Crawford's Pack Report: Week in Review
Monday, April 21, 2008 - 7:54 PM
Postseason success is largely about character and strength of will, and the Wolf Pack's character is getting an early test in this year's Calder Cup playoffs.
With the Pack's Atlantic Division Semifinal series against Portland starting with a burst of four games in five nights, both teams had an opportunity to grab a significant advantage quickly in the series, and it has turned out to be the Pirates who have made the best use of that opportunity, building a three-games-to-one lead in the matchup.
Things started out just fine for the Pack, as they captured the opening game at the XL Center this past Wednesday, 3-1.
The Pirates scored first, as they would in each of the first three contests, and dominated much of the first period-and-a-half. The Wolf Pack got going, though, with a P.A. Parenteau goal at 11:29 of the third.
Portland goaltender J.S. Aubin had really flummoxed the Pack the first two times they had seen him, allowing a total of only one goal in a pair of victories, and it had started to look like he was in the guys' heads a bit. Fellow French-Canadian Parenteau's goal went in off of Aubin's blocker, however, and that seemed to break the spell.
Parenteau tallied again 2:50 into the third, tipping in a Greg Moore shot after Portland defenseman Brett Festerling had lost his stick, the Pirates claimed as a result of Parenteau ripping it out of his hands. No call was made, and it turned out to be a wily play, if Parenteau actually did it, as the goal stood up as the game-winner in a 3-1 triumph. Dane Byers added a huge insurance goal with 1:41 left, on another deflection, as he redirected Andrew Hutchinson's wrister past Aubin.
That made it five straight wins for the Wolf Pack, going back to the regular season, and the Pack came darned close on Thursday to making in a season-high six in a row, and really putting the Pirates in a tough spot.
Once again the visitors scored first, on a five-on-three power-play goal by Portland leading regular-season goal-scorer Geoff Platt, who broke a 13-game goalless drought with the tally. The Byers-Hutchinson combo hooked up a second time to answer only 1:29 later, again with Byers hanging out around the net and tipping Hutchinson's drive in. Mike Ouellette then worked with Alex Bourret and Byers on a strong drive to the Portland net, and Ouellette capitalized on a third-effort chance for his first career AHL playoff goal.
That sent the Wolf Pack into the third period with a 2-1 lead, but David LeNeveu, who had been close to perfect in the first five periods of the series, had the puck refuse to cooperate with him on a long flip just 1:49 into the third session. Pirate captain Tyler Bouck heaved it off the boards, and after it squirted away from LeNeveu, Jason King stuffed it over the goal line, scoring what would turn out to be the last goal for better than two periods of hockey.
The 2-2 tie would survive the rest of regulation, and neither team would be able to find the net in the first overtime, despite a power play, and some excellent chances, for both sides.
That turned it into the eighth multiple-overtime game in Wolf Pack postseason history, and the Pack had some decent pressure on before, with the Pack on a power play, Parenteau was called for slashing at 8:37. It was the ninth opportunity of the night for the Pirates, and one of their players who doesn't usually see a lot of time on the power play, Michal Birner, ended up being the man-advantage hero.
A Portland pass was blocked in the slot, but the puck went right to Birner, stationed to LeNeveu's left, and the youngster snapped it upward quickly, beating LeNeveu's sliding reaction. Just like that, the series was even and the Pirates had wrested the home-ice advantage away from the higher-seeded Wolf Pack.
Kevin Dineen's Portland club had won 27 of its 40 regular-season home games, and they would prove themselves able to carry that home-ice success over from the regular year into Games Three and Four, played on back-to-back nights Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday's Game Three followed much the same script as the previous two battles, with the Pack falling behind and finding themselves back on their heels before they found their rhythm.
The Pirates had gotten a big break when Bobby Ryan, whose combination of size, grit, hands and pretty smooth skating motivated the parent Anaheim Ducks to choose him second overall behind Sidney Crosby in the 2005 NHL Draft, was returned to Portland before Game Three. Ryan made an immediate impact in Saturday's first period, with a goal and an assist in a quick salvo which saw the Pirates break a scoreless tie with two goals in a span of 2:09.
Portland was unable to sustain the momentum in the second, however, and the Wolf Pack re-discovered their forechecking personality. Ouellette again did fine work around the goalmouth to set up Artem Anisimov for his first North American pro playoff goal at 6:00, and then an outstanding rush by Corey Potter led to a rebound goal by Moore only 2:37 later, and the Wolf Pack had all the momentum.
The Pirates, as it turned out, had another answer in their arsenal, in the form of a rebound goal by King at 14:11, and that would be it for the offense. Neither team yielded any ground in the third, combining for only eight total shots-against, and the Pirates held a two-games-to-one edge.
Sunday's Game Four saw the Pack get off to a much better start than they had in any of the previous three, scoring first for the first time in the series on a goal by Bourret at 11:03 of the first. A solid and explosive playoff performer for the Pack last season, Bourret is having another good postseason offensively this year, the only Pack player to have registered at least a point in each of the first four games of the series.
Both teams scored in the final minute of the first, King on a low shot on a power play at 19:02, and Hutchinson, turned finisher, on a laser-beam past Aubin's stick side with four seconds showing on the clock.
