Andrew Hutchinson returned to the line up and reinvigorated the Pack power play and Miika Wiikman returned to the net and stopped 39 of 40 shots to give the Pack a 4-1 win in Worcester tonight. The win moved them back into a tie in points for second in the Atlantic Division and 3rd overall in the AHL with the Portland Pirates, who lost to Philadelphia. The Pack still hold two games in hand over Portland.

The Pack got on the board early, on their second shift of the game, when Jordon Owens took a rebound off the boards behind the net and put it past Sharks netminder Thomas Greiss for his first of two goals on the night. The original shot appeared to have come from Andrew Hutchinson, but the scoring was changed later in the game to remove Hutchinson’s assist and give it to Thomas Pock. (That could change again later this week when the scoring is reviewed.) The Pack were the better of the two teams through the period, and extended their lead to two on the power at 16:15 when Artem Anisimov, covering the right point on the power play for a pinching Ivan Baranka, fired a hard, low slap shot which Mike Ouellette was able to deflect past Greiss. The Pack finished the period looking like they were well on their way to an easy win, despite having only a one shot advantage over the Sharks (11-10).

Unfortunately, the Pack came out of the locker room to start the second period convinced they already had won the game. The Sharks were quick to remind them they still had two more periods to play. They out worked the Pack throughout the period, winning all the battles and races for the puck and drawing four consecutive power plays through the first 12:10 of the game with their hard work. That included a 31 second two man advantage after Thomas Pock took a tripping penalty a minute and twenty nine seconds into an Anisimov hooking penalty. Fortunately, the Pack penalty kill, featuring P.A. Parenteau on a regular shift for what I believe was the first game this season, was perfect on the night, killing 5 of 5 Worcester opportunities. By the time they finished killing off Pock’s penalty at the 9:30 mark of the period, they were being out shot by a margin of 11 to 1, and had forced Wiikman to come up with a number of spectacular saves. It took a flukey deflection to finally beat him just before the twelve minute mark of the period when Marc Busenburg fired a shot from the low half boards that bounced off Sharks forward Brad Staubitz’s leg and past Wiikman on the glove side. The Pack held on to the 2-1 lead through the remainder of the period, with Wiikman stopping 17 of 18 Worcester shots in the period while the Pack were only able to muster 6 of their own.

In the 3rd coach Ken Gernander changed up the lines, moving Thomas Pock, who’d been playing on Anisimov’s wing at even strength, back to defense full time and moving Hugh Jessiman up into his spot. That move paid off at 13:02 when Jessiman and Anisimov lead a rush into the Worcester zone and Jessiman fed a trailing Hutchinson in the high slot. Hutchinson skated the puck in on net, feeding a perfect pass to Owens at the left post, where he was able to lift the puck into the open side of the net. It was Owens’ second goal of the game, and fourth point in the last 3 games and gave the Pack a 3-1 lead. Only a minute and four seconds later the Pack would get a somewhat fortuitous 5-on-3 power play opportunity after Thomas Pock pushed Sharks forward Dennis Packard into Wiikman, resulting in Packard getting called for Goaltender Interference. When Riley Armstrong persisted in arguing the call, he was assessed and additional two minutes for Unsportsmanlike Conduct, giving the Pack a two man advantage for a full two minutes. It took less than one for the Pack to cash in, when Lauri Korpikoski, parked just off the right post, threaded a pass through the crease to P.A. Parenteau at the right post, who had a wide open net to sweep the puck into, essentially putting the game away. The Sharks would get a couple more opportunities to reduce the lead, but Wiikman would prove equal the each challenge, stopping all 12 of the Sharks 3rd period shots while the Pack put up 13 of their own.

With his 39 for 40 save performance, Wiikman moved back into 8th place among all AHL goaltenders in both goals against average and save percentage (LeNeveu is 13th in both categories). During the pre-game show this evening Bob Crawford revealed that Wiikman has been battling a nagging injury, which helps explain why LeNeveu has gotten the vast majority of starts since his arrival. While the injury hasn’t been serious enough to keep Wiikman off the ice, with LeNeveu playing as well as he has since arriving from San Antonio, it’s allowed the coaching staff to err to the side of caution.

