HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack looked to make it three wins in a row on Saturday night. They hosted the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for their annual Teddy Bear Toss game.
While bears did fly, the Wolf Pack were unable to pull out a win. The Penguins scored five special teams goals, three on the power play and two shorthanded, to take a 6-2 decision.
Power Play Penguins
If you like penalties, you’ll love this game – the division rivals combined for 20 infractions, ten for each team, and 54 total penalty minutes.
The whistles started just 4:14 into the contest. Boris Katchouk took a double minor for roughing while Alex Belzile was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct. Ultimately, the Wolf Pack earned a power play bid, which the Penguins successfully killed. The Penguins went to the power play for the first time near the seven minute mark as Jaroslav Chmelař took a roughing minor, but the Wolf Pack penalty kill was up to task.
The penalties caught up to the Wolf Pack about twelve minutes into the contest. Casey Fitzgerald took a kneeing minor, sending Hartford back to the penalty kill. This time, the Penguins capitalized, with Valtteri Puustinen snapping a shot by Louis Domingue to break the ice.
Puustinen potted his second power play goal of the contest at 18:18 of the opening frame. With Case McCarthy in the box for hooking, Puustinen worked his way to the net and flipped a shot over Domingue’s blocker to double the lead.
Joona Koppanen supplied the only even-strength goal for the Penguins in the final seconds of the frame. Koppanen deflected a shot by Nikolai Knyzhov into the net to make it 3-0 Pens heading into the first intermission.
BMB Starts the TBT
The Wolf Pack got on the board early in the middle frame. Matthew Robertson shielded the puck from a Penguin defender, and Bryce McConnell-Barker collected it. McConnell-Barker slipped a pass to Blade Jenkins, who immediately returned it. McConnell-Barker worked down low and threw a shot on net that slipped through Joel Blomqvist and in.
With the goal, McConnell-Barker became the third straight Wolf Pack rookie to score the Teddy Bear Toss goal, following Will Cuylle in 2022-23 and Brennan Othmann in 2023-24.
Play resumed after an extended break to collect the bears. Bo Groulx took a hooking minor at 6:29 of the frame, sending the Wolf Pack back to the penalty kill. Tristan Broz held the puck down low and attempted a centering feed, but the pass was denied. A scramble for the puck ensued behind the net, and the puck was popped over the net in the commotion. Vasily Ponomarev waited at net-front before batting the puck out of the air and by Domingue to reinstate the three-goal lead.
Leschyshyn Bank-In
The Wolf Pack earned a golden opportunity less than a minute after Ponomarev’s goal. Katchouk returned to the box for hooking, and Koppanen took a slashing minor just ten seconds later. As a result, the Wolf Pack went to a five-on-three power play for 1:50.
Jake Leschyshyn capitalized on the two-man advantage. Leschyshyn took a feed from Groulx down low. Leschyshyn then snapped a shot that snuck by Blomqvist, banked off the post, and ricocheted into the net to cut the margin back to two.
The Wolf Pack couldn’t capitalize on the partial power play that followed, and the game entered the final frame with Hartford still trailing by two goals.
Pens Pull Away
The Wolf Pack found themselves with another golden opportunity just 35 seconds into the final frame. Former Wolf Pack defenseman Mac Hollowell took a double minor for roughing, sending Hartford to a four-minute power play with a chance to tie the game.
However, the Penguins had other plans. Late in the power play, Knyzhov and Ponomarev entered the Hartford zone on an odd-man rush. Knyzhov fed Ponomarev, who tucked a backhander home for a shorthanded goal.
Late in the game, with Koppanen back in the box for hooking, the Wolf Pack lifted Domingue for a two-skater advantage. However, Ponomarev sent the hats flying with an empty net goal scored shorthanded, giving the Penguins the 6-2 decision.
Bryce Builds His Game
Rookie forward Bryce McConnell-Barker sent the teddy bears flying in Saturday’s contest. Scoring the Teddy Bear Toss goal is a good way to become a local hero at the AHL level, and McConnell-Barker gets the honors this year.
The goal was McConnell-Barker’s second in his last three games. The former third round pick by the New York Rangers now has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in 18 games in his rookie campaign.
Wolf Pack head coach Grant Potulny had praise for the rookie forward after the contest. “Over the last three games, he’s put together a nice little streak,” Potulny told The Calder Times after Saturday’s game. “Now it’s about building on the consistency of that shift to shift, game to game.”
After shuffling in and out of the lineup early in the season, McConnell-Barker has become a mainstay of the Wolf Pack’s hardworking fourth line. McConnell-Barker certainly doesn’t lack effort, and if he can consistently bring that effort to every shift, he’ll have a bright future in pro hockey.
Up Next
The Wolf Pack continue their home stand on Wednesday, welcoming the defending Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears to town. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm.
