SO MUCH FOR “HOME SWEET HOME” 

VERSUS   

There’s an old vaudeville joke that best sums up the Hartford Wolf Pack’s last couple of days which climaxed with a complete dismemberment by the visiting Hershey Bears to the tune of 6-0 at the XL Center Friday night.

It’s just been that kind of a week for Hartford’s AHL franchise.

Jack and Phil are sitting next to one another on the train.Jack says to Phil, “It’s been a rough day so far.”

“Really?” Phil says. “What’s wrong?”

“When I hit my alarm this morning the knob came off… Then when I went to get my briefcase so I could leave for work, the latch broke off and when I opened the door to my car the handle fell off…”

“Geeze, that’s a rough morning…”

“Yeah, I was afraid to go to the bathroom.”

After losing the AHL’s leading scorer, P.A. Parenteau to recall on Wednesday, word came late Friday morning that New York was calling again. This time, the name on the request list was forward Dane Byers. The 6’3” 199 pounder was immediately put on a plane and sent off to Head Coach Ken Gernander’s home state of Minnesota to help the parent New York Rangers deal with injuries to Chris Higgins and Sean Avery.

Byer’s departure hurt the Pack because, along with linemate P.A. Parenteau,it took away the team’s top offensive threat and arguably their best all around player especially when it comes to play around the net. Add into the mix that coming in the entranceway to the XL Center was former Pack forward and last year’s AHL MVP, Alexander Giroux. The Quebec, Canada native rejoined the Bears after a three game NHL stint (1g, 0a, 1pt) with the Washington Capitals. Giroux was determined to put numbers back on the board to get him another shot at sticking in the NHL. He did just that.

The 28 year old left wing lit up the Pack for two goals and two assists and just ran about single handedly ran the team out of their own building.

“When you get outworked by that amount of skill, you lose 6-0 at home and get booed. This stinks, especially on home ice.” Pack defenseman Brent Henley, who along with David Urquhart were the only players on the Pack not in the minus of the plus/minus statistic Friday night, told reporters afterwards.“If getting booed doesn’t extra motivate you for the next game (tonight at the XL Center versus Providence), then you shouldn’t be in the game. We all lost together (Friday night), and we better all win together (tonight).”

Gernander was not using the absence of two of his top players as an excuse.

“That doesn’t excuse what transpired,” Gernander said to reporters. “If you battle like crazy and goals are hard to come by, that’s another story. But if you’re not 100 percent committed or mentally into it, you’re not going to look good in anything.”

Gernander then summed up the message that his team just didn’t get. “This is an opportunity to play. Guys are getting called up to the New York Rangers because they’re playing hard, participating and doing what they’re supposed to do. Guys should be chomping at the bit.”

It was then asked if the game had any redeeming value?

“No. None,” He said.

There literally were no highlights for the home team. They got beaten in virtually every single aspect of this game. Nobody played well at all.

The Pack were down two goals within 1:17 of one another. The first came at 9:30 when Andrew Joudrey spun and embarrassed Ilkka Heikkinen and stuffed it past the stick of Miika Wiikman (9 saves, 2-2-0, 3.27GAA, .888%). The second came after a turnover that Giroux recovered led to a Francois Bouchard breakaway past…yes, Heikkinen , and another stuff in under Wiikman’s blocker.

The third goal for Hershey came with just 21.2 remaining in the first period. Giroux this time split the defense pairing of Michael Sauer and Nigel Williams and broke in alone and ripped the black out of the puck past Wiikman stick side.

While the shots were 10-9 Hartford, it was not even close to an indicator as to how the play was going.

The second period was not much better for the home team. Another ex-Pack, Boyd Kane ended the night for Wiikman when his shot from the slot beat Wiikman and sent him to the showers.

After a bore of a fight between ex-Pack Brandon Sugden and Henley, Giroux did it to his ex-team again when his centering pass from the right side found Mathieu Perrault who’s deflection beat Chad Johnson (9 saves 2-3-0, 3.66GAA, .871%). The replay demonstrated that there was a “clear and distinct kicking motion” which should have negated the goal, but it stood and it was 5-0.

Giroux added his second tally of the night at 2:39 of the third period when he skated through everyone except the popcorn vendor (that’s still under review) and beat Johnson to the short-side for what would be the game’s final score.

Hopefully the Pack can do like Rocky Balboa in the third film when he took a terrible beating from Clubber Lang and rise above it and put on a good performance against the Providence Bruins.

Bruce Berlet was in the house for the home team coverage at HartfordWolfPack.com. For the Hershey P.O.V. read Tim Leone at Pennlive.com

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET


NOTES:

* The Pack have not lost by six goals since an 8-2 loss at Lowell on Jan. 27, 2006.

* Byers got his first NHL goal in the same way that he does it in Hartford…The Nipawin, Saskatchewan native battled in front of the net for a lose puck in front and put it past All-Star netminder, Nicklas Backstrom.

* Both Parenteau and Byers get their team’s first goal and the first of their NHL careers on back-to-back nights. So what do you think Tortorella will say that will be critical of Byers?

* Parenteau and Byers both looked completely at home in the NHL. How Giroux is not there also is a travesty. He has completely outgrown the AHL talent-wise and should be given a chance to play at that level.

