Miika Wiikman made a big statement tonight, stopping 37 shots to notch his second shut out in three games — on Al Montoya Bobblehead Night. With his performance, Wiikman moved up to 3rd in the AHL in save percentage (.924) and 5th in the league in goals against average (2.16). As I overheard while leaving the Civic Cen….err… XL Center: “Al who?”

The Pack got on the board early, at 1:50 of the first during a 4-on-4, when Andrew Hutchinson fed a breakout pass to Ryan Callahan, who carried the puck into the Providence zone and slid a shot/pass along the ice towards the net. Dane Byers was able to get a stick on it as he crashed the net and deflect the puck in between the right post and Providence goaltender Jordan Sigalet. The remainder of the first period, and the entire second period, would pass without a goal, with Providence getting the majority of chances in the second, outshooting the Pack 16-6 and forcing Wiikman to make a number of good saves. To their credit, the Pack played a very tight, defensive game, and were good at clearing rebounds from the slot and preventing second and third chances. The highlight of the second came when Providence forward Jeff Hogan was awarded a questionable penalty shot (he got a good shot off), but Wiikman made the save look easy.

The Pack were able to expand their lead to two at the half way point of the 3rd when Tommy Pyatt controlled the puck on the boards behind the goal line, then wrapped it around from the right side through the crease to Brodie Dupont, who was able to put it past Sigalet from the left side of the slot. For Pyatt, it was his first point in 7 games. For Dupont, his first point in 8 and his first goal in 25.

As they’ve been doing a lot lately, the Pack got themselves in trouble late, when Callahan took an offensive zone tripping penalty (his second penalty of the game) at 17:19. That allowed Providence to pull their goalie for the approximate 1 minute of 6-on-4. But the Pack would hold on, and Ouellette would ice the win with 24 seconds to go when he skated the puck out of the zone and fired an empty netter from the red line.

This was the 6th game the Pack played against the AHL-leading Bruins, and only their first win. It was only their 8th regulation loss in 45 games played this far. Over the course of the game, Providence definitely carried the play, particularly in the 2nd and 3rd, but with the exception of the last-minute penalty, the Pack showed poise and confidence in holding on the lead. The Bruins ended up outshooting the Pack 37-21, and a number of them were pretty good chances that forced Wiikman to earn his shut out.

High Jessiman sat out the game with a hyper-extended elbow. Ivan Baranka missed his 4th game with a shoulder injury.

Pack Scoring
1. Byers (12) (Callahan, Hutchinson) 1:50
3. Dupont (6) (Pyatt, Korpikoski) 10:00
3. Ouellette (3) (Byers, Moore) 19:36 (EN)

Lines
Byers - Anisimov - Callahan
Parenteau - Moore - Bourret
Dupont - Pyatt - Korpikoski
Ouellette - Owens

Liffiton - Taylor
Potter - Hutchinson
Pock - Sauer

Wiikman / Montoya

Three Stars
1. Miika Wiikman
2. Andrew Hutchinson
3. Dane Byers

This was the dominant performance I’ve been waiting for from Ryan Callahan. After going two games without getting on the scoreboard, Callahan finished the night tonight with two goals, an assist, and numerous additional scoring chances to go along with some feisty penalty killing. Miika Wiikman also put up another strong performance, making a number of tough saves in the third when the Sharks really started to apply pressure.

The Pack were dominant in the first, but Sharks rookie goalie Taylor Dakers put up a good fight, stopping 14 of the 15 shots the Pack put on the board. Callahan started the scoring off on the power play at the 11:55 mark when he made a strong move out from the far boards boards into the high slot, and then dished the puck down to Dane Byers at the left side of the net. Byers skated out in front of the net unchallenged and put a pretty backhander past Sharks goalie Taylor Dakers. The Pack finished the period outshooting the Sharks by a 15-6 margin. The only negative of the Pack’s dominant period was that they lost Hugh Jessiman to some kind of injury, as he took his last shift at around the 6 minute mark and did not return the rest of the game.

