BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

 
VERSUS

The Wolf Pack should immediately play some combination of the number two in the lottery after posting a 4-3 overtime win before 3,065 at the Arena at Harbor Yard Wednesday night.

TWO times the Wolf Pack overcame TWO goal deficits. The game-winning goal came off the stick of Wolf Pack defenseman Brian Fahey who scored at TWO:06 in overtime. For the moment the goal is credited to Michael Sauer, but replays revealed he was nowhere near the play when the goal was scored. The goal was number TWO on the season for Fahey. The twenty-seven year old who's birthday is March TWO, 1981. Okay, that's a stretch.

“I’ve always said that big goals are scored by Defenseman,” Bridgeport Sound Tiger head coach Jack Capuano said. "I've always said that."

Wolf Pack head Coach Ken Gernander agrees. “We had some good play from the blueline, the winning goal there by Fahey” Gernander said. “A lot of offense is being generated from the point and that’s important.”

A turnover by Bridgeport in their own end was recovered by Michael Sauer along the left half boards. Sauer then spotted Fahey alone on the weak side and shuttled a pass to the right point. Fahey, who was solid throughout, unloaded a hard low shot on Tiger netminder Peter Mannino (28 saves). “There was a man next to me,(Patrick Rissmiller)” Mannino said. “The puck hit my pad and then it went in.. It was a good bounce for them and they won the game.”

The Wolf Pack worked hard and put pressure on the Tigers defenders and Mannino as they overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 to send the game into the extra frame.  “They did what they had to do.” Capuano said. “They went to the paint and deflected a few shots and put a guy on our goaltender,” The head coach stated. “They were hungry and I thought it could have gone either way. Both goalies played extremely well and both gave their team a chance to win the game.”

Unlike last week's game where the Pack jumped out to a lead only to fall apart in the third period surrendering four unanswered goals, in this one the Tigers took the lead with just 1:05 remaining in the first period. Just as a hooking call to Pack defenseman Ethan Graham had expired, a hard Kurtis McLean shot, the first of his two assists on the night, (there's that number again) from the right face-off circle was stopped but Miika Wiikman (36 saves). However, the Swedish netminder could not control the rebound which wound up right in the crease. A mad scramble ensued where the Tigers center Trevor Smith, who stung the Pack last week with a shorthanded tally, got his stick on the puck and tapping it in for his eighth of the season.

Devin DiDiomete took a retaliatory roughing call after taking exception to a hard hit into the boards at 2:24 sending the Tigers power play unit onto the ice. Tiger defenseman Jack Hillen notched his third of the season on a weak goal that Wiikman would certainly like to have back. At 4:21 from his position perched at the right point, Hillen took a feed from McLean. Hillen looked and fired a relatively soft shot that somehow trickled through the legs of Wiikman. The Pack trailed by two. 

McLean said after the game that the turning point of the game came, in his mind, in the second period. At 6:06 of the second period teammate Tomas Marcinko took a four minute high sticking penalty when he clipped Sauer in the face and drew blood. “You give them a four minute power play and we’re doing a great job. They’re unable to get any pressure,” The 28 year old native of Kirkland Lake, ON  who was a key penalty killer said. “They go down and score with what 18 seconds left. It’s unfortunate that we gave one up. But it’s going to happen. I felt we had a lot of momentum up to that point and giving them a goal on the power play that gets them back into the game. You can’t blame your teammate who takes the penalty. He’s just playing aggressive and sticks get up. It happens.”

It happened when Rissmiller, in his first game since being permanently reassigned to Hartford by the NY Rangers, fired a pass from the right wing to Mike Ouellette. Ouellette's shot the puck from in front was stopped by Mannino, but rebounded right to the stick of Artem Anisimov who beat a helpless Mannino with a tap in cutting the Tiger lead in half.

The Tigers renewed their two goal lead when their excellent execution combined with blown defensive coverage left Mike Iggulden all alone in front of the net to Wiikman's right. Hillen hit him for a cross ice pass and just like that the lead was back to two at 12:22 in the second.

