SOMETHING BRUIN IN PROVIDENCE 

    VERSUS  

In 1980, Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn starred in a film called “Seems Like Old Times.”  It may just be two games into the 2009-2010 season, but it sure looks like it has the past several years in Hartford as the Pack continue to be slow starters dropping their second straight of the season 5-3 to the Providence Bruins in front of 3,752 at the Dunkin Donuts Center Friday night.

The Pack came out of the locker room fired up at the start of the contest and played that way. They relentlessly pressured the puck on both sides of the ice and when in the offensive zone pinned the Baby Bruins in their own end for long stretches. The hard work took it’s time to work it’s magic, but it eventually bore fruit.

With pressure down low in the Bruin’s defensive zone, defenseman Adam McQuaid was sent away to solitary confinement for two minutes of contemplation for taking a hooking penalty. The Pack power play looked sharp and took all of 1:01 to cash in. Evgeny Grachev, back in Hartford after a brief call-up by the Rangers,  scored his first professional goal off a great pass by the teams’ best passer, P.A. Parenteau. Grachev buried the shot on former Springfield Falcon netminder, Dany Sabourin (2-0-0, 34 saves). The goal gave the Pack it’s first lead of the season.

The lead lasted all of 2:16.

After scoring the goal it seemed like the Pack decided that this one was over and just stopped doing everything that had gotten them their lead. 25 seconds later, Andres Ambuhl took an unnecessary holding call and sent Providence onto the ice with the man-advantage.

Chad Johnson, (0-1-0, 21 saves), making his first start as a member of the Wolf Pack was shaky at best. On the power play, Bruin center Jaime Arniel took a shot from the left faceoff circle dot and Johnson could not snuff it out and left a rebound on the right doorstep where Trent Whitfield slammed it into the twine. Just like that the score was even.

4:06 later after surrendering the tying goal, the Pack coughed up a second goal when Ambuhl, who just had a terrible game, on the rush, made a poor decision and decided to back pass the puck when he already had a clear path to the net. Alain Goulet picked up the platter and lead a breakout going the other way. Goulet quickly fed Jeff LoVecchio who in turn gave up the puck to Mikko Lehtonen. The Espoo, Finland native then made a mad rush with the puck up the right side and was virtually untouched by the Pack defense who did little more than watch him go by. Lehtonen then charged the net and smashed the puck under Johnson. The Pack netminder did all he could to cover the puck with his glove, but it was too late. It was the closest the Pack would get all night.

In the middle frame, the Pack got caught behind the play in the offensive zone. Kirk MacDonald took a pass from Guillaume Lefebvre and advanced the puck back the other way on a two-on-one down low. The Amos, Quebec native fired it on net. Johnson was too deep in his net and even from the low, bad angle got the puck over the goal line at 8:44.

Two minutes later the Pack surrendered a fourth goal and second power play tally. With Dane Byers in the penalty box for High Sticking, Johnson left another rebound in front of the crease and the Pack defense could not clear the puck. Lehtonen cleaned up the lose change and deposited it into safe keeping behind the Pack netminder.

Three fights later, two between Byers and McQuaid and another between Brodie Dupont and Drew Fata saw the end of the second period.

The Pack’s number one netminder, Matt Zaba, (7 saves) started the third period and the team that came out to play was not the same group that had left the ice. This was the same group that had started the game. Desperation will cause a team to either collapse or press forward. It’s a true sign of character and Head Coach Ken Gernander had to be pleased to see the battle level that his team came out with.

3:17 into the period, the Pack scored for their second time on the Power Play when Patrick Rissmiller, back for the second of his three year $3,000,000 per deal, fired a shot from the slot that hit a Providence defenseman and ricocheted right in front to Cory Locke who deposited his third tally of the early season into the net. Parenteau rang up his second assist of the game on the play. The Pack were back within one at 4-2.

The Pack continued to press hard to pull within one and had their chances but couldn’t convert.

Providence defenseman Andy Wozniewski was under the skin of the Pack all night. With the Pack pressing, Justin Soryal took a tremendously foolish high sticking penalty at 12:50. The Pack fourth line forward reached his stick into the Bruin bench and went after Wozniewski with it. It was over after that as the Pack just unraveled.

At 13:51, after the Pack just could not get the puck out of their own end, veteran Brad Marchand put the game out of reach when his shot from dead-red beat Zaba over the shoulder for a 5-2 lead.

Dale Weise made the final tally the same as the loss to Binghamton when he converted after center Paul Crowder made a nice rush and a terrific pass into the crease. Weise took a big hit but put it behind Sabourin with just 9.2 remaining on the clock.

Bob Crawford has the view from the broadcast booth at HartfordWolfPack.com. For the Providence perspective, the Providence Journal actually had someone write something for a change.

GAME SUMMARY  and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

NOTES:

* Sorry Howlers, personal conflicts kept me from getting this report out sooner.

* The slow start from the Pack is nothing new. In the past five seasons, including this one, they’ve started 0-2-0 (‘09-‘10), 1-3-0 (‘08-‘09), 1-2-1 (‘07-‘08), 1-3-0 (‘06-‘07) and 1-2-1 (‘05-‘06)

* Pack are 58-36-8-7 all time against Providence

LINES:

Grachev– Crowder – Parenteau

Dupont – Locke – Weise

Byers – Arnason – Ambuhl

Soryal –  Rissmiller – Owens

Williams – Potter

Sanguinetti – Heikkinen

Henley – Sauer

Johnson

SCRATCHES:

Devin DiDIomete – Broken Arm – Six Weeks

David Urquhart – Healthy

THREE STARS:

1.  8 – PRO – Lehtonen
2.  23 – PRO – Whitfield
3.  7 – PRO – Wozniewski

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Jeff Smith (49), Referee
Chris Millea (33), Linesman
Bob Paquette (18), Linesman

NEXT GAME:

Saturday night… It’s the home opener at the XL Center. At 5pm Trumbull Street, in front of the XL, will be closed off for a Pack block party prior to the start of the first game against I-91 rival Springfield.

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