BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Sean Day’s rising wrist shot eluded the glove of Bridgeport Sound Tigers goalie Christopher Gibson at 2:28 of overtime giving the Hartford Wolf Pack a 4-3 win to complete their first weekend of the season on a positive note before an announced crowd of 1,751.
Day took a pass from Phil Di Giuseppe and curled back off the right-wing, found an open seam and let his shot rip. The puck caught the top, left-hand corner, for the victory.
“Once the guy backed off, I was able to go down the middle and that’s an easy shot in this league. I thought I was aiming top shelf,” Day said with a laugh and a sheepish grin. “It was a pretty tight shot. I thought we played the game really well and to come out with a win, was huge.”
For Day, it was a game of celebration playing his first two games and was his first actual contact hockey so far. He was a red (no-contact) jersey in training camp as he recovered from the off-season surgery to his left hip.
“It’s even better than last year because I started off getting sent down (to Maine). I’m starting to build up my confidence, that helps, and I’m finding a role. I’m not fighting for (ice) time as many younger players do and the coaches have put a lot of trust in me and playing with more confidence because of that. Get a couple of points with these wins and a goal helps me a lot.”
After a wild first period with five goals between the two teams, it was a defensive battle the rest of the way.
The Sound Tigers capitalized on the only glitch for Hartford in the third period off a broken play in their own zone.
Wethersfield native Colin McDonald captured the biscuit on a turnover and put the puck out front for ex-Pack captain Ryan Bourque who snapped the bouncing puck and found then back of the net for his first of the season. His enthusiasm for the goal was obvious as he pumped his fist as he likes scoring against Hartford. The goal tied the score at three.
Adam Huska had two quality saves late in the second. The first came on Bourque’s right-wing shot as he got the puck with a right skate and a proper kick to the corner, but the Sound Tigers Cole Bardreau snared the rebound fired it right back. Huska made the save to keep the lead for Hartford.
“We were outstanding taking the puck away, keeping the neutral zone and not allowing them to freewheel. When they did a get a chance Adam was right there to make the saves,” commented head coach Kris Knoblauch of his Slovak rookie netminder.
The only other action of the period of significance was the regular season’s first fight as Tanner Fritz went after Mason Geersten after a clean hit. Geersten earned a clear decision in that scrap.
The second period was a tight, defensive affair as both coaches figured five goals a period might not be the best idea and both clamped down their defense.
“I like to play these games when it’s close checking. They like to chip pucks in and bang bodies, and so I thought we did a good job on them. I thought we played well both nights. We have good skill, good goaltending, and we worked hard against them. Day made such a good play, it was a fun weekend,” remarked defenseman Ryan Lindgren.
Lots of scoring broke out from the mid-point of the first period.
At 4:20 Vinni Lettieri bagged his second goal of the campaign after receiving a pass from Steven Fogarty along the goal line and at the right side of the net. He got two whacks at the puck with the second going over the glove of Sound Tiger starting goalie Christopher Gibson.
Then things got fun.
The Sound Tigers tied the game at one on a penalty shot.
Matt Loritio had a break-in and was harassed by Lindgren. The call was maybe a minor penalty for a slash, but a penalty shot? It seemed like a weak case for that.
Lorito got the chances and got Huska down and lifted the puck past him for his second of the season at 11:41.
The Wolf Pack regained the lead 2:07 later. Oliver Wahlstrom took Kieffer Bellows nifty short pass from center ice at the Wolf Pack blue line, burst down the left-wing side and sent a backhanded shot off the near post and it went in off the far post at 13:46.
The Wolf Pack tied the game at two as Joey Keane scored his second goal of the young season deep in the right-wing corner and put a sharp angle shot on net that looked like Patrick Newell had deflected it, but it got past goalie Christopher Gibson at 15:30.
A 16:29, Lindgren made a beautiful solo dash and got past Wahlstrom’s stick check at the blue line. Kindgren then made a good move on Sound Tigers defenseman Kyle Burroughs and went backhand to forehand and put it past Gibson to restore a 3-2 Wolf lead.
“I didn’t know Lindy had it in him,“ Knoblauch said with a laugh.
Lindgren earned the team heavyweight belt for that goal and another tough shot blocking man-on-man defensive play.
“That was nice.“ Lindgren said, seemingly surprised at his own play. “It was nice to have that space and just took it to the net, so that felt pretty good.”
The defenseman clearly have the green light to pursue offense.
“We have a lot of guys who can jump up into the play and are very skilled on the backend. So you gotta find the right time to do it and that was a good time for me to jump up.”
NOTES:
The actual fans in the seats were no more than 300, and for a second night in a row, there was no heat on in the building. They should rename the building the icebox on Asylum Street. The announced 1,751 was the 14th worst crowd in Wolf Pack history.
A very poor opening for attendance to start the season in Hartford.
Wolf Pack Scratches:
It comes as no surprise that Vitali Kravtsov was given the game off after being benched last night. Ville Meskanen was in for him.
The other three scratches were the same as last night defenseman Jeff Taylor and Brandon Crawley and the other forward, Ryan Gropp.
Sound Tiger Scratches:
The team had 12 of them include Josh Ho-Sang, Steve Bernier, Ben Thomson.
Erik Brown injured in the pre-season game at Trinity College against Hartford is still out with a left leg injury.
Scott Eansor at age 23 retired from pro hockey earlier in the week playing his last game in the exhibition finale in at Webster Bank Arena.
LINES:
Steven Fogarty-Vinni Lettieri-Phil Di Giuseppe
Danny O’Regan-Boo Nieves-Matt Beleskey
Gabrial Fontaine-Filip Chytil-Patrick Newell
Tim Gettinger-Nick Jones-Ville Meskanen
Ryan Lindgren-Jeff LoVerde
Sean Day-Darren Raddysh
Joey Keane-Mason Geersten
As a team, the Wolf Pack have taken 53 penalty shots in team history. The last one to score was Dan Catenacci on April 14, 2017.
Their opponents have had 39 chances.
