Bears/Wolf Pack AHL Preview

Hartford Wolf Pack (35-21-3-0, 73 points)
at
Hershey Bears (37-13-5-5, 84 points)

Television: B2Networks
Radio: Bears Network (100.1 FM, 1490-AM, 960-AM)
Gametime: 5:00 PM ET

As if the Bears needed any more offensive fire power following yesterday’s 7-1 drubbing of the Binghamton Senators, the team will welcome back their leading goal scorer Alexandre Giroux for their Sunday evening matchup with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He’ll return to Hershey in time for today’s game before rejoining the depleted Capitals lineup tomorrow. Depending on the severity of Kris Beech’s injury during yesterday’s blowout loss to the Islanders, Washington may need to recall some more help for when they travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs Tuesday night.

Hartford is coming off of a game yesterday at Philadelphia in which they outshot the Phantoms 42-20 but needed to rally from a 2-0 deficit and put up a good shootout performance in order to escape with the victory. Center Brandon Dubinsky lead their comeback as he tallied both goals in the second period, one on the power play and the other shorthanded. He also scored what ended up being the game winning goal in the shootout. The win was Hartford’s seventh straight, making them one of the hottest teams in the AHL.

While it will be hard to match the excitement of yesterday’s game given all the goals and physical play, the Wolf Pack’s recent play should be a precursor to a entertaining game. The Bears will no doubt be scoreboard watching as well as the division leading Norfolk Admirals head to Portland to take on the Pirates at 4:05 PM today. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, who is only two points behind Hershey, is off today.

Another Loss in the Standings and the Lineup

Center Kris Beech is Lost to a Leg Injury After Blocking a Shot in the Second Period
New York Islanders 6, Washington Capitals 2
Boxscore
(Photo Courtesy of Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

If there was anything worse than losing tonight's game in a blowout fashion, it was the realization that the Capitals lineup will be even further depleted following the loss of center Kris Beech. Coming into the game with 7 defenseman and only 11 forwards dressed the team finished up with only two healthy centers in Jiri Novotny and Brian Sutherby.

But even with Beech in the lineup for a period and a half the Capitals were no match for the playoff bound Islanders. The game was never in doubt as the team from Long Island jumped all over them from the get go. They scored their first three goals of the game on the power play thanks to goals from Mike Sillinger, Miroslav Satan, and Marc-Andre Bergeron. That was on the way to building a 5-0 lead before the Caps were finally able to strike back.

Goals by Brian Pothier, on the power play, and Brian Sutherby, even strength, just 34 seconds apart swung the momentum squarely in the their favor half way through the third period. For Pothier it was only his second goal of the season and his first since January 1st. Sutherby on the other hand, has been on a role as of late, notching his 4th goal in his last 7 games.

Even with Washington's late surge, the game was never really close and Ryan Smyth's 1st goal as an Islander with 2:54 remaining sealed the deal for New York as they won soundly 6-2.

Alex Ovechkin was held scoreless ending his three game goal scoring streak despite leading the team in ice time with 26:21. Alexander Semin was also held scoreless despite 25:28 in ice time. The increased ice time should only be a sign of things to come as the team's lineup keeps getting thinner due to injuries.

Game Notes:

Alexandre Giroux provided a nice spark to the lineup in spite of only playing 9:26.... Sutherby continued his good faceoff performance as of late winning 11 of 19 draws on the night.... Novotny also won 8 of 12 faceoffs.... Frederic Cassivi replaced Brent Johnson in net during the third period. It was the second time this week he's come into a game in relief.

Successful Weekend Pulls Bears Within 3 Points of Division Leader

Winless Weekend for Norfolk Tightens Race for the East Division Crown

Sunday: Hershey Bears 5, Binghamton 2 Boxscore
Saturday: Philadelphia Phantoms 3, Hershey Bears 2 Boxscore
Friday: Hershey Bears 3, Philadelphia Phantoms 0 Boxscore

(Photo Courtesy of Michael Fernandez/The Patriot-News)

A week after dropping both games at home to the Albany River Rats and the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Bears entered this weekend’s slate of games 7 points behind the first place Norfolk Admirals in the East Division. After splitting a home-and-home series with the Phantoms, Hershey finished up the weekend in a winning fashion, defeating the Binghamton Senators 5-2.

