CANTLON: Thunderbirds Drop Wolf Pack Into Last Place
VERSUS 
BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Springfield Thunderbirds (9-13-1-0) got goals from three different players as they dropped the Hartford Wolf Pack to their fourth straight loss Sunday, 3-1 before an announced crowd of 1,625 at the XL Center.
The loss drops the Pack into the bottom of the Atlantic Division and the conference.
The Pack record is 7-12-2-1 (17 points) and when trailing after two periods this season their record is 0-11-1-0. In the last four games, 17 different players have scored against the Wolf Pack.
No matter how you describe it, things are tough right now in Wolf Pack-land.
“We’re getting pucks into high percentage areas and we’re missing the net and not creating those chances for rebounds and that’s the execution part of things. We have to bear down and finish in those areas,” Pack head coach Keith McCambridge said regarding one of the several things that seem to be ailing the Wolf Pack these days.
The Pack has had a heavy schedule of late, but McCambridge isn’t using that as an excuse.
“We’re coming off four-games-in-six-days out of a five-games-in-eight-days stretch. That’s been a challenge. When there are trials and tribulations of an American Hockey League season, they will happen. It’s how you come out of these that builds your character.”
Springfield got a two-goal lead early in the third period as veteran defenseman, Maxime Fortunas, signed just over a week ago, sent a blistering slap shot from the right point that Alexander Georgiev saved, but Ed Wittchow outworked defenseman Neal Pionk and forward Adam Chapie in front to snag the rebound and score his second of the season.
“I see it as Springfield doing a good job getting the puck to the net and getting better body position, than us being outworked,” said McCambridge
After a solid first period, Hartford allowed Springfield to score in the opening seconds of the second and tie the game at one.
Georgiev put a puck in the corner, but it came up the left wing boards. Cole Schneider can’t control it and lost it to Curtis Valk. The Thunderbird centerman then sent a short pass to Alexandre Grenier. Ryan Graves went for a check, but Grenier avoided it and found rookie Maxim Mamin, who’d gotten behind Anthony DeAngelo. Mamin deposited his second goal in as many games against the Pack into the back of the net at the 31-second mark.
The Pack felt the play was offside and was uncalled.
“Regardless of the fact of the missed call, it’s the American Hockey League and it’s a developmental League for the officials as well. We have to keep playing no matter what. We had a chance with things being ‘scrambly’ to settle things down and (we) didn’t,” McCambridge said.
The Thunderbirds’ Juho Lammikko won a draw from Adam Cracknell powering it out to an open area and Jayce Hawryluk picked up the loose biscuit and wired his third of the season to the short side past Georgiev at 9:38.
“(It was) just a breakdown on the faceoff in our zone,” McCambridge said. “We lose it and our structure and it’s in the back of the net.”
After a healthy 13 shots in the first period, the Pack had a meager three in the second period.
“As good as we did things in the first, we got away from things in the second period and we didn’t create enough offense. We have to have better puck management. It’s a matter of us making some smarter reads,” McCambridge lamented.
A line where all three players have a seven on their jersey helped the Pack get the lead.
Hard work along the boards from #17 Scott Kosmachuk ended with the puck finding #77 Anthony DeAngelo. He let a wrist shot go which was deflected up high by #7 Adam Tambellini. #37 Gabriel Fontaine took the rebound, remained patient with the puck, and flipped his second of the season over the glove hand of Thunderbirds goalie Harri Sateri at 11:58.
“That line was able to generate some offense and Gabriel did an excellent job to finish that play,” McCambridge said.
The Pack, who were outshot 6-3 at that point, were ignited.
While they wouldn’t get any more goals, they consistently put pressure on Springfield. Cole Schneider, Vinni Lettieri, and Graves had quality chances turned aside as the Pack outshot Springfield 13-8.
“Georgy made a couple of point-blank saves early that gave us a chance. We did a lot of good things, getting some reads off the forecheck, got a couple of good opportunities, got our feet moving well and got the momentum going in their zone and we got that all-important first goal,” said McCambridge.
NOTES:
Late addition as the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens executed a minor league trade on Thursday morning. The Rangers shipped Adam Cracknell to Montreal for forward, Peter Holland.
Cracknell 32, played 15 games for Hartford with two goals and assist after being claimed off waivers from Dallas he played just four games for the Rangers. Cracknell has been assigned to the Laval Rocket.
The Wolf Pack received a player in return that fits their present needs in Peter Holland, 26, who’s a centerman and a finisher.
In 20 games with the Rocket, he has eight goals and ten assists. Holland has moved around in his pro career. After a strong junior career with Guelph (OHL), Holland has had stops with Anaheim, Arizona, and his most extensive NHL time was with Toronto.
His AHL stops include Norfolk, Syracuse, Toronto, and Laval. He has just 163 AHL games putting him under the veteran status level.
Pack scratches were Brendan Crawley (healthy after a brief illness), Dan Catenacci (lower body) and Steven Fogarty (lower body). Crawley and Catenacci have missed three straight games and Fogarty two, but all three will be on the trip to Rochester and Toronto this weekend.
The Pack returns home on December 9th against Rochester.
Pack Forward Lines
Chytil-Schneider-Lettieri
Fontaine-Schneider-Kosmachuk
Cracknell-Whitney-Gropp
Chapie-Selleck-DeSalvo
Defense
Graves-DeAngelo
Sproul-Gilmour
Pionk-Pedrie
The attendance of a mere 1,650 is among the 30 worst attendance numbers in Wolf Pack/CT Whale history. Each of them was under 2,000 and 21 of the 30 lowest crowds have occurred under Spectra/Global Spectrum.
After making the Wolf Pack’s lives miserable with a two-point performance Sunday afternoon, Denis Malgin made the Rangers life miserable last night scoring the game-winner for Florida with 1:09 left in the game to give the Panthers a 5-4 victory over the Rangers at MSG.
The goal scored by Florida that chased Henrik Lundquist from the Rangers net was scored by former Wolf Pack and Sound Tiger, Micheal Haley. It was his first of the season!
Ex-Pack Taylor Beck had his contract with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (Russia-KHL) mutually terminated. Beck signed a deal with Kunlun (China-KHL) joining his former Wolf Pack teammate, Magnus Hellberg.
He is also in the mix for the Canadian Olympic squad that is being formulated for the 2018 PyeonChang Games in South Korea.
For a Wednesday night, there were a lot of scouts in attendance including former Whaler great Pat Verbeek, the current the assistant GM./Director of Player Development for Tampa Bay.
Wolf Pack jersey of the nights #16 Oscar Lindberg and #33 Jeff Malcolm.
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