More Close Calls

The Wolf Pack had a strong finish to this past week’s action, with a rousing 4-3 overtime victory Sunday over Providence.

Unfortunately, though, that was their only win in three games on the week, and with their playoff situation being what it is, winning one out of every three isn’t going to cut it.

And the teams immediately ahead of the Pack in the playoff chase are refusing to cooperate, too. Bridgeport, currently in fifth in the Atlantic Division and occupying the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, is 7-0-1-0 in its last eight games and stands nine points ahead of the Wolf Pack. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, one point behind Bridgeport and eight up on the Pack, has at least a point in each of its last seven (5-0-1-1), and Binghamton, which has crept one point ahead of the Pack with 70 points, has won three in a row and is 9-2-1-0 in its last 12.

Once again this week, it wouldn’t have taken radically different results for the Wolf Pack to have a perfect week, as the two games they lost were squeakers, a 4-2 defeat to Providence Wednesday in which the final margin was created by an empty-net goal, and a 4-3 loss Friday vs. Springfield. Going back to February 21, the Pack have gone 3-5-3-1 in a stretch of 12 games, and, excluding empty-net goals, not one of the losses in that stretch has been by more than one goal. If they could have turned maybe just five of those nine defeats into wins, then they’d be looking at a much different situation as far as their playoff chances.

A tendency to fall behind early, and to give up goals shortly after scoring, undid the Wolf Pack in this week’s action.

They spotted Providence a 2-0 lead in Wednesday’s game at the XL Center before battling back to tie it at two, then had a defensive-zone breakdown after tying the game that led to Trent Whitfield’s wraparound winner. Same script on Friday, as Springfield got the first two of the game, the Pack broke back to tie it up, and the Falcons answered the tying score only 21 seconds later with what would turn out to be the game-winner.

Even in the game they won, Sunday against Providence, the Pack got two early goals in the third to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, then gave one up for a 3-3 tie only 50 seconds after they had gone ahead.

The good side of that is that the team is showing some real character in not succumbing to adversity, but if they are ever going to have a shot at making the postseason they are going to have to eliminate the pattern of turnovers and breakdowns that has made it seem as though they can’t stand prosperity.

Great ending to the week, though, with the OT win against the arch-rival Bruins, with the Wolf Pack’s two top guns, Corey Locke and P.A. Parenteau, combining on a real exciting play. Locke’s soft hands and keen eye allowed him to knock a Providence feed out of the air at the defensive blue line and create what turned into a three-on-one, and after Locke almost ran out of real estate near the Bruin net, he was able to play the puck into the goal crease, from where Parenteau knocked it in.

The fates were definitely with the Pack on that one, and Parenteau had knocked another puck out of the air for a goal in the third period of that game, on a rebound of a Paul Crowder shot, so that makes you wonder if the team’s luck might be turning, and giving them a chance to turn a bunch of those close verdicts into wins.