HOBBIT DELIVERS WIN

     VERSUS     

With star forward Dale Weise sidelined with a hand/wrist injury, someone on the Hartford Wolf Pack roster was going to need to step up. That’s the long and the short of it. That’s exactly what happened as the Hartford Wolf Pack defeated their arch instate rival, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in their first meeting of the season at the Arena at Harbor Yard Saturday night 2-1.

Evgeny Grachev, one of the team’s tallest players at 6’4 and Mats Zuccarello, one of the team’s shortest, generously listed at 5’9, teamed up for what was most certainly a play that would stay on any team’s highlight reel for quite some time.

With the game deadlocked at one a side, and just over five minutes to play in the third period, Grachev displayed the kind of power drive that both fans and team executives were hoping to see when they drafted the Khabarovsk, Russia native 75th overall in the third round of the 2008 draft. Grachev used his size, speed and power with both Matt Martin and Mark Katic hanging all over him along the right wall and looked back to the middle of the ice. Meanwhile Zuccarello, nicknamed “The Norwegian Hobbit” fought off a check and created space for himself coming up the middle of the ice.

“I didn’t see him the whole time, but when I got to the half-wall I saw him,” Grachev said after the game. “He’s my buddy, so that’s something I have to do more often.”

Grachev’s pass to Zuccarello couldn’t have been more on the money…for that matter, neither could Zuccarello’s shot that found the upper part of the right corner of the net as he was heading left in the left circle. “Grachev made an unbelievable play and pass, and I just tried to whip it to the top shelf. It was a lucky shot.”

How much luck it was is debatable. Finding the net for Zuccarello, the leading scorer and MVP in the Swedish Elite League last season, is nothing new. In 55 games last season with Modo Hockey Ornskildsvik Zuccarello potted 23 goals and had 41 helpers in 55 games. Zuccarello now has two goals in four games since being signed by the parent New York Rangers over the summer.

Zuccarello’s presence has certainly impressed his coach and teammates.

Wolf Pack head coach and a pretty good scorer in his day as the captain of the team, was asked if he could have matched that shot. His answer…”No, that was a very nice shot, a great release,” he said.

Chad Johnson (2-1-1 20 saves) and the game’s First Star, was impressed. “That’s why he was brought here,” He said. “He finds ways to score. It was a rolling puck. I could see it the whole way. He picked it up and still put it where he wanted to. You could see his goal scoring ability. Most guys would have put it over the net…It just shows his awesome goal scoring ability.”

Team Captain Dane Byers likes what he’s seeing in his new teammate. “He’s a pure sniper and that’s his job to put those shots in. He’s a very skilled guy and he’s a big part of this team.”

This was an emotional game right from the outset with some VERY hard hitting going back and forth between the two teams. At 8:46 after blocking a shot, Byers got into an altercation with Robin Figren wound up with a double minor for roughing. Byers explains. “I blocked a shot at the top of my knee and it was hurting and then Figren, we’d had a little battle earlier in the shift and we got tied up at the bench. It’s funny how I came up with the extra, but I did and they were able to kill it off.”

As tempers flared, so did punches as both ex-Pack Dylan Reese and Kris Newbury were the opening bout as four minutes later Justin Soryal mixed it up with Travis Hamonic. Both bouts were draws.

Newbury was assessed a Boarding call on the play and with Byers already in the box on his extra roughing call, it gave the Tigers a 1:40 5-on-3 man advantage.

Johnson and his penalty killing crew, primarily Wade Redden, Tim Kennedy and Pavel Valentenko, wiped out just about every chance the Sound Tigers tried to generate. However, the Tigers did get a tremendous scoring chance during their power play when at 9:20. Rob Hisey found the puck on his stick in close to Johnson’s left and went to put it away. Johnson flashed his left leg out and just got enough of it to kick it to the corner.

“I think it was a screen shot and then it got in a little bit of traffic there,” Johnson said. “I really didn’t see it. I kind of just reacted. You kind of just get in the zone and you kind of feel where the puck is type of thing…I just kind of stuck my pad out and thankfully it hit it.”

With 27.6 seconds left in the first period, Chris McKelvie took a hooking call for the Wolf Pack, but David Ullstrom negated the penalty by taking an interference call 19 seconds later as the period closed in a four-on-four man situation.

Just 35 seconds into the second period, rookie Rhett Rakhshani ran into Johnson and got planted into the box with Ullstrom giving the Wolf Pack a 55 second 4-on-3 advantage and they made the Tigers pay.

With Redden on the point, he fed Justin Williams in the left circle for a one timer. Sound Tiger netminder Mikko Koskinen (1-2-1, 25 saves) stopped the first blast, but Williams recovered it. The puck moved around to Kennedy who fed Redden at the blueline. Redden quickly fed Williams again at the same spot. Williams unloaded a fireball this time that Koskinen got a little piece of but it found it’s way under his arm and into the net behind him. The goal was Williams second on the season with assists to Redden and Kennedy at 1:28.

Bridgeport head coach Jack Capuano was concerned. “Redden, Kennedy and Williams…(The Pack’s) four-on-three. I knew it was dangersou when you see those guys on the ice.”

The best scoring chance the rest of that period cam for rookie Ryan McDonagh who took a great pass from Byers but just missed putting his first professional goal when Koskinen flashed the glove and robbed the rookie defenseman at 3:02.

Koskinen made his own nifty saves when he stopped Kelsey Tessier at 5:08 who was all alone in the slot and then 21 seconds later wiped out a canon of a shot from Jyri Niemi from the right side.

