Buster Gets It

Brad Isbister's shootout-winning goal (Chris Rutsch photo)

When Brad Isbister joined the Wolf Pack four weeks ago, I grumbled that he'd remain a bum until the day he either scores a goal or beats up somebody. Well, he still hasn't beaten up anybody yet (not that I'm holding my breath on that one), but he netted his first game-winning goal in a Pack uniform last night, as Hartford downed the Portland Pirates in a shootout after a scoreless tie, 1-0.

Isbister said in the Courant later that, "A 0-0 game isn't what the fans want to see", but this was actually one of the better games to watch all year. Far from being a boring slog-fest, it was an up-and-down game all night, with 56 shots on goal during regulation and only a handful of bad calls from the usually whistle-happy Jamie Koharski. Koharski couldn't stay away from whistling his pet "goaltender interference" call twice-- a call that he seems to make in almost every game he refs against Hartford-- but there were still only 6 power play chances per side.

Valiquette stood on his head to make saves the whole night, obviously, and though there were a couple of times that he was caught out of position, he was able to recover nicely and make spectacular-looking diving stops. Out-of-character for this year's plain-vanilla team, Valiquette also hammed it up to the fans after the game, first by waving and applauding to the fans in the seats directly behind the net after the "raised sticks" salute, then skating around the rink while waving to the crowd and high-fiving the mascot when he took the first star of the game. It's as if he's P.J. Stock now, or something.

The Wolf Pack's current 7-1-1 streak still leaves them 3 points behind Worcester for last place in the division, but only 8 points behind first-place Portland in what is literally the tightest division in the AHL.

Down Two, Then Left

Al being Al (Chris Rutsch photo)

The Hartford Wolf Pack pissed away a two-goal lead and valuable points in the division last night, losing at home to the Worcester Sharks, 5-4 in overtime.

Steve Valiquette was pulled after giving up two goals midway through the first period, a move that was described in today's paper as being symbolic more of the team's sloppy play rather than Valiquette's ("It was a message for them to play better instead of relying on Steve all of the time," said Ken Gernander, or something to that effect). Shortly afterwards, two goals by Nigel Dawes-- his first for the Wolf Pack this season-- and one by Dane Byers helped Hartford build a 4-2 lead.

However, three straight power-play goals by the Sharks, including the game-winner at 3:15 of the overtime period, gave Worcester the win and allowed the sixth-place Sharks to increase the distance in the division between themselves and the cellar-dwelling Wolf Pack to 5 points.


Ryan Callahan (Heather Rutsch photo)

Ryan Callahan scored the game's first goal, besides having at least 5 mini-breakaways during the rest of the game, and extended his goal-scoring streak to 8 games, the longest in the AHL this season. Dane Byers has a three-game goal-scoring streak of his own, along with 7 points (3g, 4a) in his last 5 games.

Worcester wore their cool all-black uniforms for the first time against the Wolf Pack this season. Sharks goaltender Thomas Greiss even wore a plain black helmet and pads, making him look like a shadow stormtrooper or something.


Shark at random (Photo: Heather Rutsch)
There was also a point mid-way through the second period when there were two pucks on the ice at the same time for about a half-minute or so, after the puck hit the protective netting and then fell back to the ice before the ensuing face-off without the refs noticing it. It wasn't until play went into the corner and there were two pucks right next to each other that referee Rob Martell saw the first puck and picked it up.