WOLF PACK DROP SECOND STRAIGHT, 6-3 TO AMERCIANS
WOLF PACK DROP SECOND STRAIGHT, 6-3 TO AMERCIANS
By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack
ROCHESTER, NY – The Hartford Wolf Pack jumped out to a 3-1 lead on Sunday afternoon at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, but surrendered five unanswered goals in a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the Rochester Americans.
The Wolf Pack opened the scoring for the fourth straight game, this time lighting the lamp 3:38 in. Trey Fix-Wolansky was sprung in on the left-wing side, cut to the goal and waited out Devon Levi before lifting the puck over his left pad.
The goal was Fix-Wolansky’s team-leading 26th of the season.
Konsta Helenius evened the affair at 7:35 with a shot from the right-wing circle. Helenius fired a shot through traffic that beat Spencer Martin for his 16th goal of the season.
Anton Blidh restored the lead at 9:02, burying a pretty feed from Scott Morrow. Morrow danced down the left-wing side, worked into the circle, and fed Blidh at the side of the net on the right-wing.
Blidh buried the feed by the glove of Levi for his seventh goal of the season and his second against the Americans.
Brody Lamb potted his second goal in as many days at 12:49, making it a 3-1 game. Morrow played the puck to Lamb at the top of the crease during a net mouth scramble. Lamb was able to beat Levi to extend his point streak to four games (2 g, 2 a).
Helenius drew the Amerks back within one at 19:45, potting his second goal of the afternoon. Matteo Costantini fed Helenius in the left-wing circle. There, he quickly released a shot that beat Martin by the right pad to make it a 3-2 game.
Just 30 seconds into the middle period, Helenius completed the hat-trick to tie the game while the sides played four-on-four. Anton Wahlberg sprung Helenius in for a breakaway, where he beat Martin by the glove. The goal came just 45 seconds of gameplay after his second strike.
Jake Leschyshyn gave Rochester the lead for good late in the period, striking for the first time against his former team.
Carson Meyer drove down the right-wing side and fed Leschyshyn at the backdoor. There, Leschyshyn tapped home his 12th goal of the season at 13:29 to make it 4-3 game.
Jagger Joshua extended the lead to 5-3 just 2:05 into the third period, as he knocked the puck off the stick of a Wolf Pack defender and by the glove of Martin. Vsevolod Komarov then hit the empty net at 16:58, completing a stretch of five unanswered goals to give the Americans two points.
The loss marked Hartford’s seventh straight defeat in Rochester.
The Pack is back at the newly renovated PeoplesBank Arena on Saturday, Mar. 28, when the Charlotte Checkers come to town. The puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m., with ‘Wolf Pack Pregame’ set to begin at 5:45 p.m. on AHLTV on FloHockey and Mixlr. Tickets are available here.
ABOUT THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK: The Hartford Wolf Pack has been a premier franchise in the American Hockey League since the team’s inception in 1997. The Wolf Pack are the top player-development affiliate of the NHL’s New York Rangers and play at PeoplesBank Arena. The Wolf Pack has been home to some of the Rangers newest faces including Igor Shesterkin, Will Cuylle, and Matt Rempe. Follow the Wolf Pack on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, and TikTok.
