Crawford's Pack Report: So the Wolf Pack can beat Providence, but they still can’t beat Bridgeport…

Monday, February 4, 2008 - 3:34 PM

Actually they have beaten the Sound Tigers, once, but compared to last season, when the Pack couldn’t do anything wrong against Bridgeport, it seems like nothing will go right for the Wolf Pack in this year’s GEICO Connecticut Cup. The Pack have gotten the games beyond regulation in two of the ones they’ve failed to win, and I think have played well enough to win in all five games of the series so far, but for the most part the Sound Tigers have had the answer for anything the Wolf Pack have thrown at them.

Before the Pack experienced their latest frustration at the hands of their in-State adversaries, though, they extended a win streak to four games by pounding some lumps on a geographically-even-closer rival, the Springfield Falcons. The Falcons were an injury-depleted bunch coming into Friday’s matchup with the Wolf Pack at the XL Center, missing six regulars, including the likes of mainstay blueliners Rick Berry and Mathieu Roy and winger J.F. Jacques, whose 11 goals had him one off the team lead, and the Wolf Pack jumped right on the visitors.

In the games this year in which the Falcons have been competitive with the Wolf Pack, the Birds’ goaltending has been very good, and it was not good on Friday. Starter Jeff Deslauriers, in particular, struggled. The owner of 18 wins coming into the game and having stoned the Wolf Pack with 35 saves in a 3-1 Springfield victory the last time the two teams met, Deslauriers let in two what looked like very stoppable shots in the first 13:06 Friday and was promptly replaced by former Edmonton Oiler first-rounder Devan Dubnyk.

Without guys like Roy and Berry to move the puck and help deal with the Wolf Pack’s hard-pressuring forwards, the Falcons stood very little chance of recovering after they fell behind, and the Wolf Pack kept their foot on the pedal. They got three behind Dubnyk on 11 shots in the second, and once Ryan Callahan scored his second of the game at 7:34 of the third to make it 6-0 Wolf Pack, all doubt of the outcome was removed. All that remained was the question of whether Miika Wiikman could ice his third shutout in four games, and the inevitable message-sending for the next get-together.

Wiikman would end up with two goals-against on 22 shots, as T.J. Kemp connected twice off the Springfield blueline in the final 10:12 of the game. Of more consequence was the fact that the frequent extracurricular activity in the third cost the Wolf Pack the services of Jordan Owens for Saturday’s game, after Owens incurred an automatic one-game suspension for picking up an instigator penalty inside the final five minutes of a game.

Ice-time-wise, that might not have sounded like it would leave a huge void in the Wolf Pack lineup. With Hugh Jessiman and Ivan Baranka both still hurt and unable to play, though, that put the Pack a man short of the normal roster limit of 17 skaters. The Charlotte Checkers’ travel schedule made it impractical to call anyone up from them, and the situation became even more disadvantageous when an emergency summons was put in by the Rangers for Callahan to get himself to Montreal to join the big club. The only good roster news for the Pack was that the Rangers elected to return Corey Potter in time for Saturday’s AHL action, after Potter had received his first career NHL recall after Friday’s Wolf Pack win.

So after the Pack had caught the Falcons with a compromised roster the night before, it was the Wolf Pack who were without all their weapons in the arsenal when the Sound Tigers made the trip up from Fairfield County Saturday evening. Even down to 15 able bodies, though, and missing Callahan, the Wolf Pack certainly didn’t use that as an excuse not to show up. They fell behind on an early goal by Trevor Smith, but dominated in shots on goal all night, forcing veteran Bridgeport goaltender Joey MacDonald to come up with a fine effort to keep the Wolf Pack from lighting up the scoreboard for a second straight night.

