BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
SPRINGFIELD, MA – Road play is clearly a Wolf Pack issue.
The Wolf Pack (26-11-4-5) couldn’t get any sustained pressure and Springfield were opportunistic in their scoring doing so twice in 2-0 win. Springfield goalie Ryan Bednard made 28 saves for his first AHL shutout and he had one in Greenville (ECHL) earlier this year.
The loss ended a four-game Wolf Pack winning streak and it was the Thunderbirds (26-20-2-0) first victory against the Wolf Pack this season in five contests.
The two teams meet again on Wednesday at the XL Center at 7 pm.
The Wolf Pack maintained their first place position as Hershey was shutout 3-0 by Lehigh Valley.
The Wolf Pack is now 7-10-4-3 now the road with road game of their 30 games left this will need some correction soon and the team play clearly irked head coach Kris Knoblauch.
“We played well in the second I thought we had a really good period, but 20 minutes isn’t enough to win a hockey game. If we had played that way for 60, I like our chances better.”
It was fast-moving, very few whistles Saturday night of hockey at the Mass Mutual Center to start before a sold-out crowd of 6,793.
The game’s first turned out to be the game-winner. Ex-Sound Tiger Matt Mangene who always plays well against Hartford made a strong pass to Jonathan Ang who came down the left-wing on Vincent LoVerde.
LoVerde lost his edge and fell down that allowed Ang the extra room and snapped his seventh of the season on Tom McCollum’s stick-side at 3:54.
“They were the hungry team early on,” remarked Wolf Pack’s Phil Di Guiseppe “hats off to their goalie he played well, but we had three or four open net chances we missed. Bottom line, we didn’t execute our game plan and they did.”
The Wolf Pack just a total of 24 shots over two periods Alexsei Saarela had four of Springfield’s 15 shots and Tim Gettinger and Darren Raddysh had six of the Pack’s 19 shots over the first two periods three for each of them. There were only three penalties and two powerplays for Hartford.
“We just thought we could ride the momentum from the third period last night and into this game. The first period was one of the worst we have played this year,” said Knoblauch tersely.
There were long stretches of continuous action and the Wolf Pack couldn’t get those second and third shots on rookie netminder Ryan Bednard making just his third AHL start
“We just didn’t have enough guys going to the net to sustain that pressure.”
The Wolf Pack had times where they couldn’t connect two passes or lost control of the puck and Yegor Rykov and Libor Hajek had their issues in that department but weren’t alone.
“There were moments we clearly held the puck too long and things will zero out on you when you do that,” referencing the time of possession Springfield had.
Of the eight shots in the second, the Wolf Pack’s best chance came late as Darren Raddysh pinched in with 1:06 left in the period but Thunderbirds rookie playing Ryan Bednard came out on the top of the crease to make the save.
The Wolf Pack’s Tom McCollum was given plenty of space to see the shots coming his way.
“I had no problems with Tom’s play he gave us a chance to win, but we have to give him some goal support.”
Four minutes into the third the Thunderbirds got the all-important second goal in this game.
Just after a cut to through right-wing faceoff circle Dryden Hunt was repelled but stayed in down low released from his checked cycled in on and tipped Matt Mangene’s right point drive for his 10th goal and second in as many games for a 2-0 Springfield lead.
The Pack with nine shots in the third saw Bednard stop Nick Jones in close with 8:37 left, then Joey Keane with 4:50 and Matt Beleskey with 3:50.
Too much time between shots.
Springfield did its best to get a third goal as ex-Pack Ryan Haggerty had two chances and Cliff Pu with 2:21 sent a backhander just wide. Defensively a few minutes earlier Vitali Kravtsov stopped Joel Lowry on a backdoor play with a perfect block of the quality scoring chance.
One other key defensive play Keane blocked Bednard’s attempt at scoring a goal from the Springfield goal line in the right-wing side with 14 seconds remaining.
LINES:
Gettinger-Kravtsov-Lettieri
O’ Regan-Fogarty-Di Giuseppe
Jones-Gropp-Beleskey
McBride-Newell-Dmowski
Hajek-Raddysh
Keane-Geersten
Rykov-LoVerde
SCRATCHES:
Nick Ebert (lower-body injury day to day)
Boo Nieves (flu day to day)
Jeff Taylor (healthy)
Gabriel Fontaine (shoulder surgery-season ending).
-Yegor Rykov didn’t suffer a broken nose, but did have nasty cut from last night’s game and played.
-Steve Fogarty also waylayed by the flu played both games. That’s a team captain. Gernander-esque without question.
-Ex-Pack Rob O’Gara is out with a separated left shoulder after playing 20 games after coming over in a trade with San Antonio.
