Wolf Pack Sunk by Bears 8-1

After a tough loss in Bridgeport last night, the Hartford Wolf Pack returned to home ice on Saturday night. They hosted the Hershey Bears for the final matchup in the season series between the teams.

In a game where the Wolf Pack absolutely needed two points, the wheels fell off. Hershey's top line dominated on their way to an 8-1 decision.

B2B for BMB

A pair of Andrew Cristall goals in the opening frame gave the Bears a lead. Cristall's first tally came just 1:16 into the contest, converting on an odd-man rush with a laser past a diving Callum Tung.

Cristall doubled the lead just over the 14 minute mark in the frame. The Wolf Pack couldn't get the puck out of the zone, eventually allowing Cristall to find open ice on the backdoor. He slammed home a feed from Ilya Protas to put the visitors up by two. Hershey carried the 2-0 margin into the first intermission.

The Wolf Pack scored just 11 seconds into the second period. Scott Morrow dumped the opening draw into the Hershey zone, and Mitch Gibson went out to play it. Gibson lost sight of the puck, however, and a forechecking Aidan Thompson won a footrace to it. Thompson pushed the puck out in front, where Bryce McConnell-Barker poked it home to cut the lead in half.

The goal was McConnell-Barker's 12th of the season, as well as his second in as many nights.

However, the wheels would fall off from there for Hartford. Protas reinstated the two-goal lead just three minutes later, dancing through the defense and wiring a shot by Tung.

Kyler Kupka potted a backhand bid just over the five-minute mark to make it a three-goal margin.

The Bears scored two more goals in just 14 seconds to eventually push the lead to five. Bogdan Trineyev buried a turnover for the first tally, and Dalton Smith followed up by deflecting a feed from Matt Strome into the net. Spencer Martin would replace Tung in net after the sixth goal, and the Bears took the 6-1 lead into the second intermission.

Playing for Pride

Hershey added two more goals in the final frame. Trineyev potted his second just over the eight minute mark, while Cristall completed the hat trick eight minutes later to finalize the 8-1 decision.

"I thought the first period was a pretty even period," Wolf Pack head coach Grant Potulny told Blueshirt Banter following the game. "We made a mistake on the first [goal], and kind of got out of position on the second one, but I thought it was a pretty even period. Then we scored right away in the second period, and I thought, here we come. A couple shifts later, one of their best players made a play and it ended up snowballing on us from there."

The loss, combined with a 4-3 Springfield shootout win over Syracuse, puts the Wolf Pack 10 points back of the playoff cut line with just six games to play. The flickering flame that is their playoff hopes is on its final breath.

Despite their closing window, Potulny wants to see his team compete through the final six games of the season.

"One thing that if you lose, you can't ever get back is your pride," the Wolf Pack bench boss noted to Blueshirt Banter. "That's something that I think is gonna be the talking point going forward."

Up Next

The Wolf Pack are back in action on Friday, hosting the Providence Bruins for the final time this season. Puck drop is set for 7 pm.