next time the two clubs square off as Rob Schremp and defenseman Mathieu Roy will join the team after being sent down in the final cuts by Edmonton.

* Read how the Charlotte Checkers, replete with a full compliment of young players from Hartford, demolished Mississippi in their final pre-season tuneup, 9-1.

***** LINES *****

Byers – Moore – Jessiman
Dupont – Anisimov – Parenteau
Owens – Ouellette – Soryal
Jamtin – Pyatt – Weise

Potter – Sanguinetti
Fahey – Denisov
Murray – Dowzak

Wiikman

***** THREE STARS *****
1. SPR – 17 Ryan Potulny
2. SPR – 40 Devan Dubnyk
3. SPR – 19 Gilbert Brule

***** REFEREES *****
Terry Koharski (10), Referee
Paul Simeon (66), Linesman
Marty Demers (79), Linesman