BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Both CJ Smith and Eric Cornel tallied a goal and an assist while goalie Jonas Johansson stopped 34 of 35 shots giving the Rochester Americans a 4-1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack, who are without a win in their seventh straight game (0-6-1-0) pushing them further from playoff contention.
“I’m at a loss for words. This sucks,” Finnish winger, Ville Meskanen, succinctly and appropriately said.
Rochester continued to maintain its grip on first place in the North Division advancing their record to 28-13-3-1 (60 points). The Wolf Pack meanwhile slip to 19-23-3-2 (43 points) good for 8th in the division, last place.
“I thought we had some good offensive zone time, generated some chances, but their goaltender did a good job making key saves in the game when we had sustained pressure in the second and third period,” remarked Pack head coach Keith McCambridge.
Rochester put the game away late when Cornel bagged his second goal of the game firing his sixth of the season off the inside of the right pad of Pack starting netminder, Dustin Tokarski and it trickled over the goal line at 16:59.
The Pack avoided their third shutout of the season when Meskanen was able to take advantage of a lucky bounce off a John Gilmour point shot. The puck went off a skate and came right to him. The rookie snapped his tenth of the year past Jonas Johansson and spoiled his shutout bid.
“It was a lucky bounce. I should score more goals. We missed way too many scoring chances,” Meskanen said. His brevity was direct and to the point summarizing the Wolf Pack current losing streak.
The Wolf Pack offensive zone MO was to try and generate quality chances, but there was no support there to create the second and third chances. In one instance, Shawn O’Donnell came out of the penalty box and drove in off the left wing with the puck on his stick. Steven Fogarty had a chance however, the shot went wide.
In the second period, the Wolf Pack outshot the Amerks 10-4, but those were mostly single chance opportunities and very spaced out ten shots again, with no second or third opportunities. The Pack got some good solid hits from Dawson Leedahl and Rob O’Gara that weren’t followed up and a great Saturday night crowd was left with little to cheer for.
One scout acidly noted, “the biggest cheer was when (Peter) Holland broke his stick.”
“We got some good, Grade-A chances, and we didn’t score on them and we were a little sleepy with the puck,” remarked Meskanen.
The Americans took the lead on a defensive miscue after a stellar play by the same player.
Late in a Wolf Pack powerplay in the first period, Chris Bigras broke up a two-on-one chance but then turned it right back over to Rochester’s Scott Wilson. He fed Smith, who was exiting the penalty box, and he had a breakaway and slipped his 19th of the season behind Tokarski at the 4:00 mark.
“We played like a tentative team to start. We didn’t have the execution we should have,” McCambridge said.
Once again, Rochester got their fourth break-in attempt. Smith was seeking to score again, but Tokarski denied him.
Later in the period, after their most solid and consistent offenzine zone pressure, a shot by Gabriel Fontaine and then Vinni Lettieri were both turned aside before the Americans marched out of their own zone to score.
Rasmus Apslund fired a cross-ice pass to Cornel, who was going wide on the right wing. He zipped the shot he took over the glove hand, off the far post, and in, for his fifth goal and the 2-0 Rochester lead at 15:21.
“It’s tough to get a good start down 2-0. We have to get a lead,” remarked Meskanen.
SCRATCHES:
Matt Beleskey (Illness)
Brandon Crawley (Healthy)
Shawn St. Amant (Healthy)
Sean Day (Healthy)
LINES:
Holland-Brickley-Meskanen
Andersson-Lettieri-Fontaine
Fogarty-Butler-Gettinger
O’Donnell-Leedahl-Gropp
Gilmour-Lindgren
Bigras-Hajak
O’Gara-Tolkinen
NOTES:
O’Donnell was back in the lineup for his second consecutive game following his missing 13 games with an upper body injury.
Hartford Wolf Pack Booster Club Player of the Month for January was Peter Holland.
With the trade deadline just three weeks away, there are lots of smaller moves ongoing before, during, and just after the All-Star break concluded.
Tanner MacMaster (Quinnipiac University-ECACHL) was traded from the Utica Comets to the Toronto Marlies.
Will O’Neill went from the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins to EC Salzburg (Austria-EBEL).
After four games in Brampton (ECHL), defenseman Michal Moracevik of the Laval Rocket has gone back home to play for HC Plzen (Czech Republic-CEL).
Matt Marcinew formally signs a Standard Player Contract (SPC) with the Springfield Thunderbirds dropping his PTO status. The parent Florida Panthers recalled forward Jace Hawryluk and defensemen Josh Brown and Ian MCoshen.
The Sound Tigers lose Michael Del Colle and Devon Toews (Quinnipiac) to recall by the Islanders.
Ex-Pack Dale Weise was finally assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by the parent Philadelphia Flyers. How long he stays there we’ll know for sure in three weeks. Goaltender Mike McKenna joined the Phantoms on Thursday.
Weise picked up an assist in Bridgeport Friday night for Lehigh Valley.
The leading scorer in the ECHL is none other than ex-Pack, TJ Hensick of Toledo Walleye. He has 15 goals and 53 points. Hensick was third in scoring even after a month on recall with the Colorado Eagles (AHL). Ex-Pack, Caleb Herbert, leads the league still with 23 goals and 47 points with the Utah Grizzlies while ex-Pack, Chris McCarthy, with the Reading Royals is tenth with 11 goals and 44 points.
Bo Pieper (Quinnipiac University-ECACHL) goes from Reading (ECHL) to the Brampton Beast(ECHL).
Rob Darrar (Gunnery Prep) goes from Huntsville (SPHL) to Reading (ECHL).
Ex-Pack, Paul Crowder, with his brother Tim Crowder, will play for the Sydney Ice Dogs (Australia-AIHL) this summer. Paul is playing with Fife (Scotland-EIHL) while his brother Tim is with Coventry (England-EIHL) this season.
Ex-Pack, Ryan Glenn, has left Alba Valon (Hungary-EBEL) and signs with HC Banska Bystrica (Slovakia-SLEL) for the rest of the year
For the rest of the season, ex-Sound Tiger, Kurtis McLean, leaves TUTO (Finland Division-1) for HC Detva (Slovakia-SLEL). Another ex-Sound Tiger, Dustin Friesen, signed a one-year extension with ERC Ingolstadt (Germany-DEL).
Nik Allain (North Branford/Taft) de-commits from UCONN (HE) and is going to play for his father Keith Allain at Yale University (ECACHL) in 2020-21. He presently plays for the Boston Jr. Bruins (NCDC).
Three cheers for former AHL player, Mario Roberge, who played for Sherbrooke and Fredericton in the 1980s along with his brother Serge literally battled their way to the NHL. Mario earned a Stanley Cup ring for the last Montreal Cup champ in 1993.
The 55-year-old saved two women, ages 80 and 60, from a burning apartment across the street from where he lives in Beauport, QC. He not only brought them to safety but had them stay in his house. He gets the Three-Star selection for the day.
Wolf Pack fan jersey of the night was #44 Ryan “Hollywood” Hollweg.
Today would have been the 66th birthday of one of the great Connecticut hockey writers, the late Jack Lautier.
Whose last words in the XL Center were, “I love this place.”
We miss one of the best. He’s gone now 13 years.
Thanks for the tip from his brother Jim Lautier who gets the primary assist.
