CANTLON: PACK CLAMP DOWN ON THE BRUINS WIN 3-1 

CANTLON: Pack Clamp Down on the Bruins Win 3-1

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BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Strong team defense, opportunistic scoring, and timely goaltending combined to give the Hartford Wolf Pack a solid 3-1 victory over the visiting Providence Bruins. The win for the Wolf Pack gave the two teams a split of the weekend’s home-and-home series.

“We’ve put together a good block of games of late, and to keep Providence to 17 shots showed we had real good awareness with, and without, the puck. The forwards and D got into the shot lanes very well and kept the front of the net clear,” Pack head coach, Keith McCambridge, said of his team now 21-20-4-3 record (49 points).

The Pack still trails the Bridgeport Sound Tigers by three points and the two will hook up Wednesday morning at 11 am for the annual Edu-skate game.

After Friday night’s poor defensive effort where the Pack gave up 50 shots in Providence (26-16-3-1), Saturday was different with, to a man, everybody pulled some extra weight for their goaltender, Alex Georgiev.

“We got a point last night because of him,” said Steven Fogarty. “Georgy has been playing so well of late. We wanted to give him a break tonight.”

The third period the Pack squeezed Providence making the ice seem like a highway traffic jam. There was no room for Providence to move. They were held to just five shots with the Pack having to grind out the game, particularly late. The Pack were getting pucks deep and then winning the one-on-one battles.  Forward Lias Andersson, still not a 100% physically, gave a magnificent effort banging bodies on the forecheck.

“I’m learning every day, focusing on the defense,” Andersson said. “I still have shoulder problems. I’m not perfect now, but its only two weeks here. I’m just trying to get stronger every day and helping the team win.”

Andersson was the New York Rangers’ first-round pick (7^th overall) last June.

The team defense, particularly all six defensemen, were strong on the puck in their zone and the back pressure support from the forwards was strong.

“The speed and pace were good and we a strong job at clogging up the neutral ice. We had good numbers with our people around the puck to control it and not allow a secondary option for (Providence) to pass.” McCambridge said.

The Bruins came out with an early push in the second period and narrowed the lead to 2-1.

Anton Blidh was deep in the Pack zone and sent the puck over to former Yale defenseman Rob O’Gara. He made a short-side shot attempt that missed and went right off the backboards to the stick of Colton Hargrove who was on the left wing side and he easily deposited his tenth goal of the season into the net at 1:55.

The Wolf Pack restored their two-goal lead when Scott Kosmachuk and Ryan Gropp broke in on a two-on-one from the neutral zone. Kosmachuk smartly went wide leaving former Quinnipiac University Bobcat defenseman, Connor Clifton on the ice making snow angels, Kosmachuk fired the puck across to Gropp with the Bruins’ Hargrove vainly trying to get back to close the gap. Gropp deftly redirected the pass for his ninth goal of the season at 4:33.

The Pack chipped in some quality defensive play as Fogarty, wearing number 19 for the Pack following a turnover, hustled back on the Bruins number 19, Ryan Fitzgerald. With a diving play, he hit the puck off his stick and to the right-wing corner at 14:05.

“Great effort, and solid stick work by Fogs. That’s what we have had from him all season,” McCambridge said while smiling a seal of approval that the play was noticed.

The Wolf Pack broke through while killing off their first penalty after two unsuccessful power-plays.

Fogarty broke up a play at the blue line as the P-Bruins Peter Cehlarik lost his footing. Fogarty went in alone but had Jeremy Lauzon harassing him from behind. He made a backhand-to-forehand move for his second shorthanded goal of the year sixth past Zane McIntyre at 12:35.

“I got a lucky bounce and we wanted to get the first one tonight. I think he thought I was gonna get hooked on the play and kinda lunged forward and I was able to get it by him,” said Fogarty.

McCambridge really appreciates Fogarty’s work on the PK.

“That’s such a big part of his game, his penalty killing skills. He’s been solid all season in that area and you see from practice-to-games he got rewarded for his efforts.”

