BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Igor Shestekin’s 26 saves were good enough to secure his second career AHL shutout while Nick Jones’ two goals paced the Hartford Wolf Pack to a 4-0 victory and extended the team’s winning streak to five games.
The Wolf Pack has an unblemished record of 12-0-1-2 when leading after two periods.
“We’re playing good hockey right now. We lost five-in-a-row and that woke us up. We didn’t like the way we were playing. There were some close games, but we tightened things up and over the past five games we have made a great bounce back,” said defenseman Nick Ebert.
The Wolf Pack (16-2-4-5) travels to Allentown tomorrow for the completion of the home-and-home with the Phantoms (10-11-1-4). The Wolf Pack remains in first place in the Atlantic Division with 39 points and are now four points ahead of the idle Providence Bruins.
“Our passing was so good tonight that it allowed for good puck pressure and you want guys skating and using their legs. That was a good indicator of how well we can play,” Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch remarked.
Jones scored twice in the third period with the first coming off a long rebound from a Darren Raddysh blast from 30 feet out.
“I got a good rebound there. It was nice to get one of those bounces and get one in,” Jones said of his third goal of the season.
Knoblauch has confidence and admitted he had been worried about his lack of points, but he paid him a huge compliment. The fourth line had three goals on the night.
“He had been frustrated with his point totals. Sometimes they go in, and sometimes they don’t. Overall, he has been one of the most consistent players on our team.
“The (fourth) line played very well tonight. Jonesy has been strong for us all year long. Everyone who plays with him has good games, and that’s a good indicator of how valuable a player he is. He makes his teammates better,” said Knoblauch of his rookie center. His play with Tim Gettinger is a prime example of his benefit to the team.
The coach rewarded his play with some late-game power play duty. His standing in front of the net led to a perfect tip of Joey Keane’s low-riding, and hard slapshot at 19:25. It was his second goal of the night and fourth of the season.
“It was nice to get out there. I’m usually only out there for the PK,” Jones said with a laugh. “Keane put it right where you want it.”
Besides pitching his second shutout, Shesterkin tried to get into the record books attempting to become the fifth goalie in AHL history to score a goal. A Phantoms’ glove blocked his shot and was the only thing preventing him from doing so.
The Wolf Pack’s second goal was a result of good old-fashioned hard work.
Lewis Zerter-Gossage was in on the forecheck and all over Phantoms forward, Isaac Ratcliffe. Zerter-Gossage stripped Ratcliffe of the puck and moved in on and beat goalie, Alex Lyon, to the far side notching his second of the season. The goal came at 6:46.
“Lewis adds so much to the team with his size and speed. We could use a little more speed. He’s a very smart hockey player and he doesn’t take risks and made a smart play there.”
Shesterkin played in back-to-back games for just the second time this season and demonstrated just why he is so highly regarded.
He stopped Andy Andeoff to start the second period just as he did at the end of the first.
He denied Nicolas Aube-Kubel from off the right-wing side with 5:59 left in the period.
Tyler Wotherspoon saw his shot from the right point stopped and then with 3:16 he drilled a shot over Shesterkin’s glove hand. The puck went off the post and up the right-wing half wall where ex-Pack Chris Bigras was stationed.
Bigras came off the left point and stepped into the shot with a wide-open cage, but Shesterkin slid over with his paddle down and used his blocker to prevent a goal.
“That was one of about five-or-six saves that he made that were something else. He makes all look good. We’re so lucky to have him,” said Jones.
The Pack had some chances before Zerter-Gossage’s goal. Matt Beleskey had a breakaway at 1:58 and then Raddysh came down the right-wing with 14:46. Vinni Lettieri had a chance from the blue-line late at 18:47 and then Patrick Newell took a shot from off the right wing with 37.4 seconds left.
The Pack had an early shot advantage of 7-1 and scored their first goal on the seventh shot.
Ebert was at the left point and took a pass. The right-handed shot put the puck quickly to his backhand and with an outside position on the Phantoms, German Rubstov.
The move got Rubstov turned outside and zipped it past him. He then went to a forehand shot that went off Lyon, a former Yale goalie, and it skittered over the goal line for the 1-0 Wolf Pack lead.
“The player got a little aggressive and I was able to get around him and got the puck to the net. The key to the game now is getting pucks to the net and I think I caught their goalie sleeping a little bit,” said Ebert.
Rubstov tried to atone for his error with a strong move to the net with 2:05 to go, but Shesterkin was able to come up with a dandy glove save.
Andeoff came off the right-wing at a high rate of speed going airborne and was stopped with 1:17 remaining in the period.
LINES:
Andersson-Fogarty-Beleskey
Nieves-Gettinger-Newell
O’Regan-Lettieri–DiGiuseppe
Jones–Zerter-Gossae-Gropp
Raddysh-LoVerde
Keane-Geersten
Rykov-Ebert
SCRATCHES:
Jeff Taylor (healthy)
Ryan Dmowski (healthy)
Gabriel Fontaine (season-ending shoulder surgery)
NOTES:
The ceremonial face-off prior to the start of the game featured four women from Team USA women’s team. The four were Amanda Kessel, Emily Matheson, Lee Stecklein, and Alex Cavallini.
Saturday night, Team USA and Team Canada will face-off in Game 1 of the Rivalry Series at the XL Center at 7 PM. The game will air live on the NBCSN.
It was announced that the US roster will include Hilary Knight, a three-time Olympian who won two Silver and a Gold medal. She played at Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford) as well as the CT Polar Bears (Northford).
Game 2 of the series to be played Tuesday night in Moncton, New Brunswick and will air live on the NHL Network.
Mellissa Samoskevich (Sandy Hook/Quinnipiac University) didn’t make the final cut for the team.
Adam Huska will be in net tomorrow for the Wolf Pack.
Pack captain, Steven Fogarty, is not 100% after taking a puck off his hand on Wednesday night.
“I don’t think he has been healthy since he was nine years old,” Knoblauch said with a laugh. “I have learned already he gets banged up, but just keeps on going, and if he’s hurt he isn’t going to tell you about it. He is the captain for a reason in the way he plays and handles himself.”
Ville Meskanen, who was released on Wednesday, has signed a two-year contract with Ilves Tampere in the Finnish Elite League (FEL). He will play his first game next Friday.
Meskanen’s release was made to accommodate the return of Vitali Kravtsov, whose KHL contract with the Traktor Chelyabinsk in Russia was terminated. He was officially recalled from his loan by the Rangers and assigned back to Hartford.
Kravtsov will not be in the lineup in Allentown, PA on Saturday against Lehigh Valley. He’s already there and will meet the team, and skate with them on Sunday and Monday. Knoblauch stated he could play Tuesday in Charlotte.
