Crawford's Pack Report: OT Blues...

Monday, January 21, 2008 - 4:44 PM

The Wolf Pack had a great opportunity to help themselves this past week, with four divisional games, and although they didn’t totally fumble away the chance, they didn’t grab it with both hands either. They got at least a point in three of the four contests, but after winning the first of the four, the Pack went 0-1-2 in the last three.

Working overtime had been pretty good to the Wolf Pack prior to last weekend, as they had gone their first eight trips to OT without losing, but it didn’t treat them very well Saturday or Sunday. Portland scored a power-play goal only 33 seconds into the extra frame in Saturday’s game at the XL Center, ending a pretty wild game that finished with the Pack on the short end of a 5-4 score. Then, Sunday in Providence, the Wolf Pack saw the Bruins tie the game at three with only 1:20 left in regulation and win it on Jeff Hoggan’s second goal of the game at 3:49 of OT. A standings point in both games, but bitterly disappointing to have a couple of teams ahead of the Pack in the division pull out a pair of points, in games that the Pack led in the third period.

There certainly were several bright spots to the week’s action. Wednesday’s 5-2 home win over Worcester snapped a frustrating streak of the Wolf Pack’s being unable to win in their own building. Andrew Hutchinson had a big week of creating offense from off the blueline, with a goal and two assists Saturday and a goal and an assist Sunday. Ryan Callahan continued his dynamic play, notching two goals and five points through Saturday, before he was held off the scoresheet Sunday for the first time in seven games since joining the Wolf Pack. Alex Bourret snapped out of a lengthy offensive slump with a goal and two assists in Wednesday’s win, and P.A. Parenteau, who had hardly been shut out offensively but who had not been finishing a lot of plays lately, hit the back of the net three times in the four games and got up over the 40-point mark for the season. Also, on defense the unit got deeper, and tougher, with Dave Liffiton rejoining the lineup on Saturday, after missing 34 games with a concussion, and resuming his signature gritty, hard-edged style of play.

Aside from Friday night’s 3-1 loss in Springfield, in which they never led, the Wolf Pack at least gave themselves a chance to have some success by jumping ahead in the other three games, and giving themselves a chance to play with the lead. A win over Portland Saturday would have been huge, with the second-place Pirates leading the third-place Pack by only three points entering the game, but after jumping out to a 2-0 advantage in that one, the Wolf Pack hurt their own cause by spending too much time in the penalty box, including major penalties for stick fouls to Lauri Korpikoski and Jake Taylor.

It was close-but-no-cigar for a fourth time for the Wolf Pack against Providence, after the Pack built another 2-0 lead in that game and took a 3-2 edge on a Greg Moore shorthanded goal with six minutes left. The P-Bruins just about can’t do anything wrong this year, though, and they improved to 4-0-0 against the Pack with the last-minute comeback. The Bruins are currently on pace for 61 wins and 128 points in this 2007-08 campaign, and both of those totals would be league records. The Wolf Pack have knocked on the door of victory in every game of the season series, but the Bruins, to their credit, have had the answer every time.

It certainly was refreshing to see the Pack play a little looser, and be more dangerous, in their two home games last week, after they had slumped to 0-3-0-2 in the five home contests before Wednesday’s win. They were opportunistic and looked confident on offense in rolling up five goals against the Sharks, and even when things started to go badly for them in that Portland game, they kept battling and looked like they expected still to win. That was in sharp contrast to the earlier home struggles, during which the team seemed to suffer a collective sag when faced with a negative turn in the games’ momentum.

One thing the Wolf Pack definitely learned during the busy Atlantic Division week is that things are not about to get any less competitive at the top end of the division. With Bobby Ryan back from Anaheim and guys like Geoff Platt (a goal and three assists Saturday), Andrew Ebbett and Petteri Wirtanen playing as well as they are, Portland is probably as explosive right now as any team the Wolf Pack have seen. And Providence’s team concept seems almost invincible right now, they’re playing with so much confidence. They continue to have important players, like Pascal Pelletier, David Krejci and Vladimir Sobotka, called up to parent-club Boston, but they truly have not missed a beat, with guys coming in on tryouts stepping into the lineup and contributing immediately.

And now to some mail from our readers…

Steve Hurrell from East Lansing, MI writes, “To make it to the NHL, the one word that seems to always come up is consistency. I have watched the team for a long time now, and Corey Potter seems to epitomize consistency, and he is edgy, makes a good first pass, is good in the corners and commits few turnovers. Is there room in the new NHL for his style, or is it mostly about offense?”

