TWO MINUTES FOR THOUGHTS: FEBRUARY 23RD, 2023
Feb 23, 2023Another week has come and gone, and the Hartford Wolf Pack have played themselves right back into a playoff spot. After dropping their first three games following the All-Star break, the Wolf Pack have won three in a row and are right in the thick of the Atlantic Division playoff race.
In the four games since we last spoke, the Wolf Pack experienced a disappointing loss, two thrilling comeback victories, and a dominating performance in the ‘I-91 Rivalry’. 21 games remain in the 2022-23 season. Can Hartford return to the Calder Cup Playoffs? Their fate is in their hands.
This week, we’ll dive into the wild weekend that was, look at some Wolf Pack history, and look at ahead at the only game on the schedule this weekend.
1.) Could the last seven days have been any more of a roller coaster ride? The Wolf Pack returned home on Friday night for the latest installment of the ‘Battle of Connecticut’. Through roughly 27 minutes, things looked good. Hartford had a 2-1 lead and started to tilt the ice against an Islanders team dealing with all kinds of injuries and recalls. The final 33 minutes, however, were not kind. The Islanders scored five of the game’s final six goals and skated away with a 6-3 decision that gave the Wolf Pack their third straight regulation defeat. It was the first time all season that Hartford had dropped three straight games in regulation.
Saturday night followed a similarly disappointing path through 44:40. Despite outplaying the visiting Providence Bruins for large stretches, the Wolf Pack found themselves trailing 2-0. Bobby Trivigno turned the tide of not only the night but the entire weekend when he set up Karl Henriksson for a goal that made it 2-1. Trivigno would capitalize on a fortuitous bounce minutes later, tying the game and sending it to overtime. Just 17 seconds into the extra frame, Jonny Brodzinski completed the comeback with a dagger that beat old friend Keith Kinkaid.
Sunday was more of the same. Trailing 3-1 and then 4-2 in the third period in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Wolf Pack stormed back for a thrilling 6-4 victory. Gustav Rydahl scored twice in the third period, completing his first career AHL hat trick, while Libor Hájek scored with just two minutes remaining to give Hartford a lead. It was Hájek’s first goal in the AHL since March 1st, 2020. The comeback was fueled by five goals in the third period, the highest single-period output by the club this season.
Finally, on Wednesday, the Wolf Pack took out some frustration on the rival Springfield Thunderbirds. Lauri Pajuniemi would score his first career AHL hat trick in the win, while both Matthew Robertson and Will Cuylle also beat Joel Hofer. Quietly, Dylan Garand was terrific in picking up his tenth win of the season. He made 30 saves in the victory and calmed things down in the second period as the Thunderbirds pushed hard.
2.) Hartford’s two comeback victories were very, very impressive. Both the Bruins and Phantoms appear on playoff paths, and Hartford was able to rip four points away from them. It was the first time during the 2022-23 campaign that Hartford had won a game in which it trailed by two or more goals. They trailed by two or more goals three times in the third period in those two games, 2-0 on Saturday and both 3-1 and 4-2 on Sunday.
Those are the kinds of wins that start lengthy winning streaks, the kinds of victories that you look back on in April as a turning point. After losing three straight, those could be season-saving wins.
Not to mention, Hartford was on the brink of being eight points behind the Phantoms. Couple the comeback victory with a Wolf Pack win and Phantoms loss on Wednesday night, and Hartford is now just two points back.
3.) Gustav Rydahl and Lauri Pajuniemi became the second and third Wolf Pack players to collect hat tricks this season, joining Ryan Carpenter. It was the first career AHL hat trick for both, and they did it in back-to-back games. How rare are back-to-back hat tricks? March 30th and 31st, 2007 was the last time it happened for Hartford.
Nigel Dawes lit the lamp three times on March 30th in a 5-2 road victory at Bridgeport, while Dane Byers had three goals the very next night in a 5-4 victory over the Manchester Monarchs at the XL Center.
Rydahl’s hat trick, by the way, was just one of two on Sunday. Lehigh Valley’s Garrett Wilson also potted three goals in defeat. The last time we saw dueling hat tricks in a Wolf Pack game prior to Sunday? March 10th, 2019, when Vinni Lettieri scored three for Hartford and Devante Smith-Pelly had a hat trick for the Hershey Bears in a 5-3 Bears win at the XL Center.
4.) Last week in this space, we gave a little love to Tanner Fritz. On Sunday, Fritz collected three assists, all in the third period, in the 6-4 victory over the Phantoms. The veteran center now leads the Wolf Pack in points with 30 (4 g, 26 a) on the season, and is two assists off of his career-high of 28. Fritz scored 28 assists during the 2017-18 season as a member of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
It might not just be a career season for Fritz in terms of assists, either. He’s already locked up the fifth 30-point season of his career and is just six points behind his output of 36 points in 62 games a season ago. Fritz’s career high in points is 42, set during the 2016-17 season in Bridgeport. It’ll be close, but there is a chance he hits that number this season.
5.) The Wolf Pack’s second three-in-three of the season went very much like their first. A home loss on Friday night, followed by a home victory on Saturday night, and wrapped up with a road triumph on Sunday. The Wolf Pack went 2-1-0-0 in each of their first two three-in-threes and went 2-0-0-0 in the third and final leg. That speaks to the depth of this team.
Hartford won’t have to wait long for their third three-in-three of the season. They’ll open the month of March with road games in Springfield on the 3rd, and Bridgeport on the 4th, before returning home on March 5th to host the Charlotte Checkers. The fourth and final three-in-three of the season comes March 24th – 26th. The Pack will host the Thunderbirds on both the 24th and 25th, then visit the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on the 26th.
6.) Between this week’s column and next week’s edition, the Wolf Pack will play just one game. That comes on Saturday night in Syracuse at 7:00 p.m. It’s a chance at revenge for the Pack, because their first matchup with the Crunch did not go according to plan. After jumping out to a 1-0 lead, the Wolf Pack surrendered seven five-on-five goals and fell by a final score of 7-3. They’ll want to erase that bitter taste and get some revenge on a Crunch team that is also fighting for their playoff lives in the North Division.
The game also continues Hartford’s longest road trip of the season, a five-game trip that ends in Bridgeport on March 4th. So far, the Wolf Pack are 2-0-0-0 on this trip, defeating the Phantoms 6-4 on Sunday and the Thunderbirds 5-1 on Wednesday. As we said on the broadcast on Wednesday night, the Pack likely needs three victories from this trip to keep pace in the playoff race. Thanks to their start, they can achieve that and then some.
# # #
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.