The Pirate power play struck again 2:41 into the second, Stephen Dixon tipping a point shot past LeNeveu, and former UConn Husky Mike Hoffman gave Portland its first lead of the game less than five minutes later. His goal was the result of Festerling intentionally shooting the puck wide and the carom coming right in front to the 6-5 Hoffman, who roofed it in behind LeNeveu.
When that kind of stuff starts happening, you start to wonder whether it might just not be meant to be for the Pack, but Ken Gernander's boys didn't hang their heads. The power play, struggling at 1/18 in the series, came up huge with only 1:41 remaining in the period. Parenteau, booed every time he touched the puck in his old barn despite having scored 22 points in 17 playoff games in 2006 and helping lead the Pirates to overtime of Game Seven in the Conference Finals, deftly slid home a Lauri Korpikoski feed and again the Wolf Pack had fought their way off the deck.
Once again, however, the Pirates would be able to come up with a big play when they needed it the most. Dixon, the kind of up-and-down, show-up-every-night workhorse that Dineen must love, buried a pass from Ryan with only 4:20 remaining, and the Pack's collective backs were against the wall. Bourret got too overeager trying to forecheck Portland blueliner, and ex-Yale Eli, Joe Callahan and picked up a major for boarding at 16:02, hampering the Wolf Pack's comeback efforts, but Parenteau still almost got the Pack back into a tie. His partial shorthanded breakaway at 18:29 drew a slashing penalty on Bruno St. Jacques, but was foiled by Aubin. The Pirates bent, but did not break, and it was a third straight one-goal defeat for the Wolf Pack, who are staring at the possibility of a 110-point regular season evaporating before their hoped-for playoff run even really gets going.
With that, my keyboard and I take a deep breath, as the Wolf Pack have to do as well before their must-win Game Five at the XL Center, and we bring in a couple of reader-suggested topics…
Jason from Waterbury, CT asks, “What do you think are some of the key things the Pack will need to do to beat the likes of Portland, and then either Providence or Manchester?”
I think the key things, Jason, for the Wolf Pack are continuing to play their game, that is, forechecking hard and keeping the opposition, whoever it is, on their own half of the ice, not taking unnecessary penalties, infractions that don't take away an opposing scoring chance, and not getting too down when things don't go their way.
You have to have a short memory in the postseason, whether you are coming off something good or something bad, and history shows that when the Wolf Pack have had good runs this time of year, they have almost always had to rebound from some type of adversity.
David McLeod of Willimantic, CT writes, “After reading the Hartford Courant write-ups by Bruce Berlet and having watched Game One live at the XL Center, I think that Portland and Hartford are pretty well matched up. What do you think will be the difference maker in this series? Will it come down to team discipline and special teams?”
It very well could, David. What has jumped out to me is that the Pack have only been able to dictate play in the series when they have been patient and forced Portland to work hard getting out of its own zone. Pretty offensive plays rarely work, or even happen, during playoffs, and when the Wolf Pack have tried to set up wide-open looks or slick finishes, by and large there has been nothing there. When they have gotten pucks deep and at the net, though, and forced the Pirates to dump the puck out and take some icings and some defensive-zone draws, then they have been able to get their opponents scrambling.
Kristen from Cheshire, CT says, “I just wanted to say thanks for doing the radio for the Wolf Pack! Your voice is great and I love your enthusiasm! The game gets really intense! I have a couple of questions too. Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan have been playing great for the Rangers. Dawes has been making great plays and goals, and Ryan completes all of his checks and works hard. Do you think they will finally stay up there in the NHL? Also, I believe that Stephen Valiquette is one of the best backup goaltenders in the NHL. Who do you think will be the next back up for the King? I still think that David LeNeveu, Miika Wiikman, and Chris Holt are still a little too young. What is your opinion?"
Kristen, first of all, I greatly appreciate your listenership, and your kind words. That's very nice of you.
I have thought it a couple of times in the last year and been wrong, but I definitely think that Callahan and Dawes have made the Rangers for good. Larry Brooks wrote in a column in Sunday's New York Post that youngsters like those two “have helped transform the face of the franchise”, and I think he's right. Seeing a shift like Callahan and Dawes had in the final minute or so of the Rangers' clincher against the Devils, when they kept New Jersey pinned behind its own net for a good 35-40 seconds, right before Brandon Dubinsky iced the series with an empty-net goal, to me was a really good snapshot of all the positives that guys like that have brought to the big club this year. Having the likes of Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Jagr, et al. isn't bad either, but right now I can't picture the Rangers without those Wolf Pack-produced young guns being a big part of the equation.
Another huge part of that equation, obviously, is goaltending, and as I've said in this space before, my own analysis is that the personality and professionalism of Steve Valiquette contributes strongly to the Ranger team chemistry, even though, with the consistent excellence of Lundqvist, Valiquette doesn't see game action all that often. I expect that the Rangers will keep Valiquette around another couple of years, and that will give those three young 'tenders, LeNeveu (who is already a fifth-year pro, so he is well-seasoned), Wiikman and Holt, more time to ready themselves to grab an NHL spot.
On the one hand, LeNeveu might have the inside track because of his experience, but on the other hand, if it's not for another two or more seasons before there is a spot open, then Wiikman, the youngest of the three in terms of North American pro experience, might have the best shot.
Thanks for the questions and I’ll continue to poke my pen into this space whenever I can put together enough material!
