THREE OUT OF FOUR IS NOT NESSARILY GOOD ENOUGH. . . 

  VERSUS  

There are games you win that you should have lost and there are games like the Hartford Wolf Pack’s second of a two-game set with the Manitoba Moose where you lose when you should have won.

5,984 at the MTS Centre witnessed the Pack waste two leads of 1-0 and 2-1 en route to dropping a heartbreaker to the Manitoba Moose when a fluke goal off an end-to-end rush by veteran defenseman Nolan Baumgartner with just 1.7 seconds remaining in overtime gave the home team a 3-2 win, splitting the two game series. "That goal is going to turn into me beating two guys and going top shelf with it," said Baumgartner to reporters after the game. "Honestly, I missed my shot and somehow it went in the net. That's the kind of thing that we needed at this point."

Prior to the first game of the series, Head Coach Ken Gernander said to Bob Crawford, “We’re fighting for consistency,” and they still are. They have now done a win/lose flip flop for the past ten games, 5-5-0-0.  They were due for a loss and they did, but not without putting up a terrific for 55 of the games nearly 65 minutes.

The Pack were dominating this game from the outset with excellent puck control and putting shots on goal while keeping Manitoba away from starting netminder, Miika Wiikman (19 saves). After a scoreless first period that featured a lot of play in the Pack’s offensive zone, the two teams changed sides but the Pack’s intensity did not. At 13:46 that changed when “The Triplets” line of Mike Ouellette, Jordan Owens and Tommy Pyatt, the Pack’s most effective line since being put together two months ago, hit the ice. Pyatt dug a puck out of the left corner and fed Owens in the lower left circle. Owens, as he is wont to do, immediately fired it on Moose starter, and recent returnee from the club’s NHL parent, Vancouver Canucks, Cory Schneider (33 saves). Schneider made the initial save but the puck flipped up into the air. Ouellette crashed the net and found the puck off Schneider’s back and put it in the net for the 1-0 lead.

The Pack went into the second intermission leading 1-0 and up 20-14 in shots.

Perhaps you can blame it on travel, or inexperience or if you’re of the superstitious nature, that they used up all their goals in their 6-2 win the night before, but a different Pack team emerged from the locker room.

Ouellette took a poor interference call at 2:12 and had Wiikman not made a highlight reel sliding save on Baumgartner the game would have been tied. On the play Jason Krog fed a cross the crease pass from the left wing corner that went right to the tape of Baumgartner. Wiikman, who had been protecting the right side of his net, slid like Henrik Lundqvist across the net and beat Baumgartner’s shot to the left corner.

But it only took 3:33 longer before the Moose (23-12-0-2) would knot up the score. The Pack turned over the puck in the neutral zone to veteran Mike Keane who gave up the puck to Zack Fitzgerald on the left point. Fitzgerald ripped the black out of the puck and Krog ended a personal ten game scoreless streak when he deflected the shot past Wiikman, who had no chance.

The Pack (18-15-2-3) benefitted from Fitzgerald losing his mind just six seconds after the goal when he took a foolish tripping call and then opened a mouth to referee, David Banfield which added two extra minutes giving the Pack a four minute man-advantage and they would need just about all of it.

At 9:02 P.A. Parenteau made it all happen. Parenteau fore checked behind the Moose net and came out with the puck along the left wing corner. He then skated to the circle and found an open Brodie Dupont all alone on the right doorstep. Parenteau then threaded the needle between Pack players and Moose defenders with just about the best pass he’s made all season. Dupont, from the Manitoba area, then popped the puck easily into the empty net and the Pack were back on top 2-1.

That lasted for a whole 29 seconds.

Guillaume Desbiens made a great pass to spring rookie Jannick Hansens on a breakaway. Hansens caught Brian Fahey and Jared Nightingale with too much space between them and came in on Wiikman unfettered by a d-man. Hansens shot beat Wiikman to the stick side after hitting the post. The goal was Hansens’ first in the AHL and tied the game.

In overtime, the Pack killed off their sixth penalty, a Bobby Sanguinetti tripping call, and had the better of the play. With just 10 seconds left in overtime, Baumgartner took the puck in his own end and with three Pack players lined up on the blueline, streaked up right wing. He was forced to the outside by Ouellette. When Baumgartner cut to the inside going around him, he caught Fahey trying to catch up to the play and used him as a screen, putting the puck on goal. Fahey managed to get a piece of the puck, but it slid under Wiikman’s right pad and just inside the right post for the game winner. "They had three guys standing on the blue-line but I just decided to try to beat one and see if I could throw one on the net.” Baumgartner said to the media. "I honestly tried to shoot but I don't think it had anything on it. It went along the ice but somehow got its way in there."

There’s quite a bit of coverage from this one. Bob Crawford has a brief recap at Hartfordwolfpack.com. From the Manitoba point of view, TSN.ca has a Canadian Press account, The Winnipeg Sun and then the The Winnipeg Free Press. There’s also a story at The Raw Feed.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET.

NOTES:

* Dane Byers joined Bob Crawford in the broadcast booth for some color commentary. While he did an admirable job, he did say that he needed to do some extra training on his injured knee as it was stiffening up on him.

* Here are the stats to digest. The Pack are 6-9-2-1 on the road. The penalty kill, with another strong showing last night (six-for-six) is up to 82.4% good for 18th. The Power play remains 11th at 18.8%

* With his helper, Parenteau retook the Pack scoring lead and is tenth overall in the AHL. Artem Anisimov is just one point behind in 12th. Sanguinetti is 13th overall among rookies and eighth overall among defensemen with 23 points (3g, 20a).

* The Pack’s record when leading after
two periods took a hit and falls to 13-1-1-1, outshooting opponents fell to 8-9-1-1 and 10-4-2-3 in one goal games.

LINES:

Dupont – Anisimov – Parenteau

DiDiomete/Soryal – (Rotating) – Stefanishion

Rissmiller – MOORE – Weise

Owens – Ouellette – Pyatt

Sanguinetti – POTTER

Nightingale -FAHEY

Urquhart – Sauer

Wiikman

(Alternate Captains in BOLD CAPS)

SCRATCHES:

Denisov – Flu – Day-to-Day

Sugden – Undisclosed Injury – Day-to-Day (Most likely a hand injury of some sort resulting from punching the helmet of Guillaume Desbiens Tuesday night)

Byers – Knee – Season

THREE STARS:

1. MTB – 17 Jannik Hansen
2. HFD – 9 Brodie Dupont
3. MTB – 35 Cory Schneider

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

David Banfield (44), Referee
Greg McDonald (67), Linesman
Garth Loeppky (22), Linesman

NEXT GAME:

Friday night on the road at Springfield. Remember, because it’s Springfield the game does not start until 7:30pm

(Brodie Dupont photo courtesy of BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)