You could easily say that the Hartford Wolf Pack's Sunday afternoon 6-3 loss to The Providence Bruins was the result of playing their fourth game in five nights and they were just out of gas for the final period and you'd be right. You could say the loss was the result of the team's inconsistent efforts, their struggles with playing a full sixty minute game, choose whatever you like. The bottom line is that Sunday's abysmal third period performance where they surrendered three goals is particularly disturbing given the incredible performance the night before against first place Portland.
The Pack, much as they have through 18 games this season, got desperate and clawed their way back into this contest after digging themselves yet another two-goal deficit over the first half of the first period. Vladimir Sobotka scored the first of his two goals of the game at 6:53 off a scramble in front of the net after Johnny Boychuk's point shot rebounded in off of the Czech's skate. Less than three minutes later the Baby B's hung a second tally on Matt Zaba (19 saves) on a shot that he should have had. Zaba would certainly want to have this weak one back as he failed to hug the right corner post on a close up shot that Zach Hamill put right past him.
The two goal lead lasted only thirteen seconds as Devin DiDiomete got his first professional goal and point. After getting a pass from rookie defenseman David Urquhart, DiDiomete rushed up the right wing and unloaded a shot that ripped the black out of the puck with a blast from the face off circle that went right through Kevin Regan's legs. DiDiomete had gone through his first nine games without a point.
The Pack took advantage of back-to-back penalty calls to the B's Jeff Penner and Jeremy Reich at 4:01 into the second period. The resulting five-on-three man advantage was able to capitalize. P.A. Parenteau, to this point in the season has been the Pack's best player, controlled a wide shot from Bobby Sanguinetti that ricocheted off the boards and right to him. After settling the puck Parenteau showed patience and waited Regan (27 saves) out. When the netminder flinched, Parenteau lifted the puck over him for his tenth of the season knotting the score.
The game remained tied for almost eight minutes until some solid forechecking work down low by Brad Marchand and Martin St. Pierre the B's combined with the Pack's inability to clear the puck, broke the deadlock. Penner's far side shot from the left wing deflected off the skate of a Pack defenseman through Zaba's legs.
The Pack entered the third period still very much into this game and trailing just 3-2. The team, however, that emerged from the Pack locker room was toasted.
The B's knew they had a tired team on their hands and pressed hard to start the period. They almost seemed to know that if they pushed them hard enough the team would crack and they did.
At 6:28 Sobotka got what proved to be the game winner when he took a terrific pass from Martin Karsums which split the Pack defensive tandem of Brian Fahey and Vladimir Denisov breaking in alone and beating Zaba with a well placed low shot.
Just 30 seconds later the B's struck again. This time Peter Schaefer took advantage of a delayed penalty call and the Pack scrambling again in their own end as he got the puck down low from Kevin Schaeffer and roofed it over Zaba.
As much as the team deserves criticism for poor play, they also deserve credit when they do things right. Even trying to skate with the world's weight in their legs, and as tired as they were, the team did not quit.
A turnover gave the puck to Artem Anisimov, who has put points on the ledger in six straight games (3g, 5a). Anisimov fed Justin Soryal who then took off for the net and drew a penalty with a great rush up ice and fired a shot on net. The puck rebounded off Regan's pads right onto the stick of Dale Weise who quickly fired it past Regan for his third of the season, ending an eight game drought for the rookie right wing cutting the lead to 5-3.
St. Pierre ended the scoring at 16:21 when he put away the sixth of the afternoon off a feed from Jordan Knackstedt. St. Pierre was plus-4 for the game and earned every bit of his Second Star of the Game status.
While the Pack did outshoot the B's 30-25, the power play continues to be a major concern going 1-for-9 on the day. The team seems to have lost the "power" in their man advantage opportunities posting an anemic 14-for-93 for 15.05%.
For the stat fans, there is the GAME SUMMARY and the OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET.
The Wolf Pack posted a brief recap of this game at HartfordWolfPack.com and for the Providence perspective, there is none since apparently there wasn't a reporter there to write anything.
NOTES
* Not surprisingly, Artem Anisimov and P.A. Parenteau lead the team in Plus/Minus at a plus-6
* DiDiomete got into his first professional fight when he took on fellow rookie Jordan Knackstedt which featured very few punches and was essentially a draw though DiDiomete did wrestle Knackstedt down to the ice.
* The loss ended the Pack's two-game road winning streak.
* The Pack play five of their next six games on the road. The Pack are off till Friday night on the road in Bridgeport with their only respite at home coming Saturday night with a contest against Manchester. They then play four straight on the road.
* The Pack have not won or lost two in a row since winning three straight between October 24 – October 29. They haven't lost two straight since their Canadian swing through Hamilton and Toronto in mid October.
* The Pack are now 0-6-0-2 when trailing after two periods and 3-4-0-1 when out-shooting their opponents.
* The Charlotte Checkers won a tight 1-0 battle against the Gwinnett Gladiators on a goal by Mike Taylor
LINES
Owens – Rissmiller – Parenteau
Dupont – Anisimov – Weise
Soryal – MOORE – Ford
DiDiomete – Pyatt – Sugden
FAHEY – Denisov
Sanguinetti – POTTER
Urquhart – Sauer
Zaba
SCRATCHES
Wiikman – Undisclosed – Day-to-Day
Byers – Knee – Season
Ouellette – Healthy
Graham – Healthy
THREE STARS
1. PRO – 10 Vladimir Sobotka
2. PRO – 39 Martin St. Pierre
3. PRO – 12 Brad Marchand
ON ICE OFFICIALS
Nygel Pelletier (41), Referee
Chris Aughe (74), Linesman
Bob Bernard (4), Linesman
NEXT GAME
Friday, November 28th in Bridgeport against the much improved Sound Tigers at 7pm
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