The Hartford Wolf Pack fell to four points behind the Portland Pirates for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference Saturday, losing 4-1 to the Pirates at the XL Center.
The Wolf Pack outshot Portland 44-28 in the game, but Mike McKenna made 43 saves in the Pirate net. Wade Megan scored twice for Portland, which also got goals from Brent Regner and Brett Olson. Daniel Paille had the only Wolf Pack goal, and Magnus Hellberg stopped 24 shots.
“I thought overall we had a strong game,” said Paille. “It’s definitely frustrating when you put up 40 shots and only get one goal.”
The game started off with a bang after Portland tallied its first goal just 21 seconds in. Regner got credit for an unassisted goal, bouncing the puck from the right point off multiple Wolf Pack defenders on its way into the net.
“Sometimes there’s some breaks in the game that you can’t control,” Paille said of the early Pirate goal, “and I think they had a few more than we did.”
That was the only goal of the first period, despite a 17-7 Wolf Pack shots edge.
The scored stayed 1-0 until deep into the second period, before the Pirates exploded for two goals within 14 seconds of each other. Megan scored the first at 18:38, and Brett Olson followed it up with a goal of his own at 18:52.
The third period started out well for Hartford, with Paille scoring at 2:58 off a faceoff win by Boo Nieves. It was Paille’s third goal of the season, and the second assist for Nieves in two pro games.
Megan closed out the scoring with an open net goal at 19:27, hitting the vacated cage from the left-wing boards inside his own blue line.
“We’re a pretty good puck possession team,” Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander summarized. “And that’s always the hard part, is to take it that next step and get it into areas where you can score goals.”
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