HARTFORD WOLF PACK WINS GAME 1 OVER PROVIDENCE BRUINS 

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

PROVIDENCE, RI – Bobby Trivigno’s late second-period goal became the game-winner for the Hartford Wolf Pack in a 1-0 win over the Providence Bruins at the Amica Mutual Pavilion.

The Pack held the Atlantic Division regular season champs to 14 shots, a playoff game franchise-low in an opening game of the series. The win transferred the home-ice advantage to Hartford.

Trivigno took an outlet pass by Blake Hillman, who was open on the left wing. He then drove to the net and sent a pass that hit the skate of Bruins’ defenseman, Michael Callahan. Sýkora found it and registered his first AHL point when he sent it back to Trivigno. The former Boston University forward had the inside position on the other Bruins defenseman Josiah Didier. Trivigno backhanded it into the back of the net, registering his second goal of the postseason.

THIRD PERIOD

In the third period, the Pack tightened their defensive vise-grip on the Bruins. They held them to zero shots in the first 9:24 of the period. The Wolf Pack had effective early power play pressure as Will Lockwood and Tim Gettinger were stopped.

Garand kept the Bruins off the board with a critical save denying Luke Toporowski’s backhander.

With a minute left, the Bruins took their timeout. After the faceoff, it took them nine seconds after the timeout to finally get Bussi off the ice for the extra attacker.

The Bruins leading scorer, Georgii Mekulovon, had a last-second drive to try to tie the game, but he fired it wide as time expired.

SECOND PERIOD

In the second period, the Wolf Pack paid exceptional attention to detail, something instilled in them by Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, and held the Bruins to nine total shots and had several chances denied.

Tanner Fritz had his first of two shorthanded breakaways at 7:22, and Brandon Bussi made a left-pad save. The second opportunity came at 18:28 and went to the backhander. Bussi was up to the challenge and made the save.

The Wolf Pack had the Bruins all tied up.

At 14:24, Toporowski was in front of the Pack net and put one off Garand’s blocker. The puck went up in the air, and Garland kept his eyes on the biscuit and kept the Providence opportunity to just the one shot.

The physical play picked up as well, with Hillman taking out Fabian Lysell.  That was followed later when Oskar Steen, returned to Providence by the parent Boston Bruins, sent a Wolf Pack player into the bench area via the bench door. No penalty was called, much to the Pack’s chagrin.

The Pack broke through late at 15:22.

LINES:

Cullye-Carpenter-Elson
Fritz-Pajuniemi-Blidh
Gettinger-Edström-Lockwood
Henriksson-Sýkora-Trivigno

Jones-Emberson
Hillman-Scanlin
Clendening-Kalynuk

Garand
Gahagen #35

SCRATCHES:

Talyn Boyko #40
Matt Rempe (upper body, day-to-day)
Louie Roehl #4 (healthy)
Bryce McConnell-Barker #8 (healthy)
Brett Berard #27 (healthy)
Maxim Barbashev #18 (healthy)
Ryder Korczak  #38 (healthy)
Matt Robertson (upper body, may return in the latter half of this round of the playoffs)
Patrick Khordorenko (season-ending shoulder surgery).
C.J. Smith (hip area surgery done for the season)

NOTES:

This is the fifth time these two teams have met in the Calder Cup playoffs.

Sýkora had his best game, and his offensive zone pressure was its best since his arrival. His play in this one earned him the game’s third star.

The old team record for least shots on goal allowed was 15, first done on April 23, 1998, nearly 24 years ago against the Springfield Falcons and again on April 20, 2007, against Providence.

Ex-Pack Vinni Lettieri played his first playoff games since his college days at Minnesota with Providence.

BARBASHEV

The Rangers assigned Maxim Barbashev (65 points in 67 games) to the Wolf Pack just before they left, signing an ATO deal, and was assigned uniform #18, but won’t play at all this weekend.

His junior season ended in the quarterfinals of the QMJHL President Cup playoffs. He earned eight points in 12 games. His team, the Moncton Wildcats, were eliminated in seven games by the Halifax Mooseheads. One-time New York Ranger coach, Daniel Lacroix, is in his second tour of duty coaching with Moncton.

The 2022 fifth-round draft pick (161st overall) scored the game’s first goal on a right-wing shot. He checks in at 6’1, 185 lbs. at just 19, and has another year of junior eligibility left.

He has two older brothers playing pro hockey. Ivan is with the Vegas Golden Knights, and his oldest brother is 30-year-old Sergei. He is back in Russia with Dizel Penza (Russia-VHL) after starting the season with HK Tambov (Russia-VHL).

A prominent QMJHL scout, who’s head of another NHL organization, has this take on Barbasev.

“Looks awkward. Plays a heavy game (though). Can make mistakes and be inconsistent, but has an edge and physicality. Loves going to the net.”

MORE NOTES:

According to Knoblauch, Matt Robertson will not play in games 1 or 2 for the Wolf Pack.

Utica sent former UCONN defenseman Jarrod Gourley to Adirondack (ECHL).

Greenville evened their ECHL South Division semifinal at two Friday with a 3-1 win.

Former UCONN forward Ben Freeman scored his second goal of the series and the game-winner. The two teams meet on Saturday night in Game 5.

It didn’t take too long for Springfield’s Martin Frk to find new digs. Just two days after the Wolf Pack eliminated the Thunderbirds, he became one of five AHL’ers to sign for Europe for next year as he inked a deal with SC Bern (Switzerland-LNA).

Rangers top prospect Brennan Othmann is playing with the Peterborough Petes in the OHL championship series against the North Bay Battalion.

On Friday, they won 3-2 as Othmann had the primary assist on the first goal and had three shots.

In the WHL Eastern conference series, the Winnipeg Ice was victorious in Game 1 with the Saskatoon Blades as Easton Armstrong, son of Wolf Pack great Derek Armstrong, was pointless and without a shot in Game 1.

The Calgary Wranglers opened the playoffs with a 3-2 overtime victory as Jacob Pelletier scored halfway thru the overtime of Game 1 and won in Game 2 in overtime as Matt Philips scored.

Former UCONN forward Marc Gatcomb scored a beautiful rebound goal in Game 1 that got Abbotsford on the scoreboard.

The game was attended by 5,654 and came on the heels of the announcement of a new building coming to replace the 40-year-old, 19,000-seat Scotiabank Saddledome was reached by the Flames, and CSEC  (Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation), which owns them and the city to build a new arena in the east end of Calgary in the Rivers District.

The announcement was made in Victoria Park on the site of the proposed arena. It will become the fifth brand-new state-of-the-art arena in the AHL.

The building will house all three hockey teams that call Calgary home. The NHL Flames, AHL Wranglers, the junior-level WHL Hitmen, and NLL Roughnecks will be in the new building.

The City Council approved $800K for the new arena, and the overall price tag is $1.2B for the arena project.

This was an important hurdle; a final step will outline the new Events Center’s expected timeline and specs.

The Saddledome was built in 1983 and is the second oldest building in the NHL, behind MSG.

MSG was renovated in 2013, and the Saddledome replaced the Calgary Corral that housed the Flames, WHA Calgary Cowboys, and the WHL Wranglers (who moved to Lethbridge) in the mid-‘70’s.

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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