THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME…

Col. John "Hannibal" Smith on the 80's TV show "The A Team" used to say, "I love it when a plan comes together"

That's how Head Coach Ken Gernander has got to be feeling after watching his troops put two solid performances back-to-back as they took care of business again with a convincing 4-1 win over the visiting Manchester Monarchs Saturday in front of 2,893 at the XL Center.

Gernander seems to have found some real chemistry in the revamped line combinations. Putting Tommy Pyatt with Dane Byers on the left and P.A. Parenteau on the right has awakened all three of them and given the franchise a legitimate scoring line. The group has played with a lot of energy and has controlled the puck and has been productive.

The second line combination of Artem Anisimov with Brodie Dupont riding shotgun on his left and Dale Weise to his right has been gritty and shown merit as well.

Greg Moore, who unlike last season has not started off the season strong, has shifted to centering a third energy/checking line with Justin Soryal and Jordan Owens this group has been stirring the pot nicely thus far.

The only issue right now is a fourth line where Mike Ouellette stands between Brandon Sugden and Devin DiDiomete. Ouellette is working VERY hard to get things done, but DiDiomete and Sugden just cannot stay out of the penalty box. Other than fighting, neither has demonstrated any real ability to do much else.

Hugh Jessiman has been a healthy scratch the past two games. It's safe to assume that he's earned that stay in the stands because to this point he has not contributed and his taking a bad high sticking penalty Wednesday night against Worcester gave the Sharks the opening they needed to tie the score. The Pack went on to lose that one in a shoot out. Given the team's awakening and chemistry, Jessiman has got to get back in the lineup with Ouellette and either Sugden or DiDiomete and start putting up the numbers that the former number one pick is capable of brining. Jessiman has demonstrated at times that he is a very gifted hockey player, however the clock is most certainly winding down on his opportunity with this organization and perhaps even his professional hockey career. It's time for him to start putting it together.

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The real backbone of the rise in the team's play is the reemergence of Miika Wiikman (31 saves). Wiikman has rediscovered his form that made him the Pack's front line goalkeeper and in effect displaced the need to continue working with former goaltender Al Montoya.

After a relatively slow start, the 24 year old second year pro has been lights out stopping 61 of the 63 shots he's faced. Aided by better all around defensive support by his teammates in front of him, Wiikman (2.11GAA, .923 %) has noticed the difference himself telling reporters, “The whole team is playing better,” Wiikman said. “They
(Manchester) didn’t have a lot of quality chances. Most of their shots came from the
blueline, and I could see them. It’s a lot easier for me to play when it’s like
that, and we started scoring some goals and didn’t take any stupid penalties.”

In fact the Pack were shorthanded six times by referee Nygel Pelletier's whistles. Conversely they were given eight man-advantages over the course of the game. The way they'd been playing with a man up, this wouldn't have meant much to speak of. But as the saying goes, "practice makes perfect," and the team responded well with their first multi-goal power play effort of the season.
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“If you can get a goal a game out of the power play, it’s
good, and more times than not it’s simplifying things,” Gernander told reporters. “So we dedicated some time to it, and the guys responded.” The only major power play shift came with putting Greg Moore on the point and the return of dividends was fairly quick,..pardon the pun

Dane Byers scored one of the two Wolf Pack power play tallies when at 3:37 Tommy Pyatt put a puck in front of Monarch starter Jaime Quick (22 saves) who thought he had the puck, only to have it banged home by Byers.
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“We’ve basically got back to the basics on the power play,”
Byers told those gathered at his locker. “We’re just trying to get the puck to the points and get shots, and
as we do that, it opens more seams and guys are getting more confident in
front. The coaches have been harping about net presence, and it has been
working.”

The Pack scored again just 44 seconds later when great work down low by Anisimov and Weise who found Dupont all alone low in the right face off circle. Dupont fired a laser right past Quick and essentially iced the game at 4:21 when the lead went to what would be the final score, 4-1.

The Pack scored their first goal of a Andrew Campbell defensive zone turnover. Parenteau found the puck and gave it to rookie Chris Murray. Murray flipped a short pass over to Artem Anisimov low along the right boards. It was then all Anisimov. The young Russian blew right past Manchester's defenseman Drew Bagnall and simply faked goaltender Jonathan Quick right out of his skates and tucked the puck in the net.

At 6:43 of the second period, Parenteau doubled the Pack's lead with a blast from the left half boards that Quick seemed lost on with Pyatt and Moore getting the asissts on the play.

The Monarchs would get their lone tally at 1:58 of the third period when Trevor Lewis took a rebound from a David Meckler shot and put it past Wiikman.

P.A. Parenteau now has a three game long goal scoring streak, also
added an additional two assists in this one, summed it up best in the
Pack locker room to reporters, “Miika played an unbelievable game
again, and we finally got
it done with some greasy goals,” Parenteau said. “And we’re moving the
puck well on the power play. We worked on making
some plays, and we’re shooting, creating stuff and getting the puck to
net.
That’s how it should be.”

For stat fans, here are the Game Summary and the Official Scorer's Sheet.

For reports on the game, Bruce Berlet once again shows why he is among the very best reporters at Hartfordwolfpack.com and for the Manchester perspective there's the Union Leader.

NOTES

* Justin Soryal is proving to be one tough cookie. He has been fighting and fighting a lot. He fought twice against Philly and again against Manchester. He had one of them simply called as a roughing penalty. He's showing real leadership and becoming a solid defender of the skill guys on this team. He is a player to watch.

* Dupont came an assist short of having a Gordie Howe hattrick with a goal and a fight in which he nearly took the head off of Manchester Right wing, Denny Johnson.

* While Artem Anisimov was voted by the media as the Third Star of the Game, the young Russian center was simply everywhere and involved all over the ice.

* The Charlotte Checkers continue to play well. Gocheckers.com has a full recap of their team's OT win, 5-4. Here is the Game Summary.

LINES

Soryal – Moore – Owens
Dupont – Anisimov – Weise
BYERS – Pyatt – PARENTEAU
Sugden – Ouellette – DiDiomete

Denisov – Fahey
Sanguinetti – POTTER
Murray – Graham

Wiikman

Alternate Captains in all CAPS

SCRATCHES

Jessiman – Healthy
Sauer – Knee injury

THREE STARS

1. HFD – 62 Miika Wiikman
2. HFD –
17 Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau
3. HFD – 42 Artem Anisimov

ON ICE OFFICIALS

Nygel Pelletier (41), Referee
David
Spannaus (8), Linesman
Derek Wahl (46), Linesman

NEXT GAME

Wednesday Night (10/29) against Kevin Dineen's Portland PIrates who are now affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres. Portland's top player, Mark Mancari is sixth overall in the AHL scoring race with ten points in just five games (4g, 6a).