TWO MINUTES FOR THOUGHTS: APRIL 6TH, 2022
Apr 6, 2022
There are just nine games remaining in the 2021-22 AHL regular season for the Hartford Wolf Pack. Each and every one of those games is going to matter. The Wolf Pack took to the air on Wednesday for the first time this season, flying down to Charlotte for the second leg of their seven-game road trip. The Pack will meet the Charlotte Checkers on Thursday night, Friday night, and Sunday afternoon before jetting off to Canada for the final three games of this road trip.
Hartford heads to North Carolina with a record of 29-26-6-2, good for 66 points and a points percentage of .524. Currently, the Pack sit fifth in the Atlantic Division. That could change by the time they take the ice in Charlotte tomorrow night.
Getting Back on Track
Everyone goes through adversity. Right now, the Wolf Pack are dealing with that. Hartford is just 2-10-1-0 in their last 13 games. It’s by far the club’s worst stretch of the season. Hartford’s 4-3 overtime loss against the Providence Bruins on Monday night was the club’s fifth straight. It’s the first time since March of 2020 that Hartford has dealt with a losing streak of this length.
Both the powerplay, just 1-for-18 with two shorthanded goals allowed over the last five games, and the penalty kill, which has killed only 13 of 24 shorthanded situations over the past seven games, have struggled mightily. Over the last eight outings, in which the Wolf Pack are 1-6-1-0, the club has been outscored by a 37-20 margin.
Those numbers may not paint a pretty picture, but this situation is not all doom-and-gloom. In fact, there are real signs that the Pack are actually playing their way back on track as they head to Charlotte.
At five-on-five against the Bruins, Hartford was the better team. Special teams plagued Hartford in this game, as the club surrendered both a shorthanded and powerplay goal. They also didn’t get the bounces. In the third period, Tanner Fritz’s shot while shorthanded trickled through the five-hole of Troy Grosenick. The veteran goaltender, without a shred of clue where the puck was, inadvertently kicked it away from danger. Seconds later, the Bruins went ahead 3-2 on Jesper Froden’s powerplay goal.
In overtime, Zac Jones does his job by blocking a shot, but the blade of his skate is knocked loose, and he is rendered immobile. The Bruins scored the winner on a de facto three-on-two-and-a-half.
Craig MacTavish, a longtime NHL player who was a teammate of Wolf Pack assistant coach Steve Smith and a former head coach in the NHL, once said that teams tend to lose games at the end of losing streaks in which they played well enough to win. On the other end, teams tend to win games at the end of winning streaks that they probably didn’t deserve.
The Wolf Pack likely deserved a better fate on Monday night in Rhode Island. Moral victories don’t mean much, especially when considering what is at stake right now, but the Wolf Pack showed real signs of the strong team game that has them in playoff position. It could be a fun final three weeks if that was a sign of things to come.
The Road Ahead
As things stand as of this writing, Hartford’s magic number to clinch their first Calder Cup Playoff berth since 2015 is 17. The final nine games will not be easy, however. Only two of Hartford’s final nine games are against teams currently outside the playoff cutline. Both games, against the Belleville Senators and Bridgeport Islanders, are on the road against teams still very much in the running for a playoff spot. Seven of the final nine will be away from the XL Center.
The Wolf Pack will play the Checkers four times in this stretch drive. The three games in Charlotte on Thursday, Friday and Sunday kick that stretch off, while the final meeting comes in Hartford on April 22nd. The Wolf Pack will also visit the Senators on April 13th, the Toronto Marlies on April 15th, the Rochester Americans on April 16th, and the Islanders on the 23rd.
The season concludes on April 24th, with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in town. The games on the 23rd and 24th against the Islanders and Penguins, the two teams chasing Hartford, could determine this season’s outcome.
Of course, the out-of-town scoreboard is vitally important these days. Wolf Pack fans will be rooting for the Springfield Thunderbirds, Syracuse Crunch, and Bruins this weekend. The T-Birds will play two games in Hershey against the Bears, the team directly ahead of the Wolf Pack. The Bruins, meanwhile, can do the Wolf Pack a big favor in their home-and-home against the Islanders. The Crunch will host the Penguins on Saturday night. That is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s only game this weekend.
Enjoy it, Wolf Pack fans. This is the most fun time of the year. The Wolf Pack are still firmly in control of their own destiny, which is really all you can ask for.
This N’ That
Bobby Trivigno took no time to announce his presence in professional hockey. After signing an entry-level contract with the Rangers last Friday, Trivigno made his way to Hartford and signed an ATO with the Wolf Pack on Saturday morning. On Saturday night, he made his professional debut in Hartford’s 8-5 loss to the Crunch. Trivigno was a bright spot in the loss, collecting two assists. His first point as a professional, a nifty assist to Hunter Skinner, was a perfect pass off the wall. His second assist, a backhand pass to Nick Merkley, was a prime example of the hockey sense that Trivigno possesses.
We’ve also seen Trivigno get some looks on the Wolf Pack powerplay in the early days of his professional career. The early returns are strong, and it stands to reason that Trivigno will play a big role down the stretch.
Of course, Trivigno isn’t the first member of his family to play professional hockey. His sister Dana, who was a captain at Boston College, has played professionally in the NWHL (Connecticut Whale, Boston Pride), PWHPA, and PHF (Buffalo Beauts).
Speaking of family notes, the Brodzinski family might be the most invested family in the Wolf Pack. Jonny Brodzinski, Wolf Pack captain, leads the team in goals with 18 this season and is currently with the parent New York Rangers. Michael Brodzinski played three games with the Pack on a PTO earlier this season. On Saturday, Easton Brodzinski signed a PTO with the Pack after completing his college career at St. Cloud State.
When Easton appears in a game, it’ll mark the first-time in Wolf Pack history that three brothers play for the club in the same season. Stick taps to Gerry Cantlon for that tidbit!
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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.