The other return of note was that of captain Andrew Hutchinson, who was back in the lineup after missing four games with a hip injury. Hutchinson’s influence on the Pack power play was immediate and obvious, with the Pack going 2 for 4 with the man advantage after getting shut out in 21 attempts in the four games Hutchinson missed. He remains at the top of the ranks for scoring by defensemen in the AHL, with 55 points in 55 games, maintaining an 8 point lead over the second place scorer, despite playing 6 games less.

After leaving last night’s contest early, Brodie Dupont did not play tonight due to what was termed “illness”. That left the Pack with only 9 available forwards. They dressed 8 defensemen instead, with Pock taking a regular even strength shift at wing on the second line through two periods, and Ryan Constant getting the odd shift at wing to complement an occasional shift on defense.

Random Notes
- After playing most of the season at a point-per-game pace, Greg Moore has only 3 points (1g, 2a) in his past 11 games. He’s been a -4 in that time.
- Artem Anisimov has moved into a tie for 15th place in rookie scoring.
- Dane Byers served the last game of his three game suspension tonight and will return to the line up on Wednesday
- The Pack have yet to lose in regulation after going into the 3rd period with the lead, going 34-0-1-3 when taking a lead into the 3rd.

Pack Scoring
1. Owens (4) (Anisimov, Pock) 1:23
1. Ouellette (8) (Anisimov, Hutchinson) 16:15 (PP)
2. Staubitz (4) (Busenburg, Packard) 11:57
3. Owens (5) (Hutchinson, Jessiman) 13:04
3. Parenteau (26) (Korpikoski, Baranka) 15:35 (PP)

Lines
Korpikoski – Moore – Parenteau
Owens – Anisimov – Pock
Lee – Ouellette – Jessiman
Gratton – Constant

Baranka – Brown
Hutchinson – Potter
Sauer – Taylor

Three Stars
1. Miika Wiikman
2. Mike Ouellette
3. Jordan Owens

The Manchester Monarchs entered the game with the AHL’s best power play and worst penalty kill. By the end of the night, they had improved in both categories, winning the special teams battle — and game — in Hartford by going 8 for 8 on the penalty kill and 1 for 4 on the power play.

The Pack got an early opportunity when referee Nygel Pelletier awarded Manchester’s Matt Moulson a hooking penalty only seven seconds into the game. But as it has ever since Andrew Hutchinson was knocked out of the line up by a hip injury five games ago, the Pack’s (still) 3rd ranked power play proved absolutely impotent, going 0 for 8 on the night and extending their power play shut out streak to 0 for 18 of the last 5 games. With 9 penalties called in the first period alone (including offsertting fighting majors for Josh Gratton and Paul Crosty – a close bout, with perhaps a slight edge to Gratton) neither team really seemed to get rolling in the period. The Monarchs took a 10-6 advantage in shots, but neither was able to get on the score board.

The Monarchs did get on the board early in the second, when at 2:08 a miscommunication between Pack forwards left a trailing Monarch wide open with the puck. It looked to me like Anisimov had motioned Pock, who was playing wing at the time, to cover one of the Monarch forwards while he took another and the defenseman on the play covered the puck carrier, but Pock opted to stay on the puck carrier, who was able to get the puck back to the wide-open trailer, who beat LeNeveu high from just above the hash marks.

Right off the next faceoff newly signed defenseman Brad Brown squared off with Manchester’s Kevin Westgarth, with Brown taking the win in a close battle. At 8:07, with Corey Potter (who played his worst game I’ve seen him play in person since the opening game of the season) in the box for holding, David Meckler fired a wrist shot from the top of the left circle through LeNeveu’s 5-hole. The goal looked an awful lot like some of the softies Montoya has been criticized for letting in, as LeNeveu seemed to have a clear view of the shooter and the puck didn’t appear to be deflected on its way in from where we were sitting. [Edit: According the Bruce Berlet of the Hartford Courant it was deflected, so ignore that.] LeNeveu did appear to be fighting the puck a bit throughout the night, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Wiikman get the start tomorrow.

