3-1 Loss to Sharks in Game Five Pushes Wolf Pack's Backs to Wall

Talk about a bad carryover.

After tying franchise records for goals allowed in a period and largest margin of defeat Wednesday night, the Wolf Pack gave up two goals in 7:15 before getting a shot in a 3-1 loss to the Worcester Sharks Thursday night before 1,857 at the XL Center that put them down 3-2 in the series, and pushed them to the brink of elimination in the Atlantic Division first round for the third year in a row.

Thomas Greiss made 27 saves, as the Wolf Pack prevented their first back-to-back playoff shutouts in their 12-year history when Dane Byers scored on a power play with 6:27 left. In fact, they had been shut out in the postseason only three times before a 6-0 loss Wednesday night in which they allowed five goals in the third period.

Byers’ goal ended Greiss’ shutout streak at 169:39 after the Sharks goalie had lost his first five playoff starts, including the first two games of this best-of-seven series.

If the Wolf Pack hope to force a Game 7 at the XL Center Monday night, they will have to make nearly complete turnover Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester, starting at 7 p.m.

“We came out flat, didn’t go at them as hard as we wanted to, and were doubting ourselves after the 6-0 loss,” Wolf Pack left wing Brodie Dupont said. “It was kind of like, ‘Here we go again.’ We just have to calm down and get back to our game. They’re a hard-working team, so when they get a lead, they don’t allow too many odd-man rushes and tend to clog up the middle. So getting a good start is real important against them.

“And when you have a hot goalie like Greiss, you just have to get back to throwing pucks at the net and crashing the net like Byers did.”

Coach Ken Gernander bemoaned the Wolf Pack giving the Sharks too many power-play chances, which led to two of their goals.

“Our penalty kill has been pretty good, but we just put them on the power play too many times and eventually they’re going to convert,” Gernander said. “Maybe they weren’t necessarily retaliatory penalties, but any penalties of any kind are undisciplined unless you’re trying to prevent a score.”

Matt Zaba, who stopped 82 of 85 shots as the Wolf Pack won the first two games, had little support early as the Sharks got the first eight shots before Greg Moore put a backhander on Greiss at 9:02.

By then, the Patrick Traverse had scored from the left point at 5:56 as Zaba was being screened by Mike Moore during the Sharks’ second power play. Then at 7:15, T.J. Fox deflected Traverse’s left-point shot past Zaba for a 2-0 lead.

After the Wolf Pack failed on two power plays, including a 5-on-3 for 41 seconds, the Sharks made it 3-0 with a two-man advantage when Traverse picked up a loose puck that slid into the slot and beat Zaba to the glove side at 13:50.

The Wolf Pack, who had won 10 of their previous 11 home games, were outshot 13-4 in the first period and didn’t seriously threaten Greiss until a power play early in the second period when Greiss was sharp to deny Patrick Rissmiller and Artem Anisimov.

And the Wolf Pack were fortunate they didn’t fall farther behind when Andrew Desjardins hit the post with 4:47 left in the period.

Greiss preserved his shutout bid with a right pad save on Moore’s shot from 25 feet in the slot at 7:02 of the third period, then turned aside Tommy Pyatt’s bid moments later.

The Wolf Pack’s struggles reached their height when they got only one shot during a 5-on-3 for 1:26. Byers, who missed the last 71 games of the regular season because of knee injury, finally scored off assists from Bobby Sanguinetti and Corey Potter, but the Wolf Pack never threatened to get to overtime, even after pulling Zaba for a sixth attacker with 1:22 left and finishing with two more shots in the third period (15) than the first two combined.

“We came up with pretty good answers in the third working the puck low in the zone and being more patient in terms of not trying to jam it into places,” Gernander said. “Zaba had two great games to start the series, and Greiss has come on to play better hockey. After Zabs was so good the first two games, we took too many penalties and then we got better. The penalties didn’t cost us in the first two games, but it reared its ugly head again tonight.”

The Wolf Pack have to build on the last two periods if they are to get the series back to the XL Center.

“We have to play a complete 60 minutes like that, and we can square the series up,” Gernander said. “We’re going to have to work to get our goals, but tonight we were just a little too undisciplined in the first period.”

Said Dupont: “We just have to come at them with everything we’ve got. We finished first (in the Atlantic Division) for a reason. We can win. We have character, we came back (from last place) and now we’re going to try to steal one (in Worcester). We worked for the home-ice advantage, so we just have to get the job done Saturday. We know we can play with these guys, so now we just have to get back to working hard, build off all the positives from the last period and get a good start. That’s a must with teams playing it so tight defensively.”