BYERS: THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY 

       VERSUS        

ROUND ONE – GAME ONE

When Dane Byers last saw the ice at the XL Center it was Halloween night and the opponent was the Worcester Sharks. Byers treated his teammates to two assists that night. Unfortunately the trick was an accidental collision with teammate Tommy Pyatt that left the fourth year pro in excruciating pain, It was later determined that the accident left Byers with a torn ACL that required reconstructive surgery and his regular season was done.

Fast forward five and a half months and 71 games later and after going through enough blood, sweat and tears in rehabilitation to stock half a dozen reality shows, Byers made his triumphant return against the very same Worcester Sharks at the XL Center earlier than was expected and was the surprise starter in game one of the Atlantic Division semi-final series.  Byers also happened to score the goal that combined with a spectacular performance between the pipes by Matt Zaba (38 saves) broke the backs of the Sharks in game one of the best-of-seven series as the Pack took a 2-0 win in front of 2,109 Thursday night.

For Head Coach Ken Gernander there had to be a little something special as he would often skate with Byers after practice to assist in the evaluation of Byers recovery.

“I’m thrilled for him because of how incredible he has worked and the level of commitment he has made,” Gernander told the press afterwards. “He was so hungry to play and a nice injection into the lineup.”

Gernander put Byers and his knee to the test early lining him up with two speedsters in Mike Ouellette and Jordan Owens.

“Trying to keep up with two speedy guys like Owens and Ouellette was a challenge, but I like challenges.” Byers spoke of afterwards.

The line looked sharp all night long and led to a text book goal just the way the organization draws these things up.

Rule one: Forwards should come back in the defensive zone and play tough defense… Byers laid a hard hit along the boards that sprung the puck loose, not to mention a couple of fillings.

Rule Two: Make a quick, smart outlet pass… Byers saw linemate Mike Ouellette open and hit him with a tape-to tape pass.

Rule Three: Stay with the play and look for open space… Ouellette sent a perfect pass to Jordan Owens, who looked more like Jessie Owens on skates, advancing the puck into the offensive zone down the left wing. Despite it being his first game back, Byers kept up with his speedy linemates and found open ice along the right wing.

Rule Four: Get to the front of the net and expect either a pass or a rebound… Owens saw Byers as alone as he could possibly be and put a sweet cross ice pass from the right wing circle right to Byers’ stick.  Byers attempted to one–time the pass and partially fanned on the shot but got enough on it for the puck to rainbow over the shoulder of Shark starting goaltender Thomas Greiss (21 saves), who dove to get at the weak shot, but the puck had enough on it to make it to the far side corner of the net.

“I had a little nerves to start off, but (Gernander) put me in early and often and got my head off other things,” Byers said to the press after the game. “It was 51/2 months of rehab that wasn’t easy, but it was nice to be back with the boys. It was great that the team did so great all season to give me this opportunity to come back, so I’m fortunate for that.”

Zaba told the press that his goal for his first AHL playoff game start was to give his teammates their best chance of winning. “I just wanted to make sure I started off on the right foot and gave the guys a chance to win,” Zaba added that he, “…really wanted to have a strong first five minutes to get my confidence and the team’s confidence going, just show them that I was going to be battling for them.”

Zaba did just that throughout the contest. In the first period, Worcester played puck control hockey in the Pack end for very long stretches. At 12:10 Zaba stopped Cory Larose’s scoring bid when he was able to defend the ex-Pack forward who took a magnificent setup pass from Lukas Kasper.

The Pack netminder, a native of Yorkton, Saskatchewan was especially solid in keeping his teammates in the game in the second period. The Pack came out for the second period and they apparently forgot to bring their game out of the locker room with them. Meanwhile Worcester stepped up their attack and assaulted the Pack net throughout the period outshooting the home team 18-7 and spending virtually the entire period in the own end.

It wasn’t a total whitewash in the second. The Pack did manage to tally the first goal of the series when just 4:19 in Corey Potter fired a hard pass from the left point down to the right side of the crease where the consistently improving Dale Weise awaited. Weise drew a quick reaction from Greiss who came across to defend the right corner. Weise then made a heads up and deft past to the left side of the crease where Artem Anisimov and Brodie Dupont were crashing the net. Anisimov was knocked down but managed to get his stick on the puck popping it into the corner pocket for his first tally of the playoffs.

In the third period, the Pack picked up their battle level and competed even keeping the Sharks pinned into their own end for a full two minutes early in the period. Zaba did his part and put on a show making great stops on multiple occasions. He made his best of the night with just 4:58 remaining diving to his left to rob Dan DaSilva who was all alone in the front of the net.

With 4:10 remaining referee Jamie Koharski wasted no time calling off what appeared at first to be a Larose goal. But replays showed that Koharski made the right call as Larose’s stick was well over the crossbar when it made contact with the puck.

The goaltenders friend helped Zaba out when killing off a Devin DiDiomete high sticking penalty as Ryan Vesce’s dead red shot practically crushed the crossbar.

Zaba built on that break. At 13:06 made a brilliant save on a tricky shorthanded backhanded shot by Tom Cavanaugh that Zaba gloved.

The Pack were outshot for the game 38-23 and again found themselves in the penalty box on too many occasions giving the Sharks seven power plays which they were fortunate to have killed off.

Bruce Berlet once again tells the tale as the master storyteller he is. The art that is his writing can be found at Hartfordwolfpack.com. The always jovial, Bill Ballou has the story from the Worcester perspective at Telegram.com.

Game Summary and Official Scorers Sheet.

NOTES:

* Smiles abounded prior to the beginning of the contest when AHL mana
ger of hockey operations Bill Scott presented Greg Moore, as the team’s captain, the Emile Francis Trophy for the team winning the Atlantic Division title. You can’t fake a smile like the one Moore posed for with Scott.

* As reported earlier by Howlings, Tommy Pyatt has returned from dealing with the death of his brother’s fiancé and in all likelihood will play Saturday night. If P.A. Parenteau’s concussion symptoms subside he could also return to the lineup Saturday night. If Pyatt and Parenteau do make it back to the lineup, it’s likely that Paul Crowder and Devin DiDiomete will take a seat.

* If you disregard the fact that he missed 71 games in between, Byers now has a four game scoring streak (3g, 2a) and has scored in five of six (4g, 4a).

* Speaking of streaks, Worcester entered the game with a five game road winning streak…that’s gone…

* The Pack have had nine shutouts in the post season in their history. Zaba’s playoff shutout was the last for a Pack netminder since their second all-time leader in wins, Al Montoya, beat the Providence Bruins 1-0 on April 26, 2007

LINES:

Byers – Ouellette – Owens

Dupont – Anisimov – Weise

Bell – Rissmiller – Moore ©

DiDiomete – McBride – Crowder

Nightingale -  Fahey @

Sanguinetti – Potter @

Urquhart – Sauer

Zaba

SCRATCHES:

Sugden – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

Denisov – Healthy

Stich – Healthy

Loverock – Healthy

Pyatt – Personal

Parenteau – Concussion – Day-to-Day

Zaborsky – Shoulder – Season

Soryal – Hand – Season

Kundratek – Healthy

THREE STARS:

1. HFD – 30 Matt Zaba
2. HFD – 34 Dane Byers
3. HFD – 42 Artem Anisimov

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Jamie Koharski (84), Referee
Kevin Redding (16), Linesman
Brent Colby (7), Linesman

PLAY OFF BRACKETS

(ALL SERIES ARE BEST OF SEVEN)

FIRST ROUND – PLAYOFF SCHEDULE: