BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack will have three cracks at ending their losing streak this weekend. Just one will do in Springfield Friday night in their fifth consecutive road game.
The hope is to start a winning streak at the XL Center on the back end of a hockey doubleheader against the Binghamton Devils at 7:30 PM.
On Sunday the Pack gets on the bus to travel to Providence for a 3 PM puck drop against the Baby Bruins.
“Things could be different. We went to overtime (the last two) games. However, they’re still two losses. Our powerplay had some scoring chances. It helped us against Hershey, but still isn’t performing as we would like. Maybe we won some games early in the season we shouldn’t have, and now we’re losing games we deserve to win,” team captain, Steven Fogarty, stated.
“We’re still in the games,” Fogarty added. “We’re not getting blown out. I thought we played really well the first two periods against Lehigh Valley, but they took it to us in the third, but we were there in overtime.
“In Hershey, it was a weird game. Special teams, lots of teddy bears, (Hershey had their Teddy Bear toss). I don’t want to make excuses. We’re not gonna win every game. No team has ever done that,” Fogarty said with a laugh and a wry smile. “If we stick to the small things will get back to where we were.”
There will be some lineup changes for the weekend.
Defenseman Sean Day was reassigned to the team’s ECHL affiliates, the Maine Mariners.
Yegor Rykov (pronounced Ree-kov) will make his regular season debut after missing the first two months of the season while recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered in the Traverse City prospects camp in early September.
He was given full medical clearance last week and was formally reassigned Wednesday to Hartford where he has been skating for the past month.
“We have an excess of defenseman now with Yegor coming back to play this weekend, and Jeff Taylor is playing great. He a very valued prospect. He was originally scheduled to be here for the opening day roster, but unfortunately, the injury pushed him back. There were discussions about (where he would go), but it was felt best that this is where he should be,” Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch said of the Russian rookie rearguard.
Taylor was signed in the off-season from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins roster. He has been scratched more than he has played. He did well enough last weekend that the New York Rangers/Wolf Pack elected to keep him and to send Day back to Maine for a second time in his brief pro career.
“The way (Taylor) is playing, there is no way we’re going to send him back. Sean is a good defenseman. He’ll be back. He was helpful when he was here, and we want to make sure he gets his minutes (in Maine),” Knoblauch said flatly.
Upfront, Tim Gettinger, who missed both of last weekend’s game with a lower-body injury, will be back, as will Lewis Zerter-Gossage (upper body).
“I think five-on-five we need to generate more offense, and in those games, that’s where you need your power play to come through for you, and lately it hasn’t come through as often as we’d like.
“Our last game, (in Hershey), we were terrible five-on-five, but there, our powerplay did give us an opportunity with two power play goals and that makes a huge difference and special teams are very important,” Knoblauch said in speaking of his 27th ranked power play which is operating at a flaccid 11.0%.
In net, Igor Shesterkin is slated to start the game Friday with Adam Huska going Saturday against Binghamton. Knoblauch has no qualms about the play he’s receiving in the 4×6 cage.
“Our goaltending has been outstanding and has been very good. It looks bad right now, but that is a reflection of how we have been playing in front of them. We are defending more than we should be, that’s because we’re not making the simple passes. We’re trying the longer ones, which are more low percentage, and we give away possession (of the puck), so we’re back more in our zone and that leads to breakdowns and scoring chances.”
Fogarty thinks there could be something to their recent play relying on their two brick walls in net a little too much.
“Maybe subconsciously we might be doing that a bit, but we’re trying to cheat and maybe make plays we shouldn’t have. They’re still making those saves for us and it certaintly is not in our game plan.”
The main game plan is to win in regulation and start a new winning streak.
NOTES:
Late note… Shesterkin could be recalled in the morning depending on the condition of Henrik Lundqvist who took ill before the Columbus game a 3-2 Rangers win.
The emergency goalie was in the house, but Alexander Georgiev went between the pipes and was spectacular making 45 saves.
Cayden Primeau, the son of former Hartford Whaler, Keith Primeau, made his NHL debut in Montreal and was on the short lost a 3-2 decision to Colorado.
The Thunderbirds gave up 63 shots on goal in regulation at home on Wednesday night to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They recalled defenseman Dylan MacPherson from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL).
Former Wolf Pack goalie, Chris Nell, is now on his third ECHL team in the first two months of the season. He was traded from the Adirondack Thunder to the Florida Everblades.
Ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger, Jared Gomes, leaves the Brampton Beast (ECHL) to head to EC Bad Nauheim (Germany DEL-2).
Kristoff Kontos, the son of ex-New Haven Nighthawk and Ranger, Chris Kontos, signs a deal for the rest of the year with Vimmerby HC (Sweden Division-1).
The World Junior Championship tourney comes up in three weeks with rosters starting to get filled in with names.
Canada has one local name. Peter Diliberatore from Quinnipiac University (ECACHL). The team’s goalie coach is Pack all-time great, Jason LaBarbera.
Sweden has announced the names of two Rangers prospects on the initial roster. They are defenseman Nils Lundqvist, and center Karl Henriksson.
The host Czech Republic released their preliminary roster. It features goalie Nick Malik, who is the son of former Hartford Whaler, Beast of New Haven, and Rangers defenseman, Marek Malik.
Two new hockey statues will be unveiled at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City in September of 2020.
Manon Rheame was the first female goaltender to ever play in an NHL (exhibition) game, which she did with the Tampa Bay Lightning, participated in the prestigious International Pee Wee tournament in Quebec City as a young girl.
A Beauport, Quebec native, she played for Canada in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan where she earned a silver medal, and two gold medals at the Women’s World Championships.
She played games for several minor league teams as well. She had stops in Knoxville, Nashville, Tallahassee (ECHL), Atlanta, Flint, and Las Vegas in the old IHL, where she also would meet her husband. She also had 11 games with the Reno Renegades (WCHL).
Rheame is married to former New Haven Senators forward, Gerry St. Cyr. Their son, Dylan, is a sophomore playing goal for Notre Dame (Big 10). Her brother, Pascal Rheame played in 318 NHL games – briefly with the Rangers – and is an ex-Wolf Pack. He is presently the head coach with Val d’Or (QMJHL).
The other statue will be of Quebec City native, and former Whaler, Sylvain Cote. He played in 1,171 NHL games of which 382 were in Hartford. His NHL numbers saw him tally 122 goals and a total of 435 points. The Whalers drafted him in the first round (11th overall) in 1984. During his time in Hartford had tallied 31 goals and 92 points with the Whalers.
Cote played the majority of his career with the Washington Capitals but also skated with Chicago, Dallas, and Toronto. He played for Canada at two WJC tournaments in 1984 and 1985.
His son Caden is currently playing for Team Maryland U-18 program.
