BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
BRIDGEPORT, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack kept their winning streak alive, winning their seventh straight in defeating the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-2 on Thursday afternoon.
The Wolf Pack’s seven straight wins have all come in regulation. Their record improves to 10-6-1-0 (21 points). They have shrunk the once sizable Providence Bruins lead in the Atlantic Division to just six points. The Bruins were idle and have now just one game in hand.
Bridgeport lost its seventh straight game in what has been a challenging season for them as they slip to a 3-13-1-0 (7 points) record.
“Five-on-five, we did some good things. It comes down to discipline. You can’t give Hartford power play chances. They get a five-on-three, (then) we’re chasing, and those things can’t happen. It shouldn’t happen, and they’re aware (of it),” remarked Bridgeport head coach Brent Thompson.
The Wolf Pack complete their third game in five days against Bridgeport Saturday at 1 PM at the XL Center.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, the Wolf Pack put on a defensive vise-grip that held the Sound Tigers to just two shots on goal, but one of them nearly tied the game late.
At 14:14, Thomas Kuhnhackl had a break-in but tried to get cute with a between-the-legs flip shot that starting netminder, Adam Huska, extended his blocker and denied it to maintain the Wolf Pack lead.
With Sound Tigers goalie Ken Appleby pulled for the extra attacker, the Pack’s Morgan Barron advanced the puck to Justin Richards, who deposited the empty-net goal with 30 seconds remaining to secure the win. Barron’s assist on the goal extended his point-scoring streak to seven games.
SECOND PERIOD
In the second period, the Sound Tigers tied the game, but the Wolf Pack emerged with a late power play tally to regain the lead, one they wouldn’t give up.
The Sound Tigers had a strong start to the period. At 7:26, the Sound Tigers evened the score at two by capitalizing on a neutral zone turnover by Darren Raddysh.
Kuhnhackl was down low and won a puck battle. Kyle MacLean picked up the loose puck and skated in front of the net and sent a backhander on Huska, who stopped it. However, Huska left a juicy rebound for Cole Bardreau, who was wide open. Bardeau fired his seventh goal of the season past Huska’s the glove side, top-shelf.
The Wolf Pack found themselves with a five-on-three power play and made it count.
Raddyash passed to the left-wing circle to Jonny Brodzinski, who was back in the lineup after missing six games with an upper-body injury. Brodzinski one-timed it to Tim Gettinger in front. Gettinger made a deft redirect into an open net for the go-ahead tally at 19:27.
“They have a lot of looks. They have threats from all three points,” Thompson said of Hartford’s power play.
PACK POWER PLAY PACKS PUNCH
The Wolf Pack have scored two power play goals in six of their last seven games.
The Sound Tigers scored the game’s first goal, but the Wolf Pack recovered and left the first period with a 2-1 lead.
The two teams combined for just four shots in the first half of the period, with all the scoring coming in the second half of the period.
Blade Jenkins, a Sound Tigers rookie, playing in just his fifth game of the season, recovered a loose puck off a shot from defenseman Ryan MacKinnon and whistled his first pro goal past Huska at 12:32.
“Our line was able to create some traffic, and I was fortunate to get the puck on my stick. I’m definitely excited, but at the end of the day, we didn’t get the win, and that’s what we’re here for. I’m looking forward to playing them again on Saturday,” Jenkins stated.
PACK PP COMES THROUGH AGAIN
Ty Ronning took a pass from Raddysh and was atop the right circle and ripped a shot on Appleby, who made the stop through a screen set by Paul Thompson. Appleby couldn’t control the rebound, and Thompson swept it into the net for his third goal of the season at 14:05.
Thompson praised the unrelated player with the same last name. “He has great net-front presence, arguably one of the best in the AHL. We saw it when he was in Springfield and all the way back to his (early) days in Albany. He has that shot and knows how to play that position.”
However, Thompson, the coach, was displeased by his team’s taking so many penalties. “Discipline is a key factor. We took too many penalties, and that takes you out of the rhythm of your game.”
THOMPSON STRIKES AGAIN
At 17:09, the Wolf Pack struck again as Thompson led the way.
Thompson was on the left-wing side in the Sound Tigers zone. He forced defenseman Samuel Bolduc to cough up the puck and pushed the loose biscuit to Patrick Khordorenko. The Pack forward made a strong move to the net and sent a backhander to the net. Khordorenko had his shot deflect off Sound Tigers defenseman Carter Hutton. Thompson was right there and jammed home his second of the game and fourth of the season past Appleby.
LINES:
Richards-Gettinger-Ronning
Newell-Barron-Rueschoff
Brodzinski-Greco-Cullye
Khordorenko-Thompson-Whalen
Raddysh-Reunanen
LoVerde-Geersten
Giutarri-Sieloff
Huska
Brassard
THREE STARS:
Tim Gettinger
Paul Thompson
Darren Raddysh
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Patrick Khordorenko
Morgan Barron
Alex Whalen
SCRATCHES:
Jeff Taylor
James Sanchez
Michael O’Leary
Hunter Skinner
Ryan Dmowski
Zach Berzola
Tyler Wall.
