WOLF PACK BLOWN OUT IN HOME OPENER
By: Jason Alwang, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT: The Hartford Wolf Pack’s 2026-27 season home opener was forgettable, as they fell 7-1 to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins before 5,860 at PeoplesBank Arena on Saturday night.
“The backbreaker was the (shorthanded goal),” newly hired Wolf Pack Head Coach Jay Leach said postgame. “What’s disappointing is we didn’t use our brains to get us out of that mindset.”
Atley Calvert’s second-period game-winner gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead shortly after knotting the score with a deflection in front of Pack netminder Gabriel Carriere (32 saves) at 4:38. Caleb Jones and Chase Pietila assisted Calvert’s third of the young season.
Liam Greentree scored the Pack’s only goal, a power play one-timer from the lower circle. Greentree beat Joel Blomqvist (24 saves) after the Penguins lost the puck in their own zone. The goal gave the Wolf Pack the 1-0 lead at 11:35 of the first period. It was Greentree’s first professional goal, with Justin Dowling and Glenn Gawdin credited with the assists.
“Happy for Greeny, he’s had quite a few looks here.” Leach said. “We definitely need more of what you saw on that goal for sixty minutes.”
The Penguins tied the game on a Bill Zonnon goal at 1:36 of the second period, his first of the season after a wraparound attempt left Carriere scrambling. The puck quickly went in and out of the net. Avery Hayes recorded the lone assist on the tying goal.
Later in the period, with the Wolf Pack on the man advantage, Hayes found the back of the Hartford net for his second goal of the season on a three-on-one rush. Zonnon and Jones completed the passes, making Carriere lose his footing, and they doubled the Penguins’ lead to 3-1 at 9:15 of the period.
“We’re going to have to learn.” Leach said. “They certainly weren’t as sharp as they were the night before and we just have to learn from that.”
The second period got even worse for the home team as Zonnon made it 4-1 when he cashed in his second tally of the game, striking gold from the crease on a shot from Mikhail Ilyin and quickly putting it past Carriere at 10:52 of the second period. Jones also got an assist on the play, marking his third of the game.
And the goals just kept coming for the visitors when Ilyin scored his first goal of the season on the power play when his shot from the dot made it 5-1 at 17:11. Rutger McGroarty and Jake Livanavage recorded the assists on the power-play marker.
Tanner Howe retrieved his own rebound in front of Carriere and cashed in to give the Penguins a 6-1 lead at 2:04 of the third period. Howe’s marker is his first of the season and was assisted by Hayes.
Owen Pickering scored the final Penguins goal to make it 7-1, releasing a laser from the top of the circle that got through traffic past Carriere at 2:54 of the period. It was his first goal of the season.
The Wolf Pack’s first loss of the season puts their record at 3-1-0-0. They will look to b ounce back on Sunday afternoon when they host the Laval Rocket.
