Keeping Up With the Pack: Wolf Pack Suffer Weekend to Forget
The Hartford Wolf Pack hit the road last week for a three-games-in-three-nights set that took them from southern New Hampshire on Friday to central Pennsylvania on Sunday. By the time the bus had delivered the team back to Hartford in the wee hours of Monday morning, the Pack had extended its season-high winless streak to five games with a trio of blowout losses in which they were outscored by a combined score of 20-5.
Much has already been written on the performance of newly demoted New York Rangers backup goaltender Steve Valiquette, who’s exile to Hartford was meant to help find his game. If this weekend is anything to go by, a search party may be required to accomplish that feat. That’s not to say the weekend of misery was his fault. Yes, Valiquette gave up 10 goals on 47 shots in 72 minutes of play. His partner in goal, Matt Zaba, didn’t fare much better, surrendering 10 goals on 56 shots in 108 minutes in net. But just as poor was the performance of the team in front of them. The Wolf Pack played sloppy, uninspired hockey this weekend — particularly to start and finish the trip — and got the spanking they deserved, losing 7-1 to the Monarchs on Friday, 4-1 to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday and tying the franchise mark for largest margin of defeat in a 9-2 shellacking by the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears on Sunday.
Valiquette got the call to start the weekend and looked extremely uncomfortable from the very beginning, giving up three goals on the first nine shots he faced before getting pulled at 9:21 of the first period. Zaba came on in relief, but failed to provide any, letting two of the four shots he faced though, including a shorthanded tally by former Ranger draft pick Marc-Andre Cliche. Shorthanded goals became a bit of a theme over the weekend as the Pack power play give up three, while scoring just once on 15 attempts with the man advantage. In fact, prior to scoring with 1:37 remaining in Sunday’s match, the once powerful power play unit had been held scoreless in 26 attempts stretching over eight games.
Valiquette was back in goal to start the second period, and gave up another quick goal, a power play shovel shot on a cross-crease pass he had little chance of stopping, and then settled down and stopped the next 20 shots before getting beat once more on a deflection as time wound down in the third period. ECHL call-up Derek Couture scored the Pack lone marker in the game, off a pretty between the legs drop pass from fellow call-up Ryan Garlock.
It was another ECHL re-callee, defenseman Jordan Nightingale, who scored the Wolf Pack’s lone goal on Saturday in what was actually a fairly competitive game in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. After weathering an early storm — Zaba turned away five Penguin shots in the game’s 44 second opening shift — both he and the team in front of him settled in, even taking the lead at 9:27 of the first period. But it all fell apart in a 3:24 span in the second period, during which the Penguins scored three quick goals, starting at 7:48. If there was any doubt of the outcome after that, a final tally put the game away at 13:02 of the third period.
The less said about Sunday’s debacle in Hershey, the better. Valiquette got the start and survived the first period despite giving up three goals on 13 shots, the first of which came on a shorthanded breakaway 5:33 in. But the veteran goalkeeper found himself back on the bench early in the second after giving up a pair of goals in the first 2:47 of the period. The team responded with a shorthanded goal, scored by Jordan Owens, but the relief was only temporary, as Zaba gave up four more before the second period came to a close, tying a club record for number of goals against in a period at six and giving the defending Calder Cup champions a 9-1 lead. A late power play tally by Dane Byers broke the power play unit’s seven game drought, but did little to make the final result less embarrassing.
When all was said and done Hartford remained two games over .500 with a 13-11-1-2 record for 29 points, leaving them in a tie for fifth place in the Atlantic Division — down from second the week before. With the pair of losses to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey, their record outside the division dropped to 1-6-0-1. And the slumping power play, which had been as many as six percentage points ahead of its nearest competition at one point earlier in the season, has dropped out of the top spot to fourth at 21.6%.
Who’s Hot
No one.
Who’s Not
Everyone.
Key Injuries
Defensemen Brent Henley, Nigel Williams and Matheiu Dandenault remained out for the Wolf Pack last week. Tough guy Justin Soryal joined them on the sidelines following Saturday’s game after suffering his first serious loss in a fight in a brawl with AHL heavyweight Jesse Boulerice. Soryal missed Sunday’s debacle in Hershey with what was termed “facial injuries”. University of Minnesota-Duluth graduate Andrew Carroll, who’s put up 12 points in 16 games early in his rookie campaign in Charlotte, was signed to a professional try-out contract to fill Soryal’s slot on the roster, suggesting the sophomore scrapper may miss some time.
What’s Next
The Pack kick off a five game home stand with a pair of divisional games, starting with the Portland Pirates at 7:00pm on Friday night. Saturday brings the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:00pm for “Hometown Hero Night” and will also feature the now-annual “Holiday Toy Toss”, where fans are encouraged to bring stuffed toys to donate by way of throwing them on the ice after the Pack’s first goal. The club finishes another three-in-three weekend with a meeting with the Albany River Rats, who’re winless in 13 straight contests against the Wolf Pack stretching back four years. Game time is 3:00pm.
Laurie covers the Wolf Pack and the Rangers’ Russian players and prospects for her blog, Beyond the Blueshirts. She’ll be bringing us weekly updates on the Rangers’ top farm club throughout the 2009-2010 season.
