First Period
Pack outshot the Pirates 14-7 but a Tomas Pock turnover at the Pirate blue line resulted in an odd man rush and a 1-0 Pirate lead.

Second Period
Less than a minute in, Mike Ouellette found some open space, skated down the right wing side and fired a slapper on goal. Pirate goalie J.S. Aubin made the initial stop, but put the rebound right out in the high slot, where Andrew Hutchinson swooped in for the goal. The Pack took the lead at 12:43 when Hugh Jessiman carried the puck into the Pirate zone, only to lose it to a poke check. But Lauri Korpikoski came in right behind him, picked up the loose puck and fired a snap shot high on the stick side of Aubin. The Pirates’ Andy Schneider tied it back up less than 4 minutes later when he beat Pack starter Miika Wiikman with a slapshot from the left point, through traffic. The Pack controlled the pace of play throughout, outshooting the Pirates 13-5.

Third Period
The Pack got screwed by the officials yet again as a puck was touched by multiple Pirate high sticks before it dropped behind Wiikman and into the net. The goal was originally credited to Michal Birner before being changed to Brett Festerling. They had no choice but to change it, since apparently the argument for why it wasn’t waved off was that Birner didn’t actually touch it with his high stick. That would have been fine, if Festerling’s stick hadn’t also been above the cross bar. But ever since Portland coach Kevin Dineen threw a hissy fit after game one over a penalty he felt was missed just prior to the Pack scoring the winning goal, the Pack haven’t gotten the benefit of any calls. Wiikman threw a fit of his own (and his blocker — twice) when the goal was allowed to stand. The goal kicked the spirit out of the Pack, who didn’t really threaten the rest of the way as the Pirates clamped down and played solid defense. The hockey gods seemed to be doing their best to help the Pack out, as four different empty net attempts by the Pirates were either shot wide or whiffed, but the Pack couldn’t get anything going in the Pirate zone.

Season over.

Pack Scoring
2. Hutchinson (2) (Ouellette) 0:50
2. Korpikoski (1) (Jessiman) 12:43

Lines
Were constantly changed. They ended up something like this:
Dupont – Anismov – Parenteau
Owens – Korpikoski – Bourret
Byers – Moore – Jessiman
Pyatt – Ouellette – Gratton

Potter – Hutchinson
Baranka – Sanguinetti
Pock – Taylor

Wiikman / LeNeveu

Three Stars
1. Jean-Sebastien Aubin
2. Andrew Hutchinson
3. Andy Schneider

The Pirates pushed the Pack to the brink of elimination tonight with a 4-3 win, thanks in large part to their continued undisciplined play.

Hartford got off to a much better start in this game than in any of the three previous games in the series, for the most part controlling the pace of play through the first 8 minutes. But despite puck possession time, the Pack had only two shots on goal to show for it, compared to the Pirates’ one. Then at 8:28 the Pack got themselves into their first penalty trouble of the night when Tomas Pock took exception to a Pirate crowding goaltender David LeNeveu after the whistle, earning himself a roughing penalty and giving the Pirates their first of 6 power play opportunities. The pack killed it off, and went on to get the first goal of the game for the first time in the series, at 11:03, when a clearing pass by Pirate defenseman Brian Salcido deflected off Greg Moore’s skate into the high slot, where Alex Bourret was able to get to it first and fire it past Pirate goaltender J.S. Aubin from just to the right of the hash marks.

It looked like the Pack took a two goal lead with around five minutes to go in the period when Bobby Sanguinetti fed Artem Anisimov, who was in down low on a 2-on-1 with Josh Gratton, from just inside the Pirate blue line. Anisimov looked to pass first before firing a quick wrist shot high to Aubin’s stick side. But referee Francois St. Laurent immediately waved the goal off, explaining only that the whistle had already blown, leaving Pack play-by-play man Bob Crawford to speculate they must called the play for offsides. No replay was available to confirm or deny that suspicion, but it was St. Luarent who must have made the late call, because the linesman made no signal. When play resumed, Gratton squared off with Pirate winger Darryl Bootland. Both connected on a fair number of shots before Gratton got the upper hand, landing a hard right that sent Bootland to the ice.

A minute and a half later Pack captain Andrew Hutchinson put the Pack back down a man when he was called for cross checking mere seconds after getting away with a trip on the same Portland player. The Pirates made them pay with good puck movement in the Pack zone, ending with Jason King beating LeNeveu with a wrist shot from the left circle. Hutchinson made up for his penalty with just four seconds to go in the period when he beat Aubin with a blistering, unscreened slap shot from the top of the left circle during a 4-on-4 that resulted when Alex Bourret and Portland winger Simon Ferguson were whistled for coinciding roughing penalties at 19:10.

