VERSUS
The Hartford Wolf Pack picked up their first win on the road
by rallying from a two-goal first period deficit to defeat the Lake Erie
Monsters, 5-3 behind an outstanding four point performance from P.A. Parenteau
at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland in front of 3,173 Sunday afternoon.
Coming into the game there were many questions about the
real identity and the type of character this group has. Many of them were
answered, at least for now. After digging themselves a two-goal deficit, they
really outworked the Monsters and fought their way back supported by an
excellent effort from rookie defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti’s power play goal and
assist, and Patrick Rissmiller’s solid effort and Artem Anisimov’s continuing
development as a play making center. Each had two assists on the afternoon.
The Pack fell behind midway through the first period when Lake
Erie defenseman Ray Macias put the puck past Miika Wiikman (23 saves) who once
again was strong between the pipes. Macias scored as he crashed the net
redirecting a feed from across the crease. Corey Potter couldn’t catch up with
the Long Beach, California native. Chris Durno made a pass down low to right
wing Chris Mueller. As Mueller began to walk in on the net, Michael Sauer, just
back from an extended rehab from a knee surgery, backed off the 5’11” forward rather
than challenging him and it created the space that Mueller needed to hit Macias
for the goal.
Peder Skinner put the home team up two goals with a huge
heads up play capitalizing on a rare huge rebound up the middle off of Wiikman.
Chris Stewart blasted a hard shot from inside the right face-off circle that
deflected off Wiikman’s pads right up the middle when Skinner fired a shot that
Wiikman had no chance on.
Referee Francis St. Laurent reminded all concerned about his
love for blowing the whistle. St. Laurent called his seventh of the period (three
to Hartford and four to Lake Erie) on Macias at 18:59. With just 29.2 ticks remaining in the period,
Greg Moore, who has been on fire of late, put a Herculean effort in front of
the net taking a Sanguinetti point shot that had fallen into the crease and
tapped it in under goaltender Jason Becashihua’s pads cutting the Monster lead
in half as before the end of the period. Parenteau got his first point of the
night setting up Sanguinetti’s point shot.
14 of the first period’s 20 minutes were spent in special
teams play.
7:31 into the second period Brodie Dupont took a terrific
feed from Anisimov as he came down the right wing. Dupont’s low shot beat
Bacashihua with a goal that the Monster netminder should have had.
Kyle Cumiskey gave the Monster’s their second and last lead
of the contest at 11:50. The puck squirted free off the stick of Philippe
Dupuis found Cumiskey’s stick and he put everything he had into it and fired a
shot that beat Wiikman over the glove on a shot that he never saw. After the Pack had been playing so solidly
this kind of slack off defensively was quite surprising.
The Monster lead was anything but that as the Pack came back
with a vengeance. Parenteau tallied the first of his two goals when he found
himself all alone in front of the net and took a Rissmiller feed and in what
seemed like an eternity from receiving the pass to actually shooting it, waited
out Bacashihua who flinched first and went down. When he did Parenteau put the
puck right past him. Just like that it was tied again.
The tie lasted just for 4:43. With Darcy Campbell in the
Monster’s penalty box for an interference call, Sanguinetti took a puck that
was on edge from the high slot near the blue line and smacked it hard. The puck
hit a Lake Erie stick and did its best Tim Wakefield impression and
knuckleballed in the air and got past Bacashihua. Parenteau and Anisimov both
picked up assists on the play.
The Pack owned the second period outshooting their opponent
13-3 and completely dictating play. With the exception of some messy coverage
on the lone Monster goal, the coaching staff had to be pleased with the way their
young team was playing.
Parenteau got his
second goal of the game at 11:51 of a tight-to-the-vest played third period. On
their sixth man-advantage of the afternoon, Potter fed Rissmiller in the right
circle. Three penalty killers collapsed on Rissmiller who saw the wide open
Parenteau at the bottom of the left circle. A terrific pass led to a smoked one
timer from Parenteau who beat Bascashihua who had zero chance on the play.
For the game, the Pack outshot the Monsters, 37-26 and are
now a game over status quo with a record of 7-6-0-1 good for 15 points and
fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They’ll have an opportunity to make up
some ground on first place Portland when they visit the XL center on Wednesday
night.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET
On the news front, Cleveland.com has the story of the game by Dennis Manoloff. AHL.com has a summary on the game and Bob Crawford gives a quick summary at Hartfordwolfpack.com.
NOTES
* Vladimir Denisov player for the Lake Erie Monsters last
season
* Skinner’s goal was his first AHL point
* Moore has scored his four goals in the last five games and
has scored in three straight.
* Lake Erie is one of the better drawing teams in the AHL.
Currently they are seventh overall. They had been averaging 5,794 prior to
coming in to the game so a 3,173 was a poor showing.
* The Pack improved their dismal poor play success rate to a
still anemic 12.6% with their two-for-seven outing. They are ranked 25th
of 29. The Penalty kill is 22nd at 81.5%
* When trailing after the first period, the team is now
1-2-0-1
* When leading after two periods they are now 6-0-0-0
* When outshooting their opponents they are 3-2-0-0
* In two goal difference games the team improves to 2-2-0-0
* The five goal output was their highest of the season
* The three goals in the second were the most in the second
period and tied for the most in a period
LINES
RISSMILLER – MOORE – Ford
Dupont – Anisimov – Parenteau
Owens – Ouellette – Weise
Soryal – Pyatt – Sugden
FAHEY – Graham
Potter – Sauer
Sanguinetti – Denisov
Wiikman
(Assistant Captains in BOLD
CAPS)
THREE STARS
1. HFD – 17 Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau
2. HFD – 21 Bobby Sanguinetti
3. HFD – 18 Patrick Rissmiller
ON ICE OFFICIALS
Francois St. Laurent (38), Referee
Ray King (55), Linesman
David Kumler (10), Linesman
NEXT GAME
Wednesday night at home against Kevin Dineen's Portland
Pirates at 7pm
