BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
LAVAL, QUEBEC, CANADA – The Hartford Wolf Pack dropped their fourth straight game in regulation 7-4 as Joël Teasdale’s hat trick paced the Laval Rocket at Place Bell Friday night before 5,303.
The Wolf Pack (27-20-5-2) limp into Belleville at the CAA Centre, in fourth place in the Atlantic Division after the Hershey Bears lost to the Belleville Senators 3-2 in overtime. The Pack leads the Bears by the slimmest of percentage points (.565 to .559), with 18 games remaining in the regular season.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, Teasdale received a pass from Sami Niku after Michael O’Leary lost his stick. Teasdale scored his eighth goal of the season after going bar down at 7:52 and giving the Rocket a 7-3 Laval (27-21-3-0) lead. Teasdale was the game’s first star for the third-place Rocket.
Brandon Gignac, the game’s third star, had four points (a goal, three helpers, and a plus-four), also had two chances late in the last minute of regulation for Laval, and he missed a tremendous opportunity negating the possibility of a hat trick.
Pack defenseman Jarred Tinordi made a short pass to Tanner Fritz at the blue line. Fritz fired his tenth of the season and made it a 7-4 game with a low to the glove side shot that went off the left post past Cayden Primeau’s (son of one-time Hartford Whaler Keith Primeau) at 14:15. Ty Ronning created traffic with Laval’s Peter Abbandonato.
The scoring parade continued early in the second at 1:53 as Kevin Roy put his ninth of the season as Rafael Harvey Pinard’s shot went uncontested, making it 4-3.
LONG SHIFT LEADS TO GOAL
At 9:47, Laval took advantage of a long shift by Tinordi and Zach Guitarri as the Wolf Pack changed defensive pairings in an unsuccessful attempt to slow Laval down.
The Pack pair who couldn’t get off the ice and from behind the net Gabriel Bourque found Teasdale in the slot. Teasdale put his seventh goal under the crossbar on goaltender Adam Huska and gave the Rocket a two-goal lead.
Gignac scored his seventh of the season, getting inside position on Hunter Skinner. Matt Robertson couldn’t contain Teasdale on his wraparound cross-crease pass at 15:05.
FIRST PERIOD
The two teams exchanged six goals in the first period.
In the first five minutes, Laval kept the puck in the Wolf Pack end of the ice to get the game’s first goal.
Jean-Sébastien Dea, a thorn in the Wolf Pack side while playing for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, had his shot deflected by a Wolf Pack stick and sailed upstairs on Wolf Pack starter Keith Kinkaid on the power play at 2:27 for his 17th goal of the season.
The Wolf Pack came back to tie it as Jones took Alex Whalen’s backhand pass, as he put it past Primeau, who had no chance on Jones’ seventh of the year at 6:24.
Laval went up 2-1 as Teasdale scored on a rebound, off a two-on-one, at 8:54.
Harvey-Pinard (three points) registered his fourth goal in four games, converting a rebound of a left-wing shot by Darien Kielb. He snapped the rebound five-hole and gave Laval a 3-1 lead.
After surrendering three goals on five shots, Kinkaid was pulled for Huska. Kinkaid now has a record of 18-6-5. It is the earliest Kris Knoblauch has ever pulled a goalie in his coaching tenure in Hartford. Kinkaid was not a happy camper as he stormed off.
The Wolf Pack came back with two of their own goals to tie the game. First, Ronning one-timed a puck from thirty feet out on the top part of the net on the left side to make 3-2 with his 15th.
Anthony Greco deflected a Jones shot under the crossbar, tying it at three on the powerplay with his 13th at 13:16.
