WOLF PACK EXTEND STRUGGLES ON WEDNESDAY 

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

SPRINGFIELD, MA – The Hartford Wolf Pack extended their season-high losing streak to five games and dropped their sixth of their last seven in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Springfield Thunderbirds.

At 5:58 of the third frame, the Thunderbirds would tally the game-winner when Joe Duszak sent a pass from his own blue line to Jamieson Rees that caught the Pack awkwardly in their own zone. Rees quickly moved it ahead to Drew Callin. For the second straight game, in a key moment, Matt Robertson decided to leave his position to go for the big hit, and it led to trouble.

With Robertson out of position, Callin got off a nifty backhanded pass to the exposed right-wing side to Mikhail Abramov. Bobby Trivigno, who was on his knees and sliding back, and unable to get to Abramov on time before he fired in his fifth goal of the season just off Pack goaltender Dylan Garand’s glove, who made a valiant effort in a butterfly split, but couldn’t get all of it.

GAME CENTER

Scoring was closed out with 24 seconds remaining after Garand was pulled for an extra attacker. Former Quinnipiac University Bobcat Matt Peca tallied his eighth of the campaign to make it the 3-1 final.

In the first period, the Wolf Pack took the lead with the only goal of the period despite only having four shots to their credit. They took advantage of a Thunderbirds’ miscue around their net.

At 12:42, T-Birds’ goalie Vadim Zherenko tried to clear the puck off the backboards to defenseman Dylan Coghlan, who couldn’t control it. Trivigno was behind the goal line and fired a pass to Turner Elson, who was wide-open.

Elson quickly fired it upstairs past Zherenko for his third goal of the year. Springfield’s interim head coach and ex-Pack, Daniel Tkaczuk, hasn’t seen his team have the lead since he took over since the promotion of Drew Bannister to the parent St. Louis Blues after Craig Berube was relieved of his duties on December 13th.

The Thunderbirds would get the equalizer at 2:25 of the second period in transition.

Joe Duszak moved in from the right point off a pass from the left point from Ryan Suzuki. Duszak took a shot, and it was re-directed by a rehabbing Jakub Vrana, who scored his third goal. Vrana has five points in five games.

The Wolf Pack had the maximum 12 skating forwards. They had to move a few bodies around with the return of centerman Jake Leschyshyn, playing for the first time since November 10th.

The Pack will next take on the Bridgeport Islanders on Saturday night at the XL Center with a 6:00 pm puck drop.

LINES:

Alex Belzile-Brett Berard-Adam Edström
Karl Henriksson-Anton Blidh -Brennan Othmann
Bobby Trivigno-Turner Elson- Jake Leschyshyn
Matt Rempe-Matej Pekar-Cristiano DiGiacinto

Mac Hollowell-Blake Hillman
Nikolas Brouillard-Connor Mackey
Brandon Scanlin-Matt Robertson

Dylan Garand
Louie Domingue

SCRATCHES:

D Ben Harpur (upper body, indefinitely)
F Riley Nash (lower body, week-to-week)
D Zach Berzolla (lower body, week-to-week)
F Ryder Korczak (personal issue, day-to-day)
D Grant Gabriele (healthy)
F Drew Worrad (not in residence)

NOTES:

Current Bridgeport Islander, ex-Pack Tanner Fritz, has left Park City and signed for the rest of the year with Dynamo Minsk (Belarus-KHL).

The St. Louis Blues reassigned Springfield’s Mackenzie MacEachern on Christmas Eve, and was recalled today again by the T-Bird’s NHL parent club. It’s likely a paper transaction to keep CBA compliant.

Ex-Thunderbird Tomas Jurco goes from HC Davos (Switzerland-LNA) to Avangard Omsk (Russia-KHL). At the same time, another defenseman, Thomas Schemitsch, signed with Kunlun (China-KHL) after playing in Sweden last year.

Ex-Pack Sean Day is recalled by the Tampa Bay Lightning from the Syracuse Crunch.

Ex-Pack Josh Wesley was reassigned to the Utah Grizzlies (ECHL) by the Colorado Avalanche, and Trevor Cosgrove was assigned to Bridgeport from the Worcester Railers (ECHL).

Former Thunderbirds Joel Hofer’s 39 saves was the first star, and Scott Perunovich, with two assists was the third star in the Blues 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars.

In the World Junior Championships action, current Wolf Pack, Adam Sýkora, who’s captain of the Slovak team, also started Day 2 action with a 3-0 dogfight win over Switzerland. Winning the first two games of the preliminary round in Gothenburg, Sweden, is important.

Sýkora is pointless in two matches. Possible causes include jet lag transitioning back to a larger ice surface and adjusting to a different system. Sýkora is an effervescent 19-year-old with a big personality. After the two wins, he’s sought out the TSN on-ice camera person. After the Czechia win, he let out a big whoop after beating their biggest rival. Following the Switzerland win, he fist-bumped the camera lens.

In other action, Germany scored the first big tourney upset, beating Finland 4-3 for the first time in 26 tries. Goalie Philipp Dietel had 40 saves, allowing Germany to defeat Finland for the first time after a win over Finland. Finland has dropped its first two games. Czechia stomped all over Norway 6-1. Canada knocked off Latvia in a 10-0 whitewash of the tiny, hockey-crazed Baltic nation.

Matt Wood (UCONN-HE) sent a lead pass to his former U-18 linemate Macklin Celebrini for a breakaway goal. Wood then scored his seventh goal on a Latvian turnover at the blue line and rushed down the left wing.

Celebrini registered a goal and four assists. He is the leading candidate to be the first overall pick in the upcoming NHL draft. Mathis Rousseau, the grandson of New York Ranger & Montreal Canadiens great Bobby Rousseau, would add a 22-save easy shutout to the process.

Cristiano DiGiacinto was recalled for the second time this year from Cincinnati (ECHL), where he had 15 points in 19 games and has 84 AHL games to his credit.

He steps in for Riley Nash, out week to week with a lower-body injury suffered Friday against Bridgeport.

Ryder Korczak is also out and is dealing with a personal issue/matter. He is expected to be back Saturday against Bridgeport to close out the calendar year.

Ex-Pack Yegor Rykov played half a season with the Wolf Pack and signed with Omskie Krylia (Russia-VHL).

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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