Crawford's Pack Report: Week in Review
Monday, April 14, 2008 - 6:58 PM
The Wolf Pack had nothing to gain or lose in the standings this past week, but they certainly didn't play like it. Ken Gernander's club swept a three-game weekend, breaking the franchise record for standings points in a season and tying the team standard for wins.
In two of the weekend's three games the opposition didn't have anything to play for either, including Friday night's visit to Springfield. The Falcons had been eliminated from playoff contention in their previous game, but had something to prove after getting pounded, 10-1, in the last game between themselves and the Wolf Pack.
It was hardly an explosive offensive show in the game at the MassMutual Center, but the Wolf Pack put in the kind of workmanlike effort that is needed to win in the postseason.
The Pack's “French Connection” of P.A. Parenteau and Alex Bourret returned off the injured list, Parenteau from missing two games and Bourret from having sat out the previous 14 contests, and both scored. A second-period power-play tally by Parenteau ended up being the game-winner in a 4-1 triumph.
That upped the Pack's record in the season series with their I-91 rivals to 9-1-0-0, and despite the Falcons having an improved team this year over the past several editions, the Wolf Pack ended up really dominating the series. The final scoring numbers finished 46-17 in favor of the Pack, and it was a combined 34-9 advantage in the last six meetings.
The win in Springfield completed the Wolf Pack's Atlantic-Division action at 32-11-2-5, and brought them into a season-ending home-and-home series with Bridgeport.
The Sound Tigers were locked in a desperate quest to grab the final playoff spot in the East Division, having finally gotten their full roster back from the parent Islanders, who had been wearing out the transaction wire between Long Island and Fairfield County over the previous several weeks. By the time of Saturday's last Wolf Pack home game of the regular year, Bridgeport could afford neither a loss of their own nor the Hershey Bears gaining even one point, so their margin for error was literally nil.
The Wolf Pack's youngsters held sway early, as rookies Michael Sauer (just his third of the year) and Artem Anisimov scored in the first to put the Pack up, 2-0, but the Sound Tigers would fight their way off the mat.
Tim Jackman flipped the puck in off of a goalmouth scramble for a power-play tally with only 14 seconds left in the first, and would find the back of the net again just before the halfway point of the second, to make it a brand-new game. The Sound Tigers had a 20-14 edge in shots by the end of the second, but with their season on the line, they would run out of gas in the third.
The game turned on the Sound Tigers in agonizing fashion at 4:28 of the third session, as Hugh Jessiman snapped a shot past Joey MacDonald, shortly after a Bridgeport shot had clanged off a goalpost at the other end.
That made it 3-2 for the Wolf Pack, and then Mitch Fritz, given some pretty regular and important ice time since his return from the injured ranks, banged in his first Wolf Pack goal, and first lamplighter since the 2005-06 season, at 10:44. It came off of a two-on-one, courtesy of a great pass by Anisimov, who had himself quite a game at both ends of the ice. The Russian youngster ended up with a goal and two assists and a +4.
The Sound Tigers threw the kitchen sink at the Pack and David LeNeveu after that, but it wasn't to be for them, with an empty-net goal by Lauri Korpikoski putting the final nail in the coffin with 1:28 left in the third.
As it turned out, it didn't matter anyway for Bridgeport, as Hershey won its game at home Saturday night, but the two points for the 5-2 win bumped the Pack's point total up to 108 on the year, one more than the John Paddock-coached 1999-2000 squad had before capturing the Calder Cup. Hopefully that accomplishment creates some good karma for this year's Wolf Pack club.
Saturday's results rendered the outcome of Sunday's rematch at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport basically meaningless, although the Pack still had a chance to match the 2004-05 team's franchise standard of 50 wins, and with a win would retain possession of the GEICO Connecticut Cup.
The Wolf Pack started even stronger in the Sunday game than they did on Saturday, as Parenteau snapped a shot past Mike Morrison's glove on the very first shift, only 22 seconds in. That goal gave Parenteau 81 points in 75 games on the year, one more point than the career high he established last season in 73 games between Portland and Norfolk.
For a second straight game the Pack built a 2-0 advantage, with Corey Potter scoring his fifth of the year at 7:44 of the second, and for the second consecutive game the Sound Tigers fought right back. By the 16:54 mark the game was tied, as Jeff Tambellini and Trevor Smith notched goals 4:53 apart starting at 12:01.
Form held again, though, in the third period, as the Wolf Pack, after being outshot by a combined 24-20 in the first two frames, held a 14-11 advantage in the third, and although there was no three-goal outburst this time, the one goal the Pack would get would turn out to be enough.
It would come from an unlikely source, too, as Sauer, who had previously not even had points in back-to-back games, scored his second goal in as many contests just 3:30 into the third, on a shot from the right point. It wasn't an especially hard drive, but extremely well-placed, through quite a bit of traffic, and it stood up as Sauer's second game-winner among the four goals he has scored.
