Wolf Pack Lose To Bruins 4-2

March 17, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


Hartford, CT, March 17, 2010 - It wasn't an absolute must-win for two longtime rivals and American Hockey League playoff regulars, but it was about as close as it could get with less than four weeks left in the regular season.

The Wolf Pack, who have made the postseason in all 12 seasons in the league, and the struggling Providence Bruins, in the playoffs the last 11 years, were six and seven points out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot, respectively, entering their Wednesday night matchup before 2,244 at the XL Center.

The Wolf Pack fell behind early thanks to two defensive lapses, rallied to tie and then yielded Trent Whitfield's wraparound winner midway through the third period, as the Bruins scored a 4-2 victory that enabled them to end a six-game winless streak (0-5-0-1) and move into sixth place in the Atlantic Division.

Kirk MacDonald's second goal of the game into an empty net with 1:32 left assured the end of the Wolf Pack's first two-game winning streak since back-to-back wins over the Bruins on Jan. 10 and 16 after a season-high, seven-game winless streak (0-3-3-1).

"There are no excuses this time of the year," said Wolf Pack right wing P.A. Parenteau, who assisted on Corey Locke's goal and got the tying score. "We need everyone to show up, and that wasn't the case. Everyone had a tough start, and as the game goes on, you need everyone, but there were too many passengers.

"You're not going to win hockey games if you don't have (20) guys playing their hardest and having your head into the game. It was the biggest game. We needed that game, and we didn't get it. (The playoff chase) isn't over yet, but there's got to be some soul-searching from everyone on this team, including myself. It's unacceptable to have a start like that in a game that big in importance.

"There's a lot of stuff in that game that (ticked) me off, but that's been the story of this team all season. There's time left (to make the playoffs), but we've got to turn it around really, really soon."

Wolf Pack goalie Chad Johnson (25 saves) said he was caught a bit off guard after Whitfield got away from Locke, stole the puck near the left corner from Anders Eriksson, circled the net and swept the puck between Johnson's legs.

"I saw (Whitfield) steal the puck, but I came across thinking he was going to stuff it," said Johnson, who had won two in a row after setting a franchise record for goalies with seven consecutive losses. "I didn't think he had that much time to really come around and wrap it around. I thought there was more pressure coming back, so he wasn't going to have that much time to really sweep it. I just kind of misread it. I didn't think he had that much time to make a play for the five-hole.

"It happened kind of quick, and I definitely had to kind of protect the right side for a shot in case he was going to cut back because I thought there were two guys down there, but Eriksson was kind of by himself."

Johnson, who kept the Wolf Pack in the game for the first two periods, also said the Wolf Pack collectively need to pick up their game.

"We put on a little bit of pressure in the third period but didn't create a lot of scoring chances," Johnson said. "There were a lot of perimeter shots and their goalie (Dany Sabourin) played well. Obviously it was an important game for us, but I don't think we played the way we should have played. We got a fair amount of shots (25), but I just don't think we generated any good quality chances."

Coach Ken Gernander was unhappy with his team's lack of urgency as the Wolf Pack (28-29-6-5) fell into seventh place in the division and 11th place in the conference. They're six points behind the idle Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the final playoff berth in the conference.

"It wasn't the start we wanted, obviously," Gernander said. "We fought back to tie it, but that's no excuse for the start we had. Turnovers are something we stress all the time, but we've put emphasis on it lately. We want the pucks to go deep on all rushes or entries, and at the defensive and offensive bluelines, we want to make sure we get the puck out along the wall, not the middle of the ice.

"I thought we gave up a poor goal to put ourselves behind (at 3-2), then you know they're just going to play defense, so it's hard to pressure and generate when they've got the one-goal lead. Given them credit for taking away the middle of the ice, the most dangerous part, but part of our game plan was not to bring the puck into the middle of the ice unless you had tape-to-tape passes or offensive opportunities. But they just put it there and hoped. Any team can defend that."

The Wolf Pack outshot the Bruins 4-1 in the opening 81/2 minutes but trailed 1-0 after Jeff LoVecchio passed in front to Levi Nelson, who beat Julien Brouillette to the puck and flicked it past Johnson high to the stick side on the game's first shot at 2:23.