Yesterday, the Bears found themselves in a tough battle with the last place Senators. With the game tied at 2 in the third period, Kyle Wilson was able to tally what ended up being the game winning goal taking a nice feed from Jakub Klepis and beating goaltender Kelly Guard from the right circle. Hershey ended up firing 45 shots on Guard during the night and goals by Mike Green, his first in the AHL this season, and Quinton Lang, his 12th, in the final five minutes of the game would make the final score look a lot more one-sided than the game actually was.

Maxime Daigneault continued his superior play since the team lost both Frederic Cassivi and Nolan Schaefer to NHL recalls, making 23 saves in route to improving his record to 15-4-0 on the season. He saw action in all three of the Bears games making 31 saves in a shutout win at Philadelphia on Friday night and then stopping all 10 shots he faced in relief of Jeff Pietrasiak Saturday night.

Jakub Klepis was also a key factor this weekend notching a goal and two assists to go along with some solid physical play that is making people, such as his coach Bruce Boudreau, take notice. His coach had this to say following Sunday’s game: (From Pennlive.com)

“In Washington, they compete, compete, compete and they talk to Jakub a lot about that,” Boudreau said. “He’s come down here and he’s hit probably in the 15 games he’s played more than he hit last year. That’s a really positive step in his development.”

With the NHL trading deadline set for tomorrow afternoon, and the Capitals letting it be known that they will be active, Hershey could once again find themselves the beneficiary of some quality additions for their playoff run. Last year a Washington trade with Nashville for veteran Brendan Witt brought them Kris Beech who was a key member of the Bears Calder Cup championship team. This year the team will be looking to deal forwards Danius Zubrus and Richard Zednik along with a veteran defenseman or two that could include Jamie Heward. Zubrus in particular should bring some attractive young prospects that could potentially see some time with Hershey during the remainder of the season. It also remains to be seen if the Capitals make any moves with some of their depth players such as Beech or Lawrence Nycholat who would need to pass through waivers in order to be reassigned to the team.

It will definitely be something that all fans in Hershey will need to watch as any moves Washington makes will directly effect the Bears and their clear day roster.

Caps Get the Bounces, End 7 Game Losing Streak at the Meadowlands

Team Gets Their First Victory Over the Devils Since March 29, 2002
Washington Capitals 4, New Jersey Devils 2
Boxscore
(Photo Courtesy of Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Playing without their top two right wingers, Chris Clark and rookie Eric Fehr, and facing arguably the best goaltender in the game in Martin Brodeur, the Caps prospects for success in New Jersey had to be glim.

Coming into today's game my key to victory was for the Caps to get some lucky bounces and get on the board first. That's exactly what they were able to do as just 8:43 into the first period defenseman Milan Jurcina took a nice feed from Alexander Semin, and wristed a shot from the point that found it's way through the traffic in front, courtesy of Ovechkin and Beech, and past goaltender Martin Brodeur. It was Juricina's 1st goal with the Capitals and 3rd of the season as he was on his way to another quality outing, leading the team in ice time with 25:46. The goal was subject to debate by Capitals commentators Joe Benenati and Craig Laughlin throughout the game as it was originally credited to Ovechkin, while Benenati believed it should of belonged to Beech. In the end though it was awarded to Jurcina.

Washington did an excellent job in the first period of shutting down the Devils attack and staying out of the penalty box. The 8 shots New Jersey was able to get on net only seemed to build the confidence of goaltender Brent Johnson as he appeared to be on top of his game.

The Capitals continued to put on the pressure in the second and were able to extend there lead to 3-0 following goals by Semin and Pettinger just two minutes apart. Semin scored the Caps second goal of the game on a short side breakaway thanks to an end to end pass from Kris Beech. As he approached the net, Brodeur went for the pokecheck and Semin was able to beat him with a nice backhand into the top of the net. Pettinger provided the third goal of the game shorthanded on a perfect lead pass by Boyd Gordon off the side boards that sent him in on a breakaway. Again the backhand was the choice of attack and Pettinger and able to roof the shot over the goaltender's blocker side. Gordon's assist was his 6th shorthanded point of the season tying him for second place in the NHL behind only the Lightning's Martin St. Louis who has 7.

