Wolf Pack Outshoot Amerks 38-31 in Rochester, but Lose 4-2
Nov 17, 2017(Photo courtesy of Rochester Americans)
C.J. Smith had two goals and two assists Friday night at the Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial, to lead the Rochester Americans to a 4-2 win over the Wolf Pack.
The loss was the first in regulation in five games for the Wolf Pack, who had been 2-0-2-0 in their previous four games. Ryan Sproul had his first Wolf Pack goal, and added an assist, and fellow defenseman John Gilmour also scored for Hartford. Brendan Guhle and Hudson Fasching had the other Rochester goals, and Colin Blackwell had two assists.
“I thought any time we started to get some traction in the game and started to build that momentum and that push, we shot ourselves in the foot,” said Wolf Pack head coach Keith McCambridge. “Any time that we ended up getting ourselves some chances, a little bit of excitement and generating some opportunities, we were back on the penalty-kill again. We felt overall, against a very good team in Rochester, that we created a lot of good chances, but the poor timing on shooting ourselves in the foot with having to kill off penalties is what’s killing us.”
The Wolf Pack outshot the Americans 38-31 in the game, including a 16-5 edge in the third period.
Rochester grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period, on goals 2:21 apart by Smith and Guhle.
Smith opened the scoring at 7:09, taking a drop pass from Blackwell and unloading a shot from low in the right circle that slipped through Wolf Pack goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, who had both a Rochester attacker and Hartford defenseman Vince Pedrie near him in the goalmouth.
Then, at 9:30, Guhle fired from the right point into a screen, and Georgiev was unable to see the shot. Blackwell again got the primary assist.
The two teams then traded power-play goals in the second period. Gilmour got the Wolf Pack on the board at 5:27, just eight seconds into a Hartford man advantage. Gilmour’s pass attempt from the left point hit American defenseman Stuart Percy in front of the goal and deflected past Rochester netminder Linus Ullmark.
Smith answered that goal with his second tally of the game at 14:44, with Ryan Graves off for hooking. Smith picked up the puck along the goal line along the right-wing side and stepped into the slot, before snapping a shot inside the goal post on Georgiev’s stick side.
Despite the big shots edge in the third period, the Wolf Pack were not able to solve Ullmark again until only 28.3 seconds remained in the third. With Georgiev pulled for an extra attacker, Sproul scored for the first time in ten games with the Wolf Pack, flicking in the rebound of a Joe Whitney shot from the left side.
Any hopes the Wolf Pack had of tying the game, though, were dashed when Smith set Fasching up for an empty-net goal with 3.7 seconds showing on the clock.
The Wolf Pack now move on to Utica for a Saturday night date with the Comets. That is a 7:00 PM game, and all the action can be heard live on-line at www.979espn.com and on iHeartRadio. Video streaming is available at www.ahllive.com.
The next Wolf Pack home game is next Saturday, November 25, a 7:00 game vs. the Hershey Bears. That is a “Red Out” night at the XL Center, as the first 4,500 will receive a free red Wolf Pack t-shirt, courtesy of CT-DOT. Also, that’s the night of the Wolf Pack’s annual “Teddy Bear Toss”, presented by County Wide Mechanical Services. Fans are asked to bring soft toys to the game, to toss onto the ice when the pack score their first goal, and the toys collected will be donated to Operation ELF and Toys for Tots.
Tickets for all Wolf Pack 2017-18 home games are on sale now at the Agera Energy Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877) 522-8499.
Season ticket information for the Wolf Pack’s 2017-18 AHL season can be found on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com. To speak with a representative about all of the Wolf Pack’s many attractive ticketing options, call (855) 762-6451.
Hartford Wolf Pack 2 at Rochester Americans 4
Friday, November 17, 2017 - Blue Cross Arena
Hartford 0 1 1 - 2
Rochester 2 1 1 - 4
1st Period-1, Rochester, Smith 3 (Blackwell, Atwal), 7:09. 2, Rochester, Guhle 3 (Blackwell, Smith), 9:30. Penalties-Allen Rch (hooking), 1:50; Tambellini Hfd (slashing), 3:41; Pedrie Hfd (instigating, fighting, misconduct - instigating), 9:19; Malone Rch (boarding, fighting), 9:19.
2nd Period-3, Hartford, Gilmour 2 (Sproul, Lettieri), 5:17 (PP). 4, Rochester, Smith 4 (Percy, Nylander), 14:44 (PP). Penalties-Whitney Hfd (slashing), 0:30; Kosmachuk Hfd (roughing), 5:22; Allen Rch (slashing), 5:22; Stephens Rch (roughing), 5:22; Cracknell Hfd (double minor - high-sticking), 6:24; Nylander Rch (slashing), 9:31; Graves Hfd (hooking), 13:33; Porter Rch (tripping), 17:26.
3rd Period-5, Hartford, Sproul 2 (Schneider, Whitney), 19:31. 6, Rochester, Fasching 4 (Smith), 19:56 (EN). Penalties-Percy Rch (tripping), 0:33; Catenacci Hfd (charging, fighting), 16:32; Atwal Rch (instigating, fighting, game misconduct - instigator (last 5:00)), 16:32.
Shots on Goal-Hartford 11-11-16-38. Rochester 13-13-5-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 1 / 5; Rochester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Hartford, Georgiev 3-4-3 (30 shots-27 saves). Rochester, Ullmark 8-3-0 (38 shots-36 saves).
A-5,431
Referees-Keith Kaval (40), Jason Faist (26).
Linesmen-Michael Fusani (72), Fraser McIntyre (94).