WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN? 

     VERSUS     

Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander has repeatedly asked the question in his post game press conferences over the five-game home losing streak, that was stretched to six after last night’s 3-2 defeat to the Springfield Falcons at the Mass Mutual Center Saturday night, which of his players was going to be the one to step up and pull this team out of it’s near comatose condition?

Based upon his play last night, it appears as if that player is going to be Devin DiDiomete.

After fighting twice in Friday night’s contest in Hartford and then fighting twice Saturday, it appears that the 5’11” 200-pounder from Stratford, Ontario had done everything short of scoring goals coming into last night’s contest to try and light a spark under his teammates. After his second fight Saturday night, the team had more life and it ended a personal drought as well. His laser beam shot from above the left circle evaded starter David LeNeveu (4-2-1, 22 saves) and found the upper right corner over the glove ending a 43 game AHL scoreless streak that dated back to April 1st, 2009 when he beat Jhonas Enroth at the XL Center in a 5-3 Wolf Pack win against Portland.

“My style is to obviously get under the other’s skin,” DiDiomete told reporters afterwards. “I took a pretty big run at that guy (Jonathan Sigalet) from across the ice, and he obviously didn’t like it.” He then added, “I tried to spark the team with a good fight, and I think it worked. But at the same time, we should come out a little harder and be ready to play for a full 60 minutes. It shouldn’t have to take a fight to spark the team.

“But you can’t dwell on it now. We just have to keep moving forward and try to take the positives out it. Tonight I thought we had maybe a five-minute breakdown, but we bounced back pretty well. Our work ethic is there and we’re trying to do the right things, but we’re not getting the bounces right now. I think once a few guys start to score, this team is going to get pretty hot.”

“It’s too bad that that’s what it takes,” Gernander said after the game. “He has been hard at since he has got back into the lineup.” DiDiomete had a very painful season in 2009-2010 and required major hip surgery in the off-season and only returned to action five game ago. Gernander went on to add that, “Whenever there’s a little bit of a lull, (DiDiomete) thinks he has to take it upon himself to get everybody going, and I’d like to see guys have internal motivation. You shouldn’t have to wait for the likes of Devin DiDiomete to spark them.”

As well as DiDiomete has played to start his season, Wolf Pack netminder Chad Johnson, (2-6-0, 11 saves) playing his first full season as the team’s number one goaltender has really struggled with consistency. He’s had some really terrific moments and made some big saves, but has surrendered some very soft ones as well. This game was no different. Johnson allowed 3 goals on 14 shots which resulted in his being pulled at 9:42 of the second period in favor of Dov Grumet-Morris by  Gernander.

“I just couldn’t get into the groove,” Johnson told reporters. “It was embarrassing, to be honest. I just didn’t have it, and in these types of games, giving up one or two goals just isn’t good enough.

“If you give up one or two goals, you might lose the game. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good goal or a bad goal you just have to find a way to make saves. When you’re in a slump like we are, you just have to find a way to win games. For me, it’s tough because stopping pucks is my job, and I just didn’t have it tonight. Letting up one or two goals is costing us the game.”

Johnson surrendered his first of three at 7:47 of the first frame. Michael Blunden threw the puck at the net from the left circle and it was deflected by John Moore who had split the defense. Johnson got a pad on it but it hit the post and squirt in behind him.

Almost exactly 20 minutes later, the Falcons doubled their advantage in the second period. At 7:43 Pavel Valentenko recreated Wade Redden’s mistake against Albany that allowed Patrick Davis to score, when he fell down at the right wing blue line this time allowing Tomas Kubalik to charge in alone and beat Johnson over the glove for his second of the season.

Speaking of Redden, another person on the roster struggling. The 13-year veteran started off the season fast, but has not gotten any traction of late, who sports a minus-3 and 1g and 5a (6pts) that all came in the first five games and is without a point in his last six, got badly beaten by Blunden on the left side. Blunden’s shot rebounded right out to Tom Sestito who got past Jyri Niemi and put it past Johnson.

At that point, Gernander had felt a change was needed and brought in Grumet-Morris (0-1-0, 8 saves).

While the Wolf Pack have only scored a total of six goals in their last six games they have not been without good chances…especially not Friday night and they had a tremendous amount of chances in this one as well.

At 1:03 of the first period, Tyler Donati, a free agent acquisition who the team hopes will add some scoring punch after being the MVP of the ECHL last season with Elmira, and playing in only his second game with the Wolf Pack, had a great chance in front of the net but was turned aside by LeNeveu started them off.

In the second period, Nigel Williams, who’s played both forward and defense in the last two games for Hartford, was stopped cold on a Ryan Garlock feed on an odd man short handed rush.

