VERSUS
The Hartford Wolf Pack hung on by a thread to defeat the last place Springfield Falcons Saturday night. Unfortunately for them, the same mixed bag of issues followed them to the Arena at Harbor Yard Sunday afternoon where they faced the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who are battling for first place in the East Division of the Eastern Conference, and they capitalized trouncing the visitors 6-3 in front of 7,349.
Wolf Pack head Coach Ken Gernander was not buying into the concept that this was a carry over from Springfield. “Nope.” He said. “I thought we didn’t play very good tonight. Last night we had a good start. We got a lead. Maybe we didn’t press or pressure as we should have at the end of the game, but tonight we didn’t have a good start…I wasn’t pleased.”
Just 1:17 into the first period, Mark Bell took a cross checking penalty and 52 seconds later Bridgeport would take the 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game. Chris Lee took a feed from Junior Lessard and shot from the high slot. The hard shot on goal was deflected by Jon Sim past Miika Wiikman (22 saves), who was starting for the first time since February 14th in Manitoba.
The Pack would tie the score at 13:06 of the first. Michael Haley took a boarding call on a race to the puck with Vladimir Denisov who after the game, was sporting quite the cut over his eye from the collision. Artem Anisimov won the ensuing faceoff to P.A. Parenteau. The Pack left wing handed off to Tommy Pyatt who came off the right boards, saw Anisimov screening the recently recalled from the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies, Peter Mannino (21 saves). Pyatt put on the breaks in the high slot, stopped and fired a blast over Mannino’s glove for his 15th of the season.
The two teams entered the first intermission tied both in points and shots. While The Tigers controlled the game early in the period, the Pack came storming back later in the period.
Bridgeport would pull ahead on the power play midway through the second. Pack defenseman Jared Nightingale took a holding call at 9:26 leaving the Pack down a man for the second time. “Pete (Mannino) made a smart play.” Bridgeport’s recently demoted left wing Jon Sim said. “He looked up and saw me up there (on the left wing side of the Pack blue line) and snapped it up and it’s good transition, so when I saw J.C. (Jeremy Colliton) going to the net hard (by the Pack’s Bobby Sanguinetti), he made a good second effort and put it in (under Wiikman).”
(Bobby Sanguinetti upends Bridgeport’s Dennis Packard in the second period)
4:19 later, the Tigers efforts literally netted them a freak goal. Andy Sertich seemed to harmlessly dump the puck deep behind the Pack net. Nightingale went back to retrieve it but with a hard forechecking Sim on him. The rookie defenseman lost the puck to a poke check by Sim. The puck squirt out by the font of the net. Wiikman attempted to control it but it went off his right skate and over the line for the goal and it was 3-1.
Bridgeport continued to harass the Pack and were rewarded for their hard work. Just 41 seconds into the third frame, the Tigers stepped up their pressure on the forecheck and the Pack just could not clear the zone. Finally Colliton picked up his second tally when he took a feed on the left side from Lee and fired an uncontested shot from the right point that beat Wiikman over the glove to make it 4-1.
It didn’t take long after falling behind by three that the Pack would go down by a fourth goal. At 3:31, Colliton added an assist to his two goals when he fed Trevor Smith who shielded Hartford d-man Michael Sauer from the puck and fired a low hard shot that beat Wiikman though the five hole.
With the game well under control, the Tigers lightened up a bit and the Pack, playing more desperate, managed to light the lamp twice in a 35 second span. A turnover in the neutral zone by the Tigers led to a two-on-one break as P.A. Parenteau led Patrick Rissmiller perfectly and the Rangers free agent acquisition from last summer redirected the pass perfectly past Mannino to cut the lead to 5-2.
Sanguinetti then took an ill advised Tripping penalty 22 seconds later. As they have all season, the Pack pounced on a shorthanded opportunity as a Lessard pass was blocked by Jordan Owens, who pushed it ahead into a two-on-one odd man rush with PK partner Mike Ouellette in shooting position on the right side. Owens brought the puck in deep and at the last moment fed Ouellette who buried a one time shot into the net cutting the lead to 5-3.
“When the score is a little bit out of reach they take a little bit off,” Gernander said. “You press to save face but it’s a little too little too late.”
Gernander is likely to have a few words, and perhaps a few laps or some other form of discipline, for Parenteau when the team reconvenes on Monday. Hartford was pressing hard to try to rally from behind. With 3:41 remaining, Colliton put a high stick that hit Parenteau in the mouth that gave the Pack a four minute power play. 1:47 into the man advantage, Parenteau lost his cool and took a very obvious and deliberate cross checking penalty. Once in the penalty box, he melted down slamming his stick against the glass breaking it in half. He then took the shaft of the stick and threw it out onto the ice forcing referee Chris Cozzan to give him a ten minute misconduct.
