By: Jason Alwang, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT: The Rochester Americans were led by a hat trick from their leading goal scorer, Isak Rosen, in defeating the Hartford Wolf Pack 6-3 in front of an electric 8,494 at the XL Center.
“This team doesn’t have any quit, I will say that,” Wolf Pack Head Coach Grant Potulny said of his team’s play. “We have to figure out how we can start better so we’re not in that position where we’re having to chase the game.”
The eventual game-winner came at 4:10 of the third period after the Wolf Pack took multiple penalties, resulting in two 5-on-3 power plays for the Americans. Rosen’s second of the night came after a couple of passes got Pack netminder Dylan Garand (34 saves) to move just enough for his wrister to extend the Americans’ lead to 4-1.
In the first, Chad Ruhwedel was sent off for holding, giving the Americans a man advantage they would capitalize on. Brett Murray’s feed from behind the net to Mason Jobst for a one-timer, his ninth of the season. The power play goal put the Americans up 1-0 at 9:08.
Alex Belzile mishandled the puck, and Rosen took it and rushed up the ice on a breakaway and, with just two seconds remaining, put a fake on Garand and netted his first of two on the night to make it 2-0.
“Was probably one of our poorest periods we’ve had,” Potulny said. “All of a sudden you’re down 2-0.”
Kale Clague scored his eighth of the season after beating Garand from the right circle on a wrister to take the 3-0 lead. Assists on the play to Vsevolod Komarov and Murray.
After killing off a penalty, Anton Blidh took the puck into the offensive zone along the boards, skated toward the net, and fired a wrister that created a rebound that he cashed in on to put the Wolf Pack on the board at 19:12 of the second period.
As the second period ended, chaos broke out at the XL Center.
Matthew Robertson, Brett Berard, Casey Fitzgerald, and Belzile dropped the gloves. Garand even came to the opposite end to challenge Felix Sandstrom (26 saves), resulting in a couple of shoves before the refs separated the goalkeepers. Ty Tullio, Komarov, Jagger Joshua, and Graham Slaggert dropped their gloves for the Americans. All eight players were assessed fighting majors and game misconducts. Garand received an extra penalty for leaving the crease.
“It just happened so fast,” Potulny said on the scrum. “There’s multiple fights; I just think it was emotions.”
The penalties kept coming early in the third for the Wolf Pack. After the Pack killed off multiple 5-on-3s, Rosen completed the hat trick on the 5-on-4 power play for the American’s fifth goal at 6:20.
“Unfortunately, we started on the penalty kill right away, and then the rest is history,” Potulny said of the third-period penalties.
Jaroslav Chmelar tallied his fifth of the season when Dylan Roobroeck fed him the puck. Chmelar tipped it past Sandstrom to cut the lead to 5-2.
Jobst took a hooking penalty that Brennan Othmann wasted little time to cash in on. Othmann put one through Sandstrom from the middle of the circle, making two quick tallies for the Wolf Pack as they tried to mount a rally to get back into the game.
Garand was pulled for an extra skater with about three minutes left in regulation. Hartford was unable to get many shots toward Sandstrom. Rochester’s Noah Ostlund added an empty net goal with 28 seconds for the 6-3 final.
The Wolf Pack record drops to 18-19-2-1 with a crucial matchup with their I-91 rivals in Springfield against the Thunderbirds on Sunday afternoon.
