WOLF PACK KNOCK KING KONG OFF THEIR BACKS 

VERSUS      

(We owe our faithful readers an explanation as to why this report is so late. When we came home from the game last night there was no power in our house and it stayed that way through almost 11am today. Once the power came back on it was a scramble to get everything back up and running and to get our business back in place. We are just now having the time to sit down to write. So, we apologize for making you wait for this.)

After playing nine straight games where the best they could do was throw a couple of deuces amidst one goal efforts, last night’s 7-1 thrashing of the Hartford Wolf Pack’s arch instate rival, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, will hopefully give the team the jump start that it needed to turn this season around.

Mats Zuccarello finally show off the goal scoring ability that had the New York Rangers organziation so high on him over the summer with his first North American Hat-Trick. The Blueshirts signed “The Norweigen Hobbit” with the hope that he could have the same level of success as a sniper in the US as he did as a member of MoDo Hockey in the Swedish Elite League where he was voted as the Elitserien or MVP by the league’s players. In 2009-2010, Zuccarello scored 23 goals and had 41 assists for 64 points in just 55 games.

For Zuccarello, he was proud of the goals but more focused on the team. “We’ve been talking a lot, but there is only so much you can say,” The dminiutive forward said. “I don’t think you can describe what losing like we had was doing to us. Every guy goes out there giving it his best, but we were still losing, so something was wrong but you can’t put your finger on it. Every game we had been busting our asses just to get the W, but it didn’t seem to work.”

“It’s frustrating for everybody – players, coaches, everybody. We’d been playing hard every game, but some mistakes here and there have cost us, and tonight maybe it didn’t cost us a game. So we had a little bounce on our side, and that’s a good feeling. Every guy contributed, so it was a big, big team victory and a nice boost to get a W. It was nice to score some goals, but the most important thing was to get rid of that bad habit about losing and get it out of you.”

Head Coach Ken Gernander echoed the game’s First Star. “It was a nice win because the longer and longer (the losing streak) goes it kind of takes on a story of its own and become a monster in itself.”

It was a completely different look on the bench when Zuccarello gave the Wolf Pack their first lead since the 3-0 advantage they had in Providence 21 days earlier.

“I think the guys felt a little more comfortable playing from ahead than trying to catch up,” the Pack Head Coach stated. “And the power play was really good (4-for-7).”

Goaltender Chad Johnson (3-8-1, 24 saves) may have gotten King King off his back having lost his last seven straight starts. Even he felt the surge that came from being ahead rather than what seemed to be an ugly trend.

“When we scored the first goal, you could see us get our confidence going,” said Johnson. ““When the second one went in, we knew we had it back. I remember a game last season when the Rangers were kind of going through the same thing, and (former Wolf Pack wing) Ryan Callahan was just flying one game and got two goals. It’s like that one guy who sort of steps up and leads the way. Tonight it was Zuccarello. He was just all over the place, in the right place defensively and getting pucks.”

Jeremy Yablonski was called for tripping by referee Chris Cozzan at 7:59.

On the ensuing power play, defenseman Wade Redden made a terrific play keeping the puck from a charging Brent Regner and backhanded the puck to Zuccarello along the right wing boards. The Hobbit dropped the puck to Tim Kennedy and then headed straight for the slot. Kennedy moved in and quickly returned the puck back to Zauccarello in the slot. The genreously listed 5’9″ 170 pounder saw an opening to the stick side of Nathan Lawson (1-2-0, 24 saves) and put it past the Sound Tiger goalkeeper before he even had a chance to react.

2:17 seconds later the Pack doubled their lead and put themselves two-for-two on the man-advantage when Jason Williams sent a laser beam of a shot from the left point that likely fooled Lawson. It looked like Dane Byers might have gotten a stick on it, but Lawson also needed to contend with Brodie Dupont who put a perfect screen in front of the crease.

The Pack made it 3-0 to end the first period when, with just 3.8 ticks remaining Kennedy made an NHL quality pass from behind the net after evading both Travis Hamonic and Jesse Joensuu and found Zuccarello in front of the net. Zuccarello got away from Brandon Svendsen, playing in his first game since his recall from the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL earlier in the day and David Ullstrom. Zuccarello then fired from in close over Lawson’s stacked pads into the right corner of the net.

1:07 into the second frame, Rob Hisey left with what appeared to be a bad knee problem  and did not return.

The Wolf Pack have gotten themselves into trouble in games earlier in the year where they would get a lead and then just disappear and allow their opponent back into the game. NOT this time.

At 5:38, Zuccarello finished his hat-trick off a terrific feed from Brodie Dupont that he buried from almost the same spot as his first goal earlier.

7:01 later Kelsey Tessier ended his own personal scoring drought of 11 games when he, Byers and Chris McKelvie worked a terrific passing play that the rookie from Fredericton, New Brunswick knocked in past a defenseless Lawson.

Frustration started to rally boil over as the period came to a close. Former Wolf Pack defenseman Dylan Reese got frustrated after getting tied up with Kennedy along the left wing boards in the offensive zone and went after the center iceman who already had three assists in the game. Lee Baldwin skated over to protect Kennedy and was summarily jumped by Michael Haley and when the two fell, Haley contiunued to pound Baldwin in the face when the two were on the ice…not a good thing to do. That kind of “against the code” sort-of-thing is something that certain members on the Pack roster are likely to remember for the future and if you think elephants have a long memory, try talking to a hockey player.

The Wolf Pack contined to roll along at just 1:48 into the final frame, Jeremy Williams pocketed his second goal of the game after finishing on a backhanded shot after finding Tessier’s rebound gift wrapped on the left side of the crease.  It really was a display of great talent by Williams as Lawson recovered and was there to get the puck but Williams made a perfect shot for his team leading 6th of the early season.

Robin Figren turned aside Johnson’s shutout bid with just 8:17 remaining after Joensuu made a great rush up ice and into the Pack zone along the left wing side. When figren started running out of ice, he turned in on the net and got away from Jared Nightingale. He then fed Figren the puck who JUST put it past Johnson on the short side for the Sound Tiger’s only goal of the game.

The Pack were not done with Lawson just yet…for that matter neither were the relentless Wolf Pack fans who just were relentlessly giving it to Lawson the entire game.

With 6:03 left all of Dane Byers hard work over the past three weeks got rewarded on the ice when he took a terrific feed from Ryan Garlock and beat Lawson to the short side. It was a terrific play and a just reward for the Pack captain who has really stepped up in terms of leadership with this group of athletes.

Devin DiDiomete laid a very hard check into Reese as the final buzzer sounded. “Reese kind of took some liberties on guys all night…I wanted him to know that he couldn’t be doing that to our skill guys. I have a chacne to finish a check; I’m going to do that. I’m sure he’s going to have that in the back of his mind the next time we play and maybe it’s going to open more space for some of the skill guys. He’ll be trying to make a big hit on me or maybe take a dumb penalty or something like that.”

ALL of the Sound Tiger players will have until November 27th to think about this game. That’s when they will return to the XL Center for the next battle between these two teams.

Gernander summed it all up saying, “You don’t want to go as long as (the losing streak) obviously did, but hopefully we’ve got things turned around, have that monkey off our back and can start to forge ahead.” 

Bruce Berlet can be found at HartfordWolfPack.com  while the highly talented Mike Fornabaio has his game story from the Bridgeport perspective over at the Connecticut Post. 

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

NOTES:

* This was the first hat-trick by a Wolf Pack player since P.A. Parenteau on 2/28/10 against Jeff Frazee in a 4-3 loss at Lowell. Coincidentally, Parenteau had two of his goals that day on the power play as well.

* It was three weeks to the day since the team’s last win.

* The last time the Wolf Pack scored 7 times in a game was April, 11th 2010 when they won 7-5 at home.

* The Sound Tigers were without some of their best players as defenseman Dustin Kohn, left wings Justin DiBenedetto and Jean Bourbeau and center Tomas Marcinko all were out with injuries. Rob Hisey left the game with a knee injury early in the second period.

SOUNDS OF THE GAME:

Head Coach Ken Gernander:

Mats Zuccarello:

Chad Johnson:

Devin DiDiomete:

Brodie Dupont:

LINES:

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

Redden – Nightingale  
Valentenko – Baldwin    
McDonagh – Kundratek

Johnson  
Talbot

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized) 

SCRATCHES:

Dale Weise – Wrist Surgery – Three to Four Weeks
Jyri Niemi – Upper Body Injury – Day-to-Day 
Nigel Williams – Healthy Scratch
Brandon Wong – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS:

1. HFD – M. Zuccarello
2. HFD – J. Williams
3. HFD – T. Kennedy 

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Chris Cozzan (18)

Linesmen:
Paul Simeon (66)
Brent Colby (7) 

NEXT GAME:

Too much is at stake for the Wolf Pack to let this losing streak continue. They have to win the final game of this home-and-home series with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Sunday night they finish a string of three series of home and homes. Game-time Sunday is at 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:

Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1 at Hartford Wolf Pack 7 – Status: Final
Sunday, November 7, 2010 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Bridgeport 0 0 1 – 1
Hartford 3 2 2 – 7

1st Period-1, Hartford, Zuccarello 4 (Kennedy, Redden), 9:25 (PP). 2, Hartford, Williams 5 (Zuccarello, Kennedy), 11:42 (PP). 3, Hartford, Zuccarello 5 (Kennedy, McDonagh), 19:56. Penalties-Yablonski Bri (tripping), 7:59; Haley Bri (boarding), 11:15; Byers Hfd (high-sticking), 15:13.

2nd Period-4, Hartford, Zuccarello 6 (Dupont), 5:38 (PP). 5, Hartford, Tessier 3 (McKelvie, Byers), 12:39. Penalties-Joensuu Bri (interference), 4:47; Sim Bri (roughing), 9:57; Newbury Hfd (broken stick), 17:23; Ullstrom Bri (unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:54; Garlock Hfd (roughing), 19:30; Haley Bri (roughing, roughing), 20:00; Reese Bri (cross-checking), 20:00; Baldwin Hfd (roughing), 20:00; Kennedy Hfd (high-sticking), 20:00.

3rd Period-6, Hartford, Williams 6 (Tessier), 1:48 (PP). 7, Bridgeport, Figren 3 (Joensuu, Hamonic), 11:43 (PP). 8, Hartford, Byers 3 (Garlock, Williams), 13:57. Penalties-McKelvie Hfd (interference), 3:53; Romano Bri (roughing), 7:18; McKelvie Hfd (roughing), 7:18; Zuccarello Hfd (tripping), 10:11; Yablonski Bri (fighting), 14:39; Soryal Hfd (tripping, fighting), 14:39; Reese Bri (cross-checking), 16:41; Redden Hfd (cross-checking), 17:10; DiDiomete Hfd (misconduct), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-Bridgeport 5-8-12-25. Hartford 12-13-6-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Bridgeport 1 / 7; Hartford 4 / 7.
Goalies-Bridgeport, Lawson 1-2-0 (31 shots-24 saves). Hartford, Johnson 3-8-1 (25 shots-24 saves).
A-2,022
Referees-Chris Cozzan (18).
Linesmen-Paul Simeon (66), Brent Colby (7).