BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack won for the second straight game on Saturday afternoon at the XL Center, 5-2, over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The line of Justin Richards, Tim Gettinger, and Ty Ronning powered the Pack with six points on six shots.
Gettinger and Ronning had two assists each, while Richards scored his first pro goal and added a helper.
The Wolf Pack record improves to 5-6-1-0 (11 points). Bridgeport’s record drops to 3-8-0 (6 points) and remains in last place in the Atlantic Division following a nine-day layoff.
Associate Head Coach, Gord Murphy, was back behind the bench running the game with Kris Knoblauch still in Philadelphia with the Rangers.
“I’m very proud of the team the last two games. The club played for each other, playing better individually and collectively,” an ebullient Murphy said.
THIRD PERIOD
Early in the third period, the Sound Tigers made it interesting, drawing within 3-2, but the Wolf Pack regained control and posted two goals to pull away for the win.
The puck was dumped into the Wolf Pack zone by Samuel Bolduc. Richards chased it down and won a battle with Jeff Kubiak for control of the puck. However, his outlet pass was swiped by Cole Bardreau, who was at the right side of the net, and slipped a backhander, surprising netminder Adam Huska, who was making his second consecutive start and playing in just his sixth game of the season. The puck went between Huska’s arm and body just 12 seconds into the period and made it a 3-2 lead for the home team.
“We didn’t panic. We didn’t let it get us down. We stuck to what we did in the first two periods, and we came out with a win,” said winger Anthony Greco.
The Wolf Pack counter-attacked the rest of the period as Ronning and Gettinger’s combo made some magic.
RONNING, GETTINGER, AND RICHARDS
“That line the last three or four games has come together with Richards in the middle. They’re complementing each other well with Richards winning draws. You see the confidence and the contributions they’re making,” said Murphy of Ronning, Gettinger, and Richards.
Tarmo Reunanen tallied his third goal of the season after Ronning broke down right-wing and snapped a shot that Gettinger redirected. Sound Tiger goalie, Jakub Skarek, made a pad save but left a big rebound. Reunanen came in from his defensive position at the left perch and zipped the puck into the net at 13:41.
“That play wasn’t a fluke or accident,” Murphy said. “Tarmo read the play and reacted, and for players coming from Europe, there is that adjustment period to get used to the ice (size of the rink) and how to play the puck and the game. He is a solid hard worker and has shown a lot of determination to get better, and he showed that on that goal which came at a great time for us.”
THE FINAL TALLY
On the game’s final tally, Patrick Khordorenko slipped a short pass to Paul Thompson coming from left-to-right. Thompson had good speed for his zone entry and drove deep into the Sound Tigers’ end. At the lower right-wing circle, Thompson fired a shot that went high over Skarek’s left shoulder and just under the crossbar at 16:06. It was his first goal since the season opener and sealed the 5-2 win.
SECOND PERIOD
The Wolf Pack expanded their lead with two more goals in the second period.
The Pack tallied on their second power play via Yannick Turcotte being sent to the box for charging Zach Giuttari at 4:29. Thompson was on the left-wing and led a hard-charging Austin Rueschhoff with a pass. Rueschhoff deftly deflected the puck through Skarek’s five-hole for his second goal of the season.
The Wolf Pack added a shorthanded goal after coming so close three times in the last game against the Providence Bruins.
Richards tallied at 9:58 and made it 3-0, benefiting from Anthony Greco’s high-octane speed.
Greco sped down the left wing was able to launch a shot at Skarek, who stopped, but the rebound came off the pads, and Richards deposited that puck quickly into the net,
“Sometimes on a power play, a team can get a little lackadaisical, and I try to catch them and create some offense, and Justin put it away,” remarked Greco.
SOUND TIGERS STRIKE BACK
The Sound Tigers did get one back with an intense rush into the Wolf Pack end, with Bardreau sniping in the goal. He cut in from the right-wing after a Thomas Kuhnhackl dump in came right off the backboards to Bardreau, who slipped it by Huska at 12:26.
Parker Wotherspoon further ignited his bench by picking a fight with the much taller Gettinger, who was not known as a fighter. For Gettinger, it was just his second fighting major in three years. In the first one, he was TKO’d.
The Sound Tigers came close to scoring again when, on the rush, Mitchell Vande Sompel took Otto Koivula’s backhanded pass and zinged one over Huska’s glove and hit the crossbar at 15:22.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period started slowly but ended with the Wolf Pack holding a 1-0 lead on another power play goal, their third in the last two games.
Darren Raddysh was parked dead center just inside the blue line. He took a pass from the right-wing pass and sent a rocket of a shot that beat Skarek high to the glove side at 12:28.
“The powerplay is just generating better shots and simplifying things and getting rewarded. Darren, like most of the players, especially veterans, it’s been very difficult with the schedule getting into a rhythm when you’re playing just one or two games a week spaced out. Getting several together is making a difference,” said Murphy.
