BY: Bob Crawford, Hartford Wolf Pack
Hartford, CT, January 31, 2021 – Jonny Brodzinski broke a shutout bid by the Providence Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman with 2:40 left in the third period, but Providence held on for a 3-1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack Sunday in AHL preseason action at the XL Center.
Cooper Zech and Jack Ahcan scored first-period goals for the Bruins, and Nick Wolff added an empty-net tally. Swayman finished with 29 saves, as the Wolf Pack outshot the visitors 30-22. Adam Huska played the first two periods in net for Hartford, allowing two goals on 14 shots. Francois Brassard took over for the third frame and stopped all seven tries he faced.
The Bruins jumped on top only 2:46 into the contest. A pass from below the goal line by Pavel Shen found Zech at the slot’s left side, and he snapped a low shot past Huska.
POWER PLAY
Then, on the game’s first power play, with Ty Ronning in the penalty box for hooking, Ahcan upped the lead to 2-0 at 10:43. Robert Lantosi dropped the puck back to Ahcan at the right point, and his shot deflected underneath Huska and into the goal.
The score remained 2-0 throughout the second period, in which the Wolf Pack had a 13-5 shots edge, and up until Brodzinski finally solved Swayman at 17:20 of the third.
With the Wolf Pack on a man-advantage due to a tripping call against Lantosi, Anthony Greco fired a shot from the top of the right circle that Swayman stopped. The rebound came to Patrick Newell in front, though, and he dropped it deeper in the slot to Brodzinski, whose quick shot eluded Swayman to cut the margin to 2-1.
The Wolf Pack pulled Brassard with 1:55 left, and Wolff found the vacated net to ice the game with 24.5 left, pushing the puck out of the Providence zone and recovering it on the right-wing side before flicking it into the goal from outside the blue line.
The Wolf Pack open their 2021 regular season next Sunday, February 7, with a home-ice contest vs. the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Faceoff is 1:00 PM. All of the Wolf Pack’s 2021 action can be seen live online at theahl.com/AHLTV.
BOXSCORE
Providence Bruins 3 at Hartford Wolf Pack 1
Sunday, January 31, 2021 – XL Center
Providence 2 0 1 – 3
Hartford 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period-1, Providence, Zech 1 (Voyer, Shen), 2:46. 2, Providence, Ahcan 1 (Lantosi, Carey), 10:43 (PP). Penalties-Ronning Hfd (hooking), 10:16.
2nd Period– No Scoring. Penalties-Shen Pro (slashing), 7:13; Ronning Hfd (slashing), 13:58; served by Lauko Pro (bench minor – too many men), 16:17.
3rd Period-3, Hartford, Brodzinski 1 (Newell, Greco), 17:20 (PP). 4, Providence, Wolff 1 19:35 (EN). Penalties-Crawley Hfd (interference), 11:40; Lantosi Pro (tripping), 17:09.
Shots on Goal-Providence 9-5-8-22. Hartford 10-13-7-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 1 / 3; Hartford 1 / 3.
Goalies-Providence, Swayman 1-0-0 (30 shots-29 saves). Hartford, Huska 0-1-0 (14 shots-12 saves); Brassard 0-0-0 (7 shots-7 saves).
A- (Editor’s Note: No admittance Per League and the State of Connecticut)
Referees-Terry Koharski (10), Jim Curtin (90).
Linesmen-Kevin Briganti (39), Nick Briganti (58).
