By PAUL WHITE, Special To The Courant
NORFOLK, Va -- The Wolf Pack's difficulty scoring continued Friday night with a 3-1 loss to the Admirals before 3,263 at Scope.
The Admirals won their fifth consecutive game, all at home, while the Wolf Pack lost for the fifth time in six games. Hartford has scored a league-low nine goals.
"This is obviously not the start we wanted," Wolf Pack wing Craig Weller said. "We're close, but we're still trying to find our way."
Hartford succeeded in slowing down the Admirals, who came averaging an AHL-best 5.6 goals a game. The teams played a scoreless first period, marking the first time this season Norfolk hasn't scored at least two goals in the opening 20 minutes.
"They're a quick team with a lot of speed," Weller said. "We started having success when we took the body, got a little more physical."
Norfolk broke through at the 5:18 mark of the second period, when rookie Bryan Bickell knocked in a rebound from the left circle past Stephen Valiquette.
Five minutes later, the Admirals struck again thanks to rookie Troy Brouwer. With Norfolk skating a man down, Brouwer collected the puck just inside Norfolk's blue line, deked Wolf Pack defenseman David Liffiton and went in alone on Valiquette. His wrist shot from the top of the right circle whistled past Valiquette's glove to put Norfolk ahead, 2-0.
The play ended with Liffiton trading blows with the Admirals' Colin Fraser in the left corner. It was one of several skirmishes during the game as Norfolk battled to match Hartford's aggressiveness.
"We like the physical game," Fraser said. "These are the fun ones to play."
The Admirals' two-goal advantage remained intact until late in the third period, when the Wolf Pack removed Valiquette for an extra skater.
Swarming the Norfolk goal, the Wolf Pack had several quality scoring chances before Ryan Callahan's slap shot beat Corey Crawford with 1:06 remaining.
Hartford continued to apply the pressure and caught another break when Norfolk's Craig MacDonald was sent off for tripping with 20 seconds left. But Fraser sealed things for Norfolk when he tracked down a loose puck at center ice and drilled it into an empty net.
"We hope that will carry over to [today]," Weller said of the Wolf Pack, who will meet the Admirals again tonight at 7:15 at Scope. "The guys are showing they're not going to quit. We just need to get a roll started."