Early in the second the Pack got themselves in penalty trouble once again, when Corey Potter took one of the three two-minute minors he’d be whistled for on the night at 1:10. Once again the Pirates made the Pack pay, when Stephen Dixon deflected a point shot from Joe Callahan past LeNeveu at 2:41, knotting the score. Less than five minutes later they took the lead when defenseman Brett Festerling intentionally fired a shot from the point wide of the net, bouncing it off the back boards and out in front of the net, where Mike Hoffman, who returned after serving a one game suspension for elbowing Anisimov in game 2, was ready, waiting and wide open to put it past LeNeveu at 7:25.

Potter took his second minor of the game — for slashing — at the halfway point of the period, but the Pack were able to kill it off. At 16:57 they got their first opportunity with the man advantage, and used that chance to knot the score back up at 3 when Korpikoski fed Parenteau at the hashmarks for a quick redirection through the five hole on Aubin at 18.19.

The Pack got their second and final opportunity on the power play just 24 seconds into the third, but were unable to convert. Potter then took his 3rd minor of the game — this one for hooking — at 9:04, but the Pack killed it off. But with just under 5 minutes to play in the game, the Pack lost an offensive zone draw, allowing the Pirates to break out of their zone and into the Pack zone with a 3-on-2. Saturday’s hero Bobby Ryan fed Dixon down low for his second of the game, giving the Pirates the 4-3 lead with only 4:20 left to play in the game.

On the next shift, Alex Bourret ensured the Pack would not be able to battle back when he charged in from the top of the circles on Portland defenseman Joe Callahan behind the net, earning himself a 5-minute major for boarding with just 3:58 to play in the game. Despite getting jumped by a Portland player in retaliation, Bourret’s penalty was the only one called on they play, setting the Pack up to finish the game shorthanded.

Desperate to generate offense despite being down a man, Gernander sent out some unusual forward pairs on the PK, including a pairing of Mike Ouellette and Anismov. For Anisimov it was only his second shift on the PK all season, with the first resulting in a shorthanded goal in a 10-1 thrashing of Springfield at the end of March. The decision almost paid off again, when Anismov was able to steal the puck off a Pirate player just inside the Pack blueline and feed it to Paretneau, who’d come on for Ouellette on a line change. Parenteau skated in on a partial breakaway, but was stopped by Aubin. Parenteau then retreived his own rebound and put it back in front of the net, where Anisimov and another Pack player fought to get a stick on it. Aubin was able to freeze the puck, but not before the Pack had drawn a penalty with just 1:31 to go in the game. That allowed them to pull LeNeveu to get the 5-on-4 advantage for the remainder of the game. But the Pirates were once again able to hold them off, and take the 3-1 series stranglehold, sending the series back to Hartford for a potential series-clinching game 5 on Tuesday.

Notes

• Potter’s 3 minor penalties in this game give him 7 in four games in the series.
• Portland were 2 for 6 on the power play, and are 5 for 26 in the series.
• The Pack’s power play, which was ranked second in the league in the regular season, has gone only 2 for 22.

Pack Scoring
1. Bourret (1) (Moore) 11:03
1. Hutchinson (1) (Parenteau) 19:56
2. Parenteau (3) (Korpikoski, Baranka) 18:19 (PP)

Lines
Byers – Korpikoski – Parenteau
Jessiman – Moore – Bourret
Ouellette – Anisimov – Gratton
Lee – Pyatt – Owens

Pock – Taylor
Potter – Hutchinson
Baranka – Sanguinetti

LeNeveu / Wiikman

Three Stars
1. Stephen Dixon
2. Brett Festerling
3. Greg Moore

The Pirates rode the return of Bobby Ryan from his latest stint with Anaheim to a 3-2 win and 2-1 series lead over the Wolf Pack tonight in front of a crowd of 3,848 at the Cumberland Count Civic Center in Portland.

As they have in each of the two previous games in this series, the Pack put themselves back on their heals with a penalty in the first minute of play. In the first game it was P.A. Parenteau who took a tripping call at the 23 second mark. In game two, Corey Potter was whistled for tripping just 50 seconds in. Tonight Parenteau once again put the Pack down a man early, taking a slashing call at the :27 mark. Unlike in the previous two games, the Pack were able to kill off the early penalty, but it gave the Pirates the opportunity to get off to a good start and dictate the tone of play through the first period. And it finally paid off for them at the 16:13 mark when Geoff Platt beat Pack goaltender David LeNeveu to give Portland the 1-0 lead. Just over two minutes later, the Pack were back on the defensive, killing their third penalty of the period, when Portland took their first two-goal game of the series when Ryan picked up his second point of the night with a goal at 18:22, while Josh Gratton looked on from the penalty box.

