TWO MINUTES FOR THOUGHTS: JANUARY 18TH, 2024
Jan 18, 2024
2024 has the potential to be quite a fun year for the Hartford Wolf Pack. On Saturday night, 7,274 fans packed into the XL Center to watch the club storm back to defeat the Providence Bruins by a final score of 3-2 in overtime. The win snapped a brief two-game losing streak and kept the club firmly in the mix for the division’s top four.
The atmosphere at the XL Center was electric, which isn’t news anymore. It’s been that way for a while now. As the Wolf Pack slowly work their way back to full strength, an electric year could be on the horizon. Between the results on the ice and the crowd in the building, the XL Center has once again become the place to be on game nights.
Onto the blog!
1.) Saturday night’s hero was Brandon Scanlin, who scored 1:44 into overtime to give the Wolf Pack the 3-2 victory. The goal was Scanlin’s first career overtime goal and first career game-winning goal. It also gives Scanlin a career-high three-game goal-scoring streak.
It’s great to see Scanlin get the spotlight over the last few games. Since turning pro from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Scanlin has been a steady presence for the Wolf Pack on the blue line. He’s an underappreciated cog for the club and has been a key piece in the franchise’s resurgence.
Seeing players like that get rewarded is one of the best parts of sports.
2.) Mac Hollowell was another hero on Saturday night, scoring the goal that equalized the game in the third period. Hollowell’s got a career-high 26 assists and now has a career-high 28 points. He is currently working on a six-game point streak (1 g, 5 a), which is the second point streak of at least six games for him this season.
Of all the signings around the AHL this summer, Hollowell’s addition to the Wolf Pack’s defense corps is among the most impactful. What a great signing he has been by Rangers GM Chris Drury and Wolf Pack GM Ryan Martin.
3.) Roster movement happens a lot in the AHL. A team can look one way on the first of the month, and completely different two weeks later. When that roster movement happens, and it will at this level, good teams find a way to survive by having players step up.
Karl Henriksson is such a player for the Wolf Pack. He scored his sixth goal of the season on the powerplay Saturday night and centered the team’s top line. Henriksson looked good doing it, too. He was all over it at five-on-five and had an impact both on the man advantage and the penalty kill.
The second-year forward heard opportunity knock and answered the door. That’s a great sign for both Henriksson and the Wolf Pack.
4.) The Wolf Pack are now 2-7-3-0 when trailing after two periods of play following Saturday night’s comeback victory over the Bruins.
Interestingly enough, both third-period comebacks have come at the expense of the Bruins and come at the XL Center.
Remember, the Wolf Pack trailed 4-2 after two periods of play on November 22nd before storming back to win 6-4 in regulation.
5.) Is there a tougher customer in the AHL than Matt Rempe right now? You’d be in tough to find one. Rempe clearly won a fight against Rhett Garnder after a clean hit on Victor Mete last Friday night in Allentown. Then, on Saturday, Rempe took part in the fight of the season thus far against Vincent Arseneau of the Bruins.
Former Wolf Pack defenseman and current Hershey Bears captain Dylan McIlrath, who Rempe had a great fight with last year, looms large on Friday night. Will we see a rematch?
6.) Since we last spoke, there has been more roster movement for the Wolf Pack. Forward Jake Leschyshyn, who made his season debut with the Rangers last Thursday night in St. Louis, was assigned back to the Wolf Pack on Saturday night.
Forward Anton Blidh, who was recalled on Friday and made his Rangers debut on Saturday afternoon in Washington against the Capitals, was assigned to the Wolf Pack on Sunday.
Both were on the ice on Monday morning at the XL Center and are both options for the Pack on Friday night against the Bears.
7.) For those asking, the Wolf Pack’s injury report remains the same heading into this weekend’s games.
Forwards Riley Nash (week-to-week, lower-body) and Adam Edström (week-to-week, upper-body) remain with their current designations. Defensively, it’s status quo for both Ben Harpur (indefinitely, upper-body) and Zach Berzolla (week-to-week, lower-body).
8.) Wolf Pack alumni will be well represented at the NHL All-Star Game in Toronto next month. New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin will be New York’s lone representative at the game. He’ll be joined by a pair of former Wolf Pack goaltenders in Cam Talbot (Los Angeles Kings) and Alexandar Georgiev (Colorado Avalanche).
Former Wolf Pack forward J.T. Miller (Vancouver Canucks) is also heading to Toronto.
9.) There was a lot of attention paid to Friday night’s physicality between the Wolf Pack and Phantoms, and understandably so. That said that physicality and the scrums that came from it are very much a positive sign for the Wolf Pack.
This club, regardless of whether they are humming along or trying to find their way, fights for each other. They fight for each other in both a literal and figurative sense. That’s a telltale sign of a close hockey team, a team that plays for each other.
That’s what good teams do. Sometimes in hockey, you need a little bit of that.
10.) Two final transaction notes to wrap up this week’s blog. On Saturday night, defenseman Grant Gabriele was released from his professional tryout agreement (PTO). He’s been returned to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye.
Yesterday, the Wolf Pack recalled forward Tim Doherty from loan to the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones, then terminated his standard player contract. Doherty was acquired from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves for future considerations on November 22nd.
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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.