Gabriel Fontaine (upper-body, done for the season)
NOTES:
Fontaine was recalled to the Rangers taxi squad, which appears to be a paper transaction.
Just 27 seconds into the second period, in the Wolf Pack zone, in the right-wing circle, linesman Brent Colby suffered a serious right leg injury off of a faceoff between Morgan Barron and Otto Koivula. Colby didn’t return. He looked to have caught his leg with the players while exiting the faceoff circle. The referees went old school with a three-man officiating crew the rest of the game. Colby was taken to a local hospital for medical treatment. No further word was available after the game regarding his condition.
Barron, Raddysh, and Gettinger all extended their point-scoring streaks of seven and six games, respectively.
RW Tanner Fritz was among the Sound Tigers’ four scratches. He is out with a lower-body injury. Thompson said they are awaiting results from the doctors before announcing his game availability for Saturday. The other scratches for Bridgeport were Michell Vande Sompel, Mike Cornell, and Erik Brown, who played Tuesday.
Collin Adams just finished four years at North Dakota (NCHC). He has signed with the New York Islanders. Thompson had no information on whether or not he would be assigned to the Sound Tigers.
MORE NOTES
Now an ex-Wolf Pack, Brandon Crawley had the primary and lone assist on the game-winning goal, which was the first pro goal from rookie Tristan Mullin halfway through the third period for the Cleveland Monsters last night in his debut game. He wore number four.
Crawley’s shot off his back foot from the left point. It was redirected and skittered over the goal line. Rochester captain and ex-Wolf Pack captain, Steven Fogarty, brought the Americans close, but Cleveland prevailed 5-3.
PACK PLAY KEY ROLES IN GAGARIN CUP
In the KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs, CSKA Moscow won the Western Conference finals in six games over SKA Petersburg.
Defenseman Yegor Rykov, still under contract by the Rangers and on loan to CSKA, has been alternating with another ex-Wolf Pack, John Gilmour, in the lineup. In ten playoff games, Rykov is scoreless.
In Game 4 at the Ice Palaces, SKA St. Petersburg was at home and attempting to rally from down three games to none but wound up winning 3-1. Amazingly, Gilmour was a minus-3 for the game. Another ex-Pack, Malte Stromwall, had a goal and an assist. The goal was a wonderful tip-in up high. SKA St. Petersburg goalie was ex-Wolf Pack Magnus Hellberg.
CSKA awaits the winner of the Avangard Omsk vs. AK-Bars Kazan in the Eastern Conference final.
Ex-Pack Nigel Dawes is on AK-Bars Kazan team and ex-Pack Alexei Bereglazov is on Avangard.
GERNANDER IN A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Micah Gernander, the son of ex-Wolf Pack head coach and player Ken Gernander and his Rochester (MN) Grizzlies (NA3HL), begins to play on Thursday in St. Peter’s, MO, at the Rec-Plex Arena with five other teams trying to capture the Fraser Cup championship this weekend.
Rochester won the Central Division title in a best-of-three series beating the Peoria (Ill.) Mustangs 5-0 to earn the trip to the Finals.
Gernander scored his first playoff goal on a breakaway in the contest and added two assists. He was also a plus-3 and named Third Star of The Game.
The first two games are against the Texas (North Richland Hills, TX) Brahmas. The team is located just outside of Arlington and feature Leevi Selanne, the youngest son of NHL great Teemu Selanne. He will be at Curry College (MASCAC) in the fall. Ben Mondou, whose great-uncle is Canadiens great, Pierre Mondou and the Oklahoma (Edmond, OK) Jr. Blazers.
The tournament runs from Thursday until Sunday.
Gernander made a commitment on March 9th to Division-III Gustavus Adolphus College (Saint Peter, MN).
OTHER TEAMS PLAYING
The other teams in the tourney are the North Iowa Bulls (Mason City, IA), Sheridan (WY) Hawks, the Bay State (South Hadley, MA) Bobcats, who have Troy Harwell (Southbury, CT) on their roster, and the Northeast (Attleboro, MA) Generals who have Austin Crisp (South Windsor, CT) skating for them.
Another ex-Pack, Jarkko Immonen, who is nearing the end of his career, departs JYP Jyväskylä (Finland-FEL) and will play in 2021-22 for Jukerit (Finland-FEL).
The college hockey transfer rolls on. UCONN senior Brian Rigali heads up I-91 to Springfield, MA, and will play his fifth year for AIC (American International College) (AHA), who play out of the Mass Mutual Center.
COLLEGE MOVEMENT
As expected, UCONN junior goalie, Tomáš Vomáčka, turned pro with the Nashville Predators (NHL), signing a two-year standard ELC contract that will start next season for slightly less than the average at $810K-NHL/$60K-AHL. He will likely start with the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL), who opted not to play this season.
There have been 28 school transfers and 32 grad transfers. 65 Division-I players have signed North American pro contracts, and 69 players total Division-I and Division-II have signed pro deals.
Hockey East leading the way with 20, followed by the Big Ten conference with 18, the NCHC with 13, AHA with six, ECACHL with five, the WCHA with two and two Division I independent schools have just two players both Division III to sign in Europe.
