Hartford 3 - Sharks 1

The Hartford Wolf*Pack are the hottest team in the AHL in their previous 5 games. They continued their winning streak to 5 games last night when they beat the Worcester Sharks by the score of 3-1. The bounces just didn’t go the Sharks way last night as they were left questioning themselves after the game.

The teams played a fast action 1st period, with a lot of rushes up and down the ice in a scoreless frame. Hartford would have 9 shots on goal in each of the 3 periods tonight as goaltender Thomas Greiss made 24 saves. Worcester would shoot itself in the foot as they went 0-7 on the power play and gave up a second period short-handed goal to the Pack’s leading scorer Ryan Callahan. Callahan deked out Greiss on a break away and found the back of the net for the 16th time this season. Worcester would find themselves trailing 2-0, as Greiss let in a shot that he would love to have back. Lauri Korpikoski would skate in on a 2-on-1 and beat Greiss glove side. Daniel Girardi would pick up an assist on the goal as he intercepted a pass in the Hartford zone and passed it up to Dane Byers.

Dan Spang would cut the lead in half when he shot a one-timer past Stephen Valiquette. Craig Valette skated down the left side boards and made a tape-to-tape pass to Spang who tied Mathieu Biron for most goals by a defensemen at 3. Craig Weller would seal the deal when he intercepted a Garrett Stafford pass at the Shark’s blue line and put one in the empty net.

NOTES:

Attendance was 3,422

Tomas Plihal was the only Shark to be a “+” in last night's game.

Stephen Valiquette is 6-1 in his last 6 starts, including a shut out against the Manchester Monarchs last week (Overall 8-4-1-0). He received a bad luck loss when Al Montoya was pulled on November 22nd after letting up 3 quick first period goals. The final score of that game was 5-4.

Millbury native Marvin Degon received a hooking penalty in the game. He also registered a shot on net.