BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack ended the 2021-22 regular season on a high note with Alex Whelan, Lauri Pajuniemi both potting two goals while Maxim Letunov and Hunter Skinner each contributed a pair of assists in a 6-3 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the XL Center in front of a boisterous crowd of 5,410.
“It would have been nice if we played like this earlier during that losing stretch,” remarked Whelan. ”It’s nice to play that way against teams and get a couple of wins at the end.”
The relaxed play over the last two games was unmistakable.
“It was good to see them play loose. The pressure has been mounting over the last two months. Not going to the playoffs doesn’t feel good, but we broke out with six goals tonight and they played relaxed and it was still a big game for us.”
The Wolf Pack finished the regular season in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 32-32-6-2. The team will miss the playoffs for the eighth straight season.
On the positive side, the team did have a three-goal third period and notched their first back-to-back wins since early March.
The AHL season ends this coming weekend for the rest of the league. The Bridgeport Islanders finished one lone point better than the Wolf Pack. Both opted for a 72-game schedule this season. Had the Pack had another opportunity this coming weekend, who knows what an extra weekend of games would have meant in the standings?
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, Bobby Trivigno found the back of the net.
Lauri Pajuniemi started the whole play with a good hit on Drew O’Connor behind the goal line to force the turnover. The puck was retrieved by Maxim Letunov, who got to the puck on the turnover and slipped it to Pajuniemi. He then made a pass that caught Trivigno in full flight. The recently signed UMass-Amherst product went straight on the net and went backhand to forehand and beat rookie goaltender Tommy Nappier for his first professional goal.
“(Letunov)’s been a nice addition for us,” said Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch. “He’s been very versatile for us at center or wing. We like having him on our team,” said Knoblauch of the former UCONN star.
Pajuniemi then made a gorgeous redirect of Skinner’s right point shot up that went high for his thirteenth and second goal of the night and third point of the game at 10:41.
FINAL GOAL OF THE SEASON
At 16:53 Jarred Tinordi tallied an empty-net goal which iced the game for the Pack. It also was the final goal of the Pack’s season and made it 6-3. The goal was Tinordi’s first goal in the AHL this year. Huska made an earlier attempt for the empty net that got blocked.
The Pack struck early in the game when Alex Whelan jammed home the puck from the side of the net for his seventh of the season at 1:58. Whelan finished the season with a two-game goalscoring streak.
Team support was an issue in the second period, but regardless, the Pack came out of it tied. Huska stopped an early drive from Cam Lee from the left point, the nephew of former Hartford Whaler, Jean-Sebastian Giguere.
Then off a pair of number 26s on the draw, Michel Chaput won it cleanly from Tim Gettinger and got the puck back to Pierre-Oliver Joseph. He slid it over to Alexander Nylander, the son of former Whaler and New York Ranger, Michael Nylander at the left point. With Caput screening in front, Nylander fired his 22nd of the season past Huska at 3:34 for a 2-1 Penguin lead.
After not scoring since January, Whelan tallied his 19th and second goal of the day with a redirect of Skinner’s left point shot and eighth of the campaign as he scored at 12:25 and registered three goals in two games.
BACK AND FORTH
The Pack nearly evened the game at two as Pajuniemi was stopped two minutes earlier. Then Huska stoned Kasper Bjorkquist in front of the Wolf Pack net and lost his stick in the process.
A few minutes later, the Penguins retook the lead at 3-2 when Filip Hallander scored his second of the game at 15:04
Hallander got the rebound of Samuel Poulin’s shot. Poulin is the son of ex-Hartford Whaler, Patrick Poulin. Huska denied the first shot, but couldn’t control the rebound allowing Hallander to smack his puck into his second of the game and 14th of the season at 15:04.
Poulin had two good plays on the sequence. The first was getting to the loose puck on the left-wing boards to maintain possession and the second was going net-front for the shot that led to the goal.
The Pack tied the game at three and set up their three-goal third period after a scrum and boarding call on Joseph who was called for drilling Trivigno on the right-wing boards. The Penguins’ Jordy Bellerive got tagged for an extra two in the tussle making for a fortunate five-on-three power play for Hartford.
SCORING
Lauri Pajuniemi scored his twelfth goal 16 seconds later at 19:39. He and Zac Jones played pitch-and-catch at the point. On the return D-to-D pass, Pajuniemi whistled his shot that found the back of the net for the power play goal.
The teams went into the second intermission tied though the Pack were being outshot 24-18.
Whelan tallied his first goal of the afternoon and ninth of the year at 1:58. After a two-on-one, Matt Lorito was stopped on the left wing off a right-wing pass from Whelan. The Pack then applied solid forechecking pressure. Gettinger was behind the net found with Lorito in front again. He was denied on the doorstep. Whelan went around the net found the loose biscuit and collected the goal, whacking in his eighth and scored in his second straight game at 1:58.
