YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART 

      VERSUS     

If you watched Ken Gernander as a player, then you’d better understand why the third year head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack was so upset after watching his team drop their second bad decision in a row, this time at the hands of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 4-1 Saturday night at the Wachovia Arena.

After getting humiliated with perhaps their worst overall performance in memory, the Pack had a chance to redeem themselves and while it was a better overall effort, the same problems lingered.

“It was a little better effort (Saturday night),” Gernander said. “But mentally we’re still making some mistakes that cost us.”

The Pack came out looking like it would be a long night. Right from the drop of the opening puck, the Penguins (11-9-1-1) attacked starter Matt Zaba. They unloaded a barrage of shots like a boxer smelling a possible knockout from a wounded opponent. With gusto, the home team fired off five quality shots in just the first 44 seconds. But this was not the Matt Zaba (29 saves, 1-2-1) who allowed two goals on four shots the previous night.  No, Zaba stood tall and kept the Pack net empty.

“He fought real hard. I thought he played a very good game.” Gernander said.

But the visiting Pack (13-10-1-2) could not get control of the puck from the Penguins to clear their own zone. In fact, they didn’t even see the offensive zone at all until 1:58, and only then because of a Penguin icing the puck.

At 2:07 Jordan Owens hit the post on the Pack’s first shot on goal and rang hit hard off the post. The CLANG acted like a sort of alarm clock waking the Pack from their slumbers. 

Once they realized that they were in a battle that they could win, they elevated their game. At 9:27 the Pack truly earned their first goal the old fashioned way…they worked for it.

With Derek Couture fighting for the puck along the right half boards, Grachev came over and took control. Grachev saw Jared Nightingale all alone in the high slot and put a perfect pass onto the recently called up defenseman’s stick.  Nightingale, a defensive minded defenseman wristed it past Penguins starter John Curry (20 saves, 10-7-1) for a stick side goal.

The Pack continued to play a spirited period. Justin Soryal took on one of the toughest fighters in the AHL in Jesse Boulerice at 11:32 and paid for it taking a pretty hefty beating before falling to the ice. Boulerice used Soryal’s jersey to shield his intentions and repeatedly clocked the Newmarket, Ontario native. Soryal was visibly hurt and did not return to the game. His status for Sunday’s contest in Hershey is uncertain.

Over this past span where the Pack have struggled, they have found themselves all too often playing a man down. While the penalty killers have been superb prior to Wednesday night’s massacre in Manchester going 22 of 23 over six games, you can’t play with fire like that forever and in this one it came back to bite them in the behind.

First Nightingale took an ill advised holding call behind the Pack net after the puck had left the area putting the team short at 3:14. But 1;29 into that penalty kill, Corey Potter, who’s play of late has not helped his chances of an NHL call-up, took a very foolish Boarding call at 4:43 putting the Pack down two men for 31 seconds.

Zaba was terrific on the five-on-three repelling several good shots on net.

With Wilkes-Barre raising their level of play, the Pack looked a step or two behind and it caught up with them.

Ben Lovejoy took a hard shot from the right point. Zaba had traffic in front of him and picked up the shot late and the puck flew by the glove of the Pack goaltender, knotting the score.

“We had a one goal lead,” Gernander said. “As soon as they scored a goal they started to amp up the energy and we didn’t match it.”

When Nightingale went back to the sin bin on a hooking call, you could feel the team sink as if they knew the inevitable was ahead of them.

After a number of futile attempts by the Pack to get the puck out of the defensive zone at 10:08, with just one second remaining on their power play, Joe Vitale got away from Brodie Dupont in the right circle and found Konstantin Pushkarev open. The fourth year AHL veteran saw space and ripped it by Zaba for a 2-1 lead.

By 9:08 of the second frame, the Pack had been outshot 8-1 and it would only sink lower.

The Pack were reeling and took another heavy blow just 1:04 later when after a mad scramble in front of the Pack net, Wade Brookbank, on his second attempt flipped the puck into the Pack net hitting Zaba along the way.

In a span of 3:24 the Pack went from one up to two down.

The score remained 3-1 until 13:02 of the third when the Penguins would put the final nail in the coffin. After Dale Weise dislodged Pushkarev from the puck, and almost his head with a blistering hit in the middle of the ice, Vitale pounced on the loose puck and fired it on net. Tim Wallace got in front of Zaba and the puck hit him and deflected in for the final tally against the Pack.