The Pack battled back in the second, scoring two goals in just over two and a half minutes. At the six minute mark a line of Mike Ouellette, Artem Anisimov and Gratton, one of four new line combinations put together by coach Ken Gernander for this game, kept the puck deep in the Portland zone, forcing Portland to ice the puck off consecutive defensive zone draws. Portland won the third faceoff, but Anisimov was able to get control of the puck behind the net and walk out to the left side, where he spun and put a shot on goal. Portland goaltender J.S. Aubin made the initial save, but left a rebound which Ouellette was able to get a stick on for a second shot before being unceremoniously dumped by a Portland defender in front of the net. Aubin stopped that shot as well, but again couldn’t control the rebound and Anisimov was able to pull the puck out of the pile of bodies and put it up over Aubin to make it 2-1 at the six minute mark.

Two minutes and thirty-seven second later as both teams were in the midst of line changes, Alex Bourret found Corey Potter streaking down the left side. Potter was able to use his speed to get past the Portland defenseman and cut in on Aubin alone — one of three such opportunities in the game for Potter. In this instance, Aubin made the initial save, but couldn’t control the rebound, which Greg Moore was able to put past him to make it 2-2 at 8:37.

But a hooking penalty by Tomas Pock would put the Pack back on their heels at 12:03 and give Portland their fourth power play of the game. The Pack were able to kill it off, but only 8 seconds after Pock returned, Portland defenseman Joe Callahan fired a shot on LeNeveu from the left point. LeNeveu left a juicy rebound right in front, where a breakdown in defensive coverage left Jason King all along in front to put it in the open side of the net.

The Pack were given a perfect opportunity to answer back twenty seconds later when Pirate winger Simon Ferguson was whistled for hooking, but their primary power play unit of Dane Byers, Lauri Korpikoski and Parenteau struggled to even get the puck in the zone. The second unit of Hugh Jessiman, Anisimov and Alex Bourret faired a bit better, and the Pack were able to generate some momentum after the power play expired. But just over a minute and a half later a tripping penalty on Corey Potter put the Pirates back on the man advantage. The Pack killed it off, and in the closing seconds of the period fed Potter for a breakaway as he exited the penalty box. Potter put a good move on Aubin, but Aubin was equal to the challenge and swallowed the rebound as the buzzer sounded marking the end of the 2nd period.

The Pirates controlled the pace of play for large periods of time in the 3rd, pinning the Pack in their zone, though they had only 4 shots on goal to show for it in the period. Over the few shifts they were able to apply consistent pressure on the Pirates, the Pack were only able to generate 4 shots of their own. Their best opportunity came when Jordan Owens fed Mike Lee down low about halfway through the period. Lee was in alone on Aubin and appeared to pull the puck around him on the forehand with the entire side of the net wide open, but Aubin either got a toe on it, or Lee shanked the shot on what appeared to be a sure goal. And once again the Pack’s formerly potent power play failed to capitalize on a prime opportunity when P.A. Parenteau drew a holding call on Bruno St. Jacques at 15:18. As they did all game, the Pack power play struggled to get set up in the Pirate zone, insisting on attempting fancy chip plays at the Pirate blue line rather than getting the puck deep in the zone. And on the rare occasions they did set up in the Portland zone, they opted for risky cross-ice passes looking for the perfect shot, rather than putting pucks on net and looking for deflections and rebounds, as they have all season.

Tempers flared as the final buzzer sounded. It looked initially like Parenteau might have started things off by going after St. Jacques, but a penalty to Hugh Jessiman for elbowing at the twenty minute mark suggests he might have kicked things off with a late hit off camera. Bourret had also upset the Pirates bench minutes earlier with a hit that appeared to leave a Portland player in pain as he made his way slowly to the bench. Regardless of the cause, all 12 players on the ice paired off, including Aubin, who paired off with a Hartford forward, since LeNeveu had been pulled for the extra skater in the closing minute of the game. In the end, only Parenteau and St. Jacques and Jessiman and Callahan dropped the gloves, with Jessiman and Callahan earning game misconducts for engaging in a secondary altercation.

Pack Scoring
2. Anisimov (1) (Ouellette) 6:00
2. Moore (1) (Potter, Bourret) 8:37

Lines
Byers – Korpikoski – Parenteau
Jessiman – Moore – Bourret
Ouellette – Anisimov – Gratton
Pyatt – Lee – Owens

Hutchinson – Potter
Pock – Taylor
Baranka – Sanguinetti

LeNeveu / Wiikman

Three Stars
1. Bobby Ryan
2. Geoff Platt
3. Corey Potter