CAN WE SKIP THE SECOND PLEASE?

The second period has been the Hartford Wolf Pack’s bugaboo
most of this season, and never more so than Friday night.

The Wolf Pack were outshot 10-1 in the first 141/2 minutes
of the period and ended up allowing four goals in a 4-3 loss to the Worcester
Sharks before 3,423 at the XL Center.

“I don’t care what we have to do, but I’m not going to
tolerate that again,” Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said. “They’ve been warned,
told, reminded about how second periods have not been ours. The third period
was obviously a lot closer to the hockey we’re capable of playing, but it was
too late.”

Justin Soryal’s goal at 10:54 after strong forechecking by
Artem Anisimov gave the Wolf Pack a 1-0 lead after the first period. But the
Sharks scored three times in less than eight minutes in the second period, then
survived a quick Wolf Pack burst before getting the winner by Andrew Desjardins
with 24.3 seconds left.

“We got some goals (by Anisimov and Lauri Korpikoski), but
we didn’t generate a lot of offense,” Gernander said, referring to scoring twice
on four shots. “We were fortunate to capitalize on the ones we did. It’s not
like we were sustaining pressure all night and had them on their heels.

“You just can’t play any different in the second period than
you did in the first, so you stress you can’t make any changes to the approach
to your game, your decision making, anything. If you’re engaged and finishing
on the forecheck, you make good decisions. If you relax and aren’t aware of
your surroundings, then plays seem to surprise you and you take penalties or
get caught flat-footed.”

Wing P.A. Parenteau was hard pressed to explain the
second-period demise of the Wolf Pack (5-5-0-1), who had won four of five.

“I’ve never seen anything like this where a team struggles
so much in the second period,” Parenteau said. “We’ve been playing some really
good hockey in the first period, but the second period has been killing us.
(Gernander) warned us about being careful in the second, but we didn’t play
like we can. He wasn’t happy with passes not being crisp and guys just turning
the puck over, myself included.

“You’re not going to win if you don’t play a full three
periods, and that’s what happened tonight. We have to make some adjustments,
and as a team, we’re going to have to regroup. I’m confident we will do that.”

The Wolf Pack never trailed in winning eight meeting with
the Sharks last season, but they’ve lost once in a shootout in Worcester and
twice at home this season. And this time the Wolf Pack had a season-low 20
shots, two fewer than in a 4-2 loss to Worcester a week earlier.

After the Sharks’ Ryan Vesce hit the post at 1:21, the Wolf
Pack took a 1-0 lead when Anisimov forced a turnover that Soryal jammed past
Kyle Jones, making his pro debut after four years at St. Norbert College, a
Division III school in De Pere, Wisconsin.

Miika Wiikman (28 saves) made stellar stops off Tom Cavanagh
and Derek Joslin late in the first period, but that was only a temporary
reprieve for the Wolf Pack. The Sharks had 10-1 shot advantage in the opening
141/2 minutes of the second period and scored three times to take a 3-1 lead.
Cavanagh converted Joslin’s rebound on a 5-on-3 power play at 4:04, then Joslin
picked off a Wolf Pack clearing attempt and scored on a 40-foot shot from the
slot at 8:15. Cavanagh capped the Sharks’ outburst when he converted Vesce’s
rebound on another power play at 12:01, giving him four of his six goals in the
last two meetings with the Wolf Pack.

But the Wolf Pack scored twice in 3:55 to tie it. Anisimov
finished off a strong rush by defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti on a power play at
14:37, then Lauri Korpikoski beat Jones high after a nifty move and pass by
Parenteau with 1:28 left.

But the Sharks regained the lead for good as Riley
Armstrong’s pass from behind the net found a wide-open Desjardins for an easy
finish and a 12-4 shot advantage in the second period.

The Wolf Pack nearly tied it at 10:04 of the third period,
but Jones (18 saves) slid across to deny Korpikoski, who was sent in alone by
Parenteau. Then with 1:58 left, Jones smothered a bid out of the right corner
by Matthew Ford, called up from Charlotte of the ECHL on Thursday.

The Wolf Pack pulled Wiikman for a sixth attacker with 55 seconds
left but couldn’t get a shot on Jones.