By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HERSHEY, PA – The Hartford Wolf Pack are on the brink of Calder Cup playoff elimination after a 4-2 loss to the Hershey Bears in Game 2 and now trail two games to none in the best-of-five Atlantic Division Finals. It will be a win-or-go-home situation for the Pack as the series shifts to the XL Center in Hartford for Game 3 on Wednesday at 7 PM.
The Bears were dominant both physically and defensively all over the ice.
Hershey’s Mark Vecchione scored what would prove to be the game-winner at 8:48 of the second period when he got between three Wolf Pack defenders in the slot. Henrik Borgstrom was behind the Pack net and found him open. Unfortunately, the Wolf Pack’s Libor Hájek had broken his stick, forcing him to drop it. Without it, he was unable to defend Borgstrom’s pass. For Vecchione, it was his second goal of the playoffs, making the score 3-1. Ethen Frank got his second point of the playoffs with the secondary assist.
The Bears would add insurance in the third period, tallying their fourth goal and restoring a two-goal margin that Hartford wouldn’t overcome.
Dylan Garand (26 saves) stopped Riley Sutter after a backhand feed from Mason Morelli. Still, the Pack could not clear the zone as defenseman Brandon Scanlin and forward Bobby Trivigno could not control the biscuit behind the net.
An unfortunate bad bounce didn’t help the Pack when the puck went off linesman Jud Ritter, further trapping the Wolf Pack. The puck found Aleiaksei Protoas on the right wing, who sent a cross-ice pass to Hendrix Lapierre, who snapped a shot to the short side off on one of many odd-man rushes against the Pack. The goal made it 4-1 and came at 13:14 of the third period.
To their credit, the Pack kept pressing forward.
At 15:09, Adam Clendening was at the right point after taking Wyatt Kalynuk’s pass. Anton Blidh set a screen in front of goalie Hunter Shepard. Blidh times a jump perfectly as the puck sailed by Shepard to make it 4-2. But, unfortunately, that would be as close as the Wolf Pack would get.
The goal was the first and only five-on-five series goal for the Wolf Pack.
The Bears had the second period’s only goal as they held the Wolf Pack to just five shots.
FIRST PERIOD
Just 11 seconds into the contest, Zac Jones lost his footing, and Beck Malenstyn took advantage, going wide. That forced Jones to slide to try and stop him. But, instead, Jones knocked the net off its magnetic pegs.
At 1:52, Blidh put a shot over Shepherd’s glove but went off the post.
A defensive zone turnover, which would continue to plague the Pack all game long, led to three Bears quality chances. Two came from Joe Snively, who missed the net, and the third from Connor McMichaels, who initially got the puck on the Pack’s doorstep but couldn’t register the goal.
The Pack was in the same situation as Game One, being dramatically outshot. They were down 6-1 in shots in the first six minutes.
Hájek took a selfish and unnecessary penalty drilling Morelli into the side of the net from behind. It sent the Bears to the power play.
Hershey capitalized on the Hájek penalty. Mason Morelli was wide open on the left-wing side. He shuffled a pass over to Brock Malenstyn, who snapped a shot upstairs and into the net at 3:12 to make it 1-0.
The Wolf Packed used their first powerplay effectively as Ryan Carpenter outworked Gabriel Carlsson behind the net and found Will Cullye in front. He snapped it over Shepard’s glove hand to even the game at one at 11:32.
1:12 after the Pack tied the score, they found themselves trailing again. At 12:44, Malenstyn broke into the zone on a two-on-one with Morelli. He was open and blasted it upstairs past Garand with Adam Clendening trailing on the play.
Nearly 11 minutes in, the shot advantage favored the Bears 10-3.
If the Pack are to survive and get back into this series, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch will have a lot of work to do to get their game back to where it was against Providence, or they could find themselves watching the remainder of the playoffs from the golf course.
LINES:
Brodzinski – Carpenter – Cullye
Fritz – Pajuniemi – Blidh
Leschyshyn – Gettinger – Lockwood
Elson – Henriksson – Trivigno
Jones – Emberson
Hájek – Scanlin
Kalynuk – Clendening
Garand
Domingue
SCRATCHES:
Blake Hillman (healthy)
Talyn Boyko #40
Matt Rempe (healthy)
Adam Edström (healthy)
Louie Roehl #4 (healthy)
Brett Berard #27 (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:
The Wolf Pack received good news yesterday. The AHL reduced Adam Clendening’s suspension to the two games he’s already sat out for his Game 3 hit on Fabian Lysell in the series against the Providence Bruins, making him available for Game 2. He was paired with Kalynuk. Blake Hillman was the odd man out.
18 AHL players have signed for Europe for next year.
In Winnipeg in Game 1 of the WHL championship, the Winnipeg Ice Head Coach is former Hartford Whaler/New York Ranger James Patrick. After a nine-day layoff, the Ice defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-2. Easton Armstrong, the son of Wolf Pack great Derek Armstrong, was held to no points and shots for the first two series games at the Life Canada Centre, home of the NHL Winnipeg Jets. Seattle won Game 2, 4-2, as Brad Lambert, nephew of former Bridgeport Sound Tigers head coach and New Haven Nighthawks player, Lane Lambert, had two goals and was a plus-four.
In the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs, the Pack’s Double AA affiliate, the Jacksonville Icemen, were down three games to one to South Division in-state rival, the Florida Everblades. The teams traveled to Florida for Game 5, and the Icemen won 6-3 to force a Game 6 on Monday.
News on a trio of ex-Sound Tigers, Travis St. Denis (Quinnipiac University) switches teams in Germany going from EHC Straubing (Germany-DEL) and signs with ERC Ingolstadt for next year. Also, Jesse Graham changes teams in the Russian-based KHL from Barys Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan) to HK Sochi (Russia). Johan Sundström, heads from Frölunda HC (Sweden-SHL) to Sport Vassa (Finland-FEL).
Ex-Pack and ex-Sound Tiger, Andrew Rower, leaves SC Rapperswill-Jona (Switzerland-LNA) and signs for next season with ERC Ingolstadt (Germany-DEL).
The long-time head coach of Middlebury (VT) College (NESCAC), Neal Sinclair, abruptly resigned. The team has won five national Division III titles during his tenure. A search began immediately for his replacement.
In yesterday’s WHL Priority Draft, just one notable name was taken. Masen McCosh, of the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes U-14 (T1EHL) program, was selected by the Calgary Hitmen in the first round (14th overall) in the US portion of the draft. McCosh is the youngest son of one-time New Haven Nighthawk and New Haven Senator Shawn McCosh. His oldest son Michael is at Buffalo St. (SUNYAC), and the boy’s uncle Shayne, played 18 games with the Springfield Falcons.
The IIHF World Hockey Championship began on Friday in Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia.
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