Wolf Pack down Thunderbirds 6-5 in thrilling home opener
The 50th season of professional hockey in Hartford opened with a bang on Friday night. On the strength of three points each from Brett Berard and Jaroslav Chmelař, the Pack held on for a wild 6-5 victory over the Springfield Thunderbirds at the XL Center.
The win marked the first career victory for Grant Potulny as the Head Coach of the Wolf Pack.
Berard’s second goal of the season proved to be the game-winning goal on this night. Chmelař’s strong play along the boards paved the way to the front of the net for the rookie forward. Vadim Zherenko denied Chmelař’s hat trick bid, but a trailing Berard buried a feed from Chmelař from behind the net to make it a 6-4 game at the 10:47 mark of the third period.
Reminiscent of the battles between these foes last season, the goal-scoring was plentiful. The Thunderbirds got to work quickly off a turnover in the Hartford zone. Nikita Alexandrov walked down the right wing before beating Louis Domingue above the left shoulder for his second tally of the season, giving Springfield the early 1-0 lead at 2:01.
The Wolf Pack responded swiftly, as Brennan Othmann potted home a pinballing puck from the side of the net past Zherenko at 4:27 to knot the game at one apiece. Bo Groulx earned his first point in a Wolf Pack uniform with the primary assist on the marker.
A Thunderbirds bench minor gave the Wolf Pack their first power play of the night, giving them a chance to grab the lead. Othmann crept to the backdoor and buried a backhand pass for his second of the game at 6:31, making it 2-1.
One of Springfield’s new faces, Tarun Fizer, evened the score at 12:31 with a rifle of a shot that beat Domingue up high.
It would be Chmelař getting the last laugh of the first period however, tucking home a power play goal at 17:05 and a buzzer-beating rebound at 19:55 to give the Wolf Pack a 4-2 cushion heading into the intermission.
Adam Erne notched his first point of the year on Chmelar’s second goal, which ricocheted off Chmelař’s skate and by Zherenko seconds after the Pack’s third power play of the night expired.
The Wolf Pack continued their offensive push in the opening several minutes of the middle stanza.
Brandon Scanlin sped to the left-wing circle and buried a shot for his first of the season on a one-timer off a needle-threading cross-ice pass from Connor Mackey to make it 5-2 at 5:50.
The Thunderbirds had their answer just 37 seconds later off of the stick of rookie Dylan Peterson, who waited out a sliding Wolf Pack defender before beating Domingue by the glove to bring the score to 5-3.
Just over four minutes later, Peterson found the back of the net again for his second of the game, making it 5-4. Hugh McGing recorded his second assist of the night on the tally.
A handful of crucial penalty kills by the Wolf Pack kept them in the lead heading into the second intermission, including two separate five-on-three situations.
The first half of the final frame was a back-and-forth affair, with both sides unable to cash in on power play opportunities. Berard’s tally midway through the period proved to be enough on this net.
Rookie forward Dalibor Dvorsky made things interesting as he sniped a one-timer home just ten seconds into the Thunderbirds’ sixth powerplay, making it 6-5 at 12:32. Domingue would shut the door from there, however.
The Wolf Pack host the first game in the ‘Battle of Connecticut’ this season as the rival Bridgeport Islanders come to town for a 6:00 p.m. puck drop tomorrow night. The first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive a 2024-25 Magnetic Schedule courtesy of Pepsi!
‘Wolf Pack Pregame’ with Alex Thomas starts at 5:45 p.m. on AHLTV on FloHockey and Mixlr.
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