WOLF PACK DOMINATANT 3RD PD LEADS TO 7-5 WIN
By: Jason Alwang, Hartford Wolf Pack
HARTFORD, CT: The Hartford Wolf Pack stormed back with five goals in the third period, capped by a Trey Fix-Wolansky hat trick to triumph in a 7-5 victory over the Springfield Thunderbirds in a packed crowd of 6,837 at the PeoplesBank Arena Friday night.
Carey Terrance scored the go-ahead goal, and ultimately the game-winning goal, getting a hold of the loose puck between the circles and winding around to the side of Vadim Zherenko (27 saves) and roofed it over him to put the Wolf Pack in front 6-5 at 15:30 of the period. Jackson Dorrington and Trey Fix-Wolansky recorded the assists on the goal.
“They just never took their foot off the gas… and the crowd was great.” Wolf Pack Head Coach Grant Potulny said about the third-period comeback. “It was a night to remember.”
Fix-Wolansky broke the 30-goal marker Friday night with his second of three goals on the night, dangling his way to the net and putting on a nifty deke past Zherenko at 8:32 of the second period to tie the game at 2-2. Zachary Karpa and Connor Mackey recorded the assists on the goal. The 30 goals for Fix-Wolansky are the first 30-goal season for a Wolf Pack player since the 2016-17 season, when Niklas Jensen accomplished that feat.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it coming into today, to be able to hit that in one game and get 31 is pretty special.” Fix-Wolansky said postgame.
Trey-Fix Wolansky opened the scoring with his 29th of the season with space in the circle off a pass from Carey Terrance to maneuver into a quick wrist shot that ripped past the five hole of Zherenko at 14:14 of the first period to break the 0-0 score. Mackey recorded the secondary assist on the goal, which came after the Wolf Pack had just got a golden opportunity on the goal line, with Fix-Wolansky’s tally coming shortly after.
Hugh McGing scored a power play goal which was about to expire, off a shot from the point by Jakub Stancl, creating a rebound off the pad of Callum Tung (18 saves), with McGing getting to the loose puck and sneaking it by Tung to tie the game at one, scoring his 10th goal of the season at 16:38 to respond to the Wolf Pack goal.
Simon Robertson finished a shot in front between the dots past Tung off the backhand feed from Juraj Pekarcik for his 2nd goal of the season and the 2-1 lead at 1:50 of the second period. Stancl recorded the secondary assist on the goal, marking his 11th of the season.
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki scored on the power play for his 20th goal of the season after a couple of passes got through to him right to the left of Tung for a quick one-timing put-in to give Springfield the 3-2 lead at 13:37 of the second period. The assists on the goal were Dillon Dube and Calle Rosen. An Anton Blidh double minor resulted in back-to-back power play goals for the Thunderbirds.
Akil Thomas scored in the second half of the Blidh double minor, marking back-to-back power-play goals for the Thunderbirds. Thomas deflected the puck off a wrist shot through traffic from Rosen to double the lead to 4-2 for his 9th goal of the season at 15:18 of the second period. Kaskimaki recorded the secondary assist on the goal.
McGing scored his second of the game after Tung didn’t see the puck to the side of him, and McGing was able to sneak it past him to give Springfield a 5-2 lead at 19:47 of the second period. The assists went to Hunter Skinner and Thomas Bordeleau, and the goal was McGing’s 11th of the season.
Brody Lamb picks up a loose puck in front on a rebound, cashing in the easy backhand goal by Zherenko for his 4th goal of the season. The power play goal for the Wolf Pack came at 35 seconds of the third period to cut the Springfield lead to 5-3. Scott Morrow and Brendan Brisson recorded the assists on the goal.
Kyle Jackson finished off a dominating forechecking effort from the Wolf Pack with a backdoor play for his first professional goal off a pass from Morrow at 3:12 of the third period, putting the Wolf Pack within a goal.
“Every time he’s here, great attitude, great guy, great player, and obviously happy to see him get that first one.” Terrance said about Jackson.
Casey Fitzgerald scored the tying goal to knot the game up at 5-5 off a big shot from the point that went through traffic and past Zherenko at 7:43 of the period. Fix-Wolansky recorded an assist on the Fitzgerald goal.
“We wanted to give the fans something to cheer about in the last home game.” Fix-Wolansky said.
Fix-Wolansky scored his third for the hat trick, coming on the empty net, good for his 31st of the season. The goal came at 18:28 of the third period to put the Wolf Pack ahead 7-5. Terrance recorded the assist for his third point of the night.
“He’s a really valuable player for us, and he’s had a really good rookie year.” Potulny on Terrance.
The Wolf Pack will conclude their season against the Thunderbirds Saturday night at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. The Wolf Pack’s record improved to 26-37-5-3 on the season.
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