The Wolfpack had a long weekend, their first 3 in 3 weekend, where they swept going 3-0-0. Not only that they had a rare Wednesday game, as they went into Laval and lost their first in regulation, 4-1. This means that they have started this season 8-1-1.
This wasn’t a slow news week for the Wolfpack though, as a lot of things happened with the team, so let’s talk about what happened on the transaction front.
In a surprise to no one, and discussed by me when it happened, Vitali Kravtsov went back to the KHL and Russia. It was a move that I feel was destined to happen and we’ve heard the quotes and comments made by Kravtsov since the announcement happened.
My thoughts on Kravtsov are simple, he had a disappointing go his first push at playing the North American game, and can only improve from here. Going back to Russia will help him regain his confidence and make him the player that we all expect him to be. Him deleting any Instagram posts related to his time here, is a way for him to possibly cope after what he considers a very disappointing first crack. He’s 19 and immaturity is also a possibility. He can be recalled at any time, but to be honest, him getting called up at the end of the KHL season is a possibility.
We then heard the news Monday, and again discussed by me when it happened that Filip Chytil and Ryan Lindgren were called up to the Rangers for their game Tuesday against the Lightning. Both played extremely well in their first games for the Rangers, as Chytil scored the eventual game winner in the third, and Lindgren got a secondary assist on Adam Fox’s first NHL goal. Both looked comfortable in their roles, and it’s now up to them to stay there, which is a possibility.
With the Kravtsov move back to the KHL, Ty Ronning was the player to replace him, but during this set of games, did not enter in the lineup until Wednesday at Laval, which was something to question as we expected him to see some action in one of the games during the weekend especially during the three straight games to get his feet wet for the season in the AHL. I expect him to get more ice time as they’ll need more help on that front as it’s Chytil’s job to lose now in New York.
Replacing Chytil and Lindgren will be Lewis Zerter-Gossage, and Jeff Taylor. Both could see some spot starts every now and then, but I don’t see these two getting consistent time for the Wolfpack, as they have some quality players who will be getting time in front of them.
Now on to some quick reaps:
Friday, the Wolfpack played the Laval Rocket at the XL Center, and it seemed as if the Rocket was having a good time forcing the Wolfpack to play a different style than they were accustomed to. They had a real hard time getting into the Rocket zone to sustain any offensive pressure and when they did, Ryan’s brother, Charlie Lindgren were able to stop any pucks that came his way.
With the Wolfpack down 1-0 late, a weird deflection after a shot from Nick Ebert tied the game at 1, passing through Charlie Lindgren as he was outstanding this entire game. We’d head into overtime, and Danny O’Regan got his first of the season, as we were under a minute left in overtime to give the Wolfpack a strong 2-1 overtime win. We did see a scare early in the third period where Igor Shesterkin fell to the ice, holding his bicep as it seemed something terrible happened. He pushed through and had a strong rest of the game for the Wolfpack.
Saturday, they had their first game in a home and home against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, with Adam Huska in net and they looked great. They were firing on all cylinders, skating circles around the Sound Tigers, making the Wolfpack look like the team we have been seeing throughout the season. After an early Sound Tigers goal, the Wolfpack added 4 unanswered goals, giving them the 4-1 win, a game where they dominated.
The nice thing I’ve seen with this team, is the team doesn’t play any differently regardless of who is in net. Both goaltenders have been playing really exceptional so far this season making the Wolfpack in each and every game. Even when this team was down 3-1 after the first in their game last Saturday against Binghamton, you could tell that they were willing to battle through Huska’s off night to push through and come back. This team is special and with the news that happened this week, I don’t feel they will fall back to their old ways.
Now back to game action, Sunday they finished their home and home series against the Sound Tigers, and well the fatigue set in. Both teams had long 3 in 3 weekends, and after a first period that was nothing more than the two teams feeling it out, the second period had a quick strike by the Sound Tigers, which followed up with a goal by captain Steven Fogarty, tying the game at 1. Once again, Shesterkin had a strong game in net, looking comfortable as the game went on as he faced 30 shots, stopping 29 of them.
The game ended in overtime after a Darren Raddysh goal.
Wednesday, they headed to Laval to take on the Rocket and well they miss Chytil and miss him so much. You could tell how they were top heavy with Chytil in the lineup as when he was on the ice, that line he centered was generating some form of offense. The defense was there, up until the third period when Sean Day had a costly turnover which led to the Rocket’s game winning goal.
I will say, Shesterkin, while he didn’t have his strongest game by any means giving up three goals against, he really seemed to still be moving smoothly, and was able to see the shots come through and make saves when he was given the chance. Two of the goals against he’d probably wish he had back, because of it going through his five hole which he left open for the puck to slide through.
Some more thoughts:
- Day was scratched in favor of Nick Ebert for the first two games of the weekend, which wasn’t a true surprise to me. The problem that I’ve seen with Day, is what I’ve been talking about time and time again. There’s a lot of games where he’s just there, doing nothing of substance. Last weekend while paired with Vincent LoVerde, both of them did not gel together, and like I stated with Chris on Hangin’ with the Pack, it’s important for the defensive partners to work together. He needs to show some sort of hustle week in and week out to stay in the lineup.
- Chytil to me, had a very quiet weekend. He grabbed an assist during the game Saturday at home against the Sound Tigers, but he was quiet overall. While he has shown some level of steadiness throughout his tenure in Hartford, his quiet nights will show a lot of movement up in New York. Tuesday’s game was a bright spot for him, and it will continue.
- Lindgren continued his strong play throughout the season, and it was no surprise he was going to get called up. I heard some rumblings of some being surprised over Lindgren getting called up, but I really don’t know who on the Wolfpack defense would get called up over him. I’m assuming people expected it to be Day, but as I stated I haven’t truly been impressed with Day’s game so far this season.
- Mason Geertsen is a great teammate to have. One of the adds the Wolfpack added during the offseason, it’s great seeing him stand up for teammates, and be someone whos first in a skirmish if he’s on the ice. Great person to help back up their guys, and stand up for them when needed.
- I’ve enjoyed as always, what I’ve seen from both Shesterkin and Huska to start the season. The two of them play off one another well, and you can see the two of them have an interesting dynamic with one another. They easily want to one up another, but can we speak about the footwork that Shesterkin has? Mentioned on Blueshirts Breakaway on October 21, Mitch Brown spoke on Shesterkin’s footwork, speaking on how unreal it is. I’d tend to agree.
- Was good to see Ronning finially get in his first game Wednesday at Laval. I will say that it seems he gets over powered and over matched due to his size. He doesn’t seem to have the speed down to his game quite yet, and that’s something worth watching as his playing time is certainly expected to increase.
- The powerplay Wednesday night was abysmal. There was no effort on sustaining pressure in the Rocket end and it was really missing a facilitator. They need to take the day between to really work on bringing their powerplay back to basics, because this was an bad effort on that front.
The Wolfpack stay close by as they play the Rocket again Friday at 7:30PM followed up by a game Saturday against the Belleville Senators at 7:00PM. You can follow along to me giving you thoughts on the games as they happen on Twitter, or speak to you each and every week on the Wolfpack every Friday on Hangin’ with the Pack.
