By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack and Springfield Thunderbirds had their second dance to start a three-in-three weekend as the visitors came away with a 5-2 victory; the Pack’s first loss of the 2023-24 season – including the pre-season – before a crowd of 3,838 at the mighty XL Center.
The Wolf Pack struggled by taking too many penalties and not converting on the six opportunities they had.
“We have to clean that up. We can’t be taking that many penalties. We usually win the special team battles, but tonight, we didn’t. It makes it tougher when you take this many penalties. We have to lose that play (the rest of the weekend). It takes away from the flow of our (offensive) game.
“Our depth guys were playing more and playing more special teams – penalty kill – you increase the chances you’ll be scored against. Tonight, we lost that battle,” Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch stated.
The Pack embarked on a trip to Pennsylvania after the game to start an 11-day road trip.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, Springfield potted a shorthanded goal that was the backbreaker to make it 4-1.
Starting netminder Louis Domingue skated way out of his crease, but Nathan “Stormey” Walker got to the puck first and then fired it right to Matt Peca, who deposited it into the open net despite the best efforts of Mac Hollowell, who made a valiant effort to defend the net. Peca’s third goal of the season came at 7:53.
The Wolf Pack closed the gap to 4-2 with Anton Blidh in front and receiving a short pass by Alex Belizle and beat Vadim Zherenko for his third of the season at 14:27. The scoring sequence began with a strong cross-ice pass by rookie Brennan Othmann.
Blidh was perfectly positioned in the slot 15 feet out and made a comeback look possible, but it wasn’t meant to be. Despite a 39-25 shot advantage, the Wolf Pack 39-25 were not getting multiple scoring chances off their shots. The second and third chances they did get were mostly from the perimeter.
“Anton always plays hard and goes to the net, and it was nice for him to get that scoring chance and make it count. Obviously Bellzie (Belzile) did a nice job setting him up, and he did a nice job of making himself available,” Knoblauch said.
Mackenzie MacEachern finished the scoring with an empty-netter after two previous misses at 18:43, his first of the season.
SECOND FRAME
Springfield upped their lead to 2-0 just 3:14 into the second frame.
Pack captain Jonny Brodzinski cut in on the left wing and was stopped by Zherenko. The T-Birds broke back on a two-on-one with Mikhail Abramov on the left wing. Abramov was on his off-wing and waited for Pack defenseman Connor Mackey to make the first move. Abramov fired his shot low to Dominque’s glove side for the score and his first goal and point for the regular season.
In the first period, Knoblauch switched up his lines. He moved one player from Saturday’s lineup and left the defense pairings alone., but didn’t get what he was looking for
The team had a good PK shift from Jake Leschyshyn and produced a shorthanded bid from Brodzinski, but the Thunderbirds managed to tally anyway.
POWER PLAY
Peca was operating on the right-wing boards and found an open seam off a tape-to-tape pass to Adam Gaudette. He launched a laser into the upper part of the net past Domingue for his team-best sixth goal in as many games at 9:56.
The T-Birds grew their leaf to 3-0 when they cashed in on another power play.
Walker was net front with solid position and got the rebound off a shot by Zachary Bolduc from the left point and quickly slipped it over to Gaudette for his second of the night and seventh goal on the young season at 10:17.
The Wolf Pack, who were perfect on PK in the first game against the Thunderbirds, finished the night two for four.
“Our penalty kill wasn’t as good tonight. We have to clean that up (too). It’s not gonna be stellar every game this season. A couple of mistakes. On a couple, we had guys in the penalty box who usually kill the penalties. It usually comes down to who wins the special teams, and tonight, that was a big part of the story,” commented Knoblauch.
The Wolf Pack finally got on the board as Brodzinski made a drop pass to Connor Mackey, who was involved all night. He fired a shot/pass from the left point moving in and found Belizle coming in the back door after schooling rookie Leo Loof, who turned the wrong way. He didn’t see Belizle, who tipped home his third of the season at 17:23.
“We will definitely make some lineup changes. What those are, we haven’t decided yet,” Knoblauch remarked.
WOLF PACK LINES:
Jake Leschyshyn – Anton Blidh – Bobby Trivigno
Adam Edström – Riley Nash – Brett Berard
Alex Belzile – Jonny Brodzinski – Brennan Othmann
Matt Rempe – Ryder Korczak – Adam Sýkora
Mac Hollowell – Connor Mackey
Ben Harpur – Nikolas Brouillard
Brandon Scanlin – Matt Robertson
Louie Domingue
Dylan Garand
WOLF PACK SCRATCHES:
Turner Elson
Karl Henriksson
Drew Worrad (Not in residence)
Blake Hillman.
NOTES:
The team has elected not to issue a press release announcing Seth Barton’s contract termination on Friday. His European destination is unknown. Barton was sliding to eighth on the depth chart and another ECHL season.
After just one game in Cincinnati, Drew Worrad is still part of the organization but is taking time away from hockey to attend to personal matters.
Ex-Pack Ryan Carpenter was recalled by the San Jose Sharks from their AHL affiliates, the San Jose Barracuda.
The San Jose Tech CU Center was announced as the facility, and CU Tech was the primary sponsor for this year’s AHL All-Star Classic.
Vinnie Hinostra was recalled from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He was part of a four-player transaction with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
MORE NOTES
The Florida Panthers returned Mackie Samoskevich (Sandy Hook) to the Charlotte Checkers.
The Calgary Wranglers recalled Jarrod Gourley (UCONN) from the Rapid City Rush (ECHL).
Ex-Pack Hunter Skinner was scratched for their first meeting this year. Wyatt Kalynuk and Peca of Quinnipiac University were all in the Thunderbirds lineup.
The best starts in Wolf Pack history were the 2004-05 team that went 9-0. The second best was 8-1 in 2019-20. The third best was 7-3 in 2013-14. The 1998-99, the team’s second season, they won their first five and finished the first month 5-3.
The Wolf Pack’s worst season start was the pandemic-shortened 25-game season. The team played just three opponents that season and lost their first seven games. The second worst full start was 1-6-0 in October 2006-07.
UCONN (3-3-3-1) was scheduled to play after a 2-1 OT win at Tsongas Arena in Lowell. They’re playing the back end of the home and home at 4 p.m. Andre Lucas (Loomis Chaffe) had the game-winner and an assist. They are only one of two Hockey East teams that play at the XL.
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