By: Jason Alwang, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack got a Brett Berard third-period goal to cement a 6-5 win in the team’s home opener in front of 6,135 at the XL Center over the Springfield Thunderbirds on Friday night.
For the Pack’s new Head Coach, Grant Potulny, the victory was his first win in his first game on a night that also marked Louis Domingue’s 200th career game.
At 10:47 of the third period, Jaroslav Chmelar, who recorded a three-point game with two goals and an assist, found Brett Berard in front of the net. Berard then slipped the puck past TBirds starting netminder Vadim Zherenko to put the Wolf Pack up 6-4.
“I was looking for somebody in front of the net because I saw that they were all over the place,” Chmelar said. “I looked again and finally got it.”
Six goals were scored in a thrilling first period. The Pack got two goals each from Brennan Othmann and Chmelar. Nikita Alexandrov and Tarun Fizer had goals for the TBirds.
Alexandrov scored the game’s first goal for the Thunderbirds at 2:01 on a shot from the left circle that got past Domingue to give the Birds an early 1-0 lead.
Othmann would answer 2:26 later with a blast that went 5-hole on Zherenko to tie the game.
The Thunderbirds were whistled at 5:16 for Too Many Men. On the resulting power play, Othmann tallied his second of the period into a wide-open net to give the Pack a 2-1 lead.
“They seem to find each other, and they got some chemistry to it,” Potulny stated in his post-game comments. “(It was) good to see them get rewarded.”
Fizer would knot the game at 2, each at 12:31, off helpers from Drew Callin and Mathias Laferriere.
The deadlock would last less than five minutes, as Chmelar would tally at 17:05.
At 16:17, the TBirds put the Pack back on the man advantage of the period when Hunter Skinner was called for Tripping. Chmelar tallied his first of the season at 17:05 off a series of shots from the Pack. Chmelar snuck the puck past Zherenko to give the Pack their second power play goal of the period and a 3-2 lead.
But the Pack was not done.
With 4.7 remaining in the period, Chmelar scored again after a battle around the side of the net. The puck came off Chmelar’s stick and trickled into the net to end the period with the Pack leading 4-2.
In the second period, Brandon Scanlin registered his first goal of the season off a pass along the boards from Connor Mackey to make it a commanding 5-2 lead.
Springfield didn’t give up and scored just 37 seconds later. On a 2-on-1 rush, Dylan Peterson scored his first of the season off a fake pass before hitting the wrister past Domingue to cut the lead to 5-3.
The T-Birds made it a one-goal game at 10:36 after a give-and-go in the offensive zone resulted in a second tally from Peterson, who added to his stats from the right side of the net. Hugh McGing registered his second assist at 6:27
Apart from Berard’s goal, the most notable moment of the third period was the Thunderbirds’ making it a one-score game ten seconds into the last power play of the game.
The biggest difference in the game came on special teams, with Hartford limiting the Thunderbirds to just one goal on six power play attempts.
The Wolfpack will play the Thunderbirds again on October 27 at the XL Center. The Wolfpack are now 1-0-0-1 on the season.
Berard scored at 10:47.
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