BIG PACK VICTORY BRUIN IN PROVIDENCE…

      VERSUS      

The Hartford Wolf Pack capitalized on a team record three shorthanded goals to move within five points of clinching their first division title since 2003 – 2004 Friday night by embarrassing the second place Providence Bruins 6-0 before 7,964 at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

Special teams were the difference in this game. With Referee Chris Ciamaga awarding the Bruins ten separate power plays, including two five-on-three man advantages, to the Wolf Pack’s four, in most cases this one should have ended much differently. But the Pack penalty killers, led by center Mike Ouellette and right wing Jordan Owens rose to the occasion and were absolutely dominant on the PK. Their zone coverage could be used as a training film for other teams on how to play the penalty kill. They blocked passes, attacked on the forecheck and when given the opportunity took off on rushes up ice which they tallied on as Ouellette beat starter Tuukka Rask (18 saves) twice.

The Pack tied for the AHL lead in shorthanded tallies with the Peoria Riverman and Iowa Chops with their fifteenth of the season and put their first points on the scoreboard at 4:58 of the first period.  Corey Potter, in his first game back with the Pack after scoring his first NHL goal with the Rangers, took an errant pass  and fed Artem Anisimov. The Russian center advanced the puck and made a tremendous effort to free himself from a check along the boards by the red-line. After extricating himself and still maintaining control of the puck, the second year Russian center, came in quickly and attacked the right side of the net. His attempt to jam the puck in under Rask hit the goaltender’s pads and deflected out into the slot. Brodie Dupont, charging hard, found the puck gift wrapped for him and buried it into the open left side of the net for the Pack’s first score.

The Bruins got an excellent scoring chance just moments later when Bobby Sanguinetti’s pinch in led to a three-on-one odd man rush the other way. But Potter played it perfectly so that the game’s Second Star, Matt Zaba (24 saves) was able to turn aside the shot. But while still defending in their own zone, Brian Fahey was called for an elbow giving the Bruins their second man advantage.

At 9:14 the Pack tied their record for two shorthanded goals in a game, which had been done sixteen times previously, including four times this season alone. After Owens stole the puck he used his speed to get by Bruin defenders. He fired a shot on Rask which rebounded right back to him for a second attempt. When that shot bounced off of Rask, Ouellette was their to put it home for the 2-0 lead.

The Pack then took two more penalties, first Mark Bell for Tripping at 9:53 and then Brandon Sugden took the first of his three calls against on the night at 12:55 putting the Pack down two defenders for 23 seconds. A face off win and a good stop by Zaba leading to a clear burned off the scare for the team in red, white and blue, and the period ended with the Pack a pair of goals.

In the second period Ciamaga seemed to be getting his cardio exercise blowing the whistle. He called seven separate penalties, four against the Pack and three against the Bruins. Both teams had some good chances. Dupont and Mike Sauer both were stopped shorthanded by Rask. Zaba and his teammates benefited as two Bruins shots rang off the metal and away from the cage.

The period’s. and perhaps the games’,  best defensive play came with just under five minutes remaining in the period. Sauer found himself with the puck in the low left face off circle after a scramble for the puck in front of Rask. But the Minnesota native was denied a lamp-lighter when defenseman Victory Bartley dove over the fallen Rask to block a shot that was headed for the empty net.

It was a tightly played period and the games turning point came with just 1:36 remaining in the period. After Vladimir Denisov was called for a pretty blatant tripping penalty, Jared Nightingale and Kirk McDonald decided that it was time for a rumble, and rumble they did. Both tossed off their helmets and skated out to the neutral zone and threw big bombs at one another. McDonald’s shots however all missed and the fight ended when Nightingale landed a huge right hand that sent the Bruin right wing down to the ice. However, Ciamaga assessed Nightingale with a roughing call in addition to the fighting major putting the Pack down two men for a full two minutes.

With sticks in every passing lane and heads turning rapidly side to side the Pack frustrated the hosts which led to a Mikko Lehtonen holding call 41 seconds into the two man advantage. However, it did leave the Pack still in quite a precarious position in a four-on-three shorthanded situation for 1:19. But even with all that room on the ice, the Pack played outstanding defensively and got to the second horn with their two goal lead still in tact.

After killing off the remainder of the penalties, the Pack went back to playing the kind of game that John Tortorella only wishes he could get his New York troops to play, controlling the puck for long stretches at a time and keeping their opponent on their heels.

