Colorado blitzes SteelHounds, 3-0

Youngstown goalie David St. Germain is seven saves shy of 1,500.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- When your home-ice record is 9-16-2, the last team you want to see in your building is one of the best teams in the league: the defending champs with the best overall record, best power play and best penalty kill.
"They're just a very solid team as far as their depth is concerned and it shows," Youngstown SteelHounds coach J.F. Laforest said Friday night after a 3-0 loss to the Colorado Eagles at the Chevrolet Centre.
It didn't help that, entering the game, the Eagles were 22-0-2 when leading after the first period, while Youngstown was 4-16-1 when trailing after the first period.
"They pass the puck well," Laforest said of the American Hockey League leaders (42-12-6). "They're a team that really has a legitimate shot at repeating."
Can't break ice
Youngstown is 0-3 against the Eagles this season.
Ryan Tobler and Greg Pankewicz had the early goals for the visitors -- both in the first period -- then Pankewicz added his second of the game with only 15 seconds remaining.
Laforest said that Colorado's first goal by Tobler was an error on Youngstown's defensemen.
"In our zone, we passed the puck from defender to defender and not into the slot," he said. "That's when they capitalized on it."
Following that goal at 6:19, Pankewicz scored his first goal at 15:47.
Laforest said it was a shot from the goal line which, usually, SteelHounds goalie David St. Germain would stop.
"Germain went down early and it went above his shoulder," the coach said of the goal that made the score 2-0.
"After that, I thought we played pretty well," Laforest said. "I'd like to see us with the same type of effort and same type of hustle tomorrow [today]."
Despite the third goal -- an empty-netter, Laforest considered the final score to be 2-0.
"We were trying to pull out all the stops and get a goal in the last minute-and-a-half."
No complaints
The coach had nothing negative to say about his players, especially because they played short-handed with 12 skaters to Colorado's 15.
"A lot of things just haven't gone our way as of late in terms of injuries," he said. "I give my guys a pat on the back because they came up and played hard against a very, very good hockey team."
The SteelHounds (21-34-5) were without Kris Mallette who was suspended last Saturday for an altercation against Memphis.
That's why Youngstown was forced to switch Ben Manny, usually a forward, to defender.
"Definitely, that's not his forte at the pro level," Laforest said. "He's a third-line forward and he played 'D' for us and I think he did a nice job."
Manny played some defense for Laforest in college.
St. Germain entered the game with a league-leading 1460 saves and made 33 Friday.
That puts him within seven of 1,500.
"I'm the one in the league who's played the most games, so obviously, I'm the one with the most saves," said St. Germain. "But every game I try to save as many pucks as I can to help keep my team in the game."
An accomplishment
St. Germain felt that, with only three defensemen available Friday against a big offense like Colorado, Youngstown had a good defensive game.
"We limited them to two goals and that's an accomplishment. They had a good performance from their goalie; that's why we didn't score a goal today," he said of Paulo Colaiacovo, who had 31 stops.
St. Germain said that the game's second goal -- Pankewicz's first -- was harder to swallow than Tobler's.
"I didn't see it until the last second," he said. "I was delayed because the puck was already coming in the net. It was kind of a weak shot. Their guy [Pankewicz] caught me because he tried to use my defenseman as a screen. He put it in between my defenseman. It came out of nowhere."
St. Germain said that Pankewicz tried to do it couple more times in the game, but he was ready because "I knew what he was trying to do."