Steve, I think Corey plays a style of game that fits well with the current state of play in the NHL. He indeed shows all the attributes you listed, and has good size and reach with plenty of mobility. In today’s game you need D-men who can move the puck and avoid the forecheck, and can move their feet well enough to defend without resorting to hooks and holds, and to me, Corey fits that bill. It’s a learning process and a maturation process for all young defensemen at the AHL level, and he has come a long way in not even yet a year in this league. I think the key will be his consistency, if he can continue to strengthen his good habits and make the right plays at high speed on a nightly basis. If he can do that, I think he has a good NHL career ahead of him.

William Molloy of East Brunswick, NJ asks, “What is the status of Francis Lessard? I have seen nothing of him lately.”

Frankie suffered a knee injury in November, William, and had to have surgery. He is, unfortunately, probably out for the season.

Chris from West Hartford, CT asks, “If a player is a healthy scratch for a game, is he allowed to watch a game from the bench and not play?”

Chris, players who are healthy scratches are not allowed to be on the bench, or in uniform, during the game. They are almost always in the arena, but dressed in street clothes and either watching from the stands or in the press box. Players often take the pregame warm-up and then get scratched, but those guys have to get out of uniform once the warm-up is over.

Christian from Cardiff, UK asks, “How do you project Artem Anisimov in the forthcoming years? Do you see him becoming an impact player in the NHL and with the Rangers, and when? With Chris Drury, Dubinsky and Gomez, the Rangers appear very well set at center for the long term.”

I definitely see Artem having a future in the NHL, Christian, but it’s hard to say when. He is so young, only 19 years old, and just getting his first taste of the North American game, I wouldn’t want to try to project how rapid his development is going to be. He has a very impressive skill level, though, and his effort level seems pretty consistent for a guy that young too. The organization, I think, likes his two-way play, and a guy that can make some skill plays in the offensive end while also helping you out as a defensive centerman is a pretty valuable commodity, even if, as you rightly point out, the Rangers are solidly deep up the middle.

Brittany Walsh of Wethersfield, CT asks, “When players fight right at the start of the game is it usually due to past history between the players or teams in general? Also, after fighting do they hold a grudge? And why did Lauri Korpikoski change his number from 44 to 28? I can't get used to it.”

Brittany, the fights right off the start can stem from either of those two factors you mentioned, or just from a desire on the part of one or both teams to set a tone for the game. Especially at the AHL level, when teams play each other so much, you’ll often see the combative players on opposing teams develop some pretty good personal rivalries, and at times they’ll want to take the first opportunity to settle whatever scores that they feel need to be settled. And if one team feels that a player on the other team is taking liberties with their better players, then it is not unusual for a team to send one of its tougher guys out to try to send an immediate message to the opponent whom they are angry at.

Most of the time, after a fight there is no grudge held, as long as the fight is straight-up, neither player jumped the other when he wasn’t expecting it, and nobody did anything dirty. Players who fight in hockey usually think of it as part of the job and don’t hold it against their opponents. In fact, among the real tough guys there is a genuine sense of respect, for they all know what a difficult job it is to be called upon to put yourself on the line in that fashion.

Lauri tells me there was no big reason for the number change. He wore #25 when he played in Finland, and figured he would take #28 to move a little closer to that.

And Diana from Mahopac, NY writes, “I am a huge Ryan Callahan fan! I miss him so much as a Ranger, but I am going to see him very soon in Hartford. I was just wondering whether or not you feel like his coming back to the team has brought an extra spark in the players? He has to be an inspiration to all the young players. Also, does it seem like players just fit right in after being brought back down from the Rangers or does it seem like it takes some time to readjust?”

There’s no doubt, Diana, that having Ryan back on the Wolf Pack roster has brought a spark to the team. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the team won the first three games in which he played, and had points in six of the first seven (4-1-2-0). He is playing just like he was at his best in the AHL last year, showing great speed, shooting the puck as hard and as accurately as anyone I’ve seen in the league recently, and going all-out all the time.

In answer to your second question, most times when a player comes down from the Rangers there is an adjustment period, because their role with the Wolf Pack is usually different than it is with the big club. Most guys that come down are going to get major ice time with the Pack, playing on one of the top two lines and on the power play, whereas during their time in the NHL they usually aren’t being as prominently featured. In Ryan’s case, the adjustment clearly hasn’t fazed him at all, as he set up a goal on one of his first shifts with the Wolf Pack and hasn’t looked back from there.

Thanks for the questions and I’ll continue to poke my pen into this space whenever I can put together enough material!