Four Games, One Win

The Wolf Pack certainly played much better toward the end of their busy four-game week this past week, but ultimately only well enough to win one out of the four games.

The week started horribly, with a one-sided, 7-3 loss to Norfolk at the XL Center.

That game really wasn’t even as close as the score, with the Pack falling behind 6-1 before scoring two of the last three goals of the game, after the issue was already well decided. The club gave up a season-high 45 shots, outshot 45-24, and pretty much struggled from beginning to end.

They got a big lift, though, before Friday’s home game against Bridgeport, when both Bobby Sanguinetti and Ryan Garlock were judged ready to come off the injured list.

Sanguinetti had been out for 11 games, and Garlock for eight, and their returns seemed to spark the whole team to a much more competitive level of play. They scored first for the first time in 11 games, and allowed the Sound Tigers only 22 shots. On the downside, though, the Wolf Pack got only 20 shots of their own, and twice gave up goals shortly after scoring ones of their own.

Bridgeport answered Corey Locke’s goal, which was the first of the game for either side, with a tally only 3:46 later, and, in the biggest turnabout of the game, the Sound Tigers responded only 41 seconds after a Brodie Dupont goal had tied the game at two just 22 seconds into the third frame. That third Sound Tiger goal, scored by Tyler Haskins, stood up as the game-winner in a 4-2 Bridgeport victory.

The Wolf Pack turned things around the next night, against one of the strongest teams in the league, the Atlantic Division-leading Worcester Sharks, and nearly shut them out in the process.

Matt Zaba, back in the Wolf Pack net after being out of AHL action for two weeks, made some sharp early saves, and the Pack offense came up with a three-goal explosion before the game was nine-and-a-half minutes old.

A pair of Dale Weise goals and a Derek Couture tally, all within a span of 3:32, stunned the Sharks and rookie goaltender Alex Stalock, and gave the Wolf Pack some much-appreciated breathing room.

They took full advantage of it, riding that three-goal lead into the third period, before Corey Locke made the score 4-0 with 7:32 left in the third.

Zaba came within 2:28 of a whitewash, which would have been his first of the year, only to see Worcester score twice in the final 2:28.

That didn’t dampen the relief of a huge win, though, one which upped the Wolf Pack’s record against the Sharks to 4-0-0 on the year. So no matter how the Wolf Pack might have struggled vs. the rest of the league at times, they have had Worcester’s number throughout the year. That has to give Wolf Pack fans some optimism for the stretch drive, as outside of maybe the Hershey Bears, I don’t think there is a more talented team in the whole league than the Sharks, when they have all of their players.

Unfortunately for the Pack, they were not able to carry the momentum of that big win into Sunday’s visit to Bridgeport.

In their fifth game in seven days, and seventh in 10 days, the Wolf Pack got out of the gate slowly, outshot 9-3 in the first period, and had trouble sustaining any consistent pressure.

The two clubs traded power-play goals in the second frame, with Locke getting his 24th of the season for the Pack, and it was still tied more than halfway through the third, when one breakdown ended up costing them the game.

With the teams skating four a side, the Pack failed to get the puck deep in the Bridgeport end on a rush, and Sound Tiger defenseman Mark Flood turned the play the other way quickly. Flood got the puck to Greg Mauldin, who hit Brendan Witt with a perfect pass in the left circle for what turned out to be the winning goal.

With circumstances like that, it was almost as if the Pack were destined to lose that one, as Witt has rarely joined the rush in the three games he has played against the Wolf Pack, and the goal was his first in nine games with the Sound Tigers and only his 28th in 929 North American pro contests.

The defeat to Bridgeport was a big one in terms of the standings, as with a regulation win the Wolf Pack could have moved into a tie with the Sound Tigers, and they instead ended up four points behind their Connecticut rivals.

Hopefully some more good news from the Trainer’s room will be on the horizon, as in addition to Sanguinetti and Garlock getting back this week, P.A. Parenteau and Mathieu Dandenault have been skating fairly hard, and it’s looking like they are getting close to returning to action.