McBride Suspended
Friday April 24th 2009, 9:37 pm
Hartford Wolf Pack forward Brock McBride has earned a one game suspension as a result of his first period, momentum-sucking bump on Worcester Sharks defensman Brendan Buckley as the pair raced for the puck on an icing call three minutes into Thursday night’s game. McBride’s hit sent the Worcester defenseman hurtling towards the end boards feet first, causing what initially looked to be a serious injury, though Buckley was ultimately able to return later in the game. McBride will miss Saturday’s game six in Worcester as a result of the suspension.
Too Little Comes Too Late as Wolf Pack Falls Behind 3-2 in Series
Friday April 24th 2009, 12:55 am
An almost constant feature in Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander’s Keys to the Game in the closing weeks of the regular season was a plea for his team to limit penalties and play disciplined hockey. Yet despite his repeated admonitions, his team has continued its parade to the penalty box in the playoffs. On Thursday night in Hartford, their undisciplined play cost them a hockey game and put them on the brink of elimination, as the Worcester Sharks scored two power play goals as part of a three goal first period outburst and held on to defeat the Wolf Pack 3-1 to take a 3-2 lead in their Atlantic Division Semifinal series.
After a miserable effort in game four of the series in Worcester on Wednesday night, the Pack got off to a good start at home on Thursday, playing a far more assertive game than they had the night before. Brock McBride put an end to that just over three minutes into the game when he held up Worcester’s Brendan Buckley as the pair chased down the puck on an icing call, and sent the defenseman hurtling into the boards feet-first, causing what appeared to be a serious leg injury. McBride was fortunate to earn only a two minute interference call on the play, but the early penalty stripped the Wolf Pack of its momentum and put it squarely on the side of the Sharks.
Hartford killed off McBride’s penalty, but 27 seconds after McBride returned, Michael Sauer was whistled for interfering with a Worcester forward as he chased the puck behind the goal line. It only took veteran defenseman Patrick Traverse, who would finish the game with two goals and an assist, 19 seconds to cash in with a perfect shot to the top corner, stick side on goaltender Matt Zaba’s cage from the top of the left cirlce.
The Sharks doubled the lead 1:19 later off another shot by Traverse, after a huge hit on Sauer resulted in a turnover along the left half boards. This time, the Montreal native’s shot from the left point was deflected on the way in by T.J. Fox, giving the second year center his second goal in as many games at 7:15.
The Wolf Pack were the beneficiaries of two hooking calls against the Sharks near the midpoint of the period, including 39 seconds of 5-on-3, and while the man advantage allowed them to get finally their first shot on goal at 9:03 of the period, they never really threatened. The same wouldn’t be true for Worcester, which earned 1:09 of 5-on-3 time of their own thanks to pair of penalties by Corey Potter and Dane Byers starting at 12:49. The Sharks wasted no time, scoring just ten seconds into the two-man advantage to make it 3-0. Sauer managed to break up a pass in the high slot, and dove to clear the puck out of the zone, but wasn’t able to get it past Traverse, who skated around the prone defenseman in to the hashmarks, where he fired a bullet past Zaba and put the Wolf Pack in a hole they’d be unable to dig themselves out of, despite their best efforts.
The home team recovered from their disastrous first period and played the Sharks evenly in the second, countering the visitors’ aggressive forecheck with one of their own, with each team spending extended periods of time in the other’s zone. After getting outshot 13-4 in the first period, Hartford kept things close in the second, and allowed only a single shot advantage, 10-9. They were were unable to put rubber past Greiss, however, and entered the final period still down by three.
The final period of the game saw the Pack play what might have been their best twenty minutes of the series. They dictated the play for long stretches of time and held the Sharks to just three shots in the period, while putting 15 of their own on Greiss. Their efforts proved to be too little, too late, however, as they were only able to get a single puck past the German-born netminder in the period.