The Pack ended up with a 40-25 shots advantage for the game, but after Andrew Hutchinson tied the score with a power-play bomb 1:31 into the second, they could not solve MacDonald again. Once the game got all the way to the shootout you had to think the Sound Tigers had the edge, as they came in 6-0 in shootouts, while the Wolf Pack had lost three straight and were 2-4. It looked initially like the Wolf Pack’s shootout luck might be changing, as P.A. Parenteau cashed in the Pack’s first attempt with a sweet move and Wiikman stopped Bridgeport’s nifty Frans Nielsen, who had been 4/6 in previous shootout attempts. Form returned after that, however, as the next four Wolf Pack shooters were denied (although Greg Moore did put one off the post), and Sound Tiger rookies Smith and Kyle Okposo both snapped hard shots past Wiikman’s stick side.

Another measure of Nutmeg-rivalry frustration, to be sure, but on the bright side, the Wolf Pack finished the week unbeaten in regulation in seven straight games (4-0-2-1, one shy of their longest such streak of the season) and 11 of their last 12 (8-1-2-1).

Now to answer some input from our readers…

TJ from Hartford writes, “It seems Al Montoya has been less consistent this year than in the past. His numbers are OK (GAA and save %), but certainly not among the league best. I know he has battled some injuries, and a balky back can be a nightmare for any hockey player, especially a goalie. In your view, is his game progressing or stagnating, understanding that team defense plays a big role in the overall success of the goalie? Also, does the Wolf Pack employ a goalie coach or do they rely on the overall coaching staff? I know it is an added expense, but given the premium on top-line goaltenders I would think some time with a Benoit Allaire-type or Benoit himself would do a world of good for Al Montoya right now. Some times a few pointers from a goalie-specific coach can make a big difference and restore confidence, which is huge for a goalie.”

TJ, all the Wolf Pack goaltenders do get regular instruction and encouragement from Benoit, who, for those who don’t know, is the parent Rangers’ goaltending coach and one of the most-respected tutors of the goaltending position in the game of hockey. I know from talking to Al and other Wolf Pack goalies who have been with the team since Benoit joined the organization prior to the 2004-05 season that they thrive on working with him and feel as though his input helps their games tremendously.

As for Al’s season so far, I don’t think I’d say his game is stagnating, but it doesn’t seem to be progressing at the rate that either he or the organization would like. He’s had some really sharp nights, but that big “C”, consistency, that is the defining goal of all players in the AHL, has eluded him to this point. He got stronger in the second half of both of his first two years, though, so hopefully now he has fully put his injury woes of earlier in the season behind him and will stabilize his play as the games get bigger and bigger.

Also on the subject of goaltending, Warren from Hartford says, “I think the most interesting storyline of this season has to be the goaltending. With Miika Wiikman playing so well and gaining confidence in the team, it seems Al Montoya is slowly losing his hold on the #1 spot in Hartford. Also, last year it was arguably Steve Valiquette as the better goalie. So this being another year where Montoya has been unable to be "the guy" in net for Hartford, what happens now? Do they trade Al? Does Miika get a real shot in NY next year as backup, or is that Valiquette's job for a few seasons since he has certainly proved he belongs in the NHL? Looking forward to seeing how it pans out."

Miika has been on a good run, Warren, but I think it’s far too early to start talking about him in terms of latching on to the number-one role with the Wolf Pack or pushing for the backup job in New York. Having said that, though, I would imagine that the organization is thinking seriously about getting him signed to an NHL contract sooner rather than later. He came over to North America this year on an AHL deal, and with the way he has played so for the Pack, I have to think that several other organizations would be interested in signing him away if the Rangers didn’t get him inked to an NHL ticket.

Seeing as how Henrik Lundqvist is firmly entrenched as the main man in Manhattan and he is only three years older than Al, it would seem that Al would be a logical candidate for a trade. For the Rangers to get something in return for him commensurate with the sixth-overall pick they spent on him in 2004, though, they need to get his value up, so that might be a motivation to get Al back playing regularly and try to get him on a roll.

