WOLF PACK FINISH 2023 KNOCK OFF BRIDGEPORT 

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Cristiano DiGiacinto’s third-period goal gave the Hartford Wolf Pack a 3-2 win over the Bridgeport Islanders, breaking a five-game losing streak before 7,522 at the XL Center in the final game on the 2023 calendar.

With the game tied at 2, Connor Mackey sent a drive from the left point that ECHL call-up DiGiacinto outmuscled the Islanders’ Travis Mitchell and tipped it past Bridgeport starting netminder, Ken Appleby for his first of the season at 6:57 of the third period.

“It was crazy because we talked about (before the game) going out there, getting pucks deep,” Interim  Wolf Pack Head Coach Steve Smith said. “Until we finally did that, we didn’t gain any traction at all. They got their lead by going to the net. They got a lucky one on the first one and a power play on the second one. Guys got angry with themselves between periods with how they were playing. They came out at the start of the second, changed the momentum by getting pucks deep.”

DiGiacinto used his time with the Pack’s ECHL affiliates, the Cincinnati Cyclones, the right way – for motivation.

“It’s kinda funny, we talk about it in the room,” DiGiacinto said. “It’s something that gets you motivated; keeps you up (here). It’s like this every season. You’re up; you’re down, you wanna make an impact right away. I’ve been telling myself all week in practice, getting comfortable, feeling good. It was a big win for us; and a good way to end the year,” the young winger said with a chuckle.

Smith has been impressed as well.

“He’s making it awfully hard to send him back to Cincinnati, even though he’s the low man on the contact totem pole. He is a Class A thorn in Bridgeport’s side and doing the little things we talked about at the start of the game.

“Somehow, someway he finds a way to score against Bridgeport. I wish it had been earlier in the game. It was good for him to score and that line was really good for us. They did a lot of good things, created energy coming off the bench with their forecheck. They were big difference makers and good to see him score.”

Hard work went into the winning play, and it was not an easy thing to do.

“That’s a big thing we focus on in practice,” DiGiacinto said. “It’s a big part of my game; to get pucks up high and cause some havoc. I might not be the biggest or tallest guy out there, but I always try to find a way to spin off, and that’s how goals happen.

“My line of Bobby (Trivigno), Turner Elson we’re getting a lot of good chances, cause that havoc and eventually your stick is gonna catch something, goes your way, and goes in. You do it in practice and take it into the games.”

DiGiacinto is in his third year as a pro and was a walk-on from Canadian college hockey after the Tampa Bay Lightning, who drafted him, never offered him a deal.

Louie Domingue was outstanding in net for the Pack in the third period stopping all 13 shots he saw from the Islanders.

“I thought if we could hang in there, Louie was gonna shut the door. He made four or five good saves on that last penalty kill that helped us win the game. Louie’s been doing that for us all year long, “ remarked Smith.

With the win, the Pack holds on to third place, one point behind the Providence Bruins who won big, 8-2, over the Springfield Thunderbirds. Five points separate fourth to seventh place.

Division and the league-leading Hershey Bears are playing at an astonishing .818 clip.

The Pack earned a power play in the second period when Matej Pekar was pulled down on a breakaway. The power play made the Islanders pay regardless after some excellent passing Matt Robertson from the right point sent it over to Karl Henriksson. He moved in from off the left point and fired his fifth goal of the season into the top shelf over Appleby’s left shoulder at 4:16. Appleby had just been returned to Bridgeport by the parent Islanders earlier in the afternoon.

The Wolf Pack used the power play to tie the score at two.

This Brennan Othmann slipped past the check of the Islanders’ Kurtis MacLean and found Brett Berard in the deep right-wing corner. He zipped out in front and fired a wrist shot that was stopped by Appleby, but he didn‘t control the rebound, and they couldn’t clear it. Berard got the second whack at it and knocked his eighth goal of the campaign at 7:32.

“He’s just not afraid to shoot. He isn’t afraid to take it to the net,” said Smith. “I thought he struggled the first few shifts of the game and after scoring that goal he was very effective in the second half of the game.”

The teams traded breakaways late in the second period.

Othmann with Alex Belzile went in on a two-on-zero. Belzile was stopped. Then, just ten seconds later, the Islanders’ William Dufour got the puck away from Jake Leschyshyn, and he zoomed in, but Domingue kept the door shut at 18:24.

