PLAYOFFS ANYONE?

      VERSUS     

The outdoor marquee was turned off and the lights surrounding the exits were dimmed Saturday night at the XL Center to honor Earth Day. Inside the arena however, the young Wolf Pack electrified 7,591 in attendance in a battle for first place in the Atlantic Division and watched as the team rallied from a two goal deficit to the visiting Providence Bruins and went on to win the game in a shootout 3-2.

Artem Anisimov scored with 8:29 remaining in the third period to tie the game and then in the shootout the 21-year old center made a tremendous backhanded shot that parked in the back of the net over Bruins starter Tuukka Rask (39 saves) in what proved to be the game winner.

Anisimov’s regulation goal came with Jeff Penner in the penalty box for Interference came after a couple of sparkling plays in the Providence zone by the recently added Paul Crowder. First, Crowder, who joined the team on an Amateur Try-Out contract back on March 19th, saw defenseman Brian Fahey fall down with the puck along the left wing half-boards. The rookie then made a head’s up play to keep the puck in the zone. Once he took control of the puck he saw Brodie Dupont free and passed it.  Dupont returned the puck to the young center and made a magnificent move up the slot through two Providence defenders. As they both collapsed on Crowder, he saw Anisimov all alone in the right wing circle and backhanded a pass to the second year pro who blasted it past Rask.

“It was a good play at the blueline to keep the puck in,” Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander said.  “That was a nice hands there. The one-on-one move and then the presence of mind to throw a nice backhand pass which is always a good asset to have, not everybody can throw those backhanded passes but to have the vision to have after a one-on-one move to find Artie like that was a very good play.”

The game did not start out so well for the home team as they came out flat and just 22 seconds into the contest fell behind.

Vladimir Sobotka won the games opening faceoff back to All Star defenseman Johnny Boychuk. In turn Boychuk fed right Winger Mikko Lehtonen who made a terrific heads up pass back to Sobotka who marched into the Pack zone completely unchallenged. Sobotka came in close in the right wing circle and fired a bee-bee over the shoulder of starter Matt Zaba. The Pack netminder bas back between the pipes for only the second game after missing two weeks with a broken finger.

Then nine minutes later Providence would double their lead. Ned Lukacevic would forecheck and take the puck behind the Pack net. He slid the rubber to center Zach Hamill who moved from left to right behind the net and saw Brad Marchand in front. Hamill slid a pass through traffic right to the stick of Marchand who redirected it past a helpless Zaba (23 saves).

The Pack went into the first intermission trailing by two, but the team didn’t lose focus and felt that if they redirected their efforts coming out for the second period and got on the board that they could turn this game around. “That was the message that we gave them.” Gernander said. “We had a slow start but we’ve got 40 minutes to get back on track.”

In the second period the Pack had a lot more jump and fed off the energy of the crowd. At 5:48, they got on the board. Corey Potter was on the left wing half-boards and fed the puck to the left point where AHL All-Star rookie defenseman was waiting. The New Jersey native then put a hard shot on net that hit Rask and dropped right in front of Patrick Rissmiller on the right side of the crease. Rissmiller flipped it in the twine and the Pack were off and running. For the remainder of the period the Pack were relentlessly buzzing the tower and creating scoring opportunities. They ended the period outshooting their visitors 16-7.

“If you have enough point shots and you have enough traffic, eventually there’s going to be some kinds of rebounds.” Gernander said. “If you are in front there battling you’ll find yourself getting to a certain percentage.”

In the locker room the Pack head coach and his staff were pleased with what they saw on the ice. “After the second period, the way we played, I liked the way we responded.” He said. “We told them 20 more good ones like that and we’ll see what happens.”

After tying the score the two teams went to overtime. At 3:05, Potter took a very foolish penalty as he tomahawked Wacey Rabbit’s stick along the right wing boards.

With just 1:55 left in OT, the Pack were going to need all they had to fend off the powerful Providence attackers. “4-on-3 we want to be in shooting lanes and keep things fairly tight so we don’t create any seams and front shots as best you can.” Gernander said.

We knew that they would be just trying to feed Boychuk for one timers on the 4-on-3.” Pack goaltender Matt Zaba said. “He was getting them off but we were blocking shots and getting into lanes and he was missing the net so we did a great job. We kind of figured that would be going on since that was what they were doing for most of the year against us, just kind of setting him up. Hats off to the penalty killers who did a great job and they killed it off and got us to the shootout.”