With 12.8 left on the clock, Tyler Haskins was able to pick up a loose puck along the far wall and cross the red line and bury a shot into the empty net for the game’s final tally.
Bob Crawford recounts the game from the broadcast booth at Hartfordwolfpack.com while the always talented Mike Fornabaio tells the Bridgeport tale at ConnPost.com
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET.
NOTES:
* The Pack have 15 games remaining. 9 of them are on the road and 6 are at home. They have two with fifth place Worcester and their last meeting to determine the GEICO Cup winner with Bridgeport. Those games are next weekend. They will then see Lowell twice (3/18 home, 4/10 away), fourth place Portland twice (3/20 away, 4/3). Then it’s Springfield (3/21 on the road, and the season finale at home 4/11). Mixed in is a game against Albany (3/2) and Manchester on the road (4/8).
* Jon Sim, a left winger who has played in 358 NHL for eight NHL teams, tallied his fourth goal in three games since clearing waivers and being assigned to Brid
geport by the New York Islanders.
* The loss by the Pack ends a streak of nine consecutive games getting a point. (8-0-1-0)
* The last regulation loss by the Pack was also to the Sound Tigers, 1-0 back on February 18 with Matt Zaba in the net.
* Gernander feels that defenseman Corey Potter should be recovered from his undisclosed upper body injury in order to play next weekend.
* The power play continues to struggle. Over the last six games, they are 2 for 28 (7%).
* Ouellette’s shorthanded tally gives the capital city boys 13 on the season, second only to Peoria with 15. Philadelphia and Iowa both have 12.
* Hartford’s special teams rank 10th (17.6%) on the power play and 15th (82.7%) on the penalty kill.
* Winning on the road continues to be a struggle where the Pack are 15-12-3-1
* Devin DiDiomete continues to be the team’s leading occupant of the penalty box with 174PIM on the season.
* In games decided by three goals the Pack are 5-8-0-0, meaning if there is a “blow-out” the Pack are more likely to be on the receiving end of it.
LINES:
Dupont – Anisimov – Parenteau @
Bell – Rissmiller – Weise
Owens – Ouellette – Pyatt
DiDiomete – Moore © – Sugden
Sanguinetti – Denisov
Nightingale – Fahey
Urquhart – Sauer
Wiikman
SCRATCHES:
Potter – Upper Body injury – Day-to-Day
Ford – Healthy
Zaborsky – Healthy
Soryal – Hand – 2-3 weeks
Byers – Knee – Season
THREE STARS:
1. BRI – 16 Jon Sim
2. BRI – 21 Jeremy Colliton
3. BRI – 24 Chris Lee
ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Chris Cozzan (68), Referee
David Spannaus (8), Linesman
Brent Colby (7), Linesman
SCOREBOARD WATCHING:
With the schedule winding down, all the games are important so even on a light night game wise, they’re all important. Manchester took it to Worcester at the DCU Center and won the game 4-3. The only other game that affects the Wolf Pack, and it was a key one, was the Providence versus Rochester game in Rochester that the Bruins won by a score of 2-1 ending the Pack’s lone possession of first place at one day.
On the schedule this week, Tuesday night sees the Sound Tigers travel to Lowell to take on the Devils while Portland hosts Binghamton.
Wednesday sees Worcester host Binghamton, Springfield out in Chocolate City to take on the Bears.
STANDINGS:
Rank Team GP W L OTL SOL PTS
| 1 | Providence Bruins | 65 | 35 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 76 |
| 2 | Hartford Wolf Pack | 64 | 34 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 76 |
| 3 | Manchester Monarchs | 65 | 33 | 26 | 0 | 6 | 72 |
| 4 | Portland Pirates | 63 | 30 | 24 | 3 | 6 | 69 |
| 5 | Worcester Sharks | 63 | 32 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 67 |
| 6 | Lowell Devils | 62 | 28 | 26 | 2 | 6 | 64 |
| 7 | Springfield Falcons | 65 | 19 | 37 | 7 | 2 | 47 |
NEXT GAME:
Hartford’s finest will have plenty of time to think about this bad loss and to put it behind them. They don’t have a mid-week game this coming week. They have a very odd schedule. On Friday they’re on the road to visit Worcester. Then they come home Saturday for their final meeting of the year with the Sound Tigers and then Sunday they take to the road to again, visit Worcester and challenge the Sharks.
(Photo courtesy of Connpost.com)
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