By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack
HARTFORD, CT – The holiday season has come and gone, and the New Year is upon us. The Hartford Wolf Pack will open the 2024 calendar year with four straight road games, a stretch that starts tomorrow night in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The trip to Total Mortgage Arena will be the Pack’s first of three games in four days. The club will then make a trip to Pennsylvania this weekend for two more Atlantic Division tilts.
Thursday, January 4th, 2024, @ Bridgeport Islanders (7:00 p.m.): The 2024 slate opens with the third ‘Battle of Connecticut’ in four outings for the Wolf Pack. This will be the fourth of ten meetings this season and the first of two this month. The sides meet again in Bridgeport on January 20th (7:00 p.m.).
Riley Nash scored twice, while Anton Blidh potted the game-winning goal in Hartford’s only visit to Bridgeport so far this season. That came back on November 10th, 2023, and was a 3-0 decision for the Pack. Dylan Garand posted a 37-save shutout that night.
The Wolf Pack have won their last four trips to Total Mortgage Arena. They are 2-1-0-0 against the Islanders overall this season. The sides mostly recently split two December games in Hartford, with the Wolf Pack winning 3-2 on December 30th in their last outing.
This is the Wolf Pack’s only Thursday night game this season.
Saturday, January 6th, 2024, @ Hershey Bears (7:00 p.m.): The Wolf Pack will look for a slice of revenge on Saturday night as they take on the Hershey Bears for the first time this season. The Bears swept the Wolf Pack 3-0 in the Atlantic Division Final last May, ending Hartford’s Calder Cup dreams.
This is the first of just four meetings between the foes this season and the first of two games in January. The Bears will return to the XL Center, where they completed their sweep last May, on January 19th.
The Wolf Pack won just two of six meetings a season ago, posting a record of 2-3-0-1. At the Giant Center, the Pack went 1-2-0-0 in the regular season, scoring their lone victory on November 20th, 2022, by a final score of 4-2. Louis Domingue won both games against the Bears for the Wolf Pack, posting a 2-2-0-0 record in the season series.
Despite going 0-1-0-1 against the Bears, Dylan Garand collected his first professional shutout on November 26th, 2022. He made 38 saves in a 1-0 shootout loss in Hartford.
Sunday, January 7th, 2024, @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (3:05 p.m.): The Wolf Pack conclude their three-in-four weekend with their second of three trips to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season. This is the third of six meetings between the foes in 2023-24.
The home team has won both prior meetings. The Wolf Pack blanked the Penguins 5-0 on October 20th at the XL Center in the home opener, with Domingue making 35 saves. Brett Berard’s first career professional goal scored 9:12 into the second period would be the game-winner.
The Penguins got their revenge with a 4-2 victory on October 28th. The Pens struck four times in the game’s first 13:41, with Jonathan Gruden’s goal at 11:11 standing as the game-winner.
The regulation loss snapped a four-game winning streak and eight-game point streak (6-0-1-1) for the Wolf Pack against the Pens.
Quick Hits:
- On Tuesday, the Wolf Pack agreed to a professional tryout (PTO) with veteran forward Artem Anisimov. Anisimov will wear #42 with the Wolf Pack. This is the 771-game NHL veteran’s second stint with the Wolf Pack. He appeared in 154 games with the club during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, scoring 124 points (53 g, 71 a).
- Forward Cristiano DiGiacinto’s game-winning goal on Saturday night against the Islanders was his first goal of the season and the tenth goal of his AHL career. Of those ten goals, six have now come at the Islanders’ expense.
- Karl Henriksson’s goal 4:16 into the second period on the powerplay on Saturday night was his first powerplay tally in the AHL. It was his fifth goal of the season, all of which have come at the XL Center.
- Thanks to a two-for-three showing on Saturday night, the Wolf Pack powerplay now ranks third in the AHL with a 24.1% success rate. They trail only the Chicago Wolves (28.6%) and Texas Stars (25.5%).
- Thanks to his assist on Berard’s powerplay goal on Saturday night, forward Brennan Othmann now ranks in the top ten among rookies in goals (T-7th), assists (T-8th), and points (T-6th).
- Othmann is also in the top ten league-wide in shots, firing 95 thus far (T-8th).
- Thanks to his victory on Saturday night, Domingue is now tied for tenth in the AHL in victories with nine this season.
- The Wolf Pack will play just three games at home this month. That is tied with October for the fewest home games in a month during the 2023-24 season. The club will host eight games in February.
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ABOUT THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK: The Hartford Wolf Pack has been a premier franchise in the American Hockey League since the team’s inception in 1997. The Wolf Pack is the top player-development affiliate of the NHL’s New York Rangers and plays at the XL Center. The Wolf Pack has been home to some of the Rangers’ newest faces, including Igor Shesterkin, Filip Chytil, and Ryan Lindgren. Follow the Wolf Pack on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
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