Halfway through the second period the Caps were on the verge of extending their lead to 4 on the power play when Brodeur was able to make back-to-back quality saves on both Ovechkin and Zubrus as Washington's power play was expiring. On the counter attack the Devils were finally able to beat Brent Johnson as New Jersey's resident tough guy Cam Janssen rifled a slap shot from just inside the Capitals blue line and into the back of the net. It was Janssen's first career NHL goal.

Washington was able to reestablish their three goal lead in the third period as Tomas Fleichmann would tally his first career NHL goal. He took a breakaway pass from Gordon as he exited the penalty box and beat Brodeur's poke check with a backhand shot that deflected off of the goaltenders stick and floated into the net. Fleichmann had a solid game taking Eric Fehr's spot on the team's second line. Besides his goal, he was +2 defensively and had 2 hits and 4 shots on goal in 13:23 of ice time.

That goal would be the icing on the cake as the Devils were only able to beat Johnson once more after a lucky bounce resulted in an empty net opportunity for Jay Pandolfo making the final 4-2. Johnson made some key stops in the remaining minutes to deny the Devils of pulling any closer.

John Erskine provided the physical highlights of the game with several big collisions recording 3 hits on the night and winning a fight with the Devils' Cam Janssen with five minutes remaining in the game. He used his reach and strength advantage to continuously hit Janssen with solid rights.

Donald Brashear acquitted himself well in his first game on the top line and had an excellent scoring chance denied by Brodeur in the closing minute of the opening period. He had a wide open shot from the right circle courtesy of a nice cross ice pass from Ovechkin. His high wrist shot was thwarted by Brodeur as he stacked his pads while diving across the goal.

Entering the game the talk was that New Jersey would start goaltender Scott Clemmensen in tomorrow's game at the Verizon Center in order to give Brodeur some much needed rest. But with the result of today's game those plans might change. No matter who is in goal, the Caps will need every bit of the effort they showed today in order to come out victorious again at home.

Game Notes:

Ben Clymer (healthy), Eric Fehr (lower back), and Steve Eminger (healthy) were the scratches.... Brent Johnson won his first career game over the Devils. He is expected to get the start again tomorrow with Frederic Cassivi continuing to back him up.

Morning Thoughts

It's games such as these that show how bright the future is for the Washington Capitals. They outplayed one of the better teams in their conference despite still being shorthanded with injuries. The only thing you can be disappointed about from the game was the score. They controlled the action, especially during the third period, and had many quality chances to tie. Once again, the team needs to build on this momentum as they have another important game Thursday night in Florida. A win and they are still only a few points out of a playoff spot. A loss and they would fall into last place in the division and possibly 14th place in the conference. Now some hump-day morning thoughts:

• After the game, coach Glen Hanlon said that it will be up to Zednik whether or not he will play Thursday night. He has been medically cleared to do so.

• Alex Ovechkin now leads the NHL in goals with 32 and is second in points with 69, which is 10 points behind the leading Sidney Crosby. He is currently on pace for 111 points which would surpass his total from last season.
  

• Don't look now but Kris Beech has put together back-to-back solid games. He followed up a goal against Carolina Saturday night with a beautiful assist last night. It was a nice individual play that involved winning a loose puck from veteran defenseman Wade Redden.

• The Capitals lost for only the third time this season when their goaltender Olie Kolzig has faced 35 shots or more. His record now stands at 11-3-1 in these games.

Draft Pick Updates:

• The Capitals 2005 first-round pick Joe Finley currently leads the North Dakota Fightning Sioux with a +13 defensive rating. The 19 year-old 6 foot 7 inch defenseman also has 1 goal and 1 assist on the season.

• Michal Neuvirth, the 2006 second-round pick, currently leads the OHL with a .933 save percentage. He has posted a 19-6-1-1 record to go along with a 2.28 gaa and 4 shutouts.

• The Fourth-round pick in 2006, Luke Lynes, has 21 goals and 24 assists but is -12 defensively for the OHL's Brampton Battalion.

• Another 2006 Fourth-round pick Oskar Osala has 13 goals and 11 assists and is +9 defensively for the OHL's Mississauga IceDogs.

• The 2005 Fourth-round pick Patrick McNeill has 17 goals and 24 assists and is +2 defensively.