Last season with Hartford ended early with back surgery.
He reminds me of former Wolf Pack Jake Taylor the injury bug followed him in Hartford his whole career which he concluded in Springfield ironically.
-On Sunday. Di Giuseppe was recalled to the Rangers likely to take Chris Kreider’s spot who was accidentally kneed in the head by teammate Mike Zibanejad in the Rangers 1-0 win over Detroit last night early in the second period.
Initial reports said he was fine, but headshots are tricky issues
The Rangers play Dallas Monday night at MSG.
Related
Related posts
Top picks
WOLF PACK SEND BRUINS PACKING WITH OT WIN
By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack are headed to the Atlantic Division Finals for the second straight season. A wild bounce saw a puck clip Jake Leschyshyn and beat Brandon Bussi 9:41 into overtime of Game 4 at…
PRE-GAME: WOLF PACK CAN CLOSE OUT BRUINS TONIGHT
PRE-GAME REPORT: WOLF PACK LOOK TO CLOSE OUT SERIES AGAINST BRUINS AT XL CENTER By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack welcome the Providence Bruins to town tonight for Game 4 of their Atlantic Division Semifinals series. Thanks to…
WOLF PACK SUFFER UGLY LOSS TO P-BRUINS IN GAME 2
By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack PROVIDENCE, RI – The Hartford Wolf Pack were forced to settle for a split in Providence, as the Bruins roared back to take Game 2 6-0 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion on Friday night. The series, now tied 1-1,…
WOLF PACK TAKE GAME ONE OF SEMIS IN P-TOWN
By: Shay Costa, Howlings PROVIDENCE, RI – The Hartford Wolf Pack’s Anton Blidh scored 1:28 into the third period to give the team a 4-3 road win against his former team, the Providence Bruins, in Game One of the Atlantic Division semifinal in front of…
WOLF PACK SEND BRUINS PACKING WITH OT WIN
By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack are headed to the Atlantic Division Finals for the second straight season. A wild bounce saw a puck clip Jake Leschyshyn and beat Brandon Bussi 9:41 into overtime of Game 4 at…
WOLF PACK SUFFER UGLY LOSS TO P-BRUINS IN GAME 2
By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack PROVIDENCE, RI – The Hartford Wolf Pack were forced to settle for a split in Providence, as the Bruins roared back to take Game 2 6-0 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion on Friday night. The series, now tied 1-1,…
WOLF PACK TAKE GAME ONE OF SEMIS IN P-TOWN
By: Shay Costa, Howlings PROVIDENCE, RI – The Hartford Wolf Pack’s Anton Blidh scored 1:28 into the third period to give the team a 4-3 road win against his former team, the Providence Bruins, in Game One of the Atlantic Division semifinal in front of…
WOLF PACK GET 3-PT NIGHT FROM PITLICK IN GM 1 WIN
By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack PROVIDENCE, RI – Tyler Pitlick picked up three points on Wednesday night as the Hartford Wolf Pack marched into the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence and took Game 1 of their best-of-five Atlantic Division Semifinals series. The Wolf Pack…
ORLANDO ENDS SWAMP RABBITS SEASON
Swamp Rabbits show life late, but Orlando pulls away to win the series BY: Mark Binetti, Greenville Swamp Rabbits GREENVILLE, SC– Jaydon Dureau’s two-goal night spearheaded a 5-1 Orlando Solar Bears win over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Tuesday to win the South Division Semifinals…
SWAMP RABBITS ANSWER BACK IN GAME 2
Eberle nets game-winner; three multi-point performers shine in win BY: Mark Binetti, Greenville Swamp Rabbits GREENVILLE, SC—Tanner Eberle broke a deadlock in a wild third period to headline the Greenville Swamp Rabbits’ Game 2 win over the Orlando Solar Bears by a 4-2 score on Monday…
SWAMP RABBITS DROP GAME 1 in OT
Spencer Kersten ends a 72-minute game to steal Game 1 from Greenville By: Mark Binetti, Greenville Swamp Rabbits GREENVILLE, S.C. – Spencer Kersten ended a marathon goalie duel to give the Orlando Solar Bears a lead in the South Division Semifinals, 1-0, over the Greenville…
SWAMP RABBITS SCHEDULE FOR SOUTH DIVISION SEMIFINALS
Swamp Rabbits and Solar Bears begin a best-of-seven series this Sunday in Greenville By: Mark Binetti, Greenville Swamp Rabbits GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, announced the full schedule for the 2024 Kelly Cup Playoffs…
Stay connected with ours socials