WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES 

  
VERSUS 

Less than 24 hours after playing some of their most inspired hockey, the Wolf Pack blew, not one, not two, but three leads (two of them two-goal leads) against the last place Lowell Devils 5-4 at the Paul Tsongas Arena Sunday before an announced crowd of 2,122.

Despite a big 8-1 victory the night before against first place Providence, the Devils had been losers of seven of their last eight (1-6-0-1). Given the momentum from the comeback win in overtime against Springfield, you would have thought this would be one game the Pack would feast on. It started out that way though. 

The Pack came out flying to start this one while the Devils looked like they might have been out a little late celebrating their big victory. At 13:01 goaltender Jeff Frazee (30 saves) went out to the right corner to make a simple clearing pass. He just forgot one thing…to hit the puck. The 21 year old second year netminder whiffed on the pass and slid the puck right in front of his own net where Tommy Pyatt knocked it into the empty net as Frazee dove in vain to cover it up.

Then just 2:07 later, with Charlotte callup Chris Murray back with the Pack for his first game since November 8th, in the box for holding the stick, Artem Anisimov continued his stellar play by just throwing himself at point man Tyler Eckford, surprising the defenseman along the left wing boards, and knocking the puck up ice. He recovered it and came in alone and undressed Frazee and flipped in the shorthanded goal with a beautiful backhanded shot.

The Pack were totally dominant of the play all over the ice and outshot their hosts 10-4.

The problems were the same as they were against Springfield the night before. The team left their game in the locker room and got careless and sloppy with the puck and it cost them.

Right wing Patrick Davis picked up a neutral zone turnover and fed experienced NHL veteran Rod Pelley (who isn't an experienced NHL veteran on the Devils these days?) who came in with Ryan Murphy two-on-one against Ethan Graham. Pelley got into the right wing circle waited for an opening and scored beating Matt Zaba (19 saves) to the stick side.

The Pack opened up their second two goal lead 2:30 minutes later on the power play when rookie Bobby Sanguinetti worked hard along the right wing wall to extricate himself with the puck and made a picture perfect pass to P.A. Parenteau just inside the left wing circle. Parenteau ripped the black out of the puck with a laser of a one-timer.

But Lowell would just not go away, and neither would Wolf Pack turnovers. Another lost puck in the neutral zone put the puck on Vladimir Zharkov's stick. He found Jon DiSalvatore coming up the slot. DiSalvatore fed Michal Swift in the right side circle and the center knew just what to do with it beating Zaba low to the stick side. It was 3-2.

With just 2.9 seconds remaining, the Devils would get the boost they needed as the DiSalvatore-Swift combo would torment the Pack once again. After another turnover, Swift returned the scoring favor finding DiSalvatore who came across the slot and beat Zaba this time with a backhander to the glove side.

Despite out shooting the Devils in the period 14-11 and 24-15 overall, three sloppy turnovers all wound up in the back of the Hartford net.

The third period started with the Pack getting a great opportunity. Right off the face off Parenteau and Brodie Dupont broke in on a two-on-one odd man rush. Normally Parenteau would bury such a chance. For some reason he looked to dump it off to Dupont but the connection failed and the opportunity wasted.

Dale Weise put his teammates in a compromised position when he took a foolish hooking call in the offensive zone even while teammate Greg Moore controlled the puck. But Mike Ouellette bailed out his teammate. At 1:59, Ouellette stole the puck and rushed up ice on his own. The Pack center made a great move around defenseman Ansii Salmela sliding the puck through and around him and then blasted it past Frazee and Hartford led for the third time in the game 4-3.

The lead didn't last long. 29 seconds later with the Devils still on the man-advantage, Matthew Carrent's point shot hits Moore hard and staggers him. Carrent picked up the loose biscuit, slid over to his right and ripped a shot that Zaba had no chance on. It was deadlocked at 4.

The game winner would come just 3:23 later. David Urquhart, who has elevated his game of late, took a hooking call at 2:46. 1:05 into the power play, Swift, the game's First Star by a country mile, made a tremendous breakout pass to the recently demoted NHL veteran (big surprise) Barry Tallackson. The Devils' right wing was modeling the latest in Vladimir Denisov-wear as the defenseman was hanging on him like a cheap suit. As Tallackson fell to the ice he managed to chip the puck up in the air and over Zaba's shoulder.

