HARTFORD, CT – The theme of the Hartford Wolf Pack’s game against the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday night? Revenge. The two teams met a week ago in upstate New York, where the Crunch claimed a 3-2 overtime victory. The Wolf Pack aimed to get the win back in their portion of the home-and-home.
Goaltender Dylan Garand led the way for the Wolf Pack. Garand stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced as the Wolf Pack claimed a 2-1 overtime win over Syracuse.
Garand Larceny
The story of this contest through the first 40 minutes was the goaltending. Garand and Brandon Halverson were each sensational for their clubs.
The ice tilted in favor of the Crunch in the opening frame, with Syracuse outshooting the Wolf Pack 13-3. Garand stood tall, denying all 13 bids to send the game into the first intermission scoreless.
Hartford tilted the ice in their favor in the middle frame, outshooting Syracuse 11-3. However, Halverson matched Garand’s performance, denying the Wolf Pack from finding the icebreaker.
The best play of the night from either netminder came in the middle frame. Jaroslav Chmelař took a roughing minor, while Max Crozier earned a double minor for roughing, sending Hartford to the power play. Daniel Walcott streaked towards Garand on a shorthanded bid, but he couldn’t get a shot away thanks to a great backcheck from Casey Fitzgerald. The loose puck laid in the slot, and Garand attempted to cover it. However, Gabriel Szturc beat Garand to the puck and attempted a quick shot. Garand, from a prostrate position, flung out his right leg and denied the shot to keep the game scoreless.
“It was a weird play,” Garand told The Calder Times after the contest. “I just kinda stuck my leg out, and he threw it right into the pad. I think he had more time than he thought, so kinda got lucky there, but we’ll take it.”
Despite Garand’s incredible efforts, the Wolf Pack simply couldn’t take the lead as Halverson was equally up to the task. The contest entered the final frame with both teams searching for the first goal of the night.
BMB on the Board
The game’s first goal came just under six minutes into the final frame. An errant pass from Szturc to Maxim Groshev allowed Bryce McConnell-Barker and Dylan Roobroeck to move in on a two-on-one bid. McConnell-Barker skated to the left circle and elected to shoot, ripping a shot by the blocker of Halverson to give the Wolf Pack the game’s first lead. The goal was McConnell-Barker’s first as a professional.
“He’s starting to come [around],” Wolf Pack head coach Grant Potulny said of McConnell-Barker when speaking to The Calder Times after the game. “You look at him and Roobroeck, and they’re both so young, 20 year old kids, but the development of them, you see it more and more. You need your young players to be able to pitch in.”
McConnell-Barker pitched in exactly when the Wolf Pack needed it, and they carried the lead deep into the third period.
Belz Will Be Ringing
Garand carried his shutout bid deep into the contest. However, a holding penalty against Brett Berard in the final two minutes of play changed the Wolf Pack’s fortunes. Syracuse lifted Halverson, giving them a two-skater advantage. Conor Sheary blasted a one-timer that clipped Garand, but the Hartford netminder couldn’t handle the rebound. Joel Teasdale, stationed near the net, buried the loose puck to tie the game with just 16.2 seconds remaining in regulation. As a result, the Wolf Pack and Crunch went to overtime for the second straight game.
The Wolf Pack finally got their break late in the extra frame. Bo Groulx snapped a long pass for a streaking Alex Belzile, but they couldn’t connect. Belzile collected the loose puck and curled up the wall, searching for a lane. With just seconds left in overtime, Belzile danced through a pair of Syracuse players and to the front of the net. The veteran forward shoveled a shot that slipped through the five-hole of Halverson and into the net, beating the buzzer and securing the win for the Wolf Pack.
“I didn’t really know how much time [we] had on the clock,” Belzile told The Calder Times after the contest. “I just felt I had an opportunity to make a move there. It went in and I was pretty happy, I was due to score.”
Extra! Extra!
Exactly one week ago, in my recap of the Wolf Pack’s overtime thriller against the Grand Rapids Griffins, I mentioned that four of Hartford’s first seven games had gone to overtime. After Wednesday night’s contest, six of the Wolf Pack’s first ten games have gone to overtime. Hartford has won four of those six, with their only losses coming in the season opener in Lehigh Valley in a shootout and last Friday in Syracuse.
Here’s a funny early-season stat – Garand has an average of 62 minutes per game. As you know, dear reader, regulation hockey games last just 60 minutes. He’s averaging more minutes per game than there are in regulation hockey games. That’s because all five of Garand’s starts this year have gone to overtime.
“If we could just find a way to [play our game] for the full 60, [that] would be great, that’s definitely an area of focus for us,” Garand told The Calder Times after the game. “But it was great to flip the switch and find a way to win.”
Up Next
For the second weekend in a row, the Wolf Pack are hitting the road. Tonight, they visit the Rochester Americans for the only time this season. Puck drop is set for 7:05 pm.
The Wolf Pack wrap up the weekend on Sunday, making their first visit to Providence for a matchup with the Bruins. Puck drop is set for 3:05 pm.
