SPECIAL TEAMS NOT SO SPECIAL 

   VERSUS   

This imitation of a gritty performance by the Hartford Wolf Pack in Friday night’s 6-3 loss to the Portland Pirates at the Cumberland County Civic Center left you with questions that had you looking like Ben Stein as the Economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

“Class, I’m looking for someone to tell me what the silver lining is in the Wolf Pack’s performance against the Pirates…?”

“Anybody?” 

“Anybody?” 

When the Pack came into this game they were scoring on the power play at a 30.8% clip (8-for-26) good for third overall. They left Maine in 7th place at 25.8%. Their opponents entered the game 27th in the league at 4% (1-for-25). They left in 19th overall at 12.9%.

On the penalty kill, which certainly hasn’t been the Pack’s strength this year, they were 28th coming into the game at a totally unimpressive 68% (8-for-25 in just 4 games). They left last in the NHL at 64.5% while Portland was the only team worse than the Pack in that department at dead last in the AHL at 61.9% (8-for-21). But now,

Now you could say that Portland was due to break out of it at some point, and the Pack were due to come back to Earth just a little, but to put up an 0-for-4 against a struggling team like that and to look like they just met in the parking lot before going out to play in the game is unacceptable to a team this rich in talent and experience… especially after coming off such an impressive performance against Springfield last Saturday.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it. The Pack allowed the Pirates, the same Pirates that had only tallied once in twenty-five tries, to score not once, not twice, but three times out of six power play opportunities; that’s just embarrassing. 

In terms of the game itself, the Pack, as DiDiomete said so many times throughout the contest, “had no containment in front of the net.” The Pack’s version of Sean Avery told Howlings, “controlling the front of the net is just something we’ve got to improve on. It makes it incredibly hard on our goalies.”

Speaking of the goaltenders, they have struggled to this point as well. Sure, some of it can be attributed to the issue that DiDiomete spoke of, but Matt Zaba was 0-1-0 with a 4.84GAA and a .846 save percentage prior to getting a concussion from Liam Reddox in last Saturday’s contest with Springfield. Chad Johnson has been getting lit up as well. While he has a 2-2-0 record, he’s posted a 3.91GAA and .871 save percentage (13g on 101 shots) allowing far too many softies to get into the net behind him. Miika Wiikman has had a groin injury since training camp and was sent to Charlotte but has since been recalled due to Zaba’s injury. The Pack need to see if their “Super Swede” can stop the bleeding.

The Pack allowed the line of Tyler Ennis, Nathan Gerbe and Jeff Cowan to essentially do whatever they wanted to in this one. Ennis had a Hat Trick and an assist. Gerbe had a goal and three assists while Cowan tallied twice and helped out on another. If that weren’t enough defenseman T.J. Brennan pocketed a couple of assists as well.

For the Pack, Bobby Sanguinetti was the only player in the red,white and blue to be a plus-2 on the night and added a goal and an assist. The goal was his first of the season.

Andres Ambuhl finally broke through and lit the red light with just 1:57 remaining in the contest for his first North American goal/point.

But fear not Pack fans. This team is led by an excellent coaching staff and they have a lot of talent on the bench to work with. Remember last season this team was in last place in December and turned it around and ultimately wound up winning the division with a phenomenal run late in the year. This is a better team than the ones who skated for the Rangers top affiliate last season. Head Coach Ken Gernander and assistant J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller will get this team back on track.

While it’s still VERY early in the season, Saturday night’s contest against Springfield will go a long way in testing the resolve of these young players and to see what kind of resiliency they have to try and stabilize the ship.

So we’ll write this off as just a bad night and just hope this was this team’s version of “Hartford Wolf Pack’s Off Day.”

Bob Crawford recaps the game at HartfordWolfPack.com.

GAME SUMMARY  and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

NOTES:

* Devin DiDiomete was exceptionally solid again doing color commentary with Bob Crawford. DiDiomete is not afraid to call it the way that it is with no excuses or alibis for his teammates. He and former Pack goaltender Chris Holt are by a country mile ahead of virtually everyone the organization has ever teamed with Crawford. With a little vocal coaching, when his playing days are done, DiDiomete would make an excellent hockey color guy for either radio or TV.

LINES:

Grachev– Crowder – Parenteau

Byers–  Rissmiller – Owens

Dupont – Locke – Weise

Soryal – Arnason – Ambuhl

Williams – Potter

Heikkinen – Sanguinetti

Sauer – Henley

Johnson

SCRATCHES:

Devin DiDIomete – Broken Arm – Six Weeks

David Urquhart – Healthy

THREE STARS:

1. POR – 11 Tyler Ennis
2. POR – 19 Nathan Gerbe
3. POR – 20 Jeff Cowan

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Chris Brown (86), Referee
Joe Andrews (32), Linesman
Landon Bathe (80), Linesman

NEXT GAME:

Howlings will be on hand for The Pack’s visit to Springfield for what should be a rough and tumble game. The Pack destroyed the Falcons in a VERY physical game at the XL Center last Saturday 7-3. Coming off such a stinker and with both teams already on edge this one could be a powder keg in a room full of fireworks and Bic lighters.