VERSUS 
The New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack are in similar situations in terms of their offensive talent…their prime talent is injured and they really don’t have much depth in that department beyond that. However, the Rangers had won three straight coming in to last night’s contest against Atlanta and the Wolf Pack had lost three straight. The Rangers found a way to put four goals past Atlanta’s starting netminder, Chris Mason, but it was their defense that failed them in a 6-4 loss. Conversely, the Wolf Pack defense was good, as it has been over this span, but they could not slip more than a single puck past Albany starter Jeff Frazee (3-1-0, 24 saves) en route to a 3-1 loss to the Albany Devils at the XL Center Wednesday night.
““We’ve got some offensive players, but we really haven’t generated much, especially five-on-five, in the last little while.” Wolf Pack Head Coach Ken Gernander said after his team dropped it’s fourth-home-loss-in-a-row. “We’re stressing execution. We had some opportunities here where we missed the net. How do you create offense when you miss the net?”
“I think we’re squeezing the sticks a little bit too tight.” Ryan Garlock said. “We’re working hard and as long as we keep doing that we’re eventually going to start bearing down on some of our chances. It’s just kind of a funk here that we got to get through early in the year.”
How bad is this funk?
At 4:30 of the second, veteran defenseman Wade Redden lost his footing skating backwards in the defensive zone allowing Patrick Davis a free pass to the net. The Devils right winger bared down on Johnson (2-4-0, 26 saves) and lifted the puck over the glove and into the twine. Then just 4:23 later, Adam Henrique roofed a backhander over Johnson and that would be all the Devils would need for the win.
But the frustration for the Wolf Pack was most evident in a span of just over 3 1/2 minutes following the two goals when the team had four, count’em four, wide-open chances. First Chris McKelvie; then Garlock, then a Mats Zuccarello opportunity gets nullified by Frazee and then the mightily struggling Evgeny Grachev missed his second open net of the game.
“On that one shift, (McKelvie) and I missed the point-blank chances, but that’s the way this game goes sometimes. It’s an 80-game season, and if you keep plugging away, they’re eventually going to start going in for us.” Garlock added. “The plus side is we’re not giving up a lot and (goalie Chad Johnson) is always rock solid back there. We’re going to keep trying to limit the chances against and start capitalizing on some of ours and eventually with the work ethic we have, it’s going to start turning around.”
The Wolf Pack did manage to get one past Frazee on the type of goal that this team is going to need to make in order to score and win games.
Under a delayed penalty that was going to be called on Alexander Urbom for holding, Justin Soryal used his size and strength along the right-sideboards and advanced the puck into the Devils zone. Soryal found an open Jeremy Williams and got the puck past the two defenders covering him. Williams saw Garlock coming up the left side of the slot and put a perfect pass in front of him. Garlock reached out and lifted the puck over the stick side of Frazee for his first of the season.
“It was a textbook 3-on-2 play,” Garlock said. “Soryal made a good chip, and Williams put it right on my stick and I didn’t really have to do too much, just be in the right place.”
Chris Murray added an empty net goal from the right side circle with just 37.7 remaining for the games final tally.
Gernander is doing all he can trying virtually every combination he can with the players he has to find some offense, but it’s just not coming.
“I don’t know if constantly changing the lines is an ideal situation, but when we’re struggling to find offense, you try some different combinations,” Gernander said. “You’d like to see one line be able to take the ball and run with it, catch fire, and then everyone can fall in line afterward. But as of right now, we’re struggling to find that line to get us some offense five-on-five.”
The Wolf Pack hope to find some offense Friday night when they host the first of a home-and-home against their I-91 rivals, the Springfield Falcons who have ex-Pack David LeNeveau between the pipes. LeNeveau is off to a good start sporting a 2-2-0 record and a 2.22GAA and a .918%.
Bruce Berlet gives you his view on the events of the day at HartfordWolfPack.com. For the Albany perspective, there’s this staff report at TimesUnion.com.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET
SOUNDS OF THE GAME
Ken Gernander Press Conference:
Ryan Garlock:
NOTES:
* The Wolf Pack scoring problems can best be summarized this way. They have scored two goals in the last 229.55.
* New York Rangers legend and Special Assistant Mark Messier was on hand to take in the game.
* Evgeny Grachev has 2 goals and seven assists in his last 47 games dating back to last season. He has 1 goal and 1 assist in nine games this season.
* This was the first time this season that the Wolf Pack saw two referees on the ice as the AHL is toying with going back to the two referee system.
LINES:
Grachev – Newbury – Zuccarello
Byers © – Dupont – J. Williams
DiDiomete – Wong – Tessier
Soryal – Garlock – McKelvie
Redden – Niemi
Valentenko – McDonagh
McDonagh – Kundratek
Johnson
Grumet-Morris
(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)
SCRATCHES:
Cam Talbot – Groin – Day-to-Day
Tim Kennedy – Undisclosed – Day-to-Day
Dale Weise – Broken Wrist – Four to Six weeks
Lee Baldwin – Healthy Scratch
Nigel Williams – Healthy Scratch
Tyler Donati – Healthy Scratch
THREE STARS:
1. ALB – A. Henrique
2. ALB – P. Davis
3. HFD – R. Garlock
ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Referee:
Mark Lemelin (84)
Jean Hebert (43)
Linesmen:
Luke Galvin (2)
Derek Wahl (46)
NEXT GAME:
You think that maybe the Wolf Pack want to get out of Dodge and try their luck on the road? Well, they’ll have to try one more time at home first as they wrap up the five game homestand hoping to a) score some goals and b) win one. They play their first home-and-home series of the season with Springfield. Game-time is 7pm with Bob Crawford and the pregame at 6:30pm.
To watch the game live, you can purchased it for $6.99 at AHL-live.
For Ticket information call (860) 548-2000.
Too far away or can’t make it? Listen live at WTIC.com or from your cell phone or computer visit www.twitter.com/howlingstoday for complete live in-game coverage.
SCORE-SHEET:
Albany Devils 3 at Hartford Wolf Pack 1 – Status: Final
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Albany 0 2 1 – 3
Hartford 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Robitaille Alb (fighting), 10:32; DiDiomete Hfd (fighting), 10:32; Murray Alb (holding), 11:27; Williams Hfd (holding), 13:13.
2nd Period-1, Albany, Davis 1 (Eckford), 4:30. 2, Albany, Henrique 2 (Fayne, Urbom), 8:53 (PP). Penalties-Dupont Hfd (tripping), 1:21; Young Alb (fighting), 6:22; DiDiomete Hfd (fighting), 6:22; Perkovich Alb (roughing, roughing), 7:17; Garlock Hfd (hooking), 7:17; Soryal Hfd (roughing, roughing), 7:17; served by Williams Hfd (bench minor – too many men), 13:23; Perkovich Alb (tripping), 15:54.
3rd Period-3, Hartford, Garlock 1 (Williams, Soryal), 4:49. 4, Albany, Murray 1 19:22 (PP EN). Penalties-Tedenby Alb (roughing), 16:39; Williams Hfd (slashing), 18:47.
Shots on Goal-Albany 8-16-5-29. Hartford 6-9-10-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Albany 2 / 5; Hartford 0 / 3.
Goalies-Albany, Frazee 3-1-0 (25 shots-24 saves). Hartford, Johnson 2-4-1 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-2,251
Referees-Mark Lemelin (84), Jean Hebert (43).
Linesmen-Luke Galvin (2), Derek Wahl (46).
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