It stayed a one goal game into the third frame until an Anton Klementyev shot from the right circle hit McDonagh in the chest and fell to the ground. Ryan Garlock tried to get it but fell and Rakhshani shot hit Johnson’s pad and got into the cage. The goal was Rakhshani’s first professional goal.

“It was a quick play and funny bounce, but plays like that happen so you just have to deal with it,” Johnson said.

Capuano summed up the contest. “(The chippy play) was a typical Hartford-Sound Tiger game. From the start of the year until now, we’ve done a good job taking the body and playing physical. It’s an identity that we want to establish. We just had a difficult time putting the puck in the net.”

Gernander summed it up as well, “I thought we could have shown a little more composure at times,” he said. “But I think the guys competed very well, and I’m happy with the result.”

It was a full house in press row. Bruce Berlet made the trip and has the recap at Hartfordwolfpack.com.  Mike Fornabaio of the Connecticut Post takes you inside the Bridgeport locker room in this report. 

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

SOUNDS OF THE GAME

Head Coach Ken Gernander

Captain Dane Byers

Goaltender Chad Johnson

Forward Evgeny Grachev

Forward Mats Zuccarello

Bridgeport Head Coach, Jack Capuano

NOTES:

* Wade Redden has been exceptional since coming to Hartford. He leads the team in scoring with one goal and four assists for five points in four games.

* Pavel Valentenko and Evgeny Grachev lead the team in plus/minus at plus-4

* The Portland Pirates are off to the AHL’s hottest start winning their first four games. The Wolf Pack won’t face the Pirates until New Year’s Eve.

* Hartford is 16th in AHL attendance with two home games and total attendance of 9,925 for an average of 4,963. Lake Erie has had ONE game and had 12,524 while Charlotte had ONE game and had 12,512. Chicago, Gran Rapids and Hershey all had only their home opener and all three were over 10,000. It could be worse. Toronto has had two home games and have a total of 5,253 (average of 2,627). Binghamton has had THREE home games and has a total attendance of 8,758 (average of 2,919) and even with their fast start, Portland has had four home games and drawn a total attendance of 13,855 (average 3,464). The Bridgeport Sound Tigers have had three home games and have seen 18,736 come through the gates (average of 6,245).

* Chad Johnson cracks the Top 15 goalie list at 15th with a 2.22GAA and a .913%.

* Kelsey Tessier is 9th in scoring among rookies (2g, 2a)

* Wade Redden is third in the AHL among scoring for defenseman. Nathan Oystrick of Peoria is first with 7points (3g, 4a).

* Hartford power play is now 12th at 21.1%/ Manchester is first at 3-for-9 33.3%. The penalty kill for the Wolf Pack is 18th at 83.3% at 20-for-24

LINES:

Byers © – Newbury – J. Williams
Grachev – Kennedy – Zuccarello
Soryal – Garlock – McKelvie
Dupont – Wong – Tessier

Redden – Niemi
Kundratek – McDonagh
Valentenko – N. Williams

Johnson
Talbot

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized) 

SCRATCHES:

Devin DiDiomete – Hip – Three to Four weeks
Jared Nightingale – Foot Infection – Day-to-Day
Dale Weise – Wrist – Undetermined
Lee Baldwin – Healthy Scratch 

THREE STARS:

1. HFD – C. Johnson
2. BRI – R. Rakhshani
3. HFD – M. Zuccarello

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Ian Croft (87)

Linesmen:
Kevin Redding (16)
Luke Galvin (2)

NEXT GAME:

The third of three-in-three for the Wolf Pack comes Sunday at 4:05. Pregame with Bob Crawford is on the air at 3:30pm.

To watch the game live, you can purchased it for $6.99 at AHL-live.

For Ticket information call (860) 548-2000.

Too far away or can’t make it? Listen live at WTIC.com or from your cell phone or computer visit www.twitter.com/howlingstoday for complete live in-game coverage. 

SCORE-SHEET:

Hartford Wolf Pack 2 at Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1 – Status: Final
Saturday, October 16, 2010 – Arena at Harbor Yard

Hartford 0 1 1 – 2
Bridgeport 0 0 1 – 1

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Kohn Bri (roughing), 3:44; Byers Hfd (roughing, roughing), 8:46; Marcinko Bri (roughing), 8:46; Newbury Hfd (boarding, fighting), 9:06; Reese Bri (fighting), 9:06; Soryal Hfd (fighting), 13:31; Hamonic Bri (fighting), 13:31; served by Bourbeau Bri (bench minor – too many men), 15:06; McKelvie Hfd (hooking), 19:32; Ullstrom Bri (interference), 19:51.

2nd Period-1, Hartford, Williams 2 (Redden, Kennedy), 1:28 (PP). Penalties-Rakhshani Bri (interference), 0:35; Marcinko Bri (slashing), 9:49; Newbury Hfd (tripping), 19:28.

3rd Period-2, Bridgeport, Rakhshani 1 (Klementyev, Wotton), 7:17. 3, Hartford, Zuccarello 2 (Grachev), 15:02. Penalties-Byers Hfd (tripping), 15:50.

Shots on Goal-Hartford 7-10-10-27. Bridgeport 10-7-5-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 1 / 5; Bridgeport 0 / 5.
Goalies-Hartford, Johnson 2-1-1 (22 shots-21 saves). Bridgeport, Koskinen 1-2-0 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-6,217
Referees-Ian Croft (87).
Linesmen-Kevin Redding (16), Luke Galvin (2).