CANTLON: WOLF PACK WIN BIG IN SEASON OPENER 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack scored five unanswered goals, including four in the third period, from five different players, and pulled away from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in a 5-2 season-opening win at a fan-less XL Center on Sunday afternoon.

“It was a great game tonight. The guys played very hard. We picked up on our systems, and the mistakes were minimal. The effort was maximized. From a coaching perspective, I’m happy,” Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said.

The win gets the start of Knoblauch’s second season behind the Pack bench off to a good start.

THIRD PERIOD RALLY

The Pack entered the third period trailing 2-1. They came out of the second intermission to start the third period’s four-goal assault with a two-man forecheck on the first shift. It paid immediate dividends.

After a dump-in into the Sound Tigers’ zone, Paul Thompson took his man out. The Sound Tigers’ Kurtis MacLean tried to exit the zone with a pass, but Morgan Barron lifted his stick. Jonny Brodzinski swooped in, recovered the puck, and raised a perfect wrister over the glove of goaltender Jakub Škarek at the 26-second mark to tie the game at two.

”Jonny is an exceptional shooter. The guys don’t know him very well, but he’s like (ex-Pack) Vinni Lettieri. He likes to shoot. Jonny’s game is a little more complete, but both are great hockey players. We’re very glad to have Jonny with us this year,” said Knoblauch.

The Wolf Pack continued charging at the Sound Tigers and maintained puck possession, something Bridgeport could do in the first half of the game.

The goal that would prove to be the game-winner was a tic-tac-toe exit-to-transition that led to the Wolf Pack’s third tally.

THE GAME-WINNER

Finnish defenseman, Tarmo Reunanen, was along the left-wing boards in the Wolf Pack zone. Reunanen feathered a head-man pass up to rookie Justin Richards at the Sound Tigers blue line.

Richards skated in a few feet and left a drop pass to the player trailing the play,  second-year pro Patrick Newell.

The swift-skating Californian drove past the Sound Tigers Mitch Vande-Sompel to the net. Newell’s shot from the right-wing side deflected perfectly off the far post and into the net.

Knoblauch emphasizes speed from his troops and saw it perfectly executed at 4:23.

“In the third period, the majority of the play was in our favor. Credit Bridgeport in the first and second, they didn’t make as many mistakes as maybe they did in the third. We were able to score some goals, but overall, we played well for 60 minutes,” Knoblauch said.

34 SECONDS BREAK THE TIGERS’ BACK

The Wolf Pack then broke the game open with two goals in 34 seconds from two of their more-prized rookies.

Barron’s first pro goal came at 10:51. He dropped the puck to Richards, covering the right point, who then went past Felix Bibeau, who was looking for a penalty and was out of the play.

Richards slipped the puck back to Barron at the top of the right-wing circle. Barron migrated to a favorite spot and whistled a shot from 25-feet out, going top-shelf to the glove side, beating Škarek, and increasing the Wolf Pack margin to 4-2.

“I knew we were on the power play, and space had opened up. I saw Richie had time coming down the wall. I called for it, and he put it on my stick. I just wanted to get it off my stick as quickly as I could, lucky enough that it went in,” Barron remarked.

Luck had very little to do with the goal. Barron’s talent is why the New York Rangers were prying him away from Cornell University for the last two years.

Will Cuylle completed the scoring barrage at 11:25. Another rookie, Austin Rueschhoff, spun off a checking attempt by Bridgeport’s Cole Caskey and threw a shot towards the net from on top of the right-wing circle that was blocked, but the puck caromed right to Cuylle, who out-positioned the Sound Tigers’ Robert “Bobo” Carpenter in the left-wing circle. Cuylle didn’t waste any time and drilled a strong wrist shot low to the stick-side past Škarek.

KNOBLAUCH REACTS

“It’s good to get the (young) guys comfortable and feeling confident, like a Newell getting his first goal. He played well for us all (last) season, but he didn’t have the same swagger and confidence.

“This year, all training camp, he looks like a different player. It shows how hard he trained in the summer. You can see he wants to be the go-to guy this season, like the way he played today,” Knoblauch stated.

One of the Pack’s returning veterans hasn’t played hockey in a year-and-a-half, Gabriel Fontaine. He aptly summed up the team’s first game.

“We all haven’t played much hockey. We were a little rusty at the start today, to say the least, but once we got going, we showed we had some chemistry.”

SECOND PERIOD

In the second period, Bridgeport took advantage of a Wolf Pack miscue to take a 2-0 lead.

Darren Raddysh was behind the net and made a backhanded clearing attempt up the middle of the ice. Sound Tigers rookie Cole Coskey picked it off and went to the backhand, and lifted his first pro goal over the left shoulder of the Pack goalie, Keith Kinkaid, at 5:46.

On the Wolf Pack’s first goal of 20-21 season, Sound Tigers defenseman Parker Wotherspoon grabbed the puck, skated behind his net, and sent a clearing attempt off the left-wing boards. The pass went past it’s intended target, Arnaud Durandeau. Instead it went to Reunanen.

With Sound Tiger, Cole Barbeau, bearing down on him from behind like a defensive tackle going for the sack, Reunanen released a shot from 55-feet out that beat Škarek to put the Wolf Pack on the scoreboard.

