Falcons slip past Wolf Pack in OT

October 29, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


HARTFORD, Conn. - The Hartford Wolf Pack's luck remained bad Friday night, as Michael Blunden's rebound of Chad Kolarik's shot during a 4-on-3 power play with 1:36 left in overtime gave the Springfield Falcons a 2-1 victory before 2,952 at the XL Center on Friday night.

Former Wolf Pack goalie David LeNeveu made 41 saves, and was especially spectacular late in the first period, in getting the Falcons their third consecutive victory and above .500 (5-4-0-0), as the Wolf Pack (3-4-2-1) ended a season-high, five-game homestand with a 0-3-2-0 record despite a season-high 42 shots.

Jeremy Williams lost an edge and slid into the boards on an overtime rush, enabling the Falcons to break out 4-on-2 and get the winner from Blunden.

"The hockey gods were with us," said Falcons coach Rob Riley, whose team is now 4-1-0-0 on the road. "Even our own guys came back to the bench surprised by the saves that (LeNeveu) had made. On the winning goal, a lot of different guys were chipping in. It wasn't our best game offensively, but the bottom line is we found a way to win."

LeNeveu, back with Falcons after helping the Salzburg Red Bulls win the Austrian Elite League title last season, had four terrific saves in the final 4:38 of the first period after Kolarik beat Chad Johnson (23 saves) high to the stick side off Grant Clitsome's centering pass 14:34 into the game. But it wasn't LeNeveu's best showing at the XL Center. He had 55 saves in a 4-1 victory over the Wolf Pack December 31, 2003, in his first go-around with the Falcons in the 2003-04 season.

"You want to do well against an old team," said LeNeveu, who was 8-3-2 with a 1.83 goals-against average and .924 save percentage with the Wolf Pack at the end of the 2007-08 season. "I treat every game the same. We're trying to get two points."

The Falcons got them when Wolf Pack defenseman Ryan McDonagh's clearing attempt hit a stanchion and remained in the Hartford zone, then moments later Williams fell, leading to Blunden's team-leading sixth goal.

"We have to continue to persevere," Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said. "I can't fault the overall effort and some of the heart and courage that you saw, but we still made some costly mistakes. When you're in a bit of funk like this, your margin for error isn't such that you can afford to make mistakes. At some point in time, we're going to have to have someone step up with a real big effort or big play or something.

"But we're going to stay the course. With the heart and effort that we showed, it's a pretty good indicator that this thing will get turned around. But when you're playing one-goal games, there are no little things. If we're getting six or seven goals a game and make one mistake, it doesn't seem so dramatic or important. But we're playing everything real close, real tight, our margin for error isn't that great, so obviously mistakes are magnified."

The Wolf Pack (3-4-2-1) scored only four goals in the homestand and have lost six in a row at the XL Center (0-4-2-0) since a season-opening, 4-2 victory over the Charlotte Checkers on Oct. 9. They've scored only three goals in the last 294 minutes, 24 seconds, losing twice in overtime.

"We had chances, we had shots, we had opportunities," Gernander said. "In the past we've been asking for a bit more volume of both shots and chances, and obviously the scoreboard says we had an increase in shots and had some chances, but once again the result isn't what we want."

Despite excellent penalty killing and a whopping 20-7 shot advantage (14-6 in quality chances), their most shots in a period this season, the Wolf Pack trailed 1-0 after the first period on Kolarik's shot high to the stick side of Johnson off a centering pass from Grant Clitsome at 14:34.

But the rest of the period belonged to LeNeveu, who made four brilliant saves after Kolarik's goal. First, he flicked out his right pad to stop McDonagh's 25-foot shot from the slot with 4:34 left in the period. After Johnson stopped Matt Calvert's shorthanded breakaway off a steal from Newbury a minute later, LeNeveu made two diving saves on defenseman Tomas Kundratek's rapid-fire shots from 30 feet with 1:44 to go. LeNeveu capped his stellar finish to the period when he denied Garlock off McKelvie's partial breakaway with 29 seconds left.

On the Falcons' third power play early in the second period, Johnson denied Kolarik off right wing at 52 seconds, then LeNeveu stopped Garlock on a shorthanded 2-on-1 with McKelvie 23 seconds later. LeNeveu made a diving save on Tyler Donati at 2:55, but the Wolf Pack's persistence finally paid off when Newbury swatted in his own rebound off a give-and-go with Byers at 6:50 for his first goal of the season and team-leading ninth point.

The Wolf Pack nearly took the lead moments later, but Zuccarello missed the net from close range and then was robbed by LeNeveu from 15 feet in the slot, giving the home team a 9-2 shot advantage in the period and 29-9 in the game. Then with the Wolf Pack on their fourth power play, LeNeveu made a right-toe stop on Byers' deflection with two minutes left in the period. The Wolf Pack finished 40 minutes with a 36-15 shot advantage, which was three more shots than they had in any of their previous nine games this season.

LeNeveu continued his stellar play early in the third period, stopping McKelvie's deflection of Williams' backhander at 4:13. After Johnson denied Kolarik cruising down the slot off a pass from Blunden at 8:51, LeNeveu somehow managed to get his right leg on Zuccarello's close-in bid from Newbury with 5:49 left.

Johnson made bang-bang stops off Kolarik 35 seconds into overtime, but he had no chance on Blunden's rebound.

The Wolf Pack has a shot for payback Saturday night at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, where the Falcons are 1-3-0-0. The Wolf Pack is 2-0-0-1 on the road and was 3-1-1-0 at the MassMutual Center last season.

"It's just tough luck right now," McDonagh said. "It was a good game and the style we want to play. It's what the coach asked of us. We got (20) shots in the first period and continued that in the second, but give credit where credit is due. Their goalie stood on his head and robbed a few guys.

"I'm sure a few guys would like to have a couple (chances) back, but he coach came in and we had a good talk (after the game). It's good that we're getting those one-goal games out of the way early. We've got learn to find a way to get the wins. It was a good response, and the best thing about is we get a chance for redemption with the same team."



American Hockey League Stories from October 29, 2010


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