VERSUS
If the Hartford Wolf Pack wind up with an extended playoff run, they’ll look back to Friday night’s 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Portland Pirates as how they got themselves there.
Dane Byers finished off their visitors from Maine with his fifth goal of the season just 1:22 into overtime. If not for the heroics of Andres Ambϋhl, who scored only his second of the season, with just 12.5 seconds remaining in regulation the Pack would be licking their wounds trying to figure out what had gone so terribly wrong against an inferior opponent.
The Wolf Pack managed to save face however after yet another disappearing act for much of the game.
Corey Potter and Dale Weise staked their teammates to a two goal lead in the first 7:51 of the first period. However, after getting those two tallies, the Wolf Pack just plain stopped competing. They stopped winning battles for pucks; got sloppy in their own end and acted as if finishing checks was against the rules. When the Pack had finished with their second period, they looked at a score sheet that revealed just one measly shot on starting netminder Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (23 saves, 5-5-0-1) over the second twenty minutes of the game, a franchise record low.
You would think that after being outshot 10-1 they would come out with some fire for the final third of the contest, but if you did, you’d be wrong.
Nothing changed to start the period. The team looked like they were content to play the way they were and not put any pressure on the North Dakota native between the pipes for the opposition and it nearly came back to haunt them.
In just 6:45 of the third marker, the Pirates put three pucks past Wolf Pack starter Chad Johnson (26 saves, 10-5-0-1).
The first of the Pirate run came at 1:54 when defenseman Matt Generous came down left wing and sent the puck across the ice behind the Pack net where it found Jeff Cowan in the far right corner. Cowan surveyed the landscape and found Felix Schutz alone in front. He had the room because veteran Mathieu Dandenault and newcomer Illka Heikkinen didn’t communicate well with each other as the three time Stanley Cup Champion deserted his post to chase the puck. Schutz received the puck unencumbered by a defensive presence beat Johnson and cut the lead in half at 2-1.
Then came the equalizer just 2:04 later. With pressure in the Pack zone and the puck behind the goal line and defenseman Mike Kostka pinching, Tyler Ennis took the puck away from both Heikkinen and Brodie Dupont. The Pirate center-man stumbled as he came out from behind the net on the right wing side. As he fell he let fly a shot that he managed to somehow sneak by Johnson high into the corner of the net.
Lamoureux kept his teammates in the contest with a brilliant glove save on Derek Couture. At 5:46, a turnover in their own zone put the puck right on Couture’s stick from right center in the slot. Couture unloaded a blast that Lamoureux flashed the leather to keep from finding the back of the cage.
The Pirates just kept coming. Jordan Owens had two dead red tries in front of the Pirate net that were both repelled by Lamoureux. The Pirates regained possession and brought the play back into the Pack zone. Mark Mancari looked over the defensive positioning and saw his opposite wing, Nathan Gerbe finding some open ice in the slot. Through traffic, Mancari put a tape-to-tape pass right on the stick of Gerbe who put everything he had into his one timer and blew it right past Johnson.
The much ballyhooed Wolf Pack power play got only their second chance of the game at 12:03 of the third period. After looking horrible on their first try at 13:28 of the first, the AHL’s leading power play unit, which was on the ice for only their fifth man–advantage over the previous three games, looked just as putrid as their first and came up empty. In the battle of best power play versus worst penalty killing, Portland’s entered the game last in the AHL in penalty killing unit, it was the defense that had their way.
But the Pack kept pressing harder and harder and starting getting shots over he last eight minutes and with Johnson on the bench for an extra attacker, Gernander’s gamble with Ambϋhl paid off handsomely. Heikkinen fed Nigel Williams from the left side to the right. Williams then saw Ambϋhl open in the right circle with time running out. Ambϋhl, who signed as a free agent with the Rangers in May from his native Switzerland, sent a scorcher of a slap shot from the middle of the circle that Lamoureux never saw as he was screened by Byers in front.
With a renewed vigor, the Pack came out flying in overtime. Portland hardly even got the puck into the Pack zone at all.
