LUNDQVIST'S 42 SILENCES MUSICMEN

Lundqvist stellar

Dayton, Ohio- Hoping his early season struggles are behind him. Henrik Lundqvist, the Timberwolves netminder made a strong case for a turn-around on Sunday by shutting out the Musicmen in Dayton.
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"Hank [Lundqvist] is the backbone of this hockey club," remarked Thunder Bay's general manager Blake Wendt. "He's an elite-caliber goalie, one of the best in the game. We need him to come through for us. But we've got to do a better job in front of him, and we have."
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Sophomore centre, Matt Duchene took some pressure off his backstop early, at 1:24 into the game for the Haliburton-native's 7th on the year from newly acquired Martin Erat and Marc Staal. The goal would stand as the only one through twenty minutes. The edge in shots going to the Timberwolves 11-9.
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In the second period was when King Henrik's star shined. While eventually stopping all 20 shots faced in the middle period, the confidence of the group in front of him grew, and tallies from captain Patrick Sharp [11th] and Dion Phaneuf [4th] put the visitors in command of the game.
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"It's huge to have world-class talent back there," said Phaneuf at the final intermission. "Hank is playing out of his mind today. We need to do a better job and limit some of those shots. But he's stellar and we're just playing with a load of confidence in pressing our game here."
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In the third period, the shots did taper off some against Lundqvist. But dramatically for the Timberwolves. Sidney Crosby though made the best of the five total shots for Thunder Bay in the period and notched his league-leading 14th at 18:24 from Rick Nash and Sharp to finish off the Musicmen by a 4-0 shutout for Lundqvist.
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The exuberance of the victory was quelled though by the head coach after the game. Obviously in an effort to not get too overly confident for the rematch on Wednesday.
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"It's a big win for us," said Craig Hartsburg. "We did alot of things right and Henrik was just outstanding for us. But we gave up alot of shots and he bailed us out way more than he should have. That's a proud group over there in the other room, and we can expect nothing but the best out of them in a couple days when they get their chance immediately to redeem themselves. We have to take this win, build on it and prepare ourselves for their push back on Wednesday."
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3-STARS
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*Henrik Lundqvist [THU] - 42 saves in third shutout of the season
**Patrick Sharp [THU] - 1 goal and 2 assists
***Dion Phaneuf [THU] - 1 goal and 1 assist