TWO MINUTES FOR THOUGHTS: JANUARY 19TH, 2023
Jan 19, 2023
What a night it was at the XL Center on Saturday. Over 6,100 Wolf Pack fans helped sell out the lower bowl, bringing the best atmosphere of the season for the team’s 3-1 victory over the Providence Bruins. It was a loud night in downtown Hartford that caught the team’s attention.
Take a bow, Wolf Pack fans. You helped spark a huge Atlantic Division victory for the Pack. Let’s do it again tomorrow night and Saturday night, shall we? Trust me when I tell you, the players are very much looking forward to seeing you all out at the XL Center again. Your attendance and your cheering are noticed and appreciated.
In honor of the Pack’s seven-game point streak, their longest of the season to date, we bring you a seven-point edition of ‘Two Minutes for Thoughts’.
Onto the blog!
1. Congratulations to Louis Domingue, who on Monday was named the Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week. Domingue posted a 2-1-0 record, 1.66 GAA, and .941 save percentage in three starts. He also recorded his first shutout with the Wolf Pack, a 21-save performance on January 10th in Charlotte. Domingue is the first Wolf Pack player to win the award since Nicklas Jensen won it for his performance during the week ending March 20th, 2016, during the 2015-16 season.
2. Domingue’s shutout was a big personal moment for him, but also a big moment for the Wolf Pack franchise. Their 5-0 victory in Charlotte was the moment where the Wolf Pack turned around and punched the bully tormenting them right in the face. The bully, of course, is the Charlotte Checkers and the Bojangles’ Coliseum. In 19 prior appearances in Charlotte, the Wolf Pack were just 1-16-1-1. The club had zero, yes, zero, regulation wins in that city in franchise history. Last week? Two regulation victories in a span of 24 hours. Fort Never Win? Not anymore.
3. Those two victories showed something for this club. Hartford suffered two difficult losses in Utica and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to open a four-game road trip. In Utica, the Wolf Pack lost 3-2 in the shootout after holding a 2-0 lead. The next night, it was a devastating 4-3 overtime loss after leading 3-0 late in the second period against the Penguins. The fact Hartford went on to win their next three games, two against the Checkers and one against the Providence Bruins, shows the type of buy-in and commitment there currently is in the locker room. Hartford was faced with a gut-check moment. They passed the test with flying colors.
4. Are you having fun watching Matt Rempe yet? Rempe scored another no-doubt decision in a heavy-weight tussle with J.D. Greenway in Providence on Sunday afternoon. That wasn’t all the rookie forward did, however. Rempe notched his first multi-goal game on Tuesday in Charlotte, lighting the lamp twice. On Saturday, he beat Keith Kinkaid for his first game-winning goal in professional hockey. As Rempe said Sunday pregame, he’s continuing to get more comfortable as his rookie season progresses. His move back to center, a position he played quite a bit in juniors, has also allowed him to feel more comfortable in Hartford.
5. The Pack is getting healthy. Forward Tim Gettinger is extremely close to a return to the lineup, which could come as soon as this weekend. Gustav Rydahl returned to the lineup after missing three games during the road trip, while defenseman Zac Jones didn’t miss a game after leaving last Wednesday’s 3-2 victory in Charlotte early. No update on forwards C.J. Smith or Patrick Khodorenko at this time.
6. Transaction news! Forward Ryan Carpenter was recalled to New York on Sunday but returned to Hartford on Tuesday and is expected to be an option for the Wolf Pack this weekend. Carpenter missed Sunday’s overtime loss to the Bruins. Forward Brandon Cutler has been released from his professional tryout, another indication that a return is close for Gettinger. Defensively, Hunter Skinner was reassigned to Hartford from Jacksonville by the Rangers ahead of last weekend’s games. Although he did not play in either half of the home-and-home against the Bruins, Skinner remains in Hartford.
7. Over the next nine days, the Wolf Pack will play six games. This weekend marks the first three-in-three set for the club all season, while next week sees them play three times in four days. To say it is a hectic start to the second half would be an understatement. The Pack host the Bruins tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m., then welcome the Rochester Americans to Hartford for their only visit this season on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The weekend ends in Providence at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday. Next week, it’s a midweek home game against the Bridgeport Islanders on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m., followed by another trip to Providence on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. The stretch ends on Saturday, January 28th, when the Syracuse Crunch comes to town for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.
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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.