BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – 23 saves by Dustin Tokarski and two goals guided the Hartford Wolf Pack through a strong third-period en-route to a 3-1 win over the visiting Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday night at the XL Center.
Tokarski posted a season-high 42 saves, leaving the Wolf Pack (10-9-1-2) in fifth in the Atlantic and seventh overall in the conference. The Sound Tigers (11-6-2-1) sit in second place in the Atlantic as well as in the conference.
The win came as a result of a concerted effort from each player on the bench doing the extra things to get the two points over a familiar and important divisional opponent.
Tops among them came from in the net as Tokarski played with an almost championship game-like presence making a variety of tremendous stops including one on Kyle Burroughs from the point right side, Sebastien Aho from the left point, Mike Sislo at the side of the net, and ex-Pack, Ryan Bourque, from the slot.
“We’re showing some character,” Tokarski said. “On (Friday) night, we came back and got the win on the road and got another one tonight; which is great. I think we’re playing better as a team now, from the net out and that’s big.”
Tokarski was able to keep track of the puck and not allow Bridgeport too many second or third opportunities. “We were able to get the momentum back early in the third and that helped us.”
The Pack used a penalty that carried over from the second frame into the third to gain a 2-0 lead early in the period.
Matt Beleskey and Vinni Lettieri had a crack at a loose puck, but Beleskey retrieved it back to Peter Holland, who buried his third goal, and second in three games, at the 58-second mark just 16 seconds after Cole Schneider’s deflection was stopped.
The Sound Tigers struck back at 3:08 when Michael Del Colle, just sent back to the American League by the New York Islanders, was the first to a loose puck off a rebound from a left point shot by Seth Helgeson. Del Colle got past Ryan Lindgren and buried his eighth of the season.
Hartford answered back at 4:55 with strong a net-front presence as all three forwards worked together with Shawn St. Amant tallying his first AHL goal when he jammed home a rebound of a Schneider shot. St. Amant had five shots on net for the game.
Shawn O’Donnell earned the second assist from hard work to free the puck on the forecheck. O’Donnell was involved even in the final two minutes when he blocked a shot at both the beginning as well as the end of his shift and took a hit to get the puck out of the zone.
“A perfect example of a player knowing his role. Shawn is so versatile and he’s shown a willingness to pay the price to take a hit. He gets involved in his shift,” Head Coach Keith McCambridge said. “I can use him anywhere; center or either wing. He has earned his minutes and to play a factor for the team.”
The game was a chippy affair by modern standards. Seth Helgeson instigated a fight with Brandon Crawley after a hit to the head of former Pack, Chris Bourque.
“Playing Bridgeport, the game is definitely amplified with how many games we play against them,” Pack defenseman John Gilmour said. “We don’t like those guys, so when we play them it’s a gritty game.”
After a scoreless first period, the Wolf Pack broke through on the power play in the second.
Boo Nieves won a draw and Nieves dropped it to Gilmour. He fed a pass to Lettieri at the right point. He sent it back to Gilmour who fired a quick shot to the far side on netminder Christopher Gibson at 9:05.
Gilmour now has points in six of his last seven games (nine points) while Lettieri has points in three of his last four games.
“We’ve been zipping the puck around well on the PP, which is nice, and that’s been giving us confidence on the PP, which is nice too,” Gilmour said.
The Pack had a Grade A chance when O’Donnell was hauled down from behind by Travis St. Denis and was awarded his third penalty shot opportunity as a member of the Wolf Pack. The penalty shot would be the team’s 54th their history.
O’Donnell went in on Jeremy Smith as he tried to go low on the glove side, but was stopped at 13:50.
The first period was a chess match as each team tried to establish momentum. One would get a shot, but second and third chances just weren’t available for either team. The Wolf Pack’s best chance came at 22 seconds as they stormed the net and thought they put one in, but there was no signal from the referee and a video review showed it was not a goal.
Lettieri, who’s red hot, was in a crowd of Sound Tigers and got a pass from behind the net from Ryan Gropp, but Gibson made the save. Crawley and Bobby Butler both had chances turned aside.
Tokarski on a third straight shot made his best save stopping Scott Eansor for a second straight night in a row was stopped on a breakaway.
NOTES:
UCONN basketball played earlier in the afternoon against New Hampshire. Because of the changeover, the game started at 7:30. An excellent job by the entire XL Center crew to accomplish that task.
Tim Gettinger made his NHL debut against the Washington Capitals playing seven minutes. He did not get a shot and had five hits. Cody McLeod (hand), Pavel Buchnevitch (hand), Tony DeAngelo and Mats Zuccarello (groin) were out.
During the game the Rangers sent him back.
Bridgeport lost Tanner Fritz to recall but regained Del Colle and former Yale Bulldog, Ryan Hitchcock, was reassigned to Bridgeport from Worcester (ECHL).
WOLF PACK SCRATCHES:
Gabriel Fontaine
WOLF PACK LINES:
Beleskey-Meskanen-Holland
Nieves-Lettieri-Gropp
O’Donnell-St. Amant-Schneider
Butler-Leedahl-Wallin
Crawley-Hajak
Gilmour-Lindgren
Bigras-O’Gara
The Pack is 87-63-3-12-7 in 173 meetings over 17 years with the Sound Tigers. At the XL Center, the Pack has a decided record advantage of 81-27-2-5-3.
Vinni Lettieri had an unnatural hat trick Friday night including the game-tying goal with 1:17 left in regulation, He also had the only goal in the shootout which doesn’t count in personal stats. He had a Wolf Pack high eight shots on net last night. He was the last player off the ice for warm-ups.
Peter Holland has a six-game scoring streak, a new team season-high. His 16 assists are third best in the AHL. Cole Schneider is on a five-game streak.
In Wolf Pack history, Alexander Giroux and PA Parenteau each had four penalty shots in their career. O’Donnell is and Jayson Megna (now with the Hershey Bears) each have three on the team historical chart.
The Pack is 16th in the PP at 18.9% while Bridgeport is 14th at 21.0%. The PK is 20th at 79.6% & uncharacteristically the Sound Tigers are 24th at 77.%.
In Ty Ronning’s first game with the Pack’s ECHL affiliates, the Maine Mariners, he had three goals, two assists and hit the post twice.
