BY Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Any hope for the Hartford Wolf Pack to break their streak of seven straight seasons without a playoff appearance ended at the XL Center on Friday night when the team was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention for the eighth consecutive season in a 2-1 loss to the visiting Charlotte Checkers.
“We competed well, especially five-on-five, the powerplay looked good to start tonight, especially the first one. You can usually look at the standings and see how a team is and can tell where they’re at,” Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch stated. “In our case, our record doesn’t reflect how well we played at times. It was close. It could have gone the other way. Look how many one-goal games we lost. Our record says we’ve been good, it has to be better obviously, but we’ve been better than our record shows. It’s very disappointing,”
Knoblauch’s team is now 30-32-6-2 and sits in seventh place. They will spend the rest of the weekend hoping to avoid finishing under .500 and in last place in the division.
HOW THEY WERE ELIMINATED
A 4-2 home win by Saturday’s opponent, the Bridgeport Islanders, over the Springfield Thunderbirds put the New York Islanders AHL affiliates into the post-season. The Islanders were out of playoff consideration, but in an expanded playoff field they now hold the last postseason berth in the division.
The Checkers defeated the Pack in five of their six games this season. They are in a battle with the Providence Bruins for first place overall in the Atlantic Division. The Wolf Pack are finishing up the final two games of their 72-game season after a dreadful 8-20-2 span over their last thirty games with just a lone regulation win over the last six weeks.
After Saturday’s game in Bridgeport, the final game of the season will be Sunday at the XL Center at 3 PM for Fan Appreciation Night.
GAME WINNER
The game-winning goal came against the Pack penalty kill, which has struggled mightily. Scott Wilson re-directed Dennis Cholowski’s shot from the left point at 9:32. For Wilson, it was his 24th tally of the season.
The Checkers’ Alexei Heponiemi kept the play in the Pack zone. Zach Guittari and Jarred Tinordi were unable to contain anyone and the entire number one PK unit couldn’t get the puck out of the zone or tie up any opposing players.
Knoblauch was 50/50 on the call at that point in the game midway in the third period and that changed the whole complexion of the game.
“It was an undisciplined penalty, I’m OK with it, but it was a very selective call. The cross-check was deserved (by Patrick Khordorenko away from the play) however, the lack of a call the other way with a slash on the back of the legs that started it. That, I had a problem with. I find it hard to swallow. The difference in so many games has been our penalty kill. We shouldn’t have been shorthanded on that play, so there went our chance at the playoffs.”
It looked as if a neutral zone mid-ice cross-check by rookie Brandon Scanlin was initially going to be called with assistant captain Jarred Tinordi pleading the Wolf Pack case during a media timeout.
NO GOALS = NO WINS
“There is lots of reasons, unfortunate bounces, plays here and there, but our goaltending did what they could,” Knoblauch said. “But there were some rebound opportunities.”
Since the All-Star break, top units struggled to find any sort of offense and there was no secondary offense to speak of. If you’re not scoring goals, you’re not winning games and ultimately that’s what did in the 21-22 version of the Wolf Pack.
“The difference between the first half and second half is goal support. For (Kinkaid) then Huska, we early found ways to get to the net and score. In the second half of the year, (Huska) didn’t get the wins because of (the lack of team scoring). We could then go in and get the goal. We were just unable to generate much offense.”
THIRD PERIOD
The team did kill off an early penalty, but in the third period, their own powerplay couldn’t find the back of the net. Kinkaid kept things close stopping Zac Dalpe twice in a twelve-second span in his search for his 30th goal of the season. After Charlotte took the lead the Pack were (again) outshot in the third period six-to-four by Charlotte.
“Keith, (Kincaid) has played very well for us, in fact, both of our goalies have. Keith has been our MVP this year, at least three quarters of it anyway.” Knoblauch stated.
SECOND PERIOD
In the second period, the Checkers evened the game at one as Chase Priskie corralled a rebound of a blocked shot by Serron Noel. It came right back to him and he snapped his eighth goal past Kinkaid, who was screened by Henry Bowlby.
Charlotte had a 12-7 shot advantage for the period.
The Wolf Pack had their chances but could not capitalize on any of them. Charlotte goalie Joey Daccord turned away a Zach Guitarri shot with a wide-open net. Matt Lorito was close to scoring and lifted the puck for the open upper part of the cage, but incredibly, Daccord got his left leg up to deny him with 1:19 remaining.
“That was a big turning point in the game at the side of the net. It could have made it 2-1 for us. If you’re doing all the right things you score on those opportunities and would not be taking penalties. We simply couldn’t do that enough or long enough in a game. It’s tough to win in the National Hockey League. It’s tough to win in the American Hockey League. You have to do the right things all the time, when you don’t, it makes it more difficult.”
WOLF PACK GOAL
In the first period, the Wolf Pack controlled a large portion of the play and earned the only goal of the period.
The whole scoring play for Hartford came as a result of Tanner Fritz’s hustle. He negated an icing with a fine second effort that created the scoring opportunity and gave the crowd of over 4,100 something to cheer.
“Tanner’s efforts were outstanding for us. The whole line played well for us, especially in the second period. They did a good job of cycling the puck, but sadly we could get only one goal.”
Jarred Tinordi avoided a defensive zone forecheck and curled back, which sprung Fritz, who was open on the left-wing side. Fritz dashed past Connor Carrick and snapped his 13th goal of the season over Daccord’s glove. The puck went off the post at 18:15.
It was the first five-on-five goal for the Pack in ten periods of hockey.
So with any hope of playoff hockey in Hartford now gone, Knoblauch is just looking for a strong end to the season.
“We want to finish playing the way we know we can. The players need some more moral victories right now.”
LINES
Ronning-Trivigno-Letunov
Lorito-Fritz-Merkley
Gettinger-Khordorenko-Greco
Richards-Rueschoff-Whalen
Scanlin- Tinordi
Jones-Taylor
Robertson-Guitarri
Kinkaid
Huska
SCRATCHES
Pajuniemi (day-to-day sickness)
Lundkvist (out for the rest of the weekend)
DiGiacinto
Skinner
Whelan
O’Leary
Ethan Brodzinski
NOTES
Defenseman Eric Williams was brought in from the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL). He practiced with the team, but won’t be in the lineup as he was brought in as insurance with the non-COVID flu bug running through the team.
Defenseman Zach Berzolla was returned mid-week to play with the Pack’s ECHL affiliates, the playoff-bound Jacksonville IceMen.
Lauri Pajuniemi and Nils Lundkvist are among the sick players who were scratched before the game.
The Islanders signed William Dufour from the Saint John Seadogs. Dufour is the leading scorer in the QMJHL. He won’t be in Bridgeport Friday night as Saint John is hosting the return of the Memorial Cup tournament this year, emblematic of Canadian major junior hockey supremacy. The Sea Dogs get an automatic bid.
