By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
BRIDGEPORT, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack benefitted from two Riley Nash goals and a brilliant 37-save shutout from goaltender Dylan Garand to defeat the Bridgeport Islanders 3-0.
The Pack has won seven of their first ten games, putting them in second place in the Atlantic Division. They trail the defending Calder Cup champion, Hershey Bears, by just a single point.
With the injuries in New York to both Rangers’ goalies and both Pack netminders being called up and sent down, the Pack rotation has been upended. After not having played in two weeks, Louis Domingue earned second-star honors in New York after a fantastic start against the Minnesota Wild. That put Garand on the ice for visiting Park City to end the teams’ season-long five-game road trip against the Bridgeport Islanders.
In the third period, the Pack was down to eleven forwards and five defensemen, and Garand made two key saves in the early part of the period.
At 6:35, Garand lunged back with his stick to keep the Islanders off the scoreboard. Ex-Pack Tanner Fritz was in the lower left circle and fed Arnaud Durandeau, who raced down the middle with a wide-open net. But Garand rose to the challenge.
The second major stop was on Reece Newkirk. Off a neutral zone turnover, he raced in on the left wing, tried a short-side shot on Garand that was denied with the right skate, and kicked to the left-wing corner.
Garand also stopped Karson Kuhlman and Matt Maggio and their bids.
The Wolf Pack had two chances to extend their lead.
Pack Captain Jonny Brodzinski was stopped by the knob of the stick of the Islanders’ starting goalie Jakub Skarek. He got help from the goalpost as Alex Belizle’s shot hit it over Skarek’s outstretched blocker/stick side.
SECOND PERIOD
The Pack put up two goals in the second period.
At 5:50, Brett Berard took a turnover and moved to the net, turning the Islanders’ Aidan Fulp inside out. Nash was there to pick up the loose puck and flipped his fourth goal of the season into the top part of the net.
Nash added his second goal of the contest after a play at the blue line, where he took the puck from Grant Hutton and then outraced Jeff Kubiak and Paul LaDue to beat Sharek with a snapshot from distance at 12:16. For Nash, it was his fifth goal on the year and his second multi-goal game of the young season.
Mac Hollowell was nailed by Arnaud Durandeau going low and upending him. Niklos Brouillard was penalized for going after Durandeau. Hollowell skated gingerly and required help getting off the ice by teammates Anton Blidh, Karl Henriksson, and trainer Brian Fairbrother. He went to the locker room and never returned.
The Pack was called for the following three penalties, but Garand was solid in keeping the biscuit out of the net. He snapped his glove on former UCONN Husky Ruslan Iskharov, then Dennis Cholowski, and on a tip by Otto Koivula in front at the end of the second period.
FIRST PERIOD
In the first period, hard work led to the Pack scoring the first goal.
Blake Hillman dumped in the puck, and Adam Sýkora beat fellow rookie Aidan Fulp to the puck. Sýkora came out in front with it, only to be stopped by Skarek, but he couldn’t control the rebound. Blidh recovered the loose puck and deposited his second of the season past Skarek at 12:25.
The Pack nearly made it 2-0 as Jake Leschyshyn pulled away from LaDue before being stopped. Matt Robertson had his point shot stopped before Adam Edström had an open net but mishandled the puck.
A Connor Mackey turnover in the Wolf Pack zone led to a Kuhlman chance on the left wing that Garand stopped. A late power play opportunity followed as Garand stopped Robin Salo out on the top of his crease.
Next on the Pack schedule is a Saturday meetup with the Providence Bruins at 7:30 pm.
LINES:
Leschyshyn – Sýkora – Blidh
Belzile – Brodzinski – Othmann
Edström – Nash – Berard
Rempe – Henriksson – Korczak
Hollowell – Mackey
Hillman – Brouillard
Scanlin – Robertson
Garand
Lindbom
SCRATCHES:
D Ben Harpur (out, upper body, week to week)
D Zach Berzolla
D Matt Cairns
F Bobby Trivigno
F Turner Elson
F Drew Worrad (not in residence).
NOTES:
The Pack’s dominance over their intra-state rivals continues as they have beaten the Islanders in the last six games the two teams have played.
It was Skarek’s birthday.
Leschyshyn was lost at 1:13 of the second period after he was clipped with a stick or an elbow by Maggio. He had tried to hit Hillman off a faceoff in the Wolf Pack zone, and he was cut and never returned to the game.
No penalties were issued on both the Leschyshyn and Hollowell plays. It would not be a surprise if Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch sent the tape of both plays to the league for review and supplemental discipline.
The Pack saw three players’ point steaks end: Hollowell, a league-best nine, Brodzinski (eight), and Belizle (seven). Brett Berard (four) kept his intact.
The Pack has some bodies to slide in if Hollowell or Leschyshyn cannot play Saturday night.
Bridgeport’s Vincent Sévigny. The son of ex-Pack Pierre Sévigny was a healthy scratch.
The Utica Comets sent T.J. Friedmann, a QU alum, to the Adirondack Thunder (ECHL).
The Islanders’ off-ice crew was shorthanded, so two Wolf Pack off-ice officials, Joe Chieppo and Gary Ferdinand, stepped in to help. Chieppo worked in Bridgeport before returning to Hartford, where he was with the Whalers off-ice crew. He also worked in New Haven for the defunct New Haven Nighthawks (AHL) and the Beast of New Haven (AHL) teams, plus the forgettable New Haven Knights (UHL).
UCONN dropped a 6-3 decision to Merrimack. Arsenii Sergeev (Calgary) was pulled as Alex Jefferies had a hat trick. The Huskies blew a 2-1 lead they held in the first period and lost Tristan Fraser (sophomore) to a major (kneeing) and game misconduct.
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