Thursday started with Oscar Dansk being named the AHL’s goaltender of the month for December. It ended with a very upset coach Rocky Thompson after the Wolves’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Texas Stars at Allstate Arena.
After a strong 40 minutes in which the Wolves outshot the Stars 21-10, something changed in the game and in Thompson’s team. Thompson didn’t hesitate to point out what occurred in the third period and overtime, which ended with Josh Melnick’s winner at 1:52.
“We just decided not to work,” Thompson said. “Plain and simple. We just quit playing. I’m really upset about this one. We played a really good game, good 40 minutes. Everything’s going in the right direction and, we talked about it, the reason it felt good is because we’ve been working hard. We were working hard, supporting pucks, doing everything, sticking to our structure, and then we did the exact opposite in the third.
“Right off the drop of the puck we don’t work, don’t come back hard for a breakout, they get a chance against right off the bat on a wraparound. And then from that point on, nobody chose to do anything about it, either. Very, very disappointing for me. I’m mad.”
As Thompson alluded to, the Wolves started off well.
Curtis McKenzie gave the Wolves a 1-0 lead with 12:09 left in the first after a feed from Gage Quinney. The Wolves then controlled play for much of the game but allowed Park Ridge-native Michael Mersch’s equalizer with 32.3 seconds remaining in the second period.
Once the second intermission ended, things changed in front of Dansk, who made 20 saves in his first start after finishing a month in which he went 7-0 with a 1.57 goals-against average and .943 save percentage. Entering December, Dansk was 4-6-0 with a 3.60 GAA and .874 save percentage, but he said he has tried to play the same way and keep working on his game.
“There’s a lot of good goalies in the league, that’s for sure,” Dansk said of the award. “I think it’s more of a testament to how our team has developed and what path we’re on and how we want to play. I think the team’s really played well in front of me.”
That generally has been true lately, but not for the last part of the game Thursday.
The Wolves were coming off a 7-3-0-1 December that ended with them returning to .500 for the first time since Nov. 13 with their 2-0 win Tuesday over the Grand Rapids Griffins. In December, the Wolves averaged 30.5 shots per game and outshot opponents in seven out of 11 games.
The good carried over for only 40 minutes. The loss also created a swing in the standings, handing two points to a Stars team the Wolves are fighting with in the division.
Thompson made sure to emphasize that.
“It just cost us two points against a team that’s right there with us,” he said. “It’s a really good hockey team and is getting better, too. We blew it.”
