WOLF PACK WIN IN SHOOTOUT OVER THUNDERBIRDS (2/28)
By: Jason Alwang, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT: In a must-win game for the Hartford Wolf Pack, it was defenseman Blake Hillman who played hero in front of 7,359 proud Hartford fans as the Wolf Pack defeated the Springfield Thunderbirds 4-3 in a thrilling seven-round shootout at the XL Center.
In round seven of the shootout, Hillman put on a nice move on the backhand to trick Colton Ellis (23 saves), and Louis Domingue (25 saves) stopped Samuel Johannesson to secure the two points for Hartford.
“We hung in it, we stuck with it, we had energy on the bench.” Wolf Pack Head Coach Grant Potulny on the importance of tonight’s game. “It was important to get the win, and (Domingue) was good in the shootout again.”
After an uneventful opening period in downtown Hartford, Johannesson opened the scoring in the second for his fourth tally of the season after walking into the circle with a shot that trickled off Domingues’ glove and into the Hartford net at 9:11 to give the Thunderbirds the 1-0 lead. Johannesson received the feeds from Tanner Dickinson and Sam Bitten.
With only seven shots through almost 40 minutes of gameplay, the Wolf Pack responded after some hard forechecking by the Hartford third line. Adam Sykora, along the boards, got the puck out to Brett Budgell along the side, who found a wide-open Dylan Roobroeck in the circle to release a wrister that beat Ellis clean at 16:06 to send both teams into the locker rooms tied at one.
“Those guys are making strides,” Potulny said on his third line. “You just got to keep getting to the spots and keep doing the right things.”
The third period began with a goal called on the ice by Nikita Alexandrov, which was kicked into the net past Domingue. After a lengthy review, it was determined that it was a definitive kicking motion, disallowing the goal, and the score remained tied.
It didn’t take long for the Wolf Pack to respond to the overturned goal as chaos in front of the net after a shot by Hillman created a rebound opportunity near the crease that was finished backdoor by Jaroslav Chmelar for his 8th of the season and to put the Wolf Pack ahead 2-1 at 3:05.
Domingue came out of the net to retrieve a puck that Otto Stenberg was chasing early in the third. Chaos at the circle resulted in Domingue taking an interference penalty, which sent the Thunderbirds to the power play at 5:29 of the period.
“Our forwards helped out a lot,” Hillman said. “Defense leads to offense, just trying to do the right things to get us a win.”
Matthew Peca scored on the ensuing power play for Springfield, his team leading 22nd goal of the season on a play that had Domingue flustered trying to get back into a good position after a series of passes from the Thunderbirds caused some confusion on the Hartford defense, resulting in the 2-2 tie at 6:31.
Hunter Skinner put the Thunderbirds ahead 3-2 at 13:05 with his 7th of the season on a long shot from the Hartford blue line that sneaked by Domingue to put the Wolf Pack in desperation mode.
The Hartford first line answered back 40 seconds later to tie the game at three as Alex Belzile found Chad Ruhwedel wide open on the other side of the offensive zone, which gave him the chance to fake out Ellis and feed the puck back door to Anton Blidh at 13:45.
“You’re playing playoff hockey in front of a great crowd,” Potulny said. “We just got to get back to finding ways to make one more play or stop one more play and win these games.”
The five-minute overtime period shots were 5-0 in favor of the Wolf Pack, including a Brett Berard breakaway chance that Ellis stopped with less than a minute to go in the extra time. In the shootout, goals by Belzile and Matt Luff led to extra rounds, with both goalies coming up big until Hillman’s game-winner.
“I was a little shocked. I had never gone in the shootout before,” Hillman said. “It was a really cool moment, and I’m glad I got to go.”
The Wolf Pack are now 22- 25- 5- 1 and are eight points behind Springfield for a playoff spot, and will host the Utica Comets Saturday night at the XL Center.
