Wolf Pack Knock Off Thunderbirds 4-2 in I-91 Rivalry

The Hartford Wolf Pack continued their season-long eight game road trip on Sunday afternoon. After taking three out of four points in Ontario, the Wolf Pack visited the Springfield Thunderbirds for the first installment of the I-91 Rivalry this season.

The rivals played a tight matchup, but the Wolf Pack were able to pull away late in the game. Hartford drew first blood in the rivalry matchup by defeating Springfield 4-2.

Upping the Anton

For the fifth straight contest, the Wolf Pack opened the scoring. A holding call against Jack Finley initiated the first power play bid of the night. On the man advantage, Justin Dowling attempted to set up Anton Blidh on the doorstep, but Georgii Romanov made a sliding stop to deny the bid. The rebound pinballed around in the slot before Glenn Gawdin flipped it off of Blidh and over a prostrate Romanov to give the Wolf Pack the game's first lead.

The goal was Blidh's fourth of the season, as well as his third in the last two games. Gawdin recorded his team-leading 11th point of the campaign and extended his point streak to six games; he has recorded eight points (1 G, 7 A) in that span.

However, the Thunderbirds would immediately find a response. During a scrum in front of the Hartford net, Chris Wagner was able to lift a shot over the outstretched arm of Spencer Martin to tie the game at one six seconds after Blidh's icebreaker.

Late in the frame, Jaroslav Chmelař was whistled for roughing, giving the T-Birds their first power play bid of the night. However, they couldn't score before time expired in the stanza, sending the game to the first intermission with the score knotted at one.

From Under the Greentree

The Wolf Pack got the early penalty kill, and killed another penalty after Ethan Frisch took a hooking call.

About 12 minutes into the frame, Quinton Burns was whistled for high-sticking, giving the Wolf Pack their second power play bid of the night. They cashed in again, with Liam Greentree calling the corner pocket off a feed from Marc Del Gaizo to reinstate the Hartford lead.

The goal was Greentree's team-leading fifth of the campaign, while Del Gaizo recorded his 100th AHL assist and Dowling notched his second point of the night with the secondary helper.

"[Assistant coach] John Stevens has done a really good job just giving us a blueprint and then trusting us to take what's given and play off our instincts," Del Gaizo told Blueshirt Banter when asked about the power play's success following the game. "We're all unselfish, we all want to score for the team. Those are the best kind of power plays."

The Wolf Pack ultimately carried the 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

That's On Gawd

The teams traded power play chances early in the frame, but neither could find the twine. That would change 8:31 into the final stanza. Brody Lamb took a tripping penalty, and Nathan Walker immediately tying the game by sneaking a shot by the outstretched pad of Martin.

However, the Wolf Pack would break the tie again, this time for good, just over a minute later. Chmelař forechecked hard and won a puck battle before throwing a centering feed towards the crease. Romanov got a pad on it, but the puck popped right to Gawdin in the slot. Gawdin lifted a backhander over the blocker of the Springfield netminder to put the Wolf Pack back in front, this time for good.

The goal was Gawdin's third of the season, as well as his team-leading 12th point. Gawdin now has 12 points through 12 games for the Wolf Pack.

Springfield pushed late, lifting Romanov for the extra attacker, but Pärssinen nailed the vacant cage to cement the 4-2 victory for the Wolf Pack.

"It was a battle," Wolf Pack head coach Jay Leach told Blueshirt Banter following the game. "I thought both teams actually played a pretty good game, was entertaining. We had some mistakes where Marty was able to bail us out, but we had some resolve."

Leach was complimentary of his team early in the season, noting that they were building their game despite some tough losses. It's still early, but you can already see the Wolf Pack starting to get some better results.

"Guys have done a nice job of buying in, and we've certainly been working at it for a while now," Leach said to Blueshirt Banter. "It's nice to get rewarded here the last few games."

The Wolf Pack are halfway through their eight game road trip, posting a record of 2-1-1-0 with five of a possible eight points.

"This road trip coming up is gonna be a tall task," Leach noted following the game. "We're gonna need to roll four lines plus, roll six D plus. We'll really need that depth and we'll need everybody."

Up Next

The Wolf Pack continue their road trip on Wednesday, visiting the Hershey Bears for the first time this season. Puck drop is set for 7 pm.