Brodie Dupont brought the Pack back within a goal just 28 seconds later and notched his fourth of the season into the twine after he took a puck from Bobby Sanguinetti, who was solid throughout and won a battle for the puck on the right point.  Dupont then skated towards the middle of the ice and ripped a hard low shot from the high slot that Mannino just plain missed scoring on the glove side.

The Pack got the equalizer at 15:35 of the third period when Corey Potter fed Sanguinetti who smoked a low trajectory shot from the left point that was deflected in by P.A. Parenteau who ended a three game scoring drought.

“Those were two big points for us,” Gernander commented after the game. “Obviously we’re at this point and time where we need to be happy wherever we can get them.”

Bob Crawford filed a summary for HartfordWolfPack.com while Mike Fornabaio has the Bridgeport perspective in the Connecticut Post.

For the stat love in all of us there is the GAME SUMMARY and the OFFICIAL SCORER'S SHEET.

EMPTYING THE REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK:

From Ken Gernander:

On Bobby Sanguinetti's play which was VERY solid in this contest:

"He's been playing some good hockey of late, especially offensively."

On Patrick Rissmiller coming to Hartford:

"He had no problem playing for the Wolf Pack… He came here here with a good attitude and has been a real professional."

On What Rissmiller brings to Hartford:

"He can bring a lot of different things. He's among our most experienced players which is good. He's got size. We noticed when we were reviewing tape of his time here on the conditioning stay and saw that he likes to get in front of the goaltender. He really shores things up in a lot of different areas."

From Jack Capuano:

On Anisimov's goal:

"We're doin' a pretty good job killing the penalties and there was a turnover and it came back the other way and Peter (Mannino) made a great save and they got the rebound. It's always nice if you can get through it but they've got some pretty good and talented players and they got a rebound goal."

Summarizing the Game

"He (Wiikman) made some good saves; Peter made some great saves. It's was a great game. It was up and down, a couple of power play goals for them a power play goal for us. McLean hits a post at the end; it was a pretty good hockey game.

On the difference between this game and the meeting last week.

For us we played much better. For us we came out and put three good periods of hockey together. We had a couple of breakdowns here and there. But for them I thought they played six pretty good periods of hockey. They skated well, they put pucks on the net. They're a pretty good hockey team that's well coached."

From Kurtis McLean:

"They ge
t two point shots that go through screens and tips and there's the difference in the third period."

NOTES:

* Asked by Howlings about having appeared to have settled upon an Assistant Captain trio of forward Greg Moore, and defensemen Brian Fahey and Corey Potter if the team was getting closer to naming a Team Captain, Gernander replied, "I think we're going to (announce) it probably sometime early next week." If you're keeping score at home, the team's best choice would have been Dane Byers. Unfortunately Byers is done for the season with a knee injury. So, with ZERO facts to base it on, and just simply looking into a crystal hockey puck, our best guess is that Fahey will be introduced as the Pack's next Captain. We think Rissmiller will be named third Assistant. Howlings think that Moore is the likely second pick as Captain with Potter being a long shot. For that matter Rissmiller could also be the dark horse pick to be "el capitán." Then again, nobody asked us and it's a safe bet that nobody will.

* You will never fully appreciate the tremendous job that Bob Crawford does on a Wolf Pack broadcast until you sit there with him and observe how hard he's working. The amount of things he has to do reminds us of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
    

When you sit there looking at the same thing he is and what he's picking up and that you're missing, it's quite the humbling experience. Especially after having spent 20+ years on the radio as an entertainer ourselves.

LINES:

Dupont – MOORE – Weise

Rissmiller – Anisimov – Parenteau

Soryal – Ouellette – Owens

DiDiomete – Pyatt – Ford

Graham – POTTER

Sanguinetti – FAHEY

Denisov – Sauer

Wiikman

SCRATCHES:

Urquhart – Healthy

Sugden – Healthy

Byers – Knee – Season

THREE STARS:

1. HFD – 4 Michael Sauer
2. BRI – 37 Mike Iggulden
3. BRI – 38 Jack Hillen

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Nygel Pelletier (41), Referee
Marty Demers (79), Linesman
David Spannaus (8), Linesman

NEXT GAME:

Back on the road against the Philadelphia Phantoms Friday December 5th at 7pm.