The Wolf Pack had two back-to-back chances that both hit the post. The first off Fontaine’s stick and the second from returnee, Tim Gettinger, at 14:45.

Kinkaid stopped a backhanded drive from the rightside by Durandeau and then Bibeau from the right-wing off a three-on-two odd-man break-in that prevented the Sound Tigers from reestablishing a two-goal lead.

Thompson, a Wolf Pack newcomer, a scoring chance from the left wing with 5.6 seconds left on the period, but Škarek denied him.

FIRST PERIOD

The first period demonstrated the youth of the Wolf Pack playing in their first professional game. The Sound Tigers outshot the Wolf Pack 8-4, and dictated play leading to the game’s first goal.

The Sound Tigers won the one-on-one battle behind the Pack net. Eric Brown got the puck to the Wolf Pack net,, and Bibeau used his 6’4 frame and strength to get position on Newell. His wraparound attempt went wide and bounced off the left-wing boards. Rookie, Daniel Bolduc, retrieved the puck and let fly a 55-foot blast that eluded Kinkaid and found the back of the net at 14:12.

The young Pack’s inexperience and expected nervousness showed through some over-puckhandling that caused turnovers, both forced and unforced. The Sound Tigers road play effort stymied the youthful Wolf Pack at the outset.

The Wolf Pack defense, however, did make some strong plays. Rookie Braden Schneider was on Dandareau and made a good recovery play taking him to the backboards to prevent a clean shot at Kinkaid.

Reunanen in his zone made a strong positioning play to intercept a  Carpenter pass to the middle.

The Wolf Pack’s first effective and lone quality chance came from  Raddysh from the right point.

The Sound Tigers’ Simon Holmstrom, who played on the Bronze Medal winning Swedish WJC team, had a clean backhand shot go off the far post.

The Sound Tigers Jeff Kubiak was suspended for the game Sunday morning for a charging play on Friday’s opener against the Providence Bruins.

LINES:

Brodzinski – Barron – Thompson
Richards – Gettinger – Newell
Fontaine – Cullye – Dmowski
Khordorenki – O’Leary – Rueschhoff

LoVerde – Schneider
Reunanen – Raddysh
Crawley – Guattari

SCRATCHES

Ty Ronning
Alex Whelan
Anthony Greco
Jake Elmer
Patrick Sieloff
Dylan Garand
Jeff Taylor

NOTES:

The Wolf Pack play their next two games on the road. On Thursday, they travel to Marlborough, MA to play the Providence Bruins, and next Wednesday, they’ll head to Webster Bank Arena for a return engagement with the Sound Tigers/ They won’t return to the XL Center until February 21st when they play Providence.

Mason Geersten was out serving the second game of a three-game suspension from the end of last season.

Looking back at an opening night in Wolf Pack history when they started their season in Quebec City at the famous Le Colisée. The Wolf Pack beat the Quebec Citadelles 6-3 with AHL Hall-Of-Famer, J.F. Labbe, a Quebec native, scoring the only goal in the empty net in Wolf Pack history.

Out in the AHL West, Trevor Zegras (Avon Old Farms) has five points in two games for the San Diego Gulls.

In the Henderson (NV) Silver Knights inaugural game, Danny O’Regan, an ex-Pack from last season and a linemate of Patrick Newell’s, racked up two goals and an assist in a 5-2 win over the Ontario Reign.

The Chicago Wolves loaned ex-Sound Tiger, Colin Markison, to the Texas Stars.

Matt Peca (Quinnipiac University) and Logan Brown, the son of ex-Hartford Whaler, Jeff Brown, were assigned by the Ottawa Senators to their AHL affiliate in Belleville.

BOX SCORE

Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2 at Hartford Wolf Pack 5 – Status: Final
Sunday, February 7, 2021 – XL Center

Bridgeport 1 1 0 – 2
Hartford 0 1 4 – 5

1st Period-1, Bridgeport, Bolduc 1 (Bibeau, Brown), 14:12. Penalties-Greer Bri (roughing), 10:46; Rueschhoff Hfd (high-sticking), 19:13.

2nd Period-2, Bridgeport, Coskey 1   6:55. 3, Hartford, Reunanen 1   9:22. Penalties-Hutton Bri (tripping), 10:41; Helgeson Bri (checking to the head, fighting), 13:31; Rueschhoff Hfd (fighting), 13:31.

3rd Period-4, Hartford, Brodzinski 1   0:26. 5, Hartford, Newell 1 (Richards, Reunanen), 4:23. 6, Hartford, Barron 1 (Richards), 10:51 (PP). 7, Hartford, Cuylle 1 (Rueschhoff), 11:25. Penalties-Richards Hfd (interference), 8:04; Coskey Bri (slashing), 9:10.

Shots on Goal-Bridgeport 8-12-7-27. Hartford 4-9-13-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Bridgeport 0 / 2; Hartford 1 / 4.
Goalies-Bridgeport, Skarek 0-2-0 (26 shots-21 saves). Hartford, Kinkaid 1-0-0 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-
Referees-Jordan Deckard (14), Conor O’Donnell (41).
Linesmen-Luke Galvin (2), Kevin Briganti (39).

GAME SUMMARY

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