The Pack got their first of four third period goals when Dupont and Dale Weise out-battled Bruin defenders in the left wing corner for the puck. Dupont pushed it out to Weise who advanced it behind the net to the right side and saw Anisimov wide open in front of Rask and put a perfect tape to tape pass that the game’s First Star promptly buried in the back of the cage at 3:36.

Less than two minutes later, the Pack would set their franchise record for shorthanded tallies when at 5:23 Owens again came up with the puck and found Ouellette open. The Pack center then took the puck around center ice and with a burst of speed shot through the defense, came in and blazed a shot over the glove of Rask. With the goal, Ouellette became the first Pack player in the team’s twelve year history to score two shorthanded goals in a game.

The Pack were not through.

Just over six minutes later Rask would see, or perhaps didn’t see, his last shot of the night. Denisov blasted a hard shot from the left point that with Dupont screening Rask, was deflected in by Anisimov for the 5-0 score. 

With Rask out, the Bruins put Kevin Nastiuk between the pipes for the final 8:22 of the contest. The Pack put three shots on the Bruins backup and with just 1:32 remaining tallied for their biggest one sided victory of the season. Owens got his third assist of the night when he carried the puck out of the defensive zone and fed newcomer Brock McBride who brought the pill into the offensive zone on the rush. McBride alertly found Denisov trailing on the play and made a strong pass back to the Belorussian defender who simply ripped the black out of the puck firing it past Nastiuk.

The only mystery left at that point was if the Pack could preserve the second shutout of this breakout season for Zaba, which they easily did.

Bob Crawford has a game recap at Hartfordwolfpack.com. If you’re looking to see how the Providence press treated the game there’s some slim pickings as the Bruins get less coverage t
han the Pack do. Here is the story in the Providence Journal and from the Bruins own website.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET.

NOTES:

* The Pack did all this damage without their top offensive threat in P.A. Parenteau out with an undisclosed injury, and their top two way player in Greg Moore still sidelined with a concussion.

* According to the man-in-the-know about all things junior hockey, our friend Jess Rubinstein of Prospect Park relates that he’s hearing rumors in the OHL that the Pack are going to give left wing Corey Cowick of the Ottawa 67’s an Amateur Try-Out contract when his season ends. 

* Can the Pack improve Sunday on their record of winning just one game in the six they’ve had this season after a blowout?

* The Pack have gotten standings points in 18 of their last 21 games. (17-3-1-0).

* Since coming back from a broken finger, Zaba has won four straight and is 12-1-1 in his last 14 starts.

* Inside the numbers:  23-6-0-1 when leading after one, 28-1-1-1 when leading after two 23-12-1-1 when outshooting their opponent.

* The win leaves the Pack needing any combination of five points between themselves and Providence to clinch their first division title, and home ice advantage in the through the divisional playoffs, since the 2003-2004 season.

LINES:

Bell – Rissmiller – Crowder

DiDiomete – McBride – Owens

Dupont – Anisimov – Weise

Ouellette – Sugden

Sanguinetti – Potter

Denisov – Fahey

Urquhart – Sauer

Nightingale

Zaba

SCRATCHES:

Parenteau  – Undisclosed Injury

Moore – Concussion – Indefinite

Zaborsky – Shoulder – Season

Soryal – Hand – Season

Byers – Knee – Undetermined

Pyatt – Personal

Stich – Healthy

THREE STARS:

1. HFD – 42 Artem Anisimov
2. HFD – 30 Matt Zaba
3. HFD – 44 Mike Ouellette

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Chris Ciamaga (41), Referee
Jack Millea (23), Linesman
Bob Paquette (18), Linesman

SCOREBOARD WATCHING:

Portland traveled up to Lowell and and handed the Devils a setback in their playoff push with a 3-1 road win. Meanwhile in Albany the River Rats dropped a 3-2 decision to the Worcester Sharks. In New Hampshire Manchester shut out Springfield 3-0.

On the Saturday schedule Springfield travels to Lowell. Manchester hosts Worcester and Providence entertains Portland.

The Sunday menu has Manchester traveling to Providence, Springfield on the road in Portland.

STANDINGS:

Rank        Team                           GP    W      L     OTL   SOL   PTS

NEXT GAME:

The Pack have only their second Saturday of the season off. They return to action on Sunday when they return home to face the Lowell Devils.

COMPARATIVE REMAINING SCHEDULE:

                               Hartford                                                                                 Providence

Day       Date          Opponent         Rank        Record Vs            Day       Date       Opponent         Rank   
0;    Record Vs