The first period saw the Islanders score first.

On the power play, Robin Salo’s right point drive was redirected by Samuel Asselin was in front of the net and registered his fifth of the year at 4:47.

Bridgeport made it 2-0 on another redirect in front.

Otto Koivula pulled up short over the blue line and zipped a cross-ice pass to Seth Helgeson. He blasted a shot from the left point. Ruslan Iskharov, the former UCONN star, redirected it for his team-leading 10th goal and team-high 24th point at 13:42

”A couple of powerplay goals is not the way to go. We sparked ourselves with a couple of power-play goals, and continually doing the right things, we can be a hard team to beat,” said DiGiacinto.

The Pack played the Atlantic Division cellar-dwelling Islanders for the third time in the last four games.

LINES:

Alex Belzile – Jake Leschyshyn – Brennan Othmann
Karl Henriksson – Anton Blidh – Brett Berard
Bobby Trivigno – Turner Elson – Cristiano DiGiacinto
Matt Rempe – Ryder Korczak – Matej Pekar

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

Louie Domingue
Dylan Garand

SCRATCHES:

D Ben Harpur (Upper Body, Indefinitely)
F Riley Nash (Lower Body, Week-to-Week)
D Zach Berzolla (Lower Body, Week-to-Week)
D Grant Gabriele (Healthy)
F Drew Worrad (Not-in-Residence)

NOTES:

The original Wolf Pack Community Relations Manager, Mary Lynn Gorman, passed away on December 19th. There was a moment of silence before the game to honor her memory.

Gorman held the same title while working for the Hartford Whalers. She transitioned to the Wolf Pack under the MSG banner. She was always thoughtful and kind and started the initial Wolf Pack Foundation at the outset of the franchise. The organization should set out to make an award very visible in her honor.

Ryder Korczak returned to the lineup after dealing with a death in his family.

On Friday, Adam Edström had his second call-up to the Rangers.  He was returned to Hartford on Sunday. Edström was a healthy scratch for the games against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Ex-Pack Will Lockwood was in the Panthers lineup.

Ex-Pack Filip Chytil heads back to his home country of Czechia to further deal with the lingering effects of post-concussion symptoms that have not abated.

According to Larry Brooks of the New York Post, in four recalls, Connor Mackey, who has not played yet, pre-tax, has earned a little over $35K of NHL money.

Islanders goalie Ken Appleby was recalled by the parent team on Long Island and then sent back. They had concurrently moved 6’8 goalie Henrik Tikkanen from the Worcester Railers (ECHL) and D Trevor Cosgrove. Defenseman Grant Hutton was reassigned by the Islanders to Bridgeport. He had an active game.

Bridgeport recently released forward Jackson Cates. He was picked up by the Rockford IceHogs and has already signed an extension.

An ex-Pack from the team’s first year, Joseph-John Pierre Sévigny, came to the game to watch his son Vincent, a Bridgeport defenseman play. His other son, Mathieu, no longer is involved in hockey, and now works in the private sector. He was born here that season.

The elder Sévigny played half a season in Hartford and is still coaching. He is an assistant coach for the Quebec City Blizzard M15 (QMAAA-E) at the midget level. On his team is an unrelated defenseman named Olivier Sévigny.

Ex-Pack Michael Joly played for Team Canada at the Christmas-time Spengler Cup. tournament.

Representing HC Davos is ex-Pack Andres Ambühl.

HC Dynamo Pardubice (Czechia-Czech Republic) has the recently signed ex-Pack Libor Hájek, plus Adam and David Musil, the nephews of former Whaler and Ranger Bobby Holik.

Three ex-Pack skaters, Gustav Rydahl, Carl Klingberg, and Malte Strömwall, played for Frölunda HC.

HC Davos and HC Dynamo Pardubice will play for the Spengler Cup championship.

In WJC action, current Wolf Pack, Adam Sýkora, who’s the captain of the Slovaks, has seen his team jump out to a 3-0 record in the preliminary round after an 8-4 win over Norway. Sýkora picked up his first point of the tournament with an assist in the contest against Norway.

Team USA pounded Slovakia 10-2.

Winnipeg loaned Artemi Knayzev to AK Bars Kazan (Russia-KHL) after 20 games in Manitoba with just five assists, making three AHL’ers to have signed mid-season with European teams in the past two weeks.

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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