VERSUS
If you watch enough hockey games there are some that are memorable for some great moment or collect of moments and then there are some you forget about by the time you reach your car in the lot…this was one of those. Saturday night’s Wolf Pack 3-1 win over the visiting Albany River Rats (Carolina Hurricanes affiliate) had all the heat and excitement of a Cloris Leachman Paso Doble.
The one silver lining out of this win was the splendid performance of back up netminder Matt Zaba. Making his first start before the home town fans, Zaba was exceptional stopping 25 of 26 shots, many in spectacular and a timely fashion.
Zaba has only gotten in this game because Miika Wiikman has been simply put, amazing, but had such a rough night Friday. Wiikman saw 42 shots Friday night.
“You kind of weigh all kinds of things, and Wiikman was really on a roll,” Head Coach, Ken Gernander told reporters gathered in the locker room. “Things didn’t go very well for us (Friday) night, so it was a good time for a change, and Zabs was equal to the task. He played very well and congratulations to him on his first win.”
The Pack got on the board just :28 seconds into the game when rookie defenseman, David Urquhart, on his first AHL shift took a give-and-go from Artem Anisimov, moved in and roofed a terrific shot short-side over River Rat starter Daniel Manzato (24 saves). Urquhart made quite the splash. Not only did he score on his first shot of his first shift but defensively he was everywhere. He was physical, broke up some plays and made good decisions.
The Wolf Pack doubled their lead 5:30 minutes later when Brodie Dupont put his second of the year behind Manzato off a great feed from Lauri Korpikoski. While lines were changing Korpikoski held the puck along the right side half-boards and found a streaking down the slot Dupont and fed him the pass perfectly.
The Pack owned the trapping River Rats in the first and outshot them 12-5.
While the Pack themselves were badly outshot in the second and spent most of the period in their own end, they just never seemed like they were in any real trouble. Granted Zaba made a couple of terrific saves that certainly helped, but the team held together well.
The only slip up came at 17:17. Referee Chris Ciamaga, the same referee from Friday night’s game who was not only a complete embarrassment to referees, but also to the colors black and white and stripes in general, put Urquhart in the box on a VERY weak holding call at 16:42. While on the power play, Pat Dwyer scored from in front after Vladamir Denisov blocked a Bobby Hughes shot. Denisov did not see where the puck was and Tommy Pyatt whiffed on his clearing attempt leaving Dwyer a clear shot at the loose puck and slammed it past Zaba. It was the Pack’s only real bad moment of the night.
In the third period Zaba made a huge stop on Nicolas Blanchard at 6:45 that was the only real threat of the period. With just 14 seconds left Greg Moore got his first goal of the season when he intercepted a Bryan Rodney pass at center ice, moved up to the opposing blue line and fired a shot into the empty net for the game’s final score.
Here they are stats aficionados, the Game Summary and the Official Scorer’s Sheet.
Bruce Berlet takes you inside the mind of First Star Matt Zaba and has more reaction from in the locker room in his game report at HartfordWolfPack.com. The Albany report is basically a summary of Berlet’s report but can be found at TimesUnion.com.
NOTES
* Last year it was Francis Lessard who was lost for the season because of a freak accident. This season that mantle falls on Dane Byers. The young Nipawin, Saskatchewan native is most likely done for the year after tearing the ACL in his left knee. Byers apparently got tangled up with teammate Tommy Pyatt in the last eight seconds of Friday night’s contest with Worcester.
* Forward Jordan Owens, who has been having a tremendous season on the Pack forward lines is out for an undetermined amount of time after he suffered an abdominal injury Wednesday night.
* Add Brian Fahey to your injured dance card. Fahey took an elbow to the head from Worcester defenseman Michael Moore that lead him wobbly. It would appear to be just a mild concussion. The good news is that he expects to be back in the lineup Friday night when the Pack take on Worcester again.
* Due to these injuries, forward Andreas Jamtin and defenseman David Urquhart were recalled from the ECHL Charlotte Checkers.
* There were three Ex-Pack in the visitors’ locker room Saturday night. Jakub Petrzalek, Bryan Rodney and Trevor Gillies.
* Speaking of ex-Pack, congratulations are in order for former Pack goaltender Chris Holt who was recalled from Peoria by the St. Louis Blues and will see NHL playing time. He backed up starter Chris Mason Saturday night.
* Also, Howlings caught up with David Liffiton. The popular ex-Pack defenseman said that he is 100% healed and healthy and has been working out with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. He also said that he is close to signing a contract to play in Europe and would update Howlings as soon as he knew where his exact destination would be. Here’s hoping he has a big season. Given the Pack’s lack of veteran D, and that he’s healthy maybe the Pack should look at Liffiton as a possibility…
* A hint to make the game better. There are far too many goaltender interference calls being made where the goalie brings it upon himself and a lot of these are taking place with the netminder outside the crease. Here’s the new rule. If both the player and the goalie are inside the crease then it’s interference. If the goaltender is outside the crease then he’s as far game as anyone. If you think he doesn’t have enough room to defend or to cut angels etc, then make the crease bigger. Personally, we think it’s just fine (the size of it) but there is a boat load of diving going on and a dive, especially by a goaltender should result in a five minute major. It’ll increase scoring chances and take a lot of nonsense out of the game.
* Justin Soryal has been quite impressive to this point. He’s also proving to be quite the fighter as well. Early in the third period, Soryal took on River Rat defenseman Benn Olson and scored a huge TKO when he pummeled the 6’4″ 215 pound with a barrage of left hands that dropped the defenseman to his knees. This young man is a player to watch.
* The Charlotte Checkers had the night off.
LINES
KORPIKOSKI – Anisimov – Parenteau
Soryal – Ouellette – Jamtin
Sugden – Pyatt – DiDiomete
Dupont – MOORE – Weise
POTTER – Urquhart
Denisov – Sanguinetti
Murray – Graham
Zaba
(Alternate Captains in BOLD CAPS)
SCRATCHES
Sauer – Knee – Possible by December
Fahey – Possible Concussion – Possible Friday the 7th
Owens – Abs – Undetermined
Byers – Knee – Indefinite
THREE STARS
1. HFD – 30 Matt Zaba
2. HFD – 48 David Urquhart
3.
ALB – 31 Daniel Manzato
ON ICE OFFICIALS
Chris Ciamaga (41), Referee
Marty Demers (79), Linesman
Kevin
Redding (16), Linesman
NEXT GAME
The Wolf Pack are off until Friday November 7th when they are home again for the rematch with the Worcester Sharks. Given the nature of the last contest this one should be a rough and tumble affair with tempers already flairing.
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