By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack dominated the visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night at the XL Center and led 3-0 late before adding two empty net goals to seal a 5-0 shutout win in their 2023-24 season home opener.
The win gives the Wolf Pack the first 3-0-0-0 season start since the 2019-20 pandemic-shortened season, which began with Igor Shesterkin in net. The win was the 999th in franchise history.
“Guys were optimistic going into the season. We got a lot of guys playing hard. Goal scoring is up, and that’s usually difficult (early in the season). Our team’s defense plays well, and our goaltending gives us an opportunity to win every night. We have guys having good success right now and enjoying the moment,” said Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch.
For an early season contest, there were plenty of after-whistle scrums and lots of salty conversations throughout the night, which has been the history between these two teams.
“We had some good rushes, created some plays, had some o-zone time. They (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) have a really good team over there. We had a lot of energy and we were ready to go. I didn’t think we would have a playoff game (atmosphere) like that so early on. There was a lot of physicality,” Riley Nash, one of the key performers on the night, said.
The Pack extended their lead to 3-0 in the third period when Nash converted a net-front backhanded pass from the left side from a hard-charging Alex Belizle, who had received it from Brett Berard. The whole sequence started with Louie Domingue’s outlet pass from the goal.
“That was one of those plays where I’m going to the net thinking ‘Am I going to have enough space to shoot?'” Nash said with a laugh.
“He made a great pass, and I was able to get a stick on it. It was hard to go lateral on a goaltender like that. We had a couple of good looks on that shift on a couple of their turnovers that didn’t pan out,” Nash added.
Berard and Nash each got their second point of the game as chants of “Let’s Go Wolf Pack” resounded off the walls of the XL Center. The Wolf Pack were controlling the puck throughout. Adam Edström made a strong right-wing rush and nearly had the fourth goal 90 seconds after Nash’s goal.
Ben Harpur was strong on the back line with finishing his checks. Mac Hollowell moved the puck out of the zone to start the Wolf Pack transition game. Domingue did his job in the net by making key stops in big situations, including last season’s Pack killer from the Providence Bruins, Joona Koppanen.
The Pack put two empty netters on the scoreboard. Connor Mackey tallied for the first at 16:49, and then Edström registered another at 18:05.
The game’s first goal came off Berard’s stick.
Berard was net-front when he took a feed from Adam Sýkora from behind the net. Berard took the shot while from the slot between two Penguins. It deflected up in the air past a thoroughly screened ex-Pack, Magnus Hellberg. Berard used the Penguins’ Xavier Ouellet as a screen on his follow-through that clipped him up high at 9:12 of the second period.
Domingue faced challenges in front of him, especially from Avery Hayes, who he had to reach out with his left pad to make the save in tight quarters. Vinnie Hinostra also had an A-grade scoring chance stopped by the Pack netminder, who was on his way to the shutout, stopping all 13 shots he saw in the period.
Pack captain Jonny Brodzinski had an open lane on the right wing. He zoomed in and took a cross-ice pass from Sýkora. Brodzinski went high over Hellberg’s right shoulder with 1:28 left in the period to make it 2-0 Wolf Pack.
Nash’s hard work on the play started the scoring sequence.
“Jonny is the leader of this team for a reason,” Knoblauch said. “Everything I said before about the team, Jonny (exemplifies) and enjoys that hockey (pressure situations). He is really close to being an NHL player, but he is a great AHL player. Every day in practice, regardless, he is having fun and works hard every single day, and everyone follows that.”
The first period was mostly pedestrian, as neither team managed high-quality chances. Brodzinski had the best chance of the frame with a breakaway off a Hollowell lead stretch pass, but the Penguins defenseman and former Springfield Thunderbird, Dmitri Samorukov, cut off his angle, and he fired wide.
