BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Another offensive explosion by the Hartford Wolf Pack combined with a solid sixty-minute team effort extended their winning streak to five straight after thrashing the Providence Bruins 6-1 on Saturday afternoon at the XL Center.
Ty Ronning, Will Cullye, Anthony Greco, Morgan Barron, and Darren Raddysh each had multiple-point games to pace the Pack’s offensive brigade.
Adam Huska was strong in goal with 23 saves.
“We had all four lines going deep. The defensemen were sending shots to the net. We were playing Wolf Pack hockey, and that’s the way we’re going to have to play the rest of the way.”
The win pushed Hartford’s record to 8-6-1-0 (17 points) and have whittled the Providence lead to ten points.
Providence’s record is now 13-4-1 (27 points).
HOW THEY WON
The Wolf Pack managed the puck from the opening face-off to the final whistle in all three zones, and they did it with a crisp short passing game.
“You want to play with balance. You want to do that with small passes. Usually, when you do the long stretch pass, you take away speed. You might catch a guy with speed or (your opponents) can step up on that play. Today we didn’t, and we were effective,” said Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch.
In the third period, they added three goals to pull away from the Bruins.
The first goal of the period made it 4-0. Tarmo Reunanen had a solid two-way game and used his quick-strike offensive instincts to set up Cullye by swiping a clearing pass by the Bruins’ Joel Messner.
Reunanen pinched and used a nice deke to get below the goal line and sent it to Cullye, who was 15-feet-out in the slot and was down on one knee. He wasted little time in burying his second of the season at 1:47.
“The whole line that he (Cullye) was on played very well at both ends of the ice today.
RONNING SCORES
Ronning bagged his second of the game with a scintillating effort.
Retrieving the puck in his zone, Ronning circled back in the zone and hit Paul Thompson at the Bruins blue line with a sharp tape-to-tape pass and then sped through the middle of the ice. Thompson caught him in full flight.
Ronning protected the puck perfectly and zipped by Bruins’ defenseman, Urho Vaakanainen. He moved the puck from backhand to forehand before slipping his eighth goal of the season into the net at 8:27.
“I built speed in the neutral zone and sent Thommer a pass, and he sent a great soft pass back to me. I kind of knew what I wanted to do right away and go far post. Once I got away from the defenseman chasing me, I knew I had him. It was just a matter of jamming it in behind him,” Ronning said.
PROVIDENCE BREAKS THE SHUTOUT
Providence broke Huska’s shutout bid at 10:20 after Jakub Lauko made a cross-ice pass to the left-wing to Tommy Cross (Simsbury/Westminster Prep).
The Wolf Pack closed out the scoring when their red-hot power-play after all five players had touched the puck.
Newell and Barron had a short pass-and-catch after Reunanen sent the puck to Newell.
Newell then found Greco at the right point. He sent a low shot that Barron redirected. Netminder Kale Keyser made the initial save but left a rebound that Tim Gettinger snagged and backhanded it into the net at 15:34.
PACK PP AND GETTINGER ARE HOT
Gettinger continues on his torrid pace with his fourth goal in two games, and the Wolf Pack power play was three-for-five on the day. They have scored ten times in three games and an impressive 14 in the last five games. They remain the second-best power play in the AHL. The Pack is now operating at 27.8%, second only to the Rochester Americans at 29.9%.
“On that power play, our second unit, well maybe a first unit, whatever you want to call it, has been so effective because everyone is doing their job. Our powerplay breakout starts with him (Raddysh), and you see the results we’ve had.”
Knoblauch had praise for Patrick Sieloff. “Some players don’t get enough attention. Pat played so well today, and Zach (Giuttari) really stood out tonight.”
FOURTH LINE STRENGTH
The Wolf Pack continued to be effective in all three zones in the second period and scored two goals.
At 4:50, Giuttari was at the right point and took a Cuylle pass and one-timed a low shot with Thompson in front of Keyser, taking away his eyes, and the shot got through and past him for a Wolf Pack 2-0 lead.
Fourth-line rookies Patrick Khordorenko, a healthy scratch for two games, and Cullye, along with a veteran in Thompson, put enormous forechecking pressure on the Bruins, which paid off.
“That was one of our better lines for us all night (day). Khordorenko and Cullye playing with the veteran Thompson bringing them along, and the line was a factor in two goals that we had.
“To see guys come back, whether it be an injury or healthy scratch guys, can get discouraged. It’s nice, as a coach, to not see guys blame others and just want to get better, and seeing how Khordorenko and Cullye played today, it’s gratifying,” Knoblauch said.
The AHL’s hottest power play dented the net on their third chance with quick passes and solid positioning.
RONNING SCORES AGAIN
Ronning got the puck from James Sanchez after he wrapped the puck from the right-wing corner up the left-wing boards.
Sanchez hit Ronning with a cross-ice pass, and Ronning, in turn, fed Raddysh at the point. Raddysh walked it to the middle of the ice and gave a short backhanded pass back to Ronning.
Ronning went into the right-wing faceoff circle, and with Thompson again screening in front, launched a wrister. Thompson hopped up again, and Keyer never saw it. The goal was Ronning’s eighth goal of the season and came at 7:06 for a 3-0 Wolf Pack lead.
“When we have Thompson out there, he’s got like 590 games in the AHL; I really respect his game. We’ve been working on that in practice. He’s so good at (screening the goalie), and I was fortunate to find the holes and got it in,” remarked Ronning.