In the third frame and with the Pack furiously trying to create some offense, Jeremy Williams hit the crossbar off a Mats Zuccarello pass at 8:08. 50 seconds later Kris Newbury was rejected on a two-on-one odd man rush with Dane Byers. Their best chance came with 10:30 to play when Chris McKelvie, Justin Soryal and Ryan Garlock attacked off a really strong rush. Garlock centered the pass to McKelvie but the rookie fanned on the shot.

“I could have put it up anywhere, and I shot it right into him,” McKelvie said to reporters afterwards.

“It’s unexplainable, incredible what’s been happening,” Garlock said. “We could easily have scored five or six goals, but the hockey gods are mysterious sometimes. Sometimes we missed the net, sometimes we shot right at an experienced goalie who has played in the NHL and had a good two-game set. DiDiomete had a great fight that definitely boosted everybody. That’s what he brings to the table most nights. We were aggressive and created chances, but there are some games when everything you put on net seems to find its way and others where no matter what you do, (shots) just don’t go in.

“But that’s the way it has been going the last few weeks, and all we can is just keep working hard. We’ve got five games coming up in seven days starting Wednesday (at home against Manchester), and it’s a great opportunity to start putting goals on the board.”

“We didn’t capitalize, so here we are again,” Gernander said.

It’s way too soon to press the playoff panic button. There’s an old hockey adage, “The playoffs aren’t made in October.” That’s certainly true, but if the team doesn’t find a way to start converting on their chances and if Johnson cannot find his game and confidence soon, the summer could start sooner than any of the 25 on this roster are hoping for.

Bruce Berlet covered the game for both side. His story for the Wolf Pack can be found at HartfordWolfPack.com.  For the Springfield perspective, Fran Sypek was at the game and has this report at MassLive.com. 

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET 

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Wolf Pack power play has not scored in the last 19 man-advantage situations.

* Howlings personal all-time favorite Wolf Pack player, Jed Ortmeyer is back in the American League. Bruce Berlet reports that the former Wolf Pack and Rangers right winger signed a PTO with the San Antonio Rampage on Friday. He was held off the scoresheet in his first game against Houston.

* Bob Crawford is highlighted in an interesting read in the HartfordCourant sharing with Jeff Jacobs some of his all time moments and players.

LINES:

Byers – Newbury – Zuccarello
Donati – Garlock – Tessier
DiDiomete – Dupont – J.Williams
Soryal – McKelvie – N. Williams

Redden – Niemi
Valentenko – Nightingale  
McDonagh – Kundratek

Johnson 
Grumet-Morris

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Cam Talbot – Groin – Day-to-Day
Tim Kennedy – Undisclosed – Indefinite
Dale Weise – Broken Wrist – Four to Six weeks
Lee Baldwin – Healthy Scratch
Brandon Wong – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS:

1. SPR – T. Sestito
2. SPR – J. Moore
3. SPR – D. LeNeveu  

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Terry Koharski (10)

Linesmen:
Jim Briggs (83)
Frank Murphy (29) 

NEXT GAME:

The Wolf Pack have lost six in a row and have two more home-and-home series in a row to play. First Manchester comes to Hartford Wednesday before moving to New Hampshire on Friday then back-to-back home-and-home with Bridgeport. Game-time for each game, including the Sunday contest wit h Bridgeport is 7pm with Bob Crawford and the pregame at 6:30pm.

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 Springfield Falcons 3 – Status: Final
Saturday, October 30, 2010 – MassMutual Center

Hartford 0 1 1 – 2
Springfield 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Springfield, Moore 1 (Sestito, Blunden), 7:47. Penalties-DiDiomete Hfd (fighting), 5:46; Guite Spr (fighting), 5:46; Sestito Spr (tripping), 9:07.

2nd Period-2, Springfield, Kubalik 2 (Guite, Moore), 7:43. 3, Springfield, Sestito 5 (Blunden, Clitsome), 9:23. 4, Hartford, Kundratek 1 (McKelvie), 12:49. Penalties-Nightingale Hfd (cross-checking), 1:02; Kundratek Hfd (roughing), 2:49; DiDiomete Hfd (fighting), 9:42; Sigalet Spr (fighting), 9:42; Goloubef Spr (high-sticking), 10:40; Williams Hfd (holding), 15:55; Goloubef Spr (holding the stick), 17:23.

3rd Period-5, Hartford, DiDiomete 1 (Williams), 1:21. Penalties-Murovich Spr (holding), 6:04; Mayorov Spr (tripping), 13:26.

Shots on Goal-Hartford 8-6-10-24. Springfield 5-13-4-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 0 / 5; Springfield 0 / 3.
Goalies-Hartford, Johnson 2-6-1 (14 shots-11 saves); Grumet-Morris 0-1-0 (8 shots-8 saves). Springfield, LeNeveu 4-2-0 (24 shots-22 saves).
A-3,699
Referees-Terry Koharski (10).
Linesmen-Jim Briggs (83), Frank Murphy (29).