Relative to the backup role behind Lundqvist, it would be a real tough position to put a young goalie in, if that slot isn’t going to get more action than the grand total of 456 minutes that Valiquette has played thus far. And I’ve said before, I think Valiquette is the perfect guy for that role, as he proved again when he stepped into a big spot last Thursday and pitched his first NHL shutout in Philadelphia. His experience and extreme intelligence make him able to handle the long periods of not seeing any game action behind Lundqvist, and allow him to keep himself ready whenever he does get the call.

Good young goalies, though, like pitchers, are good assets, and I think organizations like the Rangers are smart to develop as many of them as is humanly possible.

Chris from West Hartford, CT writes, “At this point of the season, even though it's a little early, who do you think has the best chance to win the Cup? Even though I'd like you to say Hartford and even though I’m a Hartford fan, if you say Hartford I'd be a bit surprised. If you ask me, the P-bruins seem destined. Of course, things can happen and they could be surprised and defeated.”

Chris, at this juncture I’d have to give Providence the edge. They’ve avoided any sort of a letdown all season, and have withstood the loss of some pretty dynamic individual players in doing so. The whole seems greater than the sum of the parts there, and the Bruins’ players appear to have so much confidence in their team concept that they expect to win every time they step on the ice. Even in a game like the last one before the All-Star break, when the Wolf Pack shut them out, 3-0, they had more than enough offensive chances to win.

Like you say, though, anything can happen, and usually does, in this league, and the team whose league records the P-Bruins are on pace to break, the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers, didn’t even make it as far as the Calder Cup Finals, after putting together as dominating a regular season as I have ever seen in the AHL. So I’m sure they’re not building a trophy case at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center just yet.

Christian from Cardiff, UK says, “I was wondering about Alex Bourret. I thought it was an absolute steal, how little the Rangers gave up to get him. I was delighted. It looked really promising last year too. Has he regressed this year or is his 'average' year purely due to his injuries? Do you see him making the jump in the next 12 months to the Rangers, or will he be passed by guys like Cherepanov, etc?”

That’s a good question, Christian. I’m not ready to say that Alex has regressed, and he has picked it up lately, playing on a bit of a “French Connection” with P.A. Parenteau, after a lengthy slump, but he has definitely not achieved the sharpness that he showed toward the end of last year and the playoffs. I don’t know how much you can blame injury, either, as a concussion did cost him eight games earlier in the year, but that was back in November, and to my knowledge he has not suffered from any major hurts since then.

As you may remember, though, when he was first acquired last February he seemed off-stride at first and didn’t contribute much, then really got it going late in the season and in the playoffs. Maybe he’s just that kind of player, who needs the games to be bigger and more important, and to get a sniff of the postseason, before he can elevate his play to its highest level. I guess you’d rather have guys like that than players who do the opposite and disappear when the games are the biggest.

The big hurdle that skill players like Alex face in making the jump to the Rangers is proving that either they can do a better job than one of the skill guys that the big club already has, or that they can bring something else significant to the table in addition to playing an offensive game. That will be Alex’ challenge, and like you referenced, there are always more highly-drafted, skilled youngsters on the way up the pipeline who are going to be competing for the same spots.

And Eric from Freehold, NJ writes, “As Ryan Callahan struggled for the Rangers this season, it appeared that maybe his knee was still bothering him. However, he has found great success in Hartford over the last few weeks. Was his great spring for the Rangers last year a fluke, and is he just not ready yet for the NHL?”

He sure looks ready to me, Eric.

I wondered how in the world Ryan could have only scored one goal in 24 games, and none in 23 straight, at any level, even the NHL. I was hoping that he hadn’t lost some of the skill and drive that made him such a dynamic player in both the AHL and the NHL last year, and it sure looks like he hasn’t. In this league, he has been every bit as effective a catalyst as he was before he got called up last season.

Obviously, he is not going to play as big a role with the Rangers as he does here with the Pack, but based on what I’ve seen out of him since his assignment to Hartford, I sure think that if he is given reasonable ice time to work with upon his return to the NHL, and allows himself to think offense, he will return to putting up some more-than-respectable numbers for the parent club.

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