The lone Wolf Pack goal came on the power play at 13:33 of the period, in the waning seconds of a 5-on-4 advantage after failing to convert on an earlier 1:26 of 5-on-3 play. Potter fed Artem Anisimov in the right corner, and the second-year center fired a quick shot on goal from the sharp angle that appeared to go off a Worcester defenseman and past Greiss, though the goal was credited to Dane Byers, who was jamming the front of the net along with defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti.
That was as close as the Wolf Pack would get. The team now needs to hope they can build off their third period performance and get off to a good start in game six on Saturday in Worcester, where they’ll be facing elimination and the specter of a third early playoff exit in in a row.
Highlights are available from AHL Live.
Notes:
- After being a combined -10 in Wednesday night’s game the defense pairing of Brian Fahey and Jared Nightingale was a healthy scratch on Thursday. Vladimir Denisov returned after a five game absence due to injury and Rangers 2008 3rd round draft pick Tomas Kundratek made his professional debut in their place.
- In an effort to spur his teammates on following the second Worcester goal, Dane Byers fought Frazer McLaren at 7:20 of the first period. Both players threw a few haymakers, but McLaren was able to knock Byers off balance, sending both players tumbling to the ice.
- Sanguinetti threw the hit of the game with 6:45 left to play in the second period when he caught Fox with his head down in open ice and leveled the sophomore center with a clean hit. Fox did not return.
- The Wolf Pack finished the game 1-for-6 on the power play; the Sharks were 2-for-6.
Scoring:
1. Traverse (1) (Armstrong, DaSilva) 5:56 (PP)
1. Fox (2) (Traverse) 7:15
1. Traverse (2) 13:50 (PP)
3. Byers (2) (Potter, Sanguinetti) 13:33 (PP)*
*The scoring on this goal will be changed, as it was definitely Anisimov who put the original shot on goal, not Potter.
Lines**:
Dupont – Anisimov – Rissmiller
Byers – Ouellette – Owens
Pyatt – Moore – Weise
Bell – Crowder – McBride
Denisov – Sanguinetti
Urquhart – Sauer
Potter – Kundratek
Zaba / Wiikman
** The lines were mixed up following the first period.
Three Stars:
1. Patrick Traverse
2. Thomas Greiss
3. T.J. Fox
Links:
Wolf Pack Embarrassed in Game Four Shutout Loss
Thursday April 23rd 2009, 1:06 am
The Hartford Wolf Pack’s bus traveled to Worcester, M.A. on Wednesday afternoon for game four of the team’s Atlantic Division Semifinal playoff series against the Worcester Sharks. Unfortunately, the team forgot to get on before it left the Connecticut capital. At least that’s the best explanation that can be offered for the Wolf Pack’s embarrassing 6-0 shutout defeat at the hands of the baby Sharks at the DCU Center on Wednesday night.
Despite the flattering 30-27 shot advantage for the Wolf Pack — a first in the series — the Pack was soundly out-competed throughout the game, even during a second period in which they outshot their hosts 12-6, while never getting more than a few quality scoring chances. Still unable to come up with a counter to Worcester’s aggressive forecheck after three full games, the Pack’s passing was rushed and sloppy, resulting in frequent turnovers. Their battle level was well below that of their opponent; while the Sharks were blocking shots and diving to poke pucks away from danger, the Wolf Pack were waving their sticks harmlessly and ineffectively. Yet despite being outplayed, the visitors managed to sneak into the third period down by just a single goal.
That wouldn’t last long.
Logan Couture got the Worcester party started when he scored his first professional goal and the first of four Sharks goals in a span of 5:58 at 1:23 of the period. On a waved off icing call, Tom Cavanagh pressured defenseman Brian Fahey along the end boards, springing the puck to Riley Armstrong behind the net. Armstrong centered the puck to a wide open Couture in the slot for a quick one-timer which Wolf Pack netminder Matt Zaba was helpless to stop.
Lukas Kaspar gave the Sharks the 3-0 lead 2:22 later when he battled his way off the side boards and past Fahey to skate in on the Hartford net from the right side. Jared Nightingale missed on a lazy stick check, allowing the skilled Czech winger to put a shot over Zaba’s shoulder for his first of the playoffs at 3:45.