Wiikman gave up his only goal of the game at 8:43 of the second after a shot by Sharks winger Lukas Kaspar struck a player in front and deflected directly across the crease to Patrick Traverse, who was all alone at the left side of the net. Wiikman didn’t have a chance to get across to stop him. But the Pack responded two and a half minutes later, when Byers threaded a nice, hard cross-crease pass from the right side of the net to an open wide open and waiting Callahan who needed only to tap the puck into the empty side of the net. Callahan then topped off the scoring at 14:09 on a beautiful breakaway goal. Artem Anisimov got control of the puck in the high slot in the Pack’s zone and chipped the puck out ahead of Callahan, who turned on the jets big time to pull ahead of Traverse to go in on the breakaway, with Traverse right on his tail the whole way. He pulled a beautiful forehand-backhand-forehand deke and put the puck around Dakers to give the Pack the 3-1 lead, which they would hold the rest of the way.

The Sharks came out really strong in the 3rd, dominating play and giving the Pack just about all they could handle. But the Pack showed confidence and poise in not getting rattled, and Wiikman came up big when he needed to, stopping all 11 shots he faced in the period while the Pack mustered only 4 against the Sharks. By holding on for the win, the Pack improved their record against the Sharks this season to 6-0 and gave themselves at least a point in 8 of their last 9 games while keeping pace with 2nd place Portland, who remained 1 point ahead of them in the standings after coming from behind to beat Wilkes-Barre. The Pack still have a game in hand.

Wiikman improved his record to 11-4, with a 2.30 GAA and .917% save percentage. That ranks him 8th among AHL goalies in goals against and 13th in save percentage.

The Pack face the first place Providence Bruins tomorrow night at home, in a game which will most likely feature Al Montoya in goal, since it’s Al Montoya bobblehead night at the XL Center. The Pack have come closer to beating Providence each time they’ve played, pushing them to OT in each of the last two, but have yet to hold on for a win.

Pack Scoring
1. Byers (11) (Callahan, Pock) 11:55 (PP)
2. Callahan (4) (Byers, Potter) 11:16
2. Callahan (5) (Anisimov, Sauer) 14:09

Lines
Byers - Anisimov - Callahan
Parenteau - Moore - Bourret
Dupont - Korpikoski - Jessiman
Pyatt - Ouellette

Liffiton - Taylor
Hutchinson - Potter
Pock - Sauer

Wiikman / Montoya

Three Stars
1. Ryan Callahan
2. Dane Byers
3. Miika Wiikman

Cherepanov talks about the World Junior Championships in an interview on the Russian web site LiveHockey.ru, posted on January 20, 2008.

In an exclusive interview for “SG” Alexei Cherepanov evaluated the tournament which brought the Russian team bronze medals.

- Lesha, tell us all you’ve learned by comparison. Did this junior championship give you more difficulty than last year’s?

- Of course, purely psychologically, it had to be more difficult. Much more attention was paid to me. I also felt some physical problems. The bronchitis noticeably affected me. I was already ill when I was playing for Avangard, then on gathering in Novogorsk it got worse and it was difficult to rehabilitate myself. In the first game after shifts I was practically gasping. But to sum it up, yes, I agree, my play in this championship wasn’t brilliant. But the main result was a medal. So the tournament, certainly, was a positive.

- Scouts from the New York Rangers - the club which chose you in the 2007 NHL Draft - kept track of your performance?

- Yes, Vladimir Lychenko [legendary former defensman for team USSR - "SG"] works for them in Russia. We communicated with him the day before I departed for the Championships. In the Czech Republic I quite often saw him in the stands.

- What did you talk about?

- Nothing in particular, just general things. My health, how I played.

- Can the Canadians be beaten?

- They certainly became weaker. From the team that played against us in the autumn Super Series, four guys have already moved on to the NHL. The Canadians had weaknesses. On this occasion the Swedes were just slightly not good enough to be able to to take advantage of them.

- And did the Swedes in general surprise you?

- In this tournament I did not see anything out of the ordinary. I think last year the level of the Championship was more serious. So, by the way, was the hype around that tournament. In the Czech Republic for many games the stands were empty. There were few souvenirs. I myself bought practically nothing - a hat and some disks of our games.

- Did you normally disagree with Nemchinov? Is it true you were reprimanded?

- Its agreed that all these conversations are internal team issues. I don’t wish to bring out anything in the press.

- In the last months your play has been periodically appraised in terms of “is he a diva or not”? Does such talk make you angry?

- It is very difficult to hide that. In my opinion, my play has not gotten worse. I’m simply scoring less. But at the same time I’ve improved myself in small ways, in the strength battles.

- And how do you deal with “star fever”?

- I believe if a person has decided something, it is complicated to change his mind. Let people talk if they have nothing better to discuss. For me the most important thing is to perform for the team. And whether I’m on the first line or not is of no importance.

- Konstantin Ivigin