MEANWHILE DOWN IN CHARLOTTE:

The Charlotte Checkers (3-1-0) won a shootout thriller, 6-5, in Gwinnett on Friday Night. Michel Leveille led the way offensively with three points in a high-scoring game that saw goals on the first four shots of the contest.

The Gladiators took an early two-goal lead, just three minutes into the game, on even-strength goals by Matt Caruana and Chad Denny. Caruana took a pass from Tom Zanoski on a Checkers turnover and converted for his fifth goal of the early season. Denny took advantage of another turnover and tapped in a pass from Pat Galivan for the early 2-0 lead.

Charlotte would answer back with two quick goals to knot the score at 2-2. Julien Brouilette skated in alone on Gladiators goaltender Danny Taylor and beat him with a wrist shot over the blocker. Michel Leveille then beat Taylor with a one-time shot on a pass from Derek Couture that deflected off the post and in.

The Checkers took the lead midway through the first period as rookie defenseman Mike Berube scored on a screened point shot that seemed to fool Gwinnett netminder Danny Taylor.

With less than three minutes to play in the first frame, Gwinnett defenseman Drew Paris fired a shot off the end boards that took a strange bounce and found its way into the net, notching the score at 3-3.

Charlotte then regained the lead, nine minutes into the second period, on a power-play goal by team captain Jared Nigthingale. Nightingale blasted a shot from the high slot between the legs of Taylor for his first of the season. The goal came at the 9:02 mark of the second period and was assisted by Kenny Roche and Jason Lawrence.

The Checkers would mount a two-goal lead, just 42 seconds later, as rookie Andrew Carroll skated into the zone on the left wing and let a shot go that trickled in for his first of the season.

The two-goal lead wouldn’t last long. Gwinnett forward Tom Zanoski took a pass on a 3-on-1 and beat Zaba glove-side for his fourth of the season.

Charlotte carried a 20-17 shot advantage, and 5-4 lead, through two periods of play.

Gwinnett would tie the game on the power play when Drew Paris scored on a point shot for his second of the game. The goal came at 8:43 of the third period and was assisted by Sam Roberts and Brad Schell.

The game would remain tied and went to a shootout after a scoreless overtime. Charlotte forwards Kenny Roche, Michel Leveille and Tyler Doig all lit the lamp to take a 3-0 advantage and Matt Zaba shut the door as the Checkers sealed the 6-5 shootout win.

Zaba stopped 21 of 26 shots to earn the win for the Checkers while Danny Taylor made 31 saves in a losing cause for the Gladiators. Leveille now has nine points in four games out of the gate to lead the Checkers.

LINES:

Grachev – Dupont – Weise
Owens – Locke – Dandenault
Soryal – Crowder – Ambuhl
Urquhart – Arnason – Hillier
Potter – Henley
Heikkinen – Sanguinetti
Williams – Sauer
Wiikman

(Assistant Captains Italicized)

SCRATCHES:
P.A. Parenteau – Recall with NY Rangers
Dane Byers – Recall with NY Rangers
Devin DiDiomete – Broken Arm – Mid-November

THREE STARS:
1. HER – 12 Alexandre Giroux
2. HER – 22 Francois Bouchard
3. HER – 35 Jason Bacashihua

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Zac Wiebe (89), Referee
Paul Simeon (66), Linesman
Glen Cooke (6), Linesman

NEXT GAME:
On the plus side of things, the boys will have no time to sit around and dwell on this one. The team goes right back at it at the XL Center again Saturday night when they welcome back on time captain Craig Weller and the sixth place Providence Bruins.

SCORE-SHEET:

1st Period-1, Hershey, Joudrey 2 (Pinizzotto, Alzner), 9:30 (sh). 2, Hershey, Bouchard 4 (Giroux), 11:47. 3, Hershey, Giroux 6 (McNeill, Bouchard), 19:38. Penalties-Amadio Her (slashing), 9:11; Amadio Her (interference), 13:07.

2nd Period-4, Hershey, Kane 2 (Pinizzotto, Beagle), 3:35. 5, Hershey, Perreault 1 (Giroux, Bouchard), 9:30. Penalties-Arnason Hfd (hooking), 0:12; Sugden Her (fighting), 3:37; Henley Hfd (fighting), 3:37; Osala Her (hooking), 10:13; Amadio Her (fighting), 15:13; Dupont Hfd (fighting), 15:13.

3rd Period-6, Hershey, Giroux 7 (Bouchard), 2:39. Penalties-Soryal Hfd (roughing), 5:34; Weise Hfd (roughing), 6:23; Potter Hfd (roughing), 7:22; Osala Her (fighting), 9:58; Henley Hfd (fighting), 9:58; Bruess Her (tripping), 18:22.

Shots on Goal-Hershey 10-7-7-24. Hartford 9-8-9-26.

Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 0 of 4; Hartford 0 of 4.

Goalies-Hershey, Bacashihua 2-0-0 (26 shots-26 saves). Hartford, Wiikman 2-1-0 (13 shots-9 saves); Johnson 2-3-0 (11 shots-9 saves).

A-2,531

Referees-Zac Wiebe (89).

Linesmen-Paul Simeon (66), Glen Cooke (6).