By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Will Bitten of the Springfield Thunderbirds had a third-period hat trick, and the team scored four goals on five shots to erase a two-goal Hartford Wolf Pack lead for a shocking come-from-behind 4-2 win.
The Pack had another playoff-like date with the Thunderbirds. With this loss, the Pack took a major hit in the standings as the Thunderbirds won their fifth straight. The T-Birds move nine points ahead of the Wolf Pack with 14 games left,
The Bridgeport Islanders, Hartford’s Saturday night opponent at Total Mortgage Arena, won in regulation at home 5-2 over the Syracuse Crunch and are now ahead by three points for the last playoff spot. The Charlotte Checkers shut out the Toronto Marlies. Despite the loss, Toronto has clinched their postseason playoff card. The eighth-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins beat the Rochester Amerks 5-4. The Penguins have now crept up to six points behind the Pack. Finally, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms lost 2-1 to the Hershey Bears and are seven points ahead of Hartford.
As Flogging Molly, the Celtic Fusion punk band from LA, mournful tune, “The Worst Day,” wafted through the air as the 6,201 fans filed slowly, languidly out from the hall in stunned silence, on a night when a festive holiday mood on St. Patrick’s Day beckoned them.
“We had our chances in the third, we outshot them, but we made some costly mistakes and turnovers. Most of the play was in their zone. We had opportunities to put the game away; we just had to learn how to finish off our (opponents).
We have to put it away quickly (this game) and get ready for Bridgeport tomorrow night,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.
Tanner Fritz, Jonny Brodzinski, and Turner Elson had quality chances early in the third period that showed no signs of what was to come.
Springfield cut the deficit to one as Bitten won the battle behind the net with Zac Jones and Libor Hájek and went to the front of the net. However, the puck was kept in the point by ex-Pack Hunter Skinner, and he got the puck to Mikhail Abramov.
Then from behind the Wolf Pack cage, Abramov found Bitten in front on the doorstep, and he flipped it in for his 16th, a backhander that got past Garand at 6:21.
The whole sequence came about as Jones lost control at the left point in the offensive zone and had to race with Bitten for the puck.
Then the defense was victimized again as Hugh McGing, skating from behind Matt Robertson, took the puck off his stick behind the net and sent a backhanded pass again from behind the net to the wide-open, Bitten, who quickly deposited his 17th on an unsuspecting Garand at 11:41.
The Thunderbirds took the lead on the powerplay as the Pack’s Wyatt Kalynuk got the extra two on an unnecessary penalty in a late-game scrum. A hit he made on an offsides play by Keean Waskurak that he didn’t care for led to the scrum with Springfield’s Greg Printz, who came in to help him out.
He was given a crosscheck. However, none was seen based on a review of the game video.
Then perennial offensive threat Mike Perunovich quickly shuffled off a Matt Peca pass at the right point to the left point to Martin Frk, a righthanded shot, who let rip a shot for seemingly his 27th that sailed past Dylan Garand at 16:39.
It was tipped, admittedly by Frk post-game by the Thunderbirds Matt Highmore for his 15th as he was left all alone in front by Hajek and Jones, as he slipped behind them for the goal and unofficially, at this point, ties him for the team lead in points with Frk.
The league will likely correct the play early next week upon reviewing the game footage.
The damage was done; however, Springfield had the lead.
Was it a worthy double minor call on Kalynuk at that point of the game?
Adam Clendening sarcastically and acidly noted at the end of his post-game interview.
“It’s not for me to decide.”
The Pack had a powerplay early in the third, and some solid looks were had. Clendening had two good right-point shots, but the team came up with goose eggs in the third.
“He (Zherenko) had to made the saves he needed to. We had some quality chances, we didn’t get them. We needed to make it tougher on him and this time of the year, we need points and they need points too, were playing desperate, they’re desperate. We just have to find a way,” remarked Clendening looking skyward, beseeching the hockey gods for an answer to his plea.
Bitten scored his 18th notched-the-hat-trick and completed Springfield’s outburst with an empty net tally at 18:47 to hammer the coffin shut on another shocking, inexplicable loss in another third-period collapse by the Wolf Pack.
“We just can’t keep giving up Grade A chance, after Grade A chances in every game and expect him (Garand) and Louie (Domingue) to bail us out. I haven’t been here very long, but have played a fair amount, we have to realize nobody is going to fold up their tents and go home because we’re up a goal or two,” snarled and intoned an agitated and frustrated Clendening, who was playing in his 500th career AHL game.
Matt Peca, the QU grad again, had the first shot of the second period for Springfield 34 seconds in close, denied by Garand.