Dandenault rushed the puck into Pirate territory. He had the puck knocked away from him up at the blue line but recovered it enough with two defenders on him to flip it to Byers. With Corey Locke on his right and Williams to his left, the Pack had a 3-on-1 in the offensive zone. Byers approached Lamoureux, looked him off to Locke and then semi-fanned on the shot that got by the North Dakota native over his right glove and into the net. It was one he should have had, but it was enough to send the Pack to the locker room having saved face and walking away with a 4-3 win.
The Pack’s first goal came after Devin DiDIomete, playing in his second game of the season after recovering from a broken arm, took a big hit behind the net to make a play and keep the puck in deep. Potter found a loose puck in the right circle and introduced it to the upper left corner of the net for only his second of the season.
Dale Weise, who continues to demonstrate that he is ready for a shot at “The Show,” doubled the Pack’s lead at 7:51.
Justin Soryal took a double minor (roughing and high-sticking) at 7:10 giving the Pirates a man advantage for a full four minutes. But just 41 seconds into the power play, Weise blocked a centering pass from Gerbe and raced in alone on Lamoureux with Dupont on his wing. Weise made a strong faked pass that got Lamoureux to move and when he did, the Winnipeg, Manitoba native cut across the crease and beat the Pirate goaltender over the glove.
Weise’s goal was his third of the season, tops in the AHL, and gave the Pack seven shorties on the season, tied for best in the AHL with Abbotsford.
Brian Ring sits in the press box and shares the story in place of the still ailing Bruce Berlet at Hartfordwolfpack.com. The Portland Press Herald has what can pass for coverage. The Portland Pirates own website has just slightly more.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET
NOTES:
* Since the departure of P.A. Parenteau to New York, the power play unit has not looked, or played the same. Over the seven games since Parenteau left, the Power play is a combined 5-for-29 (17.24%).
* After starting off the season 2-5-0-0, the Pack are 11-3-0-1 since
* Corey Locke leads the team with three ame winners. Dane Byers and Dale Weise have two each.
* Byers has points in every game since returning from the Rangers except for the Nov 21 game against Syracuse. Overall, he has points in nine of his last ten. (5g, 6a, 11pts)
MEANWHILE DOWN IN CHARLOTTE:
Checkers have the night off…
LINES:
Byers – Locke – Weise
Grachev – Dupont – Ambϋhl
Soryal – Crowder – Owens
DiDiomete – Garlock – Couture
Potter – Williams
Heikkinen – Dandenault
Sauer – Urquhart
Johnson
(Assistant Captains Italicized)
SCRATCHES:
Bobby Sanguinetti – On recall with the NY Rangers
Chris Chappell – Healthy
Brent Henley – Undisclosed Injury – Day-To-Day
THREE STARS:
1. HFD – D. Byers
2. HFD – A. Ambuhl
3. POR – T. Ennis
ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Referee:
Chris Brown (86)
Linesmen:
Derek Wahl (46)
Luke Galvin (2)
NEXT GAME:
The Wolf Pack look to continue their winning ways…minus the shoddy performance for the majority of the contest… against the Providence Bruins at the XL Center in their third game in four nights.
SCORE-SHEET:
Portland 0 0 3 0 – 3
Hartford 2 0 1 1 – 4
1st Period-1, Hartford, Potter 2 3:37. 2, Hartford, Weise 8 7:51 (sh). Penalties-Soryal Hfd (roughing, high-sticking), 7:10; Generous Por (holding), 13:28.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Soryal Hfd (boarding), 3:16; Sauer Hfd (roughing), 17:53.
3rd Period-3, Portland, Schutz 2 (Cowan, Generous), 1:54. 4, Portland, Ennis 8 (Kostka), 3:58. 5, Portland, Gerbe 5 (Mancari), 8:39. 6, Hartford, Ambuhl 2 (Williams, Heikkinen), 19:47. Penalties-Brennan Por (interference), 12:03.
OT Period-7, Hartford, Byers 5 (Dandenault), 1:22. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Portland 8-10-9-2-29. Hartford 8-1-16-2-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 0 of 4; Hartford 0 of 2.
Goalies-Portland, Lamoureux 5-5-0 (27 shots-23 saves). Hartford, Johnson 10-5-1 (29 shots-26 saves).
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