Monday’s double overtime hero Ryan Vesce made it 4-0 at 6:16. Bobby Sanguinetti’s stick check on Kaspar missed its mark, allowing a pass to get through to the Sharks captain on the left doorstep for the easy tap-in into the open side of the net.
Cavanagh earned Worcester’s fourth goal on its fifth shot of the period at 7:21. Brendan Buckley spun off Nightingale behind the net, wrapped around the far side of the cage and fed Cavanagh, who was unguarded in the slot, for the bang-bang goal to make it 5-0.
Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander called his timeout after the fifth goal, and while the break stemmed the tide, the damage was already done. The Wolf Pack held the Sharks off the board until the final minute of the period, when T.J. Fox took a drop pass on a 3-on-2 and was allowed to walk into the hashmarks unencumbered and fire a shot past Zaba to finalize the scoring at 19:13.
Kyle McLaren had scored the first goal of the game only 3:19 into the first period after the Sharks won an offensive zone draw, leading to the vereran NHL defenseman’s shot from the blueline that beat Zaba through a screen.
The Pack netminder, who stopped only 21 of 27 shots — but can’t really be faulted for any of the goals he allowed — remained in the net for the entire sixty minutes, suggesting that Miika Wiikman may get the call when the series returns to Hartford for game five on Thursday. The winner of Thursday’s game will take a 3-2 lead in the series and get their first crack at clinching a second round berth Saturday in Worcester.
Video highlights lowlights are available from AHL Live.
Notes:
- Nightingale and Fahey we each a -5 on the night, yet continued to be rolled out as a pairing almost every third shift. With all the spare defenseman currently in Hartford, replacing Nightingale in particular seems like a no-brainer at this point.
- A particularly tantalizing option on defense could be available soon, as Michael Del Zotto’s London Knights were eliminated from the OHL playoffs on Wednesday night.
- One defensman who is not available is Vladimir Denisov, who missed his fifth straight game with an upper body injury.
- Perhaps the lone positive to take from the game is that the Pack finally reduced their penalty count, earning only 1 non-coincidental minor from referee Chris Brown. Of course, Worcester was only whistled three times, suggesting Brown simply called a good game, unlike some of his brothers in stripes earlier in the series.
- Upset with a late hit, Brodie Dupont dropped the gloves with Andrew Desjardins in the third period. The scrum came at the end of a long shift for the Rangers 2005 third round draft pick and he seemed a somewhat reluctant combatant at first, trying to wrestle Desjardins to the ice before finally throwing (and landing) a few punches and getting the upper hand in the fight.
- P.A. Parenteau remained sidelined as he continues to be dogged by post-concussion symptoms. The AHL First Team All-Star is officially “day-to-day”, and according to Pack broadcaster Bob Crawford could return to the line-up for Saturday’s game six in Worcester.
- Mark Bell was a last minute scratch after it was determined he couldn’t go after getting “banged up” in Monday night’s double overtime game. Devin DiDiomete returned to the line-up in his absence.
- Paul Crowder returned to the line-up after a one game absence in place of tough guy Brandon Sugden.
Scoring:
1. McLaren (1) (Desjardins, DaSilva) 3:19
3. Couture (1) (Armstrong) 1:23
3. Kaspar (1) (Desjardins, DaSilva) 3:45
3. Vesce (3) (Larose, Kaspar) 6:16
3. Cavanagh (2) (Buckley, Armstrong) 7:21
3. Fox (1) (Vesce, Staubitz) 19:13
Lines:
Pyatt – Rissmiller – McBride
Dupont – Anisimov – Weise
Byers – Ouellette – Owens
DiDiomete – Moore – Crowder
Potter – Sanguinetti
Urquhart – Sauer
Nightingale – Fahey
Zaba / Wiikman
Three Stars:
1. Thomas Greiss
2. Dan DaSilva
3. Lukas Kaspar
Links:
