By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack split a pair of games over the weekend, picking up their 20th victory of the season in the process. The Pack dropped a tightly contested game with the Hershey Bears on Friday night at the XL Center but rebounded nicely on Saturday night with a victory over the rival Islanders.
The Wolf Pack is preparing for a three-game trip to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Cleveland, which begins on Wednesday night.
Friday, January 19th, 2024, Vs. Hershey Bears (4-2 L): Jake Leschyshyn got the Wolf Pack on the board 4:34 into the hockey game, tipping a Brett Berard shot for his fourth goal of the season. The visiting Hershey Bears took over, scoring the game’s next four goals.
Pierrick Dubé evened the affair at 10:38, snapping a shot by Louis Domingue from inside the right-wing faceoff circle.
Mike Vecchione gave the Bears the lead at 16:10 of the second period, tipping home a Joe Snively bid on the powerplay. The Bears converted on each of their first two powerplays, needing just a total of 31 seconds.
Aaron Ness’ point shot at 10:54 of the third period proved to be the game-winner, while Ethen Frank hit an empty net at 17:11.
The Wolf Pack did convert on their fourth powerplay, making it a 4-2 game with just .1 seconds remaining. Alex Belzile tipped a Nikolas Brouillard shot home for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
The four-game season series between the Wolf Pack and the Bears is now split 1-1, with each team claiming a road regulation victory. The sides will meet again on March 17th at the Giant Center in Hershey (5:00 p.m.).
Saturday, January 20th, 2024, @ Bridgeport Islanders (3-0 W): For the second weekend in a row, the Wolf Pack erased the taste of a Friday night defeat with a Saturday night victory. This time, it was a surgical 3-0 defeat of the Bridgeport Islanders in Round 5 of the ‘Battle of Connecticut.’
After the rivals’ first scoreless opening frame of the season, Hartford struck first. Four minutes into the second period, Karl Henriksson buried a centering feed from Adam Sýkora, giving the Pack a lead they would not lose.
1:33 into the third period, Brouillard’s shot into traffic snuck by Jakub Skarek to give the Pack the needed insurance in their 20th victory of the season. Bobby Trivigno applied the dagger at 18:23, hitting an empty net for his third goal of the season.
Dylan Garand made 34 saves in the victory, picking up his second shutout of the season. Garand’s other shutout was also in Bridgeport, a 37-save performance on November 10th. The victory was his tenth of the season and his third against the Islanders.
The Wolf Pack has now won six straight games at Total Mortgage Arena and four of the first five meetings (4-1-0-0) with the Islanders this season.
The foes’ next meeting is in Hartford on February 9th.
Quick Hits:
- On Monday, the parent New York Rangers (NHL) assigned defenseman Matthew Robertson to the Wolf Pack. Robertson missed both games this past weekend while on the West Coast with the Rangers.
- Also on Monday, the Wolf Pack recalled forward Cristiano DiGiacinto from loan to the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. The forward has one goal in six games with Hartford this season.
- Henriksson’s goal on Saturday night was the game-winning goal, his first of the season. Henriksson had two game-winning goals as a rookie during the 2022-23 campaign.
- Brennan Othmann’s eleven powerplay assists rank second in the AHL among rookies in that category. He trails only Logan Stankoven of the Texas Stars.
- After Saturday night’s performance, Garand is tied for eighth in the AHL in shutouts with two. Hershey’s Clay Stevenson leads the league with six blank slates.
- After going two-for-eight over the weekend, the Wolf Pack powerplay woke up sitting third in the AHL on Monday morning with a 23.7% success rate. That is the top mark in the Eastern Conference and trails only the Chicago Wolves (24.4%) and Texas Stars (24.2%).
The Week Ahead:
- Wednesday, January 24th, 2024, @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (7:05 p.m., Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza)
- Friday, January 26th, 2024, @ Cleveland Monsters (7:00 p.m., Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse)
- Saturday, January 27th, 2024, @ Cleveland Monsters (7:00 p.m., Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse)
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ABOUT THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK: The Hartford Wolf Pack has been a premier franchise in the American Hockey League since its inception in 1997. It 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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