ELSON, CARPENTER EXTEND POINT STREAKS, BUT WOLF PACK FALL TO ISLANDERS 6-2
Jan 25, 2023HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack hosted a midweek matchup with the Bridgeport Islanders on Wednesday night. The Pack couldn’t hold off an early Islander blitz in the sixth installment of the ‘Battle of Connecticut’, as Bridgeport used three early goals to cruise to a 6-2 victory.
Paul Thompson scored the deciding goal for the Islanders early in the first period. With Karl Henriksson in the box for tripping, Thompson took a pass from Paul LaDue and snuck the puck through the five-hole of Dylan Garand to put the Islanders up 3-0. Thompson’s goal stood as the game-winner on this night, his second game-winning tally against the Wolf Pack on the season.
The Islanders came out firing, scoring three goals in the game’s first eight minutes. Otto Koivula opened the flurry just a minute and a half into the game. Thompson sent a pass from behind the Wolf Pack net to Koivula, who promptly fired a shot past the glove of Garand to give the Isles a lead they would not surrender.
Andy Andreoff added to the lead two and a half minutes later, tipping a shot from Ruslan Iskhakov past Garand for his team-leading 20th goal of the campaign.
Thompson lit the lamp at 7:28, putting the game out of reach for good.
At that point, Garand was lifted from the game and replaced by Louis Domingue in the Wolf Pack goal. Garand made five saves on eight shots.
Bridgeport stayed hot to begin the middle stanza. Chris Terry pushed the lead to four, taking a pass from Andreoff and flipping it over the glove of Domingue just under a minute and a half into the period. The goal marked Terry’s first point of an eventual three-point night.
Just over three minutes later, Vincent Sevigny would give Bridgeport their largest lead of the night. Terry sent a cross-ice pass to Sevigny, who promptly buried the puck into the Hartford net to push the lead to five.
Turner Elson would get the Wolf Pack on the board, grabbing a rebound from a Zach Giuttari shot and pushing it past Jakub Skarek. The goal gave Elson his team-leading 24th point of the season, and extended his point streak to five games, his longest streak of the campaign.
The Pack cut the lead to three midway through the final stanza, as Sammy Blais scored a powerplay goal, his first AHL goal since February 9th, 2019. Blais took a pass from Ryan Carpenter behind the Bridgeport net, powered his way into the slot, and fired a shot that Skarek couldn’t stop.
The assist extended Carpenter’s point streak to six games. Carpenter has recorded 17 points in 19 games since being assigned to Hartford by the New York Rangers on December 9th, 2022. His six-game point streak is the longest by a Wolf Pack player this year.
Terry would record his final point of the night with an empty net goal scored shorthanded at 15:40. Bridgeport would hang on for the final five minutes, earning a 6-2 victory, their first in Hartford this season.
The Wolf Pack hit the road for a matchup with the Providence Bruins, their fifth and final matchup this month, on Friday, January 27th. The puck drop is set for 7:05 pm. The Pack return to the XL Center on Saturday, January 28th, hosting the Syracuse Crunch for the first time this season. Join us for New York Rangers night featuring special guest Stéphane Matteau! The puck drop is set for 7:00 pm; tickets are available at www.hartfordwolfpack.com.
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ABOUT THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK: The Hartford Wolf Pack has been a premier franchise in the American Hockey League since the team’s inception in 1997. The Wolf Pack are the top player-development affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and play at the XL Center. The Wolf Pack has been home to some of the Rangers newest faces including Igor Shesterkin, Filip Chytil, and Ryan Lindgren. Follow the Wolf Pack on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.