The Wolf Pack had the best chances over the last seven minutes of the period and held the Sound Tigers to just two shots the rest of the period.
LINES:
Newell-Barron-Greco
Richards-Gettinger-Ronning
Khordorenko-Thompson-Whelan
Sanchez- Rueschhoff-Geersten
Raddysh-Crawley
LoVerde-Reunanen
Giutarri-Sieloff
Huska
Wall
THREE STARS
1. Tim Gettinger, HWP
2, Ty Ronning, HWP
3. Cole Bardreau, BST
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Justin Richards, HWP (goal and an assist getting better each game)
Taro Reunanen, HWP (goal and strong D zone work)
Paul Thompson, HWP (goal and an assist, his best game thus far as a Wolf Pack)
Mason Geersten, HWP (strong two-way play shifted to D from LW for PK situations)
SCRATCHES
Gabriel Fontaine – (Upper-Body – Likely done for the season)
Jonny Brodzinski – (Upper-Body – 3-4 weeks)
Jeff Taylor
Will Cullye
Michael O’Leary
Ryan Dmowski
Zach Bezzola (Just signed)
Hunter Skinner (Recalled, Assigned #20)
Francois Brassard
NOTES
Pack goalie Michael Lackey was released on Sunday.
Yannick Turcotte, playing his second game of the season for the Sound Tigers, tried to entice Geersten to fight him off the draw late in the game was hit with a penalty. He then stayed on the ice after the penalty expired and, in the last 15 seconds, tried to run Reunanen as time expired. The referees made no call on the play after the brief scrum. Vincent LoVerde, came to Reunanen’s aid, as did the rest of the Wolf Pack.
Defenseman, Hunter Skinner, signed a three-year, entry-level deal on Monday. The contract starts in the fall. He will stay in Hartford for the rest of the season on a PTO contract.
Peter Diliberatore (Cos Cob/CT Oilers/Brunswick School) from Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) also signed. He puts his name to a contract on a standard NHL three-year, entry-level deal for the same package as Skinner paying $925K in the NHL and $70K for play in the AHL.
BRODZINSKI BROTHERS
With Jonny Brodzinski out with an injury, his youngest brother Easton, of St. Cloud State University, and the team’s leading goal scorer, tallied two goals to lead the team to a 6-2 win over BU. However, he suffered a devasting broken left leg injury on a collision in the first minute of the second period in Sunday’s 4-1 win over BC to reach the Frozen Four.
His other younger, Bryce, picked up an assist in the Minnesota Golden Gophers 7-2 win over the University Nebraska-Omaha on Friday at the NCAA Regionals. They lost to another Minnesota-based team, Minnesota State, 4-1 on Sunday. They were led by the superb goaltending of Dryden McKay, named for the NHL great Montreal Canadiens goalie, Hall-Of-Famer, Ken Dryden.
McKay is the son of former Hartford Whaler, Ross McKay. He played one game with the Whalers in relief of ex-Whaler and Wolf Pack, Kay Whitmore, on March 30, 1991, a 5-5 tie against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Minnesota roster is forward Darian Gotz, the nephew of ex-Pack Head Coach and one-time captain Ken Gernander.
PROSPECTS
The Rangers have a few prospects in UMASS defenseman Zac Jones. The Minutemen played big in their 4-0 shutout win over Bemidji State and will play two-time defending national champion, Minnesota-Duluth, on Thursday.
Minnesota-based schools fill three-of-the-four slots in the Frozen Four.
LEMIEUX TRADED
The Rangers traded forward Brendan Lemieux to the Los Angeles Kings for a 2021 fourth-round draft choice. The move frees up a roster spot for Vitali Kravtsov, who completed his quarantine and is cleared to play.
Ex-Wolf Pack, Kodie Curran, and Vinni Lettieri were sent down by the Anaheim Ducks to the San Diego Gulls.
UCONN
UCONN got a grad transfer from Yale University (ECACHL) for next season. Forward Kevin O’ Neil didn’t play this season.
Junior goalie Tomas Vomacka had successful surgery on his torn meniscus in his left knee. Expect him to turn professional and sign with the Nashville Predators in the coming days.
Despite a seeming nasty left knee injury in their season-ending loss to Providence College, winger Kale Howarth did not require surgery and has headed back to Red Deer, AB, for off-season rehab. He should be back in the Huskies lineup next year.
OTHER NEWS
Current contracted Wolf Pack defenseman Yegor Rykov played Game 7 of the KHL Gagarin Cup Conference Semifinals on Monday. His CSKA Moscow club won 2-0 over Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and will advance to play in the KHL semifinals against SKA St. Petersburg, where their goalie is ex-Pack, Magnus Hellberg.
One of Rykov’s current teammates is an ex-Pack, defenseman, John Gilmour.
The Sound Tigers reassigned goalie Francois Marrotte to the Allen (TX) Americans (ECHL) last week.