“It was nice to get one early and it was a strong play by Matty Lorito,” Whelan said. “He just drove to the net and the puck was just laying there for me. To get one early and get into the game. We’re playing for each other and we wanted to win the game.”
AND IN THE END
The Penguins tied the game at one as Filip Hallander registered his 13th, coming in off the right-wing with a full head of steam. Trivigno was trailing on the play and took a feed from Nylander, drawing Brandon Scanlin in and out of position. The rookie rearguard skated into the puck before burying his backhander under Huska’s left pad at 11:34.
These two teams have a history of chippiness, and that continued in the first period. Gettinger got the better of a scrap with Anthony Angello. On the next shift, the Penguins’ Brett Olson chopped at Matt Robertson, but the peace between the two was kept.
Huska answered by the bell stopping Robert Zahorna and Chaput from the right-wing off a two-on-one with a glove save at 7:50.
LINES
Trivigno-Pajuniemi-Letunov
Lorito-Whelan-Gettinger
Ronning-Khordorenko-Greco
Richards-Rueschoff-DiGiacinto
Scanlin-Skinner
Jones-Robertson
Tinordi-Guittari
Huska
Kinkaid
SCRATCHES
Merkley (lower-body post-season)
Fritz (upper-body)
Lundkvist (upper-body)
Taylor
O’Leary
Brassard
Ethan Brodzinski
POST-SEASON CALL-UPS
New York Rangers’ Black Aces from the Wolf Pack were not announced due in part to CBA restrictions until the regular seasons of the AHL and NHL officially ended. The Rangers’ season ends Friday against the Washington Capitals. Teams can still operate under the emergency recall provisions of the CBA. The Rangers have five left. Jones was recalled under that provision within the ELC contract guidelines.
“I don’t know which players – likely six to eight – Ryan (General Manager, Ryan Martin) and Dru (Rangers’ General Manager and President, Chris Drury) will work that out, This is a first time for me (no playoffs last year and the postseason was canceled by the league two years ago).
Neither were players who will be assigned to the Jacksonville Icemen to get some postseason action were named.
“Not that I’m aware of,” said Knoblauch.
NOTES
Goaltender François Brassard, who was recalled on Saturday on an emergency basis because of the flu bug circulating the team, was there for the weekend’s three-in-three. He was returned on Sunday to Jacksonville for Game 3 of their Kelly Cup opening-round playoff series against the Atlanta Gladiators up two games to none.
Brassard won the ECHL Nick Vitucci Goalie of the Year award on Thursday. He finished the regular season with a record of 19-9-3 with one shutout in 31 appearances. He had two goals or less in 20 of those 31 games and led the league with a 2.19 GAA and a .911 save percentage.
Huska played in his second straight game. It’s been two months since Knoblauch went with back-to-back games with the same goalie. After six years between UCONN and the Wolf Pack, Huska’s contract is expiring. He may well have played his last game here. Such is the case with Tyler Wall, who has played just 15 games here in two years and who had season-ending knee surgery six weeks ago.
No Pack player this season was able to complete a hat trick. This was the first multi-player, multiple-goal game since November. The team had just four such happenings all season.
The team had just one shutout for the year and no penalty shots were taken.
MORE NOTES
Only two players finished in any Top 5, 10, or even 20 in ANY AHL offensive category. Jones made the list in power play assists (15) and Braden Schnieder, the long since departed defenseman. He made that list in shorthand assists (3).
Ex-Pack Finnish forward Ahti Oksanen heads from HK Hradec Kralove (Mountfield HK) (Czech Republic (Czechia)-CEL) and will skate next year for IK Oskarshamn (Sweden-SHL).
Players in Europe include ex-Pack Robin Kovács who heads from Örebro HK (Sweden-SHL) to Lausanne HC (Switzerland-NLA) and Ville Meskanen goes from KooKoo (Finland-FEL) to SaiPa in the same league.
Ex-Sound Tiger, and the son of a former New Haven Nighthawk (Dean) Jarrett DeFazio was released by ERC Ingolstadt (Germany-DEL) and Kael Mouillierat by EHC Straubing.
After four years, ex-Pack Daniel Catenacci is released by HC Bolzano Foxes (Italy-IceHL) and signs for next year with HC Val Pusteral in the same league, and former QU Bobcat Tanner McMaster is released by MODO (Sweden-Allsvenskan).
DUPONT CONSIDERING OPTIONS
Ex-Pack Brodie Dupont is semi-retired. He was injured early in the year and became a playing assistant coach. He later became the interim head coach for the Cardiff Devils (Wales-EIHL) for the remainder of the season for the UK based-team. He is weighing several options and may return to Connecticut Howlings has learned.
Howlings has also learned that former Pack, Chad Nehring, who’s been playing in Germany the last four years (didn’t play the COVID year) is coming back to North America with the intention of playing in the AHL next season.
Wolf Pack Jersey of the Night was a tie between #39 Ryan Haggerty, and #3 Chris St. Croix. Honorable mentions go to #10 Tommy Grant (CT Whale) and #20 Chris Kreider.