Ronning’s explosiveness and contributions are being felt throughout the lineup in every game.
KNOBLAUCH ON RONNING
“Almost every day, he has set the goal to be the best player, and that started in training came. Since training camp, he has worked so hard, and he’s so happy. I’m so happy for him because he has put so much into this season, and it’s been a hard season right from the start. He could’ve quit, be disappointed, and he didn’t. He stuck with it and is thriving.” Knoblauch said.
Ronning fought his way off an AHL taxi squad and is the owner of eight goals in his last nine games, and is now skating on the top line.
“He’s a good hockey player and put in a lot of work. He’s a good hockey player with a lot of skills. Now he is getting responsibilities for the power play, plus with Richards and Gettinger, they’re our top line, and things are going so well we’re using him on the penalty kill. He’s earned everything he has gotten,” remarked Knoblauch.
His summer training at Brendan Gallagher’s summer school run by Gallagher’s father, Ian, pays off huge dividends.
HUSKA BETWEEN THE PIPES
Huska was solid when called upon stopping Oscar Steen going for a top-shelf bid, and that saw the one-time UCONN netminder use his glove hand to snatch it out of the air. Jakub Lauko also had another chance denied.
Knoblauch praised Huska’s overall play in the net and his moving the puck quickly and effectively.
“He made the saves when he had to, but he did a good job in moving the puck around the net and up the boards. He was helping the defenseman not to allow them to establish a forecheck; that’s a credit to Adam.”
FIRST PERIOD
In a tight-checking first period, the Wolf Pack scored the lone goal.
Patrick Newell’s backcheck freed the puck up in the Wolf Pack end. Barron captured the puck and fed Greco at the red line. He did the rest.
Greco motored down the left-wing, forcing defenseman Joel Messner to back off. He launched a shot from the left side faceoff dot, his off-wing. The shot went off Keyser’s catching glove and into the net for Greco’s first of the season at 14:28.
“He generates a lot of his chances off the rush. Greco leads with his best asset (speed),” said Knoblauch.
Teammates appreciate that asset greatly.
IS GRECO THE FLASH
“Greco is the fastest guy in the AHL, maybe the world, I think,” a laughing Ronning said. “The way he utilizes his speed so well, he’s very effective.”
There are just nine games left and no AHL playoff this season. However, the team’s continued improvement and development will make them that much better for next season and make the competition for playing time in New York that much stiffer in the fall.
The Wolf Pack will start another three-pack series of games against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers beginning Tuesday at the XL Center.
LINES
Richards-Gettinger-Ronning
Newell-Barron-Greco
Sanchez-Rueschhoff-Geersten
Khordorenko-Thompson-Cullye
Raddysh-Reunanen
LoVerde-Skinner
Giutarri-Sieloff
Huska
Wall
THREE STARS
- Ty Ronning
- Will Cuylle
- Darren Raddysh
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Anthony Greco
Morgan Barron
Adam Huska
Paul Thompson
SCRATCHES
Jonny Brodzinski – (upper-body injury) will likely play next week
Jeff Taylor
Alex Whalen
Michael O’Leary
Brandon Crawley
Ryan Dmowski
Zach Berzzola
Francois Brassard.
Gabriel Fontaine – (upper-body, done for the season)
NOTES
The Bruins had to sign an emergency backup goalie for the game. Cranston, RI native Joe Spagnoli, an ex-Danbury Whalers/Titans (FPHL) netminder, played college club hockey for the University of Rhode Island Rams (ACHA) under its head coach, former New Haven Nighthawk, Joe Augustine.
COLE CAUFIELD HYPE
The AHL’s best team just got even stronger as the Laval Rocket added Cole Caufield, the Hobey Baker winner, into their line-up. Caufield made a splashy debut in Toronto with two goals and an assist. He was a plus-1 with five shots on goal and was named the game’s first star.
His first goal was early in the second period on the power play, and his second came early in the third period. Toronto goalie Joseph Woll made a great first save, but Caufield roofed the rebound for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
On Saturday night, Laval won 4-3 as Caulfield scored the game-winner again with a tip-in of Tobie-Paquette Bisson’s right point shot. Laval has now won 14 of their last 15 games and leads the AHL with a record of 19-5-1-1 (40 points).
MARC-ANDRE FLEURY
The last time there was this type of excitement and hype of a player coming into the AHL was goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. On April 17, 2004, he played in Game 2 of a quarterfinal series against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers after his Cape Breton (QMJHL) season ended. It was a 5-4 OT win for the Sound Tigers. Fleury was pulled after allowing a couple of soft shots.
The only other Canadian prospect to come into the AHL with the fanfare was when Ken Dryden, from Cornell University, played for the Montreal Voyageurs.
DRYDEN MOVES TO PROS
Dryden’s play in the AHL and then the 1971 Stanley Cup playoffs, where the Habs upset the Bobby Orr-led Bruins, led to the first wave of college players drafted by the WHA New England Whalers. Their GM, the late Jack Kelley, was a product of the Northeast college hockey environment.
The Voyageurs were moved to Nova Scotia a year later for a remarkable 12-year run before relocating to Sherbrooke in 1984.
The Nova Scotia Voyageurs were the first Canadian AHL team to win the Calder Cup. The team was originally in Houston (TX) Apollos in the old Central Hockey League, but poor attendance forced the Canadiens to relocate to Montreal in 1969.
