CANTLON: PACK – BRUINS CLIFF NOTES LOSE 6-3
CANTLON: PACK – BRUINS CLIFF NOTES LOSE 6-3
VERSUS 
BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
FIRST PERIOD
PROVIDENCE, RI – The Hartford Wolf Pack had a rough start in part because their lineup had lost two players before they left for Providence. Forwards Matt Beleskey and Steven Fogarty were both recalled by the New York Rangers to play in their regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at 3 pm in Philadelphia.
The first two Providence goals came 1:11 apart.
Anton Blidh got behind the defense and took a perfect lead pass from a former University of Wisconsin standout, rookie Cameron Hughes. The pass went up the right wing boards and from the off-wing side snapped his eleventh of the season past Pack netminder, Alex Georgiev.
That was followed by the recently named AHL All-Second Team All-Star, Austin Czarnik who took the puck from rookie Dawson Leedahl and fed Casey Fitzgerald. He spotted a wide-open Jordan Swarz in the lower left wing faceoff circle. Swarz blasted his 21st of the season to Georgiev’s short-side. Georgiev had no chance and the shots on goal read 9-2 Bruins.
The Pack crawled back to make the shots more respectable. The period ended with a 14-10 margin favoring the home Bruins. Vince Pedrie, Evan Jasper, and John Albert had two shots apiece.
The Bruins scored on the power play at 2:58 and made it a 3-0 lead.
Simsbury native and former Westminster Prep star, Tommy Cross, was at the right point. He started a perfect passing sequence sending the puck to his defensive partner Paul Postma on the left wing boards. Postma hit Czarnik with a diagonal pass on the right wing. Czarnik quickly hit a wide open Fitzgerald who was alone in front for an easy redirect for his 18th of the season.
The Bruins’ fourth goal came via some puck luck.
After Czarnik’s shot on net was blocked, Ryan Gropp turned to start a rush out of the zone. Gropp collided with defenseman Ryan Lindgren and the puck popped out to an open spot in the ice. Fitzgerald was right there for the P-Bruins to bury his second of the period and 19th of the season from 25-feet with a laser shot past Georgiev.
The Bruins tallied their fifth goal while on a delayed penalty. Brandon Crawley was going to receive either a kneeing or an interference call on the Bruins’ Adam Payerl. The puck came loose went off the stick of Colton Hargrove and rookie Trent Frederic, just three weeks out of college hockey, drilled home his third goal of the season getting it past Georgiev at 10:42.
Head Coach Keith McCambridge had seen enough and swapped Georgiev for Marek Mazanec in the net.
Twenty seconds later, the Pack lost Hubert Labrie for the night. He was hit with a five-minute major penalty for boarding rookie Joona Kopponen. The call came just a few seconds after Kopponanen came charging and hit Labrie. Most of the hit, was a miss so nothing was called. Labrie’s hit, meanwhile, was from the side and in reality was more of a minor call for boarding than a major. The PK did the job not allowing Providence to add to their lead.
THIRD PERIOD
For two-thirds of the final period, the Pack controlled the play. After amassing only 19 shots through two periods, they held a 12-4 advantage before they finally put two past Zane McIntyre in a 55-second span.
The first came with one second left on a powerplay chance. The Pack had strong passing on the right side from Adam Tambellini to Dan DeSalvo over on the left wing. DeSalvo’s pass to Chris Bigras saw him let a hard wrist shot go from 55 feet out with Boo Nieves in front with a screen in at 14:40.
The Pack made it 5-2 as defenseman Brendan Kotyk won a one-on-one battle in the Wolf Pack right wing corner. Kotyk sent Vinni Lettieri on a break-out with a short pass off the boards.
Lettieri came into the Bruins zone and put a shot toward the net. Forward Drew Melanson broke to the net and redirected the puck. Gropp was also charging to the net and banged in his 12th goal of the campaign into the short side of McIntyre.
It seemed like the Pack was on their way to mounting an improbable comeback.
18 seconds later, The Bruins squashed that idea when Czarnik tallied his 22nd of the year and finished the hat trick. Czarnik received a pass from rookie Jack Studnicks, who was making his pro debut (Oshawa-OHL). He was flat on his back after being tripped by Cole Schneider in center ice. There was no call on the play. Defenseman Vince Pedrie backed off giving Czarnik room. He took advantage going to the right-wing faceoff circle and ripping a beautiful wrist shot over Mazanec’s left shoulder and popped the water bottle for the Bruins sixth goal at 15:53.
The Wolf Pack, who doubled their shot total from the first two periods, saw Lindgren launch shot number twenty, a slap shot from the left point, beat McIntyre cleanly. For Lindgren, it was his second pro goal and came at 18:16 and closed out the scoring.
The 6-3 loss to the Bruins was the Pack’s third straight loss.
NOTES:
Of the 20 skaters the Pack put on the ice, 12 of them were rookies. The Bruins had nine in their lineup.
The Pack’s fourth line was Evan Jasper, Drew Melanson and David Hallisey of Wethersfield, who was making his pro debut. Jasper and Melanson recorded their first pro points.
Scott Kosmachuk missed just his second game of the season as a result of injury (the November 4th game against Providence) and with Fogarty on recall, head coach Keith McCambridge named two new assistant captains. They were forward John Albert, and defenseman Hubert Labrie, who were both acquired from the Hershey Bears in the deal that saw Pack team captain, Joe Whitney go the other way.
McCambridge pulled Georgiev for the sixth time this season.
The 21 shots in the third period by the Pack was their second highest this season. They registered 23 against the Springfield Thunderbirds in the third period of a 5-4 loss on December 30th.
Though it’s not yet been announced, the Wolf Pack have signed forward Jason Salvaggio from the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (HE) to an ATO contract.
Steven Fogarty will make his pro debut against the Flyers on Saturday. Fogarty is a native of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, near the Maryland border. The afternoon game will help him to be able to watch his alma mater ND Fighting Irish play Ranger teammate Neal Pionk’s University Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in the NCAA title game Saturday night in St. Paul, MN.
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