HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack’s push for the Calder Cup Playoffs continued on Wednesday night. The Wolf Pack welcomed the Bridgeport Islanders to town for the latest installment in the Battle of Connecticut.
Hartford jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Thirteen different players recorded a point as the Wolf Pack beat the Islanders by a 6-3 score.
Chad Chips In
The Wolf Pack opened the scoring 6:36 into the contest. Alex Belzile carried the puck over the blue line and into the Bridgeport zone. Nathan Sucese crashed down, drawing a pair of defenders with him. As a result, Chad Ruhwedel streaked into the zone unmarked. Belzile put a pass on Ruhwedel’s stick, and the veteran blueliner ripped a shot by the glove of Tristan Lennox to put Hartford in front early.
The goal extended Ruhwedel’s point streak to four games. Ruhwedel has recorded two goals and three assists in that timeframe.
The goal also gave the Wolf Pack a lead they’d never lose. They’d carry the 1-0 margin into the first intermission.
Belzile with a Blast
Jack Randl took his second penalty of the night, a roughing call, at 8:32 of the middle frame. As a result, the Wolf Pack earned their third power play opportunity of the contest.
This time, the Wolf Pack would capitalize on the advantage. Sucese held the puck along the right wall before finding Erik Brännström at the point. Brännström dished the puck to Belzile in the left circle, who then hammered a one-timer that flew by Lennox and into the net.
The goal represented Belzile’s 50th point of the year and his 100th point in a Wolf Pack uniform.
The Wolf Pack earned another power play bid about four minutes later when Travis Mitchell went off for roughing. However, Bridgeport would find a shorthanded two-on-one bid, and Cam Thiesing snapped a shot by Dylan Garand to get the Islanders on the board.
Getting the Bounces
The Wolf Pack would restore the two-goal lead in the final minutes of the middle frame. Blade Jenkins fired a shot towards the net from beyond the left circle. The puck clipped Dylan Roobroeck in the slot before trickling by the Bridgeport netminder and over the red line. Lennox protested, but the call stood, giving Roobroeck his 11th goal of the campaign.
The Wolf Pack took the 3-1 lead into the second break.
Chmelař Heater
To start the third period, Bridgeport swapped Lennox out for Hunter Miska in net. However, the Wolf Pack were far from done.
Jaroslav Chmelař gave the Wolf Pack their biggest lead of the night just 1:15 into the third period. Bryce McConnell-Barker controlled the puck before getting tangled up with an Islander in the offensive zone. The puck laid free in the left circle, and Chmelař collected it before sniping a shot by Miska to give the Wolf Pack their biggest lead of the night.
The goal was Chmelař’s sixth point in his last five games. Chmelař has recorded three goals and three assists in that span. The goal also stood as the game-winner, the first of Chmelař’s career.
However, the Islanders would not go quietly. William Dufour cut the lead back to two just over the midway point in the period. Dufour took a shot that ricocheted off Garand’s arm and into the net to add to the intrigue.
Blake’s on the Board
The Wolf Pack reinstated the three-goal lead about two minutes later. Bridgeport attempted to move the puck out of their zone, but Adam Sýkora batted it away from an Islander and back into the zone. Maxim Barbashev forechecked hard to win a puck battle against three Islanders. While falling to the ice, Barbashev managed to slip a pass to Brett Budgell, entering the zone. Budgell dropped the puck for Blake McLaughlin, who capped off the play with a shot top-shelf that Miska couldn’t stop.
The goal was McLaughlin’s first as a member of the Wolf Pack.
“Barbashev, incredible shift,” Wolf Pack head coach Grant Potulny told The Calder Times after the game. “We were changing, it was basically a 1-on-3 or 4, and he just kept going, no quit. It allowed our guys to get from the bench to the ice, and then it was a beautiful goal.”
Battle Won
Alex Jefferies drew Bridgeport back within two just over four minutes later. With Brandon Scanlin in the box for interference, Dufour took a shot that Garand made the initial stop on. However, the puck trickled through the Hartford netminder. Casey Fitzgerald attempted to stop the puck, but Jefferies jammed away at it and officials ruled it a goal. The play was reviewed and upheld as a good goal.
However, the intrigue ended there. McConnell-Barker nailed the empty net at 17:44 to seal a 6-3 win for the Wolf Pack.
“We did some good things offensively. More importantly, any time they got a little momentum…we responded right away and just kinda kept that separation,” Potulny told The Calder Times after the game. “I don’t know if we were as tight defensively as we’d like to be…so we’ll try to clean that up.”
Regardless, the win represents two big points for the Wolf Pack. They now sit nine points behind sixth-place Springfield and ten points behind fifth-place Lehigh Valley in the Calder Cup Playoff chase. Every point counts, and after a weekend where they left points on the table, these are two well-earned points for the Wolf Pack.
Up Next
The Wolf Pack continue their homestand on Friday night, hosting the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm.
