
Wolf Pack Weekend Recap: January 22nd, 2024
January 22, 2024 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hartford Wolf Pack News Release
HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack split a pair of games over the weekend, picking up their 20th victory of the season in the process. The Pack dropped a tightly contested game with the Hershey Bears on Friday night at the XL Center but rebounded nicely on Saturday night with a victory over the rival Islanders.
Now, the Wolf Pack is preparing for a three-game trek to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Cleveland that begins on Wednesday night.
Friday, January 19th, 2024, Vs. Hershey Bears (4-2 L): Jake Leschyshyn got the Wolf Pack on the board 4:34 into the hockey game, tipping a Brett Berard shot for his fourth goal of the season. The visiting Hershey Bears took over from there, however, scoring the game's next four goals.
Pierrick Dubé evened the affair at 10:38, snapping a shot by Louis Domingue from inside the right-wing faceoff circle.
Mike Vecchione gave the Bears the lead at 16:10 of the second period, tipping home a Joe Snively bid on the powerplay. The Bears converted on each of their first two powerplays, needing just a total of 31 seconds.
Aaron Ness' point shot at 10:54 of the third period proved to be the game-winner, while Ethen Frank hit an empty net at 17:11.
The Wolf Pack did convert on their fourth powerplay, making it a 4-2 game with just .1 seconds remaining. Alex Belzile tipped a Nikolas Brouillard shot home for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
The four-game season series between the Wolf Pack and the Bears is now split 1-1, with each team claiming a road regulation victory. The sides will meet again on March 17th at the Giant Center in Hershey (5:00 p.m.).
Saturday, January 20th, 2024, @ Bridgeport Islanders (3-0 W): For the second weekend in a row, the Wolf Pack erased the taste of a Friday night defeat with a Saturday night victory. This time, it was a surgical 3-0 defeat of the Bridgeport Islanders in Round 5 of the 'Battle of Connecticut'.
After the first scoreless opening frame of the season between the rivals, it was Hartford that struck first. Karl Henriksson buried a centering feed from Adam Sýkora 4:01 into the second period, giving the Pack a lead they would not lose.
1:33 into the third period, Brouillard's shot into traffic snuck by Jakub Skarek to give the Pack the needed insurance in their 20th victory of the season. Bobby Trivigno applied the dagger at 18:23, hitting an empty net for his third goal of the season.
Dylan Garand made 34 saves in the victory, picking up his second shutout of the season. Garand's other shutout was also in Bridgeport, a 37-save performance on November 10th. The victory was his tenth of the season and his third against the Islanders.
The Wolf Pack have now won six straight games at Total Mortgage Arena and have won four of the first five meetings (4-1-0-0) with the Islanders this season.
The foes next meet in Hartford on February 9th.
Quick Hits:
On Monday, the parent New York Rangers (NHL) assigned defenseman Matthew Robertson to the Wolf Pack. Robertson missed both games this past weekend while on the West Coast with the Rangers.
Also on Monday, the Wolf Pack recalled forward Cristiano DiGiacinto from loan to the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones. The forward has one goal in six games with Hartford this season.
Henriksson's goal on Saturday night stood as the game-winning goal, his first of the season. Henriksson had two game-winning goals as a rookie during the 2022-23 campaign.
Brennan Othmann's eleven powerplay assists rank second in the AHL among rookies in that category. He trails only Logan Stankoven of the Texas Stars.
Garand is now tied for eighth in the AHL in shutouts with two after Saturday night's performance. Hershey's Clay Stevenson leads the league with six blank slates.
After going two-for-eight over the weekend, the Wolf Pack powerplay woke up sitting third in the AHL on Monday morning with a 23.7% success rate. That is the top mark in the Eastern Conference and trails only the Chicago Wolves (24.4%) and Texas Stars (24.2%).
The Week Ahead:
Wednesday, January 24th, 2024, @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (7:05 p.m., Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza)
Friday, January 26th, 2024, @ Cleveland Monsters (7:00 p.m., Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse)
Saturday, January 27th, 2024, @ Cleveland Monsters (7:00 p.m., Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse)
American Hockey League Stories from January 22, 2024
- Texas Comes up Short in Iowa for Sixth Straight Defeat - Texas Stars
- Brink to Phantoms, Lycksell to Flyers - Lehigh Valley Phantoms
- Bears Hope to Build on Point Streak - Hershey Bears
- Moose Recall Milic from Norfolk - Manitoba Moose
- Tesla to Perform Post-Game Friday Night - Milwaukee Admirals
- Penguins Reassign Jordan Frasca to Wheeling - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- Belleville Sens Work Through Physical Week of North Division Rivalry Games - Belleville Senators
- IceHogs Weekly: Busy Week Ahead for Hogs, Including Home Date on Saturday - Rockford IceHogs
- Wolf Pack Weekend Recap: January 22nd, 2024 - Hartford Wolf Pack
- Marco Kasper Named AHL Player of the Week - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Grand Rapids' Marco Kasper Named Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week - AHL
- Game Preview: Iowa Wild vs. Texas Stars - Iowa Wild
- Wolf Pack Complete Pair of Transactions - Hartford Wolf Pack
- Brogan Rafferty Returns to Grand Rapids - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Monsters Recall Goaltender Pavel Cajan from ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings - Cleveland Monsters
- Gulls Fall to Abbotsford, 5-2 - San Diego Gulls
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
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