By: Jason Alwang, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT: In their final home game of 2024, the Hartford Wolf Pack could not muster an offensive attack in a 4-1 loss to their Rhode Island rival, Providence Bruins, in front of the largest XL Center crowd of the season, 7,390.
The game-winner came 55 seconds into the middle period when Georgii Merkulov received the puck in a give-and-go, brought it into the offensive zone, and cashed in on a wrister that went past Pack netminder Louis Domingue for his seventh of the season and gave the Baby Bruins a 2-0 lead.
“I thought it was a really good first period,” Wolf Pack Head Coach Grant Potulny said. “The third goal took the air out of our sails a little bit, and the second (period) wasn’t a period we’d like to recreate.”
In the game’s first shot on goal for the Bruins’, John Farinacci put it into the back of the net off a backhander, tallying his fifth of the season from the bottom of the circle at 1:40 of the opening period.
The Bruins added to their lead off a faceoff win when Farinacci got the puck to Max Jones, who surprised Domingue with the quick shot right after the faceoff to give them the 3-0 lead for his fifth of the season 2:11 into the middle period.
At 12:49 of the final period, Connor Mackey and Jones were each sent to the box for two minutes each for roughing. This resulted in two minutes of 4-on-4 play; however, the Wolf Pack pulled Domingue for an extra skater and capitalized. Jake Leschyshyn scored his eighth of the season off a deflection of a Victor Mancini shot that trickled through Brandon Bussi’s five-hole. Bussi made 36 saves for Providence and made the lead 3-1.
“I never question our effort,” Potulny said. “Attitude and effort are things that are controllable, and those have been good all year.”
The effort from the Wolf Pack late in the game came up short as Matthew Poitras beat Alex Belzile to a loose puck and shot it into an empty net for the 4-1 victory.
“We’re in a spot right now where we’re trying to generate,” Potulny said. “That causes a change of possession, and sometimes you give up some offensive zone time.”
The Wolf Pack will now turn the page with one more game remaining in the calendar year on Tuesday, which is the start of a four-game road trip before returning home on Saturday, January 11, for the 50th anniversary of Hartford Hockey. The Wolf Pack record is now 13-13-2-1.