Hellberg did his part for the Penguins in keeping the Wolf Pack off the scoreboard, stopping Hollowell, Edström, and Anton Blidh. Domingue stopped the Penguins’ Ty Smith four times and Colin White in the period and got some help from his goalpost on an early left-point drive by Jack Rathbone.
The period did have two scraps late. The first saw Mackey take exception to a neutral zone hit on Karl Henriksson by Corey Andonovski, and the two tangled. Then Brennan Othmann, who had running verbal spats with several Penguins throughout the contest, instigated his first pro scrap with Taylor Fedun in the left-wing corner of the offensive zone, earning an extra two minutes in the box for the infraction.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms make their first season appearance at the XL Center on Saturday night.
LINES:
Karl Henriksson – Jake Leschyshyn – Anton Blidh
Brennan Othmann – Riley Nash – Brett Berard
Alex Belzile – Adam Edström – Jonny Brodzinski
Matt Rempe – Ryder Korczak – Adam Sýkora
Mac Hollowell – Connor Mackey
Ben Harpur – Nikolas Brouillard
Brandon Scanlin – Matt Robertson
Louie Domingue
Dylan Garand
NOTES:
An otherwise festive atmosphere was ruined at the end of the game when the Wolf Pack received two Delay of Game penalties two minutes apart after “fans” behind the Pack net twice threw objects on the ice that disturbed Domingue who had his young family in attendance. He was pelted with debris and smashed his stick in frustration.
Who did it, whether frustrated Penguins fans or inebriated Pack fans, required that Brodzinski come on the ice to plead with fans to stop.
GM Ryan Martin was said to be livid at the game’s end as he was disappointed in the lack of security intervention.
Othmann leads the AHL with two powerplay goals.
Ex-Pack Henderson Silver Knights’ Mason Geerstenleadsg the AHL in PIMs early with 32.
Former UCONN Husky Ruslan Iskharov is leading the Bridgeport Islanders with five points.
Three ex-Packs were listed on the Penguins lineup. Hellberg (playing for the second time in Hartford as an opponent), Libor Hájek, who was just sent down by the parent Pittsburgh Penguins earlier in the week but didn’t make the trip, and Austin Rueschhoff.
Two sons of ex-Hartford Whalers Michael Nylander (also a New York Ranger) and Patrick Poulin, Alexander Nylander and Samuel Poulin dotted the Penguins lineup.
The Penguins have nine veterans on the team, so by rule, they must rotate two vets every night for the time being.
Adam Samuelsson, the son of Whalers and Rangers d-man and former Wolf Pack and Avon Old Farms assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson, was cut from the Chicago Wolves camp and returned to the Atlanta Gladiators. He was cut there and signed with Indy Fuel (ECHL).
After healing up from an early training camp injury, Ex-Pack Keith Kinkaid was assigned to Chicago by the New Jersey Devils after clearing waivers.
Ex-Pack Will Lockwood and Mackie Samoskevich (Sandy Hook) were assigned by the Florida Panthers to the Charlotte Checkers.
Roman Kinal (UCONN) was sent to the Wichita Thunder (ECHL), and Jarrod Gourley, another collegiate teammate, was sent from the Calgary Wranglers camp to the Rapid City Rush (ECHL).
Ex-Pack Brandon Fortunato (Quinnipiac University) was sent to the Jacksonville Ice Men (ECHL), plus the Milwaukee Admirals reassigned Griffin Luce (Salisbury School) to the Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL).
Goalie Dryden McKay, the son of ex-Whaler Ross McKay, was sent from the Toronto Marlies to the Newfoundland (St. John’s) Growlers (ECHL).
The Wolf Pack had an opening night crowd of 7,038. It’s the best since 2014-15, when they had 7,389.
The team’s best, and still the record, is 12,934 in Year One. It was the first home game in franchise history against the Portland (Maine) Pirates on October 4, 1997.
Last year, the team had 5,001 fans against the same Penguins.
Ex-Pack/Sound Tiger Chris Bourque is a pro scout with Toronto.
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