AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT…

       VERSUS       

The Hartford Wolf Pack who had clinched their first Atlantic Division crown the night before, finished their regular season in front of one of the season’s largest crowds of 7,171 at the XL Center Saturday night with virtually nothing at stake and for the most part played that way.  After blowing a pair of first period two-goal leads, it took the surging Dale Weise’s goal midway through the third period and a Greg Moore empty netter with 27 seconds left to finish off their I-91 rivals, the Springfield Falcons, 5-3.

It was an up and down season for the Pack  as the team searched for and eventually found it’s identity. The Pack found themselves in last place in early December but a 19-4-1-1 run that started on February 20th and ran through the remainder of the season propelled the team to the top of the Division.

“We had a bit of a slow start, but then we got a streak together in February and played some pretty good hockey, and now it’s time to take it to the next level,” Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander told reporters afterwards.

The only mystery going into this game for the Pack was who their first round opponent would be. That mystery was solved when Portland defeated Manchester 5-4 sealing up third place for the Buffalo Sabres top farm club and sending the Pack (46-27-3-4) to a first round series with the Worcester Sharks. The second place Providence Bruins will face-off with the Portland Pirates in the other Atlantic Division Semi Finals series.

The Pack will have their hands full in this series. The Rangers top farm club had an overall record of 4-3-0-1 including a 2-2-0-0 home record against the fourth place Sharks.

“It was very tight all season against Worcester,” Gernander said after the contest. “But the team we see Thursday will be a little different because they just got several players back from injuries. But that’s hockey.”

The Pack could have some additions as well as Tommy Pyatt, (personal reasons) and P.A. Parenteau (we can now report, concussion) should be back.

Captain Greg Moore faces the upcoming playoffs with mixed emotions telling reporters afterwards, “We’re excited about the playoffs and will be focusing on our game plan starting Monday at practice,” He said. “Am I surprised we won the division? Yes and no. The Wolf Pack have a great tradition and never write ourselves off. We have high expectations in this locker room and organization and expect ourselves to be there toward the end of the season.” Moore went on to say, “But at the same time, we’ve had some ups and downs, though even when we were in last place, it was a tight division so we knew we were still in it. We had a lot of major contributors like Patrick Rissmiller and Mark Bell come in. But (goalie Matt) Zaba was a huge contributor to giving us the confidence that we can play the way we can.”

The emergence of Zaba, AHL goaltender of the month in February, who posted an 8-2-0 record in 11 appearances for the Wolf Pack that month, including a nice 2.28 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage, stabilized the team and led the rush to first place.

However, if the Pack are going to make any serious headway in the 2009 Calder Cup playoffs, they are going to have to stay out of the penalty box; something they have not been able to do of late.

“Penalties will be an area that we address in the next couple of days,” Gernander said. “But the guys wanted to enjoy their day off (today), so it was kind of a feel-good finish.”

The penalty problem nearly cost the Pack this one.

The Pack built a a 2-0 lead on two terrific goals. The first came from Patrick Rissmiller who used Cody Wild as a screen on Springfield netminder Dany Sabourin (25 saves) just 39 seconds into the contest and a second 4:30 minutes later on a highlight reel goal by Artem Anisimov after a great play by Weise to get him the puck. The Pack then surrendered what would be the first of three power play goals (on seven shorthanded occasions) to a team that entered the game 24th in the AHL on the man-advantage at just a measly 15% efficiency rate. Ryan Stone beat Zaba (22 saves) from the left wing circle at 6:23.

Jordan Owens, who had a breakout season and should be signed by the Rangers to an NHL contract and get serious consideration for a promotion to the big squad, made a tremendous play to spark a three-on-one odd man rush with just 2:20 left in the period to expand the Pack lead back to two goals.  On the left wing boards, Owens sprung himself free with a nifty move bouncing the puck off the boards leaving Springfield’s Wild in his wake. Owens skated hard into the zone and got a pass past defenseman Mike Gabinet and in perfect position for the trailing rookie defenseman David Urquhart in the slot to nail down his sixth of the season when his laser shot was in the twine before Sabourin could even react to it.

The Falcons (24-44-8-4) got their second power play tally midway through the second on Ryan Potulny’s 38th of the season and then tied the score on another power play less than six minutes later on an Eberle goal that beat Zaba over the stick.

Weise would get what would prove to be the game winner, his 11th of the season at 10:50 as his rebound blast smoked Sabourin after the Falcon goalie left gigantic rebounds off of two blasts by Rissmiller and the primary set up coming off a dead red shot by Brian Fahey. 

Bruce Berlet was back in the press box after a well deserved vacation and shares a recap at Hartfordwolfpack.com. Springfield’s point of view was written by Garry Brown and can be found at Masslive.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET.

NOTES:

* Throughout the game the Pack announced winners of their team awards. P.A. Parenteau was awarded team MVP. Defenseman of the year went to Corey Potter. The  Seventh Player/Unsung Hero Award went to Michael Sauer and Owens won two awards, the Bob Girouard Character Award and Fan Favorite as voted on by the Wolf Pack Fan Club.

* With their last place finish in the Atlantic Division, the Falcons have now missed making the playoffs for a sixth consecutive year. The Falcons have long had struggles financially and rumors have persisted for years that they might make a move. Could this be the year they finally do? Only Bruce Landon knows the answer to that for sure.

* Anisimov won the team scoring title with 37 goals and 44 assists for 81 points. P.A. Parenteau was second with 29 tallies and 49 helpers for 78 points.

* After spending much of the season in negative double digits in the plus/minus category, rookie Bobby Sanguinetti finished the regular season a
t minus-8. He also put in 6 goals and 36 assists for 42 points for the Rangers 2006 first round pick. A respectable number which will improve next season.

* Howlings will have a full playoff preview by mid week

LINES:

Bell – Rissmiller – Crowder

Dupont – Anisimov – Weise

McBride – Moore © – Owens

DiDiomete – Ouellette – Sugden

Sanguinetti – Potter @

Nightingale -  Fahey @

Urquhart – Sauer

Zaba

SCRATCHES:

Denisov – Healthy

Stich – Healthy

Loverock – Healthy

Pyatt – Personal

Parenteau – Concussion – Day-to-Day

Byers – Knee – Undetermined

Zaborsky – Shoulder – Season

Soryal – Hand – Season

THREE STARS:

1. HFD – 23 Dale Weise
2. HFD – 18 Patrick Rissmiller
3. SPR – 26 Jordan Eberle

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Nygel Pelletier (41), Referee
Jim Briggs (83), Linesman
Rich Patry (52), Linesman

PLAY OFF BRACKETS

FIRST ROUND – PLAYOFF SCHEDULE: