AHL-LIVE…NOT SO MUCH…PACK, VERY MUCH ALIVE 

 
VERSUS 

With AHLLIVE down yet again for at least the seventh time out of twenty eight games, it's difficult to get a full read on a game that Howlings was not at. With just Bob Crawford's call of the game to guide us, here's what we can tell you about Sunday afternoon's 2-1 victory at the DCU Center in Worcester; it SOUNDED like the Pack played well.

Patrick Rissmiller, who with the exception of a mental lapse in the third period of yesterday's loss to Springfield, has played very well. Rissmiller returned to Worcester where he played four years of college hockey and got the Wolf Pack on the board just 4:33 into the contest. Devan DiDiomete made an outlet pass to Greg Moore who broke in two-on-one with Rissmiller and beat Thomas Greiss (17 saves) past the glove for his second goal, along with 11 assists, since joining the Pack 13 games ago.

Jordan Owens, who has absolutely been on fire of late, and is making a strong case for himself to be seriously considered next season for a position in New York, took the puck along the right goal line and worked his way out to the front where he attempted to pass to linemate Mike Ouellette. The puck hit Shark defenseman Jason Demers' stick and deflected in past Greiss. IT would be the only scoring the Pack would need as they clamped down defensively the rest of the way.

The Pack did buckle in the second period when former Pack, and NY Ranger (if you count seven games with the team…then so be it), Cory Larose beat Matt Zaba (35 saves) after a pass from right wing Ryan Vesce who had picked up a neutral zone turnover at 4:41.

It took everything the Pack had in the tank to survive the third period. After already having whistled the Pack midway through the second period for their first penalty, Referee Terry Koharski made his presence felt and didn't help the Pack whistling them for a total of four consecutive penalties, three of them consecutively in the third period. This time the Pack defense stood tall backed by a remarkable performance from Zaba who seemed to be all over the place stopping everything the Sharks threw at him.

This was a big win for Head Coach Ken Gernander and his young team as they bounced back from a VERY bitter defeat less than 24 hours and put in a solid defensive effort. The Pack were grossly outshot 36-19 for the game and withstood a 14-3 attack in the third period.

With the win, it marks the first time this season that the Pack are two games over the .500 mark and moves them into a tie for third place in the division with Worcester.

For a more detailed analysis of the game review Bob Crawford's report at HartfordWolfPack.com and Bill Ballou is certain to have some list of excuses for the Sharks at Telegram.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

NOTES:

* AHL Commissioner Dave Andrews instructed Howlings directly
that he will get some answers as to the problems with AHL LIVE and have
something to share with the fans by the end of the week.

* Howlings had a brief conversation Sunday afternoon with former Pack forward and now Hershey Bear, Alexandre Giroux who wanted to extend his best wishes to, as he put it, "the many friends I made while I was in Hartford." Giroux is currently sixth in the league in scoring with 18 goals and 12 helpers for 30 points in 25 games.

* We don't want to get on Bill Ballou too much, okay maybe we do a little, but since he is the primary "reporter" determining the "Three Stars of the Game" could he have been a little more out of touch with reality by putting Jared Nightingale who, from the sound of it anyhow, had a decent game but contributed a lone assist on what would prove to be the game winner, and not Zaba. The second year pro was absolutely stellar in net, stopping 35, often difficult, shots, based upon Bob Crawford's call. Then to make Ryan Vesce who had an assist on Larose's goal as Third Star? We're no coach, in fact we're hardly a reporter, but you think maybe any of the people who actually scored a goal might warrant a bit more consideration based upon merit than a guy who had just an assist?

* Miika Wiikman is second in the AHL in minutes with 1267 and fourth in saves with 541. By the way, Wiikman has been better than his 9-9-0-3 record indicates.

* The Pack power play is now 14th at 17.4% while the penalty kill improved to 82.5% which should move them up from 20th to 16th. Kudos to J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller on the improvements to the killers.

* In spite of a difficult loss Saturday night, the Pack completed a four games in five nights run with a 3-0-0-1 record and are 5-3-1-1 in their last ten.

* The record for the Pack in one-goal games improves to 7-3-1-3, they are 7-5-1-2 when outshot, 7-3-0-1 when leading after one and 10-1-0-1 when leading after two periods of play.

LINES:

Pyatt – Ouellette – Owens

Soryal – MOORE – PARENTEAU

DiDiomete – RISSMILLER – Stefanishion

Dupont – Anisimov – Weise

Denisov – Nightingale

Sanguinetti – Graham

Sauer – Urquhart

Zaba

(Alternate Captains in BOLD CAPS)

SCRATCHES:

Sugden – Flu – Day-to-Day

Fahey – Concussion – Indefinite

Byers – Knee – Season

THREE STARS:

1. HFD – 38 Jared Nightingale
2. HFD – 30 Matt Zaba
3. WOR – 17 Ryan Vesce

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Terry Koharski (10), Referee
Brian MacDonald (72), Linesman
Chris Libett (19), Linesman

NEXT GAME:

Wednesday night at home against the Providence Bruins at 7pm