The Bruins (32-33-3-1) nearly made it 2-0 at 7:05, but Jeff Penner's shot hit Johnson and went off the crossbar. But at 9:58, the Bruins did double their lead when MacDonald converted the rebound of Andy Wozniewski's shot from the left circle.

Both teams had excellent chances late in the period, but the Wolf Pack's Evgeny Grachev hit the post with 2:11 left and Johnson denied Jordan Knackstedt alone in front with 1:27 left and stopped Mikko Lehtonen on a 2-on-1 with 28 seconds left.

Johnson kept the Wolf Pack in the game early in the second period, stopping Ned Lukacevic's bid on a 3-on-1 at 4:58, Lehtonen cruising down the slot at 6:42 and Kenny Roche alone 25 feet out in the slot at 7:24. Roche had four goals and four assists in 14 games with the Wolf Pack earlier this season.

Given those reprieves, the Wolf Pack got to 2-1 on a power play when Corey Locke took a pass in the right circle from Bobby Sanguinetti and fired a high shot that went in off the post for his team-leading 28th goal at 10:37.

Johnson kept it a one-goal game with the Bruins on their second power play as he made bang-bang saves on Whitfield and Lehtonen with 4:42 left in the period.

The Wolf Pack picked up their pace early in the third period and tied it at 2 when Illka Heikkinen's shot from the left point caromed off the end boards into the right circle to Parenteau, who one-timed a shot that beat Sabourin to the top near corner at 3:09.

But the Bruins regained the lead on Whitfield's steal and conversion before MacDonald scored the clincher off an assist from Roche. ... The Bruins scratched left wing Lane MacDermid, whose father Paul played 370 games with the Hartford Whalers in 1981-89. Lane, born in Hartford in 1989 while his father was in his final season with the Whalers before being traded to the Winnipeg Jets, has two goals and two assists and leads all AHL rookies in penalty minutes (155) and major penalties (21) in 62 games. Paul MacDermid, a right wing, also was a tough guy in a 16-year NHL career that also included stints with the Jets, Washington Capitals and Quebec Nordiques. He finished with 116 goals, 141 assists and 1,303 penalty minutes in 690 NHL games. ... The Wolf Pack's season-high, six-game homestand continues Saturday night at 7 against the Springfield Falcons on "CT Youth Sports Night", in which the Wolf Pack will honor Connecticut sports teams and organizations of all age levels throughout the game.

SUMMARY

Providence 2 0 2 -- 4 Hartford 0 1 1 -- 2 First period: 1. Providence, Nelson 6 (LoVecchio), 2:23. 2. Providence, MacDonald 11 (Wozniewski, Lukacevic), 9:58. Penalties-Parenteau, Hfd (slashing), 12:05; Bodnarchuk, Pro (holding), 19:56. Second period: 3. Hartford, Locke 28 (Sanguinetti, Parenteau), 10:37 (pp). Penalties--served by Lehtonen, Pro (bench minor-too many men), 9:13; Couture, Hfd (hooking), 13:59; Wozniewski, Pro (holding), 15:40. Third period: 4. Hartford, Parenteau 18 (Heikkinen, Sanguinetti), 3:09. 5. Providence, Whitfield 17, 10:43. 6. Providence, MacDonald 12 (Roche, Penner), 18:28 (en). Penalties-Newbury, Hfd (holding), 0:40; Whitfield, Pro (roughing), 11:14; Dupont, Hfd (roughing), 11:14; Nightingale, Hfd (high-sticking), 18:47. Shots on goal: Providence 11-12-6-29. Hartford 7-10-8-25; Power-play opportunities: Providence 0 of 4; Hartford 1 of 3; Goalies: Providence, Sabourin 24-22-0 (25 shots-23 saves). Hartford, Johnson 16-15-2 (28-25); A: 2,244; Referee: Mark Lemelin; Linesmen: Glen Cooke, Kevin Redding.



American Hockey League Stories from March 17, 2010


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