The Pack got an important late goal in the period to build a 2-0 lead going into the intermission. Filip Chytil was able to spot Vinni Lettieri and sent a short pass from the Pack zone that he one-touched to Cole Schneider. Heading down the left wing, Schneider snapped a good hard shot from a deep angle on McIntyre. He made the initial save, but the rebound was in front where Lettieri swooped to bury his 14^th of the season at 18:41.

“I was kinda lucky. The puck came right to me and I was able to put it between his legs. I do better than with those long shots when I hit the post (from 180 feet away),” Lettieri said while laughing speaking of his open net bid with about 30 seconds remaining in the game.

He also lost the puck on a breakaway in the third coming down that the last minute right wing when a Boo Nieves chip off the wall sent him in the clear.

“The play just hopped over my stick. Boo sent a perfect pass. The puck kinda exploded on me. I was trying to calm it down with my stick and going to make a move. Nothing you can do about it or get mad at yourself about, it’s one of those hockey plays.”

NOTES:

Lettieri was recalled by the Rangers after the game with Director of Player Development Jed Ortmeyer in the house.

Pack defense combination of Ryan Sproul and Vince Pedrie were a plus-3 each and all six defensemen were strong in their own end.

PACK SCRATCHES:

Dawson Leedahl (Flu- third straight game out)

Marek Mazanec (groin – day-to-day)

Shawn O’Donnell (facial fracture, 5-6 weeks)

Eric Selleck (healthy)

Joe Whitney (healthy, 5^th game in a row for the team captain)

Sproul returned from the injured list last night in Providence.

WOLF PACK LINES:

Nieves-Kosmachuk-Tambellini
Andersson-Gropp-Chapie
Chytil-Lettieri-Schneider
Fogarty-Fontaine-Catenacci

Pionk-Crawley
Gilmour-Graves
Sproul-Pedrie

The Pack three assistant captains for the game were Ryan Graves, Cole Schneider, and Steven Fogarty.

The Pack wore Olympic-themed special jerseys for the game. They were a very dark blue with antique ivory shoulder markings.

The international press was in attendance. Johan Rylander of the Goteborg-Posten in Sweden who covers the Swedish Hockey League team Frolunda HC Indians where Lias Andersson played before coming to the Wolf Pack.

They’re here this week doing a feature on Andersson and Anton Blidh of Providence another Frolunda grad. They were also in New York interviewing Henrik Lundqvist, another Frolunda alumnist.

Back home, Andersson wore the number 24. His father, Niklas Anderson, was also number 24. He played in the NHL with the New York Islanders, Quebec Nordiques, and San Jose Sharks. The junior Andersson wore the number until the team retired it to honor his father. Lias switched to number 61 to honor his father’s longtime teammate and his favorite Finnish player, Tomi Kallio who wore 71, but he felt he couldn’t take 71, so he wore 61 instead.

Kallio is still playing at age 41 for TPS Turku in the Finnish Elite League. He’s their captain and has 46 points in 50 games. He was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche but only played two seasons plus five games with the Atlanta Thrashers and with the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets before returning to Europe in 2003.

His uncle Mikael played for the Whalers and is a European scout for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

73 players have been drafted from the program by the NHL over the years. This year the expected #1 overall pick, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, plays for the program. Former Wolf Pack players, goalie Magnus Hellberg, and Carl Klingberg also played there.

Frolunda HC was established in 1944 and their home building seats 12,044.

The team nickname of “Indians” reflects that Goteborg is in the western part of Sweden. It was considered their Wild West, so they took the name to honor the area.

Thanks to Johan for all this great info.

Former Wolf Pack and Ranger, Jan Hlavac, is also 41 years old and he has signed a deal with HC Vrchlabi (Czech Republic Division-3) playing for his brother Petr, the head coach of the team for the last three years.

Jeremy Williams, the former CT Whale, has signed a contract extension for next season to play for EHC Straubing (Germany-DEL) in 2018-19 and then was loaned out for the rest of the year to Orebro HK (Sweden-SHL).

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