It was 5-4 and while the Pack had some prime scoring chances, namely an Urquhart rebound opportunity and an Anisimov shot, Frazee stood up to the challenge and led his team into the locker room with the victory.

Head Coach Ken Gernander made two statements after the Bridgeport game that he could easily have repeated after this one. "As in every game," the Coach said, "you make some mistakes, they capitalized." He then added that, "turnovers usually generate offense going the other way." 

They did Sunday night.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

Bob Crawford recaps the game for HartfordWolfPack.com while if the Devils get any coverage at all, it'll be in the Lowell Sun or on the Devils website.

NOTES:

* About 1,500 of the 2,122 announced in the crowd should be
applauded as they appeared to be doing a Rich Little-quality impression
of an empty seat.

* Fans had best hope that Michael Sauer's injury is minor and
not his reconstructed knee. Losing Sauer now would be a crippling blow
to this already micro thin defensive corps.

* The Wolf Pack's next win will mark their 500th in team history.

* With a 2-5 performance killing penalties, and even with
two-shorthanded goals, (good for 9th overall) the team will drop to
23rd of 29 at an 81.4% efficiency rate.

Here's some perspective on the importance of that stat.

Best in the league overall is Manitoba. The Moose are currently running
at an 87.4% success rate on the PK and have not allowed a shorthanded
goal against. They're the only team in the AHL to have achieved that.
The Moose have only allowed 19 ppga in 151 chances and have registered
3 shorthanded tallies for themselves. On special teams, they are plus-3
in that regard.

The Pack on the other hand, the Pack have surrendered 33 ppg in 177
chances. They have scored 5 shorties themselves while giving up 5 the
other way in their own net while on the man-advantage. They're even on
special teams.

That's why every goal matters. The difference between a team 21-8-0-1
and a team struggling to find it's identity at 16-14-1-3 is how they
play on special teams.

The same Manitoba team on the man advantage is sits 18th overall in the
AHL at just 15.3% (24g in 157 chances) while the Pack are 14th overall
at 17.5% (29g in 166 chances).

Now factor in the entire picture. The Moose are plus-8 at 27g for and
19 against, while the Pack are minus-5 at 33g for and 38 against.

In case you're curious about the Rangers, their number is even worse.
They've scored 25 ppg for and surrendered 11 shorties against. Until
recently they were the number one team in the NHL and have only given
up 18 goals against in 150 chances and have four shorthanded. That adds
up to 29 for and 39 against for a rating of minus-10.

* This loss to a division opponent is the first regulation loss
for the Pack since November 23rd when they lost 6-3 in Providence.
Since then, in the division, they've had a record of 6-0-1-1.

* The Pack drop to 1-3-0-0 when tied after two periods, 7-9-0-1 when out shooting their opponents and 10-4-1-3 in one-goal games.

* In the goal scoring department the team is 96 for and 104 against for a net total of minus-8.

LINES:
Dupont – Anisimov –PARENTEAU
DiDiomete – MOORE – Stefanishion
Owens – Ouellette – Pyatt
Soryal – RISSMILLER – Weise
Denisov – Sanguinetti
Graham – Nightingale
Urquhart – Murray

Zaba

(Alternate Captains in BOLD CAPS)

SCRATCHES:
Sauer – Undisclosed – Day-to-Day
Fahey – Concussion – Day-to Day
Byers – Knee – Season
Sugden – Healthy

THREE STARS:
1. LOW – 23 Michael Swift
2. LOW – 14 Jon DiSalvatore
3.
HFD – 42 Artem Anisimov

ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Terry Koharski (10), Referee
Todd Whittemore (19),
Linesman
Mark Messier (12), Linesman (NO, NOT THAT MARK MESSIER)

NEXT GAME:
Friday, January 2, 2009 against the Grand Rapids Griffins in their
first visit to the XL Center and only the second meeting ever between
the two franchises. The Griffins are the AHL affiliate of the Detroit
Red Wings and they can get it done. The Pack will need to significantly
raise their level of play if they are goingto compete in this game. It
doesn't get any better for the Baby Rangers as Saturday they take on
the #1 team in the AHL, the Hershey Bears.