Once again the Pack had a 4 to 3 advantage in power play opportunities in the period, including 52 seconds of 5-on-3 time, but despite taking a 13 to 7 advantage in shots, they weren’t able to get the puck past Manchester goalie Daniel Taylor until the 19:07 mark of the period, when Jordon Owens beat him with a rebound shot during a scrum in front of the net.

As if the news wasn’t bad enough, it seems like Brodie Dupont might have been injured at some point in the 2nd period because he wasn’t on the bench and didn’t play in the 3rd. My husband said he remembered Dupont taking a hard hit in the far corner of the defensive zone during the second, but I can’t say I noticed anything that might suggest why he didn’t finish the game. Neither Brown or Charlotte callup Ryan Constant saw much ice time in the 3rd period either, with Tomas Pock moving back on defense after having played the majority of the game (excluding power plays) on the wing. Both were on the bench in the 3rd, however.

The Pack did manage a few really good opportunities in the third, including multiple open-net opportunities for Parenteau that he shot wide. At 12:10 the Monarchs extended their lead to two on a goal which appeared to have been batted in by a high stick by Lauri Tukonen as he crashed into the crease, but the referee ruled it was a goal. And despite a valiant effort in the closing minutes and outshouting the Monarchs 13 to 5 in the 3rd, the Pack were not able to climb out of the hole they’d dug themselves, though late in the third it did appear that they had gotten the deficit back down to one, but it was ruled the puck was touched with a high stick before it went into the net. The Pack finished the game with a 32-22 advantage in shots, but their inability to cash in on multiple power play opportunities ultimately did them in.

Pack Scoring
2. Owens (3) (Jessiman, Gratton) 19:07

Lines
Korpikoski – Moore – Gratton
Pock – Anisimov – Parenteau
Dupont – Ouellette – Jessiman
Owens – Lee

Taylor – Baranka
Potter – Brown
Constant – Sauer

LeNeveu / Wiikman

Three Stars
1. David Meckler
2. Matt Moulson
3. Jordan Owens

I ended up seeing parts of the 3rd period and caught both Ouellette’s second goal and Gratton’s empty-netter. Ouelette’s goal was all Parenteau, he carried it into the zone, around a defender and in on net, then passed it across the crease to Ouellette who was parked at the right side of the net. It deflected off something and popped up in the air and it took Ouellette a couple whacks to get the bouncing puck in the net. Gratton’s goal came off a block by Korpikoski at the top of the circles with San Antonio having pulled the goalie for the extra skater very early (with about 3:53 to go). Korpikoski got the puck and Gratton took off out of the zone, accepted the pass just inside the red line and skated in alone with a San Antonio player chasing but not able to catch him before put it in the empty net. LeNeveu didn’t have a ton of work from what I saw. The 34 – 18 shot advantage for the Pack would seem to suggest a pretty dominant performance. Nice to see LeNeveu and Gratton be named 2 of the 3 stars for the 2nd consecutive game (both against their former team). I was very surprised to see that Montoya didn’t get the start — I’m looking forward to the reasoning behind the decision in the paper tomorrow.

Random Stuff:
- Portland lost tonight, so the Pack are once again tied with them for 2nd place in the Atlantic, but have 2 games in hands.
- Providence won, and now hold a 9 point lead on both Portland and the Pack. With the win they became the first team in the AHL to clinch a playoff berth. But after they lead the league for the vast majority of the season, they’ve fallen to 2nd behind Chicago. Hartford is 3rd.
- Not surprisingly, with Hutchinson still out, the Pack went 0 for 6 on the power play.

Pack Scoring
1. Ouellette (6) (Gratton, Owens) 11:10
2. Anisimov (12) (Parenteau, Lee) 11:23
3. Ouellette (7) (Parenteau, Korpikoski) 15:35
3. Gratton (7) (Korpikoski, Moore) 17:09 (EN)

Lines (as best I could tell by the end of the 3rd)
Korpikoski – Moore – Gratton
Pock – Anisimov – Parenteau
Dupont – Ouellette – Jessiman
Owens – Lee

Potter – Constant
Baranka – Taylor
Brown – Sauer

LeNeveu / Wiikman

Three Stars
1. Mike Ouellette
2. Josh Gratton
3. David LeNeveu