Miika Wiikman took over in goal, after LeNeveu had started three straight and seven of the previous nine, and stopped 33 of 35 Sound Tiger shots. The Pack coaching staff is going to face one tough decision in determining whom to hand the reins to in the postseason, with LeNeveu 6-0-2 in his last eight decisions, with a 2.08 GAA and a .915 save percentage over that span, and Wiikman having won five of his last six outings, posting stats of 2.15 and .935.
So the Wolf Pack squeaked to a narrow triumph in the season series with Bridgeport, ending up 5-3-0-2 vs. the Sound Tigers after going 1-3-0-2 in the first six games, the fourth straight year they have earned Nutmeg-State bragging rights. And the Pack take the momentum of an 11-1-0-2 streak into the postseason, an excellent stretch run. Hard to believe another season has run its course, but now it's time to for the real acid test, and to hope the Pack can catch a Calder Cup wave.
With that, now to some reader input…
Sandy from Cheshire, CT asks, “Do you think Tom Pyatt will be back for the playoffs? His name is on the roster, but with all these other guys they are bringing in, will he get the chance? He's playing great in Charlotte and I think he should be given that chance ahead of all these new guys.”
Sandy, Pyatt was among a group of five players brought back to the Pack from Charlotte after the Checkers were eliminated from the AHL playoffs on Saturday. The others were Chris Holt, Jordan Owens, Mark Lee and Ryan Constant.
As you reference, the fact that Pyatt's name is on the Clear Day playoff roster gives him a leg up on some of the other guys who weren't on the roster. The lineup as it is constructed had a great run in the last part of the regular season, though, so I would imagine that the coaches would be loath to change it too much, at least to start the playoffs.
Brittany Walsh of Wethersfield, CT writes, “As the season is winding down, I would like to thank you for your informative broadcasts and Wolf Pack Confidential. Have you ever thought about writing a book about your years in the hockey world? What are the Pack's chances in the playoffs to advance? Have the other teams gotten any NHL players back? I know Providence will be tough, but how is Portland?"
The Pirates have a great team, Brittany. I think their group of forwards is as good and as explosive as any in the league. Unlike Providence, the Pirates do not have the likes of Phil Kessel, David Krejci, Vladimir Sobotka and Petteri Nokelainen eligible to come down from the NHL to play for them, but they do have one very good player, Bobby Ryan, up with the parent Ducks who could come down if Anaheim loses out. And as I write this, the Ducks are down two-nil after two home games in their series with Dallas, so that could definitely impact Portland's lineup.
And thank you for the kind feedback. I do have lot of war stories stored up on gum wrappers and cocktail napkins, but I don't know how saleable a book by me would be. I'm fairly confident my mom would buy a copy, but I don't know how many others would be willing to plow through a collection of my AHL experiences.
Katri from Hausjärvi, Finland asks, “What team will Miika Wiikman play for next season?”
Katri, with his performance this year, Wiikman has given himself a good chance to compete for a job with the New York Rangers next year. He has played this season on an AHL contract, so the Rangers would have to sign him to an NHL contract for him to play in that league, but based on what he has done with the Wolf Pack this year, I would think that they would be more than eager to get him signed. The Rangers seem pretty set in goal, with Henrik Lundqvist dominating the number-one spot and Steve Valiquette a valuable backup, but you never know.
Mike Dyer of Framingham, MA asks, “Do you think Lowell will be in the league next season, and what Wolf Pack player this year might make an impact next year for the Rangers like Nigel Dawes did this year?”
I have heard nothing, Mike, that indicates that the Devils will not be in Lowell next season, although you don't have to be a mathematician to look at the attendance figures and know that the Devils organization would prefer to see a lot more tickets being bought.
And there are several young players here with the Wolf Pack who look like they are primed to make some noise in the NHL in the near future. If you held my feet to the fire, I would say Greg Moore and Dane Byers look to me like they are the closest, Moore as a valuable centerman who can score some goals and kill penalties, and Byers as a banger and crasher who has the speed and the finishing touch to contribute decently to the offense, even at the NHL level.
And Chris from West Hartford, CT asks, “What is the name of the song they play at the XL Center when the players come out to start the first period? It seems like they play it at just about every home game. I tried finding it on YouTube but I couldn't. Maybe you don't pay attention to this detail, but it really bugs me that I don't know the name.”
Chris, I have to admit that I don't pay attention to that particular detail, but I am told by our crack marketing staff that it is “Enter Sandman”, by Metallica. Hopefully that soothes your aggravation, and you can find it on the 'net.
Thanks for the questions and I’ll continue to poke my pen into this space whenever I can put together enough material!
