Monarchs top Wolf Pack, 6-3

Published on February 4, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


HARTFORD, Conn. _ A 25-second lapse early in the second period started the Hartford Wolf Pack's downfall Wednesday night.

Defenseman Viatcheslav Voynov assisted on Matt Moulson's tying-breaking goal and then scored shortly after as the Manchester Monarchs rallied to beat the Wolf Pack 6-3 at the XL Center.

Moulson, Marty Murray and former Yale forward David Meckler also had a goal and an assist for the Monarchs (20-23-0-5), who had been on a 3-9-0-1 slide, including a 4-3 loss to the Wolf Pack Saturday night.

"I didn't like our game at all," Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said. "They won every loose puck battle, they were more physical, they were more hungry, they put shots on net, they had more traffic. Pick any way you want to measure the game, and we didn't stack up."

How does something like that happen?

"I don't know, but it won't happen again," Gernander said. "I'm really disappointed. Actually I'm beyond that. I'm angry."

The Wolf Pack (25-19-2-3) started the night seven games above .500 for the first time this season after winning three in a row, tying a season high. They were two points behind idle Atlantic Division leader Providence and had won three in a row over the Monarchs.

But after the first period ended in a 1-1 tie, it was all Monarchs (20-23-0-5), whose six goals tied the most against the Wolf Pack this season.

"When you're mentally engaged, you're physically engaged and you make good decisions and win races to loose pucks," Gernander said. "When you're not mentally engaged, you're whole game is off."

All-Star center Artem Anisimov returned to the Wolf Pack after making his NHL debut in the Rangers' 2-1 shootout loss to Atlanta Tuesday night and nearly scored at 55 seconds, but his rebound bid from 30 feet in the slot was stopped by Daniel Taylor (23 saves).

The Wolf Pack took a 1-0 lead at 6:24 while on a power play as P.A. Parenteau tapped in his 21st goal off a rebound of Corey Potter's shot from the right point.

But on an ensuing power play, the Monarchs tied it when a wide-open Moulson jammed in Murray's pass from behind the net at 8:20.

The Wolf Pack nearly regained the lead on their second power play, but Taylor denied All-Star Bobby Sanguinetti from the left circle and made a stellar glove save on Anisimov in the opening 1:23 of the second period.

Wolf Pack goalie Matt Zaba (28 saves) stopped Teddy Purcell's backhander on a partial breakaway at 2:14, but the Monarchs then scored twice in 25 seconds to take the lead for good.

First, Voynov's shot from the right point on a power play ricocheted to a wide-open Justin Azevedo for an easy finish at 4:13. Then a wide-open Voynov broke down the slot and one-timed Vladimir Dravecky's pass from behind the net past Zaba.

Zaba made a good save on Trevor Lewis' shot from the right circle off a Sanguinetti turnover, but the Monarchs made it 4-1 at 12:37 as Murray jammed in a second rebound of Joe Piskula's left-point shot, which gave Manchester 16-3 advantage in the period.

The Wolf Pack finally showed some life and got to 4-2 as Parenteau found Jordan Owens coming off the bench, and the speedy wing faked a shot, skated into the slot and beat Taylor cleanly with 2:06 left.

But with the teams skating four a side to start the third period, Scott Parse deflected Drew Bagnall's shot past Zaba at 27 seconds. Meckler's rebound made it 6-2 with 1:25 left before Dale Weise capped the scoring with 1.1 seconds to go.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from February 4, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central