Gernander added, ““I give Vladie (Denisov) a lot of credit. That Boychuk has a big heavy shot there. Selflessly he put his body in front of that to take one for the team which is great.”

In the shootout, Anisimov got his backhander and P.A. Parenteau iced it with a beautiful shot that went over Rask’s glove. Zaba stopped all four shooters, Martin St. Pierre, Lehtonen, Rabbit and finally Sobotka for the win.

Zaba was ecstatic and showed it on the ice after Sobotka shot it wide and missed the net. “I had so much energy after we won. It was such a big game for us, a game we have to win. We owed them one. They’ve kind of had our number a little bit all year so it was just an awesome feeling.” He said. “It’s a first place game and we needed the points. I thought the guys really played well besides their two chances they had on their goals, I thought we really shut them down and just overall we played a really great game and stuck to the game plan. We started skating pucks to the net with guys in front and the rebounds were there and were able to force overtime and get the win.”

Gernander felt that, “As the game wore on we played more towards our style of hockey.” He felt it was a total team effort. “Lots of character… and then in the shootout, (Zaba) was rock-solid. Just like everybody else on the team I’m really pleased with their performance and his character tonight.”

With Bruce Berlet away on vacation, Brian Ring filled in admirably with the Wolf Pack recap at Hartfordwolfpack.com. The closest you’ll get to anything approaching the Providence perspective you’ll find at their site at providencebruins.com. More on the game from TheAHL.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET.

SHOOT OUT RESULTS:

Wolf Pack Shooter        SHOT / SAVE BY       Result       Bruins Shooter   SHOT / SAVE BY  Result

Anisimov	Backhand	Yes		St. Pierre	Blocker	No
Crowder	Pad	No		Lehtonen	Glove	No
Rissmiller	5-hole, Lost puck	No		Rabbit	5-Hole	No
Parenteau	Over the Glove	Yes		Sobotka	Missed the net	No

NOTES:

* With the win the Pack ended a streak of losing five consecutive games when they had won the previous game by four or more goals. Two of those losses incidentally came at the hands of the Providence Bruins.

* Former Rangers head coach Tom Renney and Mike Pelino were in attendance scouting, but unavailable for comment.

* Dave Andrews, AHL Commissioner and CEO spoke exclusively with Howlings about why Tuuka Rask not being suspended for his actions on March 21st against Albany. “It’s been ruled on and essentially Tuuka had a temper tantrum and it really wasn’t directed at the officials. There was nothing there to justify in our mind suspending the player. He embarrassed himself. I think and he’d probably like to have it back. It’s been viewed about 500,000 times on YouTube.” He said. “We think we’re pretty consistent in terms of the discipline we apply and we try to be fair to the players and try to be consistent in terms of what sort of behavior merits a suspension and that one there was in line with the penalty that he received and that was it.” Andrews added, “had he directed any of that towards the referee or any of the linesman, that would have been a different story.

* Linesman Marty Demers served in his final game after 30 years of AHL service. He was honored before the game and given a small ovation afterwards. Sources said Demers had chosen to have his final game in Hartford with the Pack. Congratulations to a tremendously talented official.

* Dane Byers has been skating hard under he supervision of the training and coaching staff. There is an outside chance that he MIGHT possibly be able to play in the playoffs. However, the team has rigorous “protocol” that they follow for the long term health of the players that they adhere to very strictly. No determination will be made regarding Byers availability until that protocol and the coaching staff is satisfied. Speaking of his knee, Byers told Howlings, “It’s improving every day and we’ll see what happens.”

* Corey Potter was called into Head Coach Ken Gernander’s office where Rangers assistant general manager Jim Schoenfeld was on the speakerphone and told the young defenseman about his being called up.

* Michael Sauer was returned to the Wolf Pack. According to Steve Zipay of Newsday in his Blue Notes blog, Rangers head coach John Tortorella had this to say of Sauer: "When kids get brought up, they get that juice of adrenaline," he said. "Then, sooner or later, they settle down to what you're going to be at this particular time in your maturity. He's in the middle of a playoff race, getting called up and being asked to put the mitts on against some very good teams, on the road, where you can't always get the match you want. It was a lot for him."

