TWO MINUTES FOR THOUGHTS: FEBRUARY 3RD, 2022
Feb 3, 2022
If you’ve been following along on our social media channels, or on the AHL transaction wire, you’ll have seen over 100 transactions since the holiday break involving the Hartford Wolf Pack. On Tuesday night, when the New York Rangers skated to victory over the Florida Panthers, they entered the All-Star break. As a result, the taxi squad was parked, and reinforcements made the trip to Hartford.
Jonny Brodzinski, Tim Gettinger, Nils Lundkvist, Adam Húska, Tarmo Reunanen, Lauri Pajuniemi and Zac Jones have all returned to the Pack, and outside of Jones, all played a key role in Hartford’s 3-2 shootout victory over the Hershey Bears on Wednesday night. Brodzinski scored to send the game to overtime, while Gettinger tallied the shootout winner for Hartford’s fourth win in five tires. It was an impressive and important result in a couple of different ways.
Stay on Target
I’m not sure about you, but Friday night at the XL Center was arguably the most fun I have had this season. After giving up an early goal to Andrew Peski, the Wolf Pack scored three of the next four goals in the game to take a 3-2 lead into the third period. The Bruins scored twice in the final period, but Hartford got to overtime thanks to Patrick Khodorenko’s redirection on the powerplay.
Those final 40 minutes will stick with me for the rest of this season. Down to just 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies on the roster, the Wolf Pack faced a largely healthy Bruins group that had beaten them three straight times. Mike O’Leary, Aaron Luchuk, Jeff Taylor and Khodorenko all stepped up with goals in regulation, while Taylor won it in the shootout. How about his performance? Taylor hadn’t scored an AHL goal in three seasons, and potted both his first as a member of the Wolf Pack and his first career shootout goal.
The penalty kill got a huge 90 second kill at the end of overtime, with Zach Giuttari’s sliding block in the final minute saving the game. Let’s not forget the physicality of the third period either. When guys like Chris Wagner tried to bully the Wolf Pack around, the Pack simply didn’t backdown.
Saturday night was a bit of a letdown, falling 4-0 to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, but that could almost be expected after such an emotionally draining game less than 24 hours prior. The important thing is, Hartford didn’t let a loss snowball into a losing streak. The stuck to the process on Wednesday night, battled hard when things weren’t going their way, and were rewarded with a huge win against a very good Bears team.
One night, it’s the depth and secondary pieces stepping up to beat the Bruins. Two games later, it’s the top dogs stepping up to push the team over the finish line. The Wolf Pack are finding different ways to win, and that’s bad news for everyone else.
Brodzinski Chasing History
Jonny Brodzinski sniped home his team-leading 14th goal of the season on Wednesday night to tie the contest 2-2. It was perfect shot, giving Zach Fucale no chance to make a save. Brodzinski also scored in the shootout, evening the skills competition 1-1 in the first round prior to Gettinger putting it away.
With the goal, Brodzinski has now scored in seven straight contests that he has played in. That is a career best. It’s also just one game off the franchise record. As we told you last week, the franchise record for a goal scoring streak is eight games, accomplished by Ryan Callahan during the 2006-07 season. During that stretch, the future captain of the Rangers scored ten times. Currently, Brodzinski has seven goals in as many games, and could break the record this weekend.
The Wolf Pack play in Springfield tomorrow night. If Brodzinski scores in that game, he can break the franchise record on Saturday when the Phantoms return to town.
This N’ That
Speaking of history, Tim Gettinger scored his fourth shootout goal of the season in Hershey. All four goals have been winners. The franchise record for shootout goals in a season is six, done three prior times. Jeff Hamilton and Lawrence Nycholat each scored six time in 2004-05, while Adam Tambellini did it during the 2017-18 season. If Gettinger remains on the roster, he’ll have a very good chance to not only tie this record but break it as well.
Special teams were a strength of the Wolf Pack early in the season. During the month of December, and through the first three weeks of January, the Pack experienced some bumps in the road on both the powerplay and the penalty kill. There’s been some regression to the mean in both areas.
After a stretch of going 1-for-38 on the powerplay, the Pack erupted for two goals on six attempts on Wednesday. On Friday, they went two-for-five. In the last two games, Hartford has gone 0-for-5, but in the last four games they are 4-for-16. The tide is starting to turn on the advantage. The penalty kill has been even better in the last four games. The Pack have killed off nine of ten penalties taken, with the lone goal against being a freak bounce against on Friday.
Should be a fun weekend to be a Wolf Pack fan this weekend. On Friday night, the Pack heads to Springfield to take on the Thunderbirds at the MassMutual Center for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop. We’ll be in the building, and I’ll have the call for you on both AHLTV and Mixlr. We’ll be back at the XL Center on Saturday night with a special 5:00 p.m. puck drop. Join us for ‘Star Wars Night’, a postgame skate, AND a Pint Glass giveaway courtesy of our friends at Lewis Real Estate Services. Want to get in on the action? 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.