HARTFORD WOLF PACK WIN XL CENTER SEASON FINALE 

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Louie Domingue contributed a 28-save shutout, while Tim Gettinger contributed three points for the Hartford Wolf Pack as they ended the regular season at the XL Center with a 4-0 shutout of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Domingue shutout was his fourth of the season and extended the Pack’s winning streak to eight games.

GAME SHEET

The Pack closed out the home portion of the regular season against a depleted Penguins lineup in solid fashion. Hartford travels to Springfield Saturday to battle the Thunderbirds to close out the regular season before heading to the playoffs for the first time after an eight-year absence. Playoff positioning is still on the line as the team hopes not to travel to Charlotte, where the entire best-of-three-game series would be played on the road against the Checkers.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch, pleased but reserved after the win,

“It was a perfect game for us because we went with different line combinations. We had to get guys familiar with each other. We had to use different penalty killers, for example, like Tim Gettinger, and he looked great in that position, including his five-on-five play.

“We can’t get ahead of ourselves too much. That was a different lineup from Wilkes-Barre that we’re used to seeing. It was depleted, missing a lot of American (Hockey) League players. I was very happy the way the guys played. It’s going to be much harder against Springfield tomorrow.”

THIRD PERIOD

In the third period, the Wolf Pack made the 6,226 in attendance cheer as Will Cullye made a perfect backhand pass from the right-wing corner. His pass found Turner Elson in the slot unchecked, and he fired in his second goal of the game and 17th of the season at 4:32.

“I was happy for Turner. We got him back with Carpenter and they had so much chemistry initially. He kind of got lost in the shuffle, separated, when we made all those trades at the deadline. He was on a lot of different lines. His role diminished a little bit lately. He and Karl (Henriksson) had played well together. He stuck with it and played hard for us. He contributed in a lesser role for us but was consistent for us. We rearranged our lines, but they picked up right where they left off, for us,” remarked Knoblauch.

Elson said the team knew the challenge of them as the game started.

“We all knew we had to step-up our game. We’re going to have two big forwards and a goalie out of our lineup. It’s our four best players. We still have a lot of good players here. We have had a lot of depth all year here, now it’s gonna be tested.”

With the crowd chanting for a fourth goal to get a promotional free slice from a local eatery, the Wolf Pack newcomer rookie Adam Edström complied.

Receiving a lead pass from Gettinger, Edström made a gorgeous dipsy-doodle to get around Penguins’ defenseman Josh Maniscalco before firing home his first AHL goal at 13:24 over goaltender Joel Blomquist’s blocker.

After a late hit along the Hartford bench, Wyatt Kalynuk and Jack St. Ivany dropped the gloves. Kalynuk got rid of his elbow pad, scored solid shots, and took him down, energizing the crowd.

Domingue made solid saves to preserve his shutout over the last five minutes stopping Natan Légaré, Valtteri Puustinen, and Jagger Joshua.

SECOND PERIOD

Two-and-a-half minutes into the second period, Elson took a shot from 15 feet that hit the inside of Bloomqvist’s pads and squirted out. Carpenter and Anton Blidh jammed for the loose biscuit but couldn’t get the loose change.

At 6:07, Tanner Fritz came down the right wing and put a shot on the net as Will Cullye sniffed around for a rebound.

Then at 6:27, after a media timeout, the Pack won the face-off, but as play came back into the zone, Cullye forechecking made a solid hit to force a turnover. Carpenter was right there and backhanded a pass to Elson on the right wing. Elson snapped his 14th past Bloomqvist’s blocker side and a 2-0 Pack lead.

“We had a lot of young guys coming in and out of the lineup lately. I wanted to make sure I was contributing. We got the chemistry, and that’s the key. You get good chemistry, you get wins,” a smiling Elson said.

On the power play, Domingue stopped Jon Gruden on the doorstep at 15:05.

Then Légaré, on an intercepted outlet pass at 16:31, was denied by Domingue.

At 3:40, Domingue got into a tussle with the rookie Joshua that drew in Ty Emberson. No major penalties were issued, but an extra two minutes went to Joshua.

The Penguins had 13 shots in the second, and Domingue stopped them all.

FIRST PERIOD

The Pack applied good pressure and entries into the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton zone in the first period. On his first two shifts, Cullye took two hits, one behind the net, by St. Ivany, a former Yale Bulldog, then along the left-wing boards by Puustinen.

The Pack had the first power play’s best quality chance as Jonny Brodzinski had a solid one-time from the left side that Blomqvist rejected. Bloomqvist played earlier this season for Karpat Oulu (Finland-FEL) and made his first AHL start.

He also stopped Zac Jones twice.

The Pack had a second powerplay with just five minutes to go in the period, and the Pack made it count.

Adam Clendening was at the right point and found Lauri Pajuniemi open on the left wing. Clendenning sent a brilliant pass/shot at the front of the net. Gettinger was right there and had position on St. Ivany. He redirected his 13th at 15:58 past Blomqvist for a 1-0 lead.

It was Gettinger’s first goal in six weeks.

“It was his best game in awhile,” commented Knoblauch.

LINES:

Cullye-Carpenter-Elson
Henriksson-Brodzinski- Lockwood
Fritz-Pajuniemi-Blidh
Gettinger- Adam Edström #34- Adam Sýkora  #29

Jones-Emberson
Hillman-Scanlin
Clendening-Kalynuk

Domingue
Garand

SCRATCHES:

Bobby Trivigno (healthy)
Curtis Leschyshyn (healthy)
Matt Rempe (healthy)
Libor Hájek (healthy)
Louie Roehl #4 (healthy)
Brett Berard #27 (healthy)
Bryce McConnell-Barker #8 (healthy)
Matt Robertson (upper body, out for the first round of the playoffs. )
Patrick Khordorenko (season-ending shoulder surgery).
C.J. Smith (hip area surgery done for the season)

NOTES:

Elson and Knoblauch were referring to the recall by the Rangers (announced an hour after game time). The Rangers recalled Brodzinski, Jake Leschysyn, Libor Hájek, and Domingue to be among the Rangers Black Aces for the Devils series.

Jake Johnson of Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) of the national champion Bobcats became the fifth player to sign a pro deal. He joins the ECHL Ft. Wayne Komets (ECHL).

Ethan Cardwell, the nephew of former New Haven Knight Matt Cardwell, finished with OHL career with the Barrie Colts. He signs a PTO deal with the San Jose Barracuda. He played three years with Barrie and one with Saginaw (MI).

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

HOME