Glens Falls, NY, January 26, 2014 – Jesper Fast had his second straight two-goal game, and J.T. Miller had three assists, Sunday at the Glens Falls Civic Center, as the Hartford Wolf Pack scored the last five goals of the game after falling behind 3-1, and defeated the Adirondack Phantoms by a score of 6-3.
Hartford trailed 3-2 going into the third period, but got goals from Kyle Beach and Fast to move into the lead, and Danny Syvret and Dylan McIlrath both scored empty-netters.
“It was a big come-from-behind win,” Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander said. “We started the season as a third-period kind of team, and as of late we’ve been having to play a lot of catch-up, but today we were actually able to tie the game, and then win it, in the third. So it was a good character win for our guys.”
Marek Hrivik scored a late-second period goal to bring the Wolf Pack to within 3-2, Hartford’s second power-play goal in two opportunities. Aaron Johnson made a slap pass from the left point through to Hrivik at the opposite post, and Hrivik put a quick shot past Adirondack goaltender Cal Heeter (23 saves) with 1:39 left in the second.
Beach then tied it at 5:11 of the third period, with his first goal in 17 games since joining the Wolf Pack. Heeter stopped Micheal Haley’s shot from the right side of the slot, but the rebound came right to Beach at the hash marks, and he was able to slap it under Heeter’s pads.
The tie lasted until the 15:19 mark, when Fast capped off a great shift with linemates Miller and Ryan Bourque by scoring his fifth goal in the last three games. Bourque had a shot blocked, but Fast grabbed the rebound at the right side of the slot. He carried across the top of the goalmouth and knifed a hard backhand that Heeter got a big piece of but could not keep out of the net.
Adirondack got a power play at 17:08 on a cross-checking call against McIlrath, but after the Phantoms pulled Heeter, Syvret hit the empty net at 18:28, after slapping the puck away from the front of his own goal and all the way down the ice.
The Phantoms went with an extra attacker again later in the power play, but it backfired once more, as Miller found McIlrath coming out of the penalty box with a pass, and McIlrath had an unimpeded path to the open net for a goal at 19:15.
Adirondack jumped on top on the game’s first shot, just 42 seconds in. Ben Holmstrom fed the puck from the middle of the ice, just inside the Wolf Pack line, to Tye McGinn, who broke down right wing and got around McIlrath, before snapping a shot into the net past Dov Grumet-Morris’ catching glove.
That early goal was the first of two in the game for McGinn.
Phantom leading scorer Jason Akeson made it a 2-0 Adirondack at 12:12, with his 15th of the season. Marc-Andre Bourdon’s shot from the left side hit traffic in front of the net and deflected right to Akeson at the bottom of the right circle. Grumet-Morris (26 saves) was down, and had no chance to stop Akeson’s shot into the top shelf.
The Wolf Pack got a quick start in the second period, scoring 26 seconds in on a power play that carried over from the first. Miller fed a pass from the right-wing side to Fast in the left circle, and Fast one-timed it, while on the move, through Heeter from just above the faceoff dot.
McGinn would restore the two-goal lead, however, at 8:39, off of a perfect cross-slot pass from Brandon Manning. An attempted breakout pass got through Fast along the boards, and Manning sent the puck from the right point to McGinn in the left circle, and McGinn’s high shot found the net on Grumet-Morris’ stick side.
The Wolf Pack and Phantoms rematch at the XL Center this Wednesday, January 29, with faceoff at 7:00 PM. That's a Wolf Pack "Winning Wednesday", meaning that if the Wolf Pack win, each fan can get a free ticket to the next Wolf Pack home game, which is this Friday night, January 31 against the Providence Bruins.
Tickets for all Wolf Pack 2013-14 home games are on sale now at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877) 522-8499. Wolf Pack tickets start as low as $12 for youth 12 years old or younger. To speak with a representative about season or group tickets, call (855) 762-6451.
Hartford Wolf Pack 6 at Adirondack Phantoms 3
Sunday, January 26, 2014 – Glens Falls Civic Center
Hartford 0 2 4 – 6
Adirondack 2 1 0 – 3
1st Period-1, Adirondack, McGinn 9 (Holmstrom, Newbury), 0:42. 2, Adirondack, Akeson 15 (Bourdon, Straka), 12:12. Penalties-Miller Hfd (fighting), 8:34; Manning Adk (fighting), 8:34; McIlrath Hfd (roughing), 12:34; Haley Hfd (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct – abuse of officials), 15:28; Lindberg Hfd (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:28; Vaive Hfd (misconduct – continuing altercation), 18:39; Bourdon Adk (misconduct – continuing altercation), 18:39; Delisle Adk (roughing), 18:39.
2nd Period-3, Hartford, Fast 7 (Miller, Syvret), 0:26 (PP). 4, Adirondack, McGinn 10 (Manning), 8:39. 5, Hartford, Hrivik 5 (Johnson, Hensick), 18:21 (PP). Penalties-Yogan Hfd (tripping), 5:04; Newbury Adk (tripping), 16:58.
3rd Period-6, Hartford, Beach 5 (Haley, Lindberg), 5:11. 7, Hartford, Fast 8 (Bourque, Miller), 15:19. 8, Hartford, Syvret 4 18:28 (SH EN). 9, Hartford, McIlrath 4 (Miller), 19:15 (EN). Penalties-McIlrath Hfd (cross-checking), 17:08; Syvret Hfd (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:28; Newbury Adk (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:28.
Shots on Goal-Hartford 8-9-12-29. