BYERS WITH THE GAME WINNER – FOR SPRINGFIELD!

VERSUS

In a game that had playoff intensity, the Hartford Wolf Pack bid adieu to their fans at the XL Center Saturday night but came up short in a 4-3 shootout loss. Dane Byers had a big game and clinched it for – Springfield.

Byers, the Wolf Pack’s fifth team captain, was traded by the team on Thursday for Chad Kolarik, and was playing in his first game with the Falcons. Byers assisted on the late game tying goal and then closed out the Wolf Pack’s run in Hartford with a shootout goal to end it.

A smile that had been missing from the sixth year pro all season long was clearly back after the game. “I wasn’t really expecting the boos, but Hartford has passionate fans,” said Byers. “But obviously it feels good to get the win.”

The Wolf Pack came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to take a 3-2 with 6:24 to go Jeremy Williams gave the Pack it’s first lead. But it was Byers who stole the show and the win for his new team. Byers took a great pass from Maksim Mayorov in the left wing circle and fired hard on net. The shot hit the stick of Springfield’s other newcomer playing in his first game, Michael Blunden, who redirected it past Wolf Pack starting netminder Cameron Talbot (1-2-0, 25 saves) with just 4:25 left in regulation.

“I knew (Blunden) was going back door, so that’s where I threw it, and he touched it,” Byers said.

The Wolf Pack tried for the winner in regulation but could not get anything by Falcon’s starter David LeNeveu (5-3-1, 21 saves). In overtime Brodie Dupont and Wade Redden both had good chances, but their shots missed the net.

So it went to the dreaded shootout and once again the glaring weakness of the 2010-2011 edition of this team reared its ugly face…the inability to score goals.

LeNeveu was never put in a tough position in the shootout by any of the teams four shooters and all were stopped.

Meanwhile, Talbot who stopped Matt Calvert and Mayorov on their attempts was beaten by Tomas Kubalik with a backhanded shot and then it was up to Byers.

The Nipawin, Saskatchewan native raced up hard and put his shot dead red on his former teammate. Talbot got most of it but there was enough on it that it just trickled through his legs and with it the game.

“It’s my best against his best.” Byers said. “I’m not much of a dangler, so I was going to shoot no matter what and knew where I was going to put it.

“It was almost like a playoff game. The crowd was in it, it was back-and-forth hockey, and a couple of goals were deflected in, but that’s part of hockey. Emotions were high. It was fun to be a part of.”

Head Coach Ken Gernander, who didn’t look like he thought it was “very fun” gave his assessment. “It was a high-intensity game where we played hard for the most part, but it’s a 60-minute game,” He said. “We’re to the point in time where we need points and need to start to play desperate hockey. Emotion and intensity was visible, and that’s what it requires. We’re not afforded any luxuries.”

As has been the practice of the team this season, they took an early penalty that ended up costing them.

Ryan Garlock went off for Boarding at 2:54 of the first; 44 seconds later, the puck was in the back of the net.

As the Falcons moved the puck around the perimeter John Moore fed Kubalik who saw Calvert all alone on the left side of the net. Kubalik put the puck right on Calvert’s stick. Talbot slid over in time, but Calvert lifted the puck and threw it across to the lower right corner of the net past Talbot for his sixth of the year.

Pavel Valentenko tangled with Kubalik in a scrum with 1:40 to go in the first and both wound up in the box for roughing. Trevor Frischmon joined them with 13.4 to go for an interference call creating a 4-on-3 power play.

It appeared that Mats Zuccarello’s shot form the right side on the power play that beat LeNeveu high to the glove side scored in just as the buzzer sounded, but referee Ryan Fraser waved it off saying that it came just after the buzzer had sounded.

But justice was served for the home team.

After controlling the puck in the Falcon’s zone for the remaining time in the man advantage at the start of the second frame, Williams’ laser beam shot from the left point blew right over a sliding Byers and past LeNeveu high to the glove side into the back of the net to tie the score just three seconds after the power play ended.

Michael Ratchuk had a goal disallowed by Fraser after his stuff in came after the goal became dislodged from it’s moorings at 8:01.

Just 54 seconds later, after Redden put a hard hit on Kana, Nick Tarnasky came over and went after Redden. A melee broke out with fights it seemed all over the place. In a scene you don’t see too often, an enraged Redden jumped into the middle of it. Out of the scrum of bodies, Kris Newbury, who already plays the game with an edge but has been especially hot under the collar, just beat the tar out of Tyler Murovich.

The Wolf Pack were awarded a power play out of all of it, but were unable to get anything past LeNeveu, who has now beaten his former team in his last two straight appearances.

Rookie Ryan McDonagh prevented what could have been the go-ahead goal moments later when he came back on a partial breakaway to Mayorov from a Byers pass. Zuccarello then had a scoring chance that failed off a Garlock feed.

With 4:32 to go in the period, some bad blood boiled over as two Czech players, Kundratek and Kana dropped the gloves. The crowd erupted after seeing Kundratek exploded and just about decapitated Kana with a furry of blows not often seen in most fights let alone from two European players.

But whatever momentum was gained by the fight was quickly eviscerated by Mayorov. He gave the Falcons their second lead of the game 55 seconds later with just 3:37 left in the second period when he used Jyri Niemi to screen Talbot and fired a wrister into the upper corner of the net for his fourth of the season.

3:19 into the final frame, Zuccarello had a good scoring chance but in a microcosm of this entire season, the puck rang off the far side post. Exactly two minutes later, Evgeny Grachev had his backhanded attempt stopped by LeNeveu and then Talbot responded exactly a minute later denying Mayorov’s shot.

But it was the other player in the Byers deal, the one who came to Hartford, Chad Kolarik who would knot the game for the Wolf Pack. He got by Nick Holden and after Newbury tipped over the puck off a rebound of a Grachev shot from the left side he just buried the gift into the back of the net.

Kolarik put it in perspective.

“It was good to score, but I missed the shootout one that really counted,” He said.

Williams gave the Wolf Pack only their second lead in the last 12 games at 13:36 when LeNeveu mishandled a screened shot that came from the top of the right circle. Redden and Kundratek got the helpers on Williams’ eighth of the season.

“In most of our games, we’ve been down in the third period but have been able to get it close or tie it,” Rob Riley said afterwards. The Falcons rookie coach added, “We did a real good job coming back. Dane made a nice play on the rush (for the tying goal), and Mike did a good job of deflecting it in. Both teams deserved a point.”

Kolarik summed it up for the home team.

“It’s disappointing that Byers goes and gets the game-winner. I thought our line played pretty well, and I think this is something to build on. We played well and have to take it into Wednesday night (against Manchester).”

Bruce Berlet can be found at HartfordWolfPack.com. Bruce also wrote the Springfield perspective as well at MassLive.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

NOTES:

* In Kana’s fight with Kundratek, the Springfield centerman, who was in just his ninth game of the season after breaking his hand in training camp, dislocated a finger in the fight. (If You can call it that. From his perspective, more like a punching bag)

* Hartford Wolf Pack General Manager, Jim Schoenfeld took in the game. Schoenfeld was not happy with what he saw on the ice and let his coaching staff know it in his post game meeting with them. He left the building quickly afterwards.

* Kolarik wore number 42 on the ice for the Wolf Pack. The last 42 on the team was Artem Anisimov.

* The games attendance was 7,385 which eclipsed the 7,013 for opening night as the largest crowd to this point in the season. The question is though, how will the new Connecticut Whale draw on their opening night on November 27th?

* The team’s previous captains were Gernander, Craig Wellar, Andrew Hutchinson and Greg Moore.

* There was lots of pomp and circumstance in a ten-minute pregame ceremony celebrating the Wolf Pack’s history. The All-Time team was announced to mixed reviews.

SOUNDS OF THE GAME:

Head Coach Ken Gernander: 

Dane Byers: 

Chad Kolarik: 

LINES:

Dupont – Kennedy – Zuccarello
Grachev – Newbury – Kolarik
J. Williams – Tessier – Donati
Soryal – Garlock – DiDiomete

Valentenko – Niemi McDonagh
McDonagh – Nightingale
Redden – Kundratek

Talbot
Johnson

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Dale Weise – Wrist Surgery – Three to Four Weeks
Lee Baldwin – Healthy Scratch
Nigel Williams – Healthy Scratch
Chris McKelvie – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS:

1. SPR – T. Kubalik
2. SPR – M. Mayorov
3. HFD – J. Williams

(Those were the ones announced. The players we submitted were 1St Byers, 2nd Wilson, 3rd Mayorov

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Ryan Fraser (14)

Linesmen:
Paul Simeon (66)
Derek Wahl (46)

NEXT GAME:

The Wolf Pack are off now until Wednesday when they begin their final 5 games as the Hartford Wolf Pack. It’ll be Wednesday in Manchester; Friday in Springfield (7:30pm); Saturday in Binghamton (7:05pm) and Sunday in Hershey (5:00pm) and then the last game next Friday in Bridgeport (7:00).  Wednesday’s game time in Manchester is 11am. Bob Crawford will have the early pregame at 10:30am.

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:

Springfield Falcons 4 (SO) at Hartford Wolf Pack 3 – Status: Final SO
Saturday, November 13, 2010 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Springfield 1 1 1 0 – 4
Hartford 0 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Springfield, Calvert 6 (Kubalik, Moore), 3:38 (PP). Penalties-Garlock Hfd (boarding), 2:54; Kubalik Spr (roughing), 18:20; Valentenko Hfd (roughing), 18:20; Frischmon Spr (interference), 19:46.

2nd Period-2, Hartford, Williams 7 (Newbury, Dupont), 1:49. 3, Springfield, Mayorov 4 (Holden, Savard), 16:23. Penalties-Kundratek Hfd (holding), 4:49; Kana Spr (roughing), 8:55; Murovich Spr (fighting, misconduct), 8:55; Tarnasky Spr (roughing, fighting), 8:55; Kundratek Hfd (roughing), 8:55; Newbury Hfd (fighting, misconduct), 8:55; Redden Hfd (fighting), 8:55; Kana Spr (fighting), 15:28; Kundratek Hfd (fighting), 15:28.

3rd Period-4, Hartford, Kolarik 5 (Newbury, Grachev), 7:51. 5, Hartford, Williams 8 (Redden, Kundratek), 13:36. 6, Springfield, Blunden 8 (Byers, Mayorov), 15:35. Penalties-Moore Spr (roughing, roughing), 10:15; Kolarik Hfd (roughing), 10:15; Williams Hfd (hooking), 10:51.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Springfield 2 (Calvert NG, Mayorov NG, Kubalik G, Byers G), Hartford 0 (Zuccarello NG, Williams NG, Kennedy NG, Kolarik NG).
Shots on Goal-Springfield 9-10-9-0-1-29. Hartford 7-8-9-0-0-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 1 / 3; Hartford 0 / 3.
Goalies-Springfield, LeNeveu 5-3-1 (24 shots-21 saves). Hartford, Talbot 1-1-1 (28 shots-25 saves).
A-7,385
Referees-Ryan Fraser (14).
Linesmen-Paul Simeon (66), Derek Wahl (46).