* While P.A. Parenteau was kept off the scorers sheet during regulation, the right wing has notched two goals and 4our assists for six points in the last five games. Over the same span, Patrick Rissmiller has two goals and five assists for seven points. Artem Anisimov is on fire again with five goals and two assists over the last four games.

* Say what you will about the Rangers organization and prospects, but one thing is for sure and that’s they have ample enough talent to make the AHL playoffs. The Wolf Pack, led by then team captain and now head coach Ken Gernander, won the 2000 Calder Cup title. The franchise also happens to own the longest active post-season streak in the American Hockey League. They have never missed out on the post-season tournament since the team’s inception back in 1997-98. That’s a streak of twelve straight appearances in the playoffs.

* INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Pack are 23-12-0-2 at the XL Center, 19-14-3-1 on the road. When trailing after the first period the Pack are now 8-11-1-1, When trailing after two, the team improves to 5-19-1-2, 22-12-1-1 when outshooting their opponents and 19-7-3-3 in one goal games.

LINES:

Bell – Rissmiller – Parenteau @

Dupont – Anisimov – Ouellette

Pyatt – Crowder – Owens

DiDiomete – McBride – Sugden

Denisov – Nightingale

Sanguinetti – Potter @

Urquhart – Fahey @

Zaba

SCRATCHES:

Sauer – On recall with the Rangers

Daigneault – Healthy

Moore – Concussion – Indefinite

Zaborsky – Shoulder – Season

Soryal – Hand – Season

Byers – Knee – Undetermined

Weise – Broken Thumb – Day-to-Day

THREE STARS:

1. HFD – 42 Artem Anisimov
2. PRO – 30 Tuukka Rask
3. HFD – 18 Patrick Rissmiller

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Terry Koharski (10), Referee
Marty Demers (79), Linesman

Jim Briggs (83), Linesman

SCOREBOARD WATCHING:

Saturday’s action saw last place Springfield triple up Albany 3-1. Portland won the battle for third place with a 5-2 home victory over Manchester while Lowell got a first period goal from  Alexander Vasyunov and it was enough as the Devils knocked off Worcester 1-0.

On Sunday’s schedule, the Providence Bruin’s home game against Worcester at 4:05 is their game in hand on the Wolf Pack. Worcester can help cement the Pack’s hold on first by knocking off their hosts. Worcester, with a win would move back into a playoff position with a win so expect them to go all out at their Rhode Island neighbors. Should Providence win, the Pack and Baby B’s would be tied in points with six to play, but the Pack would still be in first place technically by virtue of the tie breaker of more wins. Also, Lowell hosts Bridgeport while Portland has a bus trip to Springfield for a battle with the Falcons.

STANDINGS:

Rank        Team                          GP    W      L     OTL   SOL   PTS

1	Hartford Wolf Pack	74	42	26	3	3	90
2	Providence Bruins	73	40	25	2	6	88
3	Portland Pirates	72	34	29	3	6	77
4	Manchester Monarchs	73	34	31	0	8	76
5	Worcester Sharks	73	36	34	1	2	75
6	Lowell Devils	72	32	32	2	6	72
7	Springfield Falcons	73	23	39	7	4	57

NEXT GAME:

The Pack are off until Wednesday when they will host the Pirates. They’ll then travel for the final head-to-head match with Providence in a game which may well determine who wins the Atlantic Division.

COMPARATIVE REMAINING SCHEDULE:

Hartford                                                                           Providence

Day        Date      Opponent         Rank       Record Vs      Day        Date      Opponent         Rank     Record Vs    

Wed	1-Apr	Portland	Third	6-1-0-0		Sun	29-Mar	Worcester	Fifth	7-0-1-0
Fri	3-Apr	at Providence	Second	3-3-1-0		Fri	3-Apr	Hartford	First	4-2-0-1
Sun	5-Apr	Lowell	Sixth	2-3-0-1		Sat	4-Apr	Portland	Third	4-4-0-0
Wed	8-Apr	at Manchester	Fourth	5-1-1-0		Sun	5-Apr	Manchester	Fourth	2-2-1-1
Fri	10-Apr	at Lowell	Sixth	2-3-0-1		Wed	8-Apr	at Lowell	Sixth	4-5-0-0
Sat	11-Apr	Springfield	Seventh	7-1-0-1		Fri	10-Apr	at Portland	Third	4-4-0-0
						Sat	11-Apr	at Worcester	Fifth	7-0-1-0