A lot of four-on-four play was had early in the second period.
Cullye had a shot block that made him unable to get up or off the ice, and the T-Birds Dmitri Samorukov skated past him and his feeble stick check attempt. Garand, then again atop the blue paint, made the save. The Pack was fortunate he was on his game in the net.
On the flip side, Ty Emberson had two bids stopped.
Then Martin Frk, for Springfield on the right wing, couldn’t connect with Mathias Laferriere open on the left wing.
Bitten had two shots, and Mikhail Abramov had two, but Garand shut the door.
The Pack, after taking the first four shots of the game by Springfield Peca, Highmore, Samorukov, and Mitchell Hoelscher and then the Pack came to life.
Winger Anton Blidh started the play with a solid outlet stretch pass to Pajuniemi, then made a strong move inside on the left after taking the puck off Hoelscher’s stick.
Then he wristed his ninth goal over the glove of Vadim Zherenko at 4:32 after Lauri Pajuniemi’s blast was stopped and was kicked out by Zherenko, which went off the left-wing sideboards to Hoelscher like a pool shot going for the corner pocket and he never saw Blidh coming.
Then after a solid hit in the left-wing corner by Cullye on Matt Kessel, I saw Cullye, then head to the net front area and get a piece of 10 feet out from Jake Leschyshyn from the original by Ty Emberson.
He shot from the right point that kept the puck in the Springfield zone, and with a gorgeous redirect by Cullye top shelf for his team-best 21st and kept his line red hot at 5:55.
Two goals in a 1:23 span early held up till the fateful third period.
LINES:
Cullye-Leschyshyn-Brodzinski
Gettinger-Lockwood- Carpenter
Fritz-Blidh-Pajuniemi
Rempe-Henriksson-Elson
Jones-Hájek
Emberson-Robertson
Kalynuk-Clendening
Louis Domingue
Dylan Garand
SCRATCHES:
Cristiano DiGiacinto (healthy)
Blake Hillman (healthy)
Brandon Scanlin (healthy)
Bobby Trivigno (healthy)
Ben Tardif (healthy)
Patrick Khordorenko (season-ending shoulder surgery).
C.J. Smith (hip area surgery done for the season
NOTES:
-For the first time in 10 games, the Wolf Pack didn’t change its lineup.
Pretty sure that it will change Saturday night.
-Springfield lost goalie Joel Hofer to emergency recall, who owned the Pack with shutouts in their last two meetings.
The St. Louis recall was because the suspension of Jordan Binnington forced Springfield to start rookie Zherenko.
The Thunderbirds then signed a minor league vet yesterday, Garrett Sparks, a former Maple Leafs farmhand with Orlando (ECHL).
-Binnington’s good friend ex-Pack Phil Di Guiseppe was sent back by Vancouver to Abbotsford.
-Ridly Greig, son of ex-Whaler Mark, is sent back to Belleville by Ottawa.
-Joe Snively, a former Yale Bulldog, is sent back to Hershey by Washington and assisted on their first goal Friday night.
-Another former Yale Bulldog, Luke Stevens, is recalled from the Kansas City Mavericks (ECHL) to replace the loss of another former Yalie John Hayden to an emergency recall to Seattle.
-Patrick Grasso, the nephew of ex-Night Tom Mullen, recalled FRO, Adirondack (ECHL) by Utica, and Mitch Fossier from Maine (ECHL) by Providence.
-Brad Morrison, nephew of former New Haven Nighthawk and current Manitoba Moose (AHL) head coach Mark Morrison, is traded from Florida (ECHL) to Kalamazoo (ECHL). He started the hockey year in Slovakia.
-Unusual for a player coming from Russia to the AHL in Shakir Mukhamadullin, from Salavat Yulaev Ufa (Russia-KHL) to the San Jose Barracuda (AHL), but he isn’t Calder Cup eligible.
-The signing of college players has reached 72 players. Among the new signees is Justin Pearson, UCONN (HE)/Yale (ECACHL), the grad transfer, who the Cleveland Monsters signed. He is the son of former pro player NHL/AHL Rob Pearson.
-Big college hockey upsets Friday night with five of the six big games going to overtime in Quinnipiac, #2 in the nation in the last poll before the postseason, who lost to Colgate University in double OT 2-1 in the ECACHL semifinals.
Colorado College, with Rangers prospect Noah Laba, was the only school to do so in regulation 1-0 against in-state rival Denver University in the NCHC semifinals.
On Saturday, there are six conference championships. Quinnipiac is a guaranteed #2 overall seed in the Pairwise rankings.
The Sunday selection show at 6:30 on ESPNU will be exciting.
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