A scary moment for the Pack came with just 9.6 remaining when Joey Haddad crashed the net and drove Zaba, who’s already had one concussion this season, backwards and the Yorkton, Ontario native smacked the back of his head hard into the crossbar and stayed down for several minutes. The Pack goaltender seemed fine after the game.

Bob Crawford tells the tale from the broadcast booth at the impressive Wachovia Arena. You’ll find it at Hartfordwolfpack.com.  If you were wondering why Wilkes-Barre is one of the best attended teams in the AHL, Tom Robinson has the story in the The Times-Leader. Jonathan Bombulie has the tale in The Citizen’s Voice. Two newspapers, television and radio all in attendance at a minor league hockey game. Can you hear that News 61, Hartford Courant?

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

NOTES:

*  The Pack have lost four in a row but got points in two of them for extended playing time.

* In possibly the oddest and funniest thing we’ve ever seen in an arena, the men’s room had a drop off receptacle for used syringes and needles. Hey they’re in Wilkes-Barre, you’d probably need one too… Just teasing. 

* The loss dropped the Pack into a tie for fifth place with Providence.

* The power play is 0-19 in the last 7 games. “It’s something we’re addressing. It’s something we’re working on.” Gernander said. “It’s a cyclical thing. It can’t stay red hot all the time. There’s going to be peaks an valleys over the course of the season. You’ve got to stay the course. It’ll get turned around.”

MEANWHILE DOWN IN CHARLOTTE:

Checkers had the night off…

LINES:

Byers – Locke – Weise

Soryal – Crowder – Owens

Grachev – Dupont – Ambϋhl

DiDiomete – Garlock – Couture

Nightingale – Sanguinetti

Potter – Berube

Sauer – Urquhart

Zaba

(Assistant Captains bold & italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Chad Johnson – On recall with the NY Rangers

Illka Heikkinen – On recall with the NY Rangers

Mathieu Dandenault – Lower Body – Indefinite

Nigel Williams – Concussion – Indefinite

Brent Henley – Lower Body Injury – Four to Six weeks

THREE STARS:

1. WBS – J. Vitale
2. WBS – K. Pushkarev
3. WBS – B. Lovejoy

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Shaun Davis (31)

Linesmen:

Jameel Chaudry (51)
Mike McDevitt (13)

NEXT GAME:

Off to Hershey to try and stop the bleeding and seek some revenge on the Bears who slaughtered the Pack in Hartford 6-1 in their last meeting in Hartford on November19th. The Bears will be without ex-Pack Alexandre Giroux who is on recall with the Washington Capitals.

SCORE-SHEET:

Hartford 1 0 0 – 1

W-B/Scranton 0 3 1 – 4

1st Period-1, Hartford, Nightingale 1 (Grachev, Couture), 9:27. Penalties-Weise Hfd (boarding), 4:04; Wallace Wbs (high-sticking), 4:04; Locke Hfd (hooking), 5:33; Engelland Wbs (roughing), 5:33; Soryal Hfd (fighting), 11:32; Boulerice Wbs (fighting), 11:32; Lovejoy Wbs (hooking), 12:09.

2nd Period-2, W-B/Scranton, Lovejoy 3 (Strait, Spurgeon), 7:48. 3, W-B/Scranton, Pushkarev 2 (Vitale, Smith), 10:08 (pp). 4, W-B/Scranton, Brookbank 2 (Wallace, Vitale), 11:12. Penalties-Nightingale Hfd (interference), 3:14; Potter Hfd (boarding), 4:43; Nightingale Hfd (hooking), 8:09; Guenin Wbs (interference), 12:43; Engelland Wbs (holding), 14:58.

3rd Period-5, W-B/Scranton, Wallace 7 (Vitale, Pushkarev), 13:02. Penalties-Lovejoy Wbs (hooking), 3:29; Potter Hfd (roughing), 7:23; Locke Hfd (tripping), 13:38; Sauer Hfd (roughing), 19:50; Brookbank Wbs (roughing), 19:50; Engelland Wbs (roughing), 19:50; Haddad Wbs (goaltender interference), 19:50.

Shots on Goal-Hartford 8-6-7-21. W-B/Scranton 10-14-9-33.

Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 0 of 6; W-B/Scranton 1 of 5.

Goalies-Hartford, Zaba 1-2-1 (33 shots-29 saves). W-B/Scranton, Curry 10-7-1 (21 shots-20 saves).

(Photo courtesy of The Citizen’s Voice)