WolfPack Playoff Preview Week Three
Bourque and Fast have the Pack thinking playoffs. (HWP)
Gaining Ground
Following a huge week where the Pack have won four of five, it’s safe to say they are heating up. After taking two of three from Portland and beating Hershey in a shoot out, the WolfPack, who have 52 points, sit tied for 12th place with Adirondack and Worcester. Since February 21 the Pack have picked up a total of eight points in the standings and have gained four points on the 8th place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. With 20 games remaining in the season, the WolfPack are 15 points out of a play off spot. While they still have their work cut out for them, the only thing Hartford can control is winning, and they are taking care of that!
The Weekend Ahead
Hartford has three huge games on the horizon this weekend. Friday The Pack host second place Springfield then on Saturday it’s seventh place Albany. Sunday, they travel to league leading Manchester for a huge tilt. Over the last five games against Springfield, Hartford has picked up seven out of a possible 10 points. While both Albany and Manchester have dominated their season series against Hartford, this is a different and more confident team then the last time they played. Looking ahead to other games this weekend, if Hartford wants to make a run at it, it is imperative they figure out a way to beat Albany and Manchester.
Other important games this weekend:
Friday March 7th: St John’s vs Bridgeport, Manchester vs Adirondack, Portland vs Albany, Providence vs Worcester, Rochester vs Syracuse
Saturday March 8th: St John’s vs Bridgeport, Springfield vs Adirondack, Syracuse vs Rochester
Sunday March 9th: Syracuse vs Binghamton, Worcester vs Albany, Portland vs Springfield, Providence vs Adirondack
Keys to this weekend:
Leaders need to lead: JT Miller returns to the line up from New York, Danny Kristo is day to day but is expected to make his return this weekend. Ryan Bourque has had five days to rest injuries. Jesper Fast gets his line mates back, Oscar Lindberg gets his RW back and the line up gets extended. Aaron Johnson and Danny Syvert have been providing leadership on the blue line also. If this team has any chance, then the top six and the top pair will have to lead the charge.
No Excuses: Going along with the first key, the trade deadline came and went, and not a single move was made for the WolfPack, if that is not a vote of confidence from the organization then I don’t know what its. The coaching staff and front office are saying they believe in this team, now it’s on the players to take ownership of this and make it happen.
Enjoy the Ride: Anyone that has been involved in sports knows this part of any season is tense. A lot of times the teams that fail in these situations are the teams that can’t handle the pressure. We have seen time and time again that the WolfPack thrive in pressure situations. This is just another case of the WolfPack being down late and searching for that come back.
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