Pirates defeat Wolf Pack

February 27, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


Hartford, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack have seen more than enough of Portland Pirates rookie wing Tyler Ennis.

Ennis scored his seventh goal of the season in five games against the Wolf Pack Saturday night, taking a centering pass from Marc-Andre Gragnani and beating Chad Johnson high with 1:58 left in overtime to give the Pirates a 2-1 victory before 4,723 at the XL Center.

With defenseman Mathieu Dandenault off for interference, Ennis converted from 20 feet in the slot for his 19th goal, three behind team leader Mark Mancari, enabling the Pirates (34-18-5-3) to end a 1-2-0-1 mini-skid after a franchise-record, 11-game winning streak.

"I don't know why I do so well against them," said Ennis, 20, the Buffalo Sabres' No. 1 pick (26th overall) in 2008 and a member of Canada's gold medal-winning team in the World Junior Championships in 2009. "I guess it just must be luck, but it helps playing with two great players (Mancari and Brad Larsen).

"We had been working the puck around on the perimeter on the power play trying to load up Mancari as much as we can because he has a super-hard shot. Then just to change the look up a bit, I just snuck into the middle to try to open up a seam for Gragnani. He just laid it in there for me, and I just found a soft spot and just tried to shoot through the screen. I didn't know it went in right away. I'm just glad it did."

Ennis leads AHL rookies in scoring (19 goals, 39 assists in 60 games) and had his only pro hat trick in a 6-3 victory over the Wolf Pack on Nov. 16. Ennis' latest heroics gave the Pirates (34-18-5-3) their fourth victory in five games against the Wolf Pack and moved them within one point of Atlantic Division leader Worcester, which lost 4-3 to Abbotsford.

Meanwhile, it was the Wolf Pack's third consecutive 2-1 loss, the last two coming in overtime. The Wolf Pack (26-26-5-4) are on a 1-6-2-0 slide, but with the point for the overtime loss, moved into a tie with Providence for sixth place in the Atlantic Division, and to within two points of Bridgeport for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"We need to score more goals," said Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander, who changed his top three lines in an attempt to try to ignite the offense. "If you're only going to get one goal, the margin for error is pretty slim. I don't think we gave up a crazy amount of chances, but it's just that the margin for error is a lot less when we're not creating our own.

"We need a little more commitment to either driving wide or shooting from the perimeter but with guys either net-front or committed to getting to the net. Changing the lines didn't quite take. We have some nights where we try to load up a line and hope they can get the job done and maybe get some unexpected contributions. Tonight we tried to spread it out a little bit, but it didn't necessarily pan out either."

After the Wolf Pack's first two 2-1 losses and with rookie Andres Ambühl back in the lineup after playing for Switzerland in his second consecutive Winter Olympics, Gernander made the switches. Ambühl, who was scoreless and had five shots in five games for a Swiss team that lost 2-0 to the United States in the quarterfinals, replaced Jordan Owens and played center for the first time, skating between captain Dane Byers and P.A. Parenteau. Brodie Dupont moved from center to left wing and skated alongside All-Star center Corey Locke and Dale Weise. Evgeny Grachev moved from left wing to right wing and skated with Justin Soryal and Paul Crowder. The only line that remained intact was Donald Brashear-Ryan Garlock-Derek Couture.

It took about 10 minutes for the two teams to work out the cobwebs before the Pirates got the only serious scoring chances in a scoreless first period. Johnson (23 saves) flicked out his right pad to deny Mancari at 11:07, then made solid stops on Ennis' rush off the right wing with 4:57 left and his one-timer from the left circle with 1:58 to go.

Scoring chances continued to be at a premium early in the second period, with neither team getting a serious opportunity until Johnson made a brilliant glove save on Kyle Rank's shorthanded shot at the 11-minute mark. Rank drew a hooking penalty on Corey Potter on the play, and the Pirates converted on their second power play when Gragnani took a pass from Mancari, skated parallel to the blueline and to the top of right circle before firing a shot that beat Johnson to the far corner at 11:39 for Gragnani's ninth goal of the season.

But just 1:04 later, the Wolf Pack tied it on their first good scoring chance when Ilkka Heikkinen passed to Dupont, who pushed the puck in the neutral zone to Weise. Weise burst down the left wing around Dennis Persson and put the puck between the legs of Jhonas Enroth (19 saves) for his 19th goal, second on the team to Locke's 24.

Enroth then made an alert stop on Ambühl before the Pirates had three successive power plays, including a 5-on-3 for 19 seconds, but got only one shot, a close-in bid by Felix Schutz with 5:32 left in the period.

Johnson kept it tied as he stopped Cody McCormick at the left post at 52 seconds of the third period and then got lucky when Derek Whitmore hit the left post from 25 feet in the slot at 2:53.

The teams then returned to playing it close to the vest until Johnson made bang-bang stops on Persson's shot from the top of the right circle and Matt Caruana's rebound bid with 6:32 left. Less than a minute later, Johnson made a brilliant left-skate save on Jeff Cowan.

The Pirates nearly won it in the final minute of regulation, but Johnson stopped Ennis' partial breakaway with 40 seconds left and Mancari hit the left post five seconds later.

But there was no stopping Ennis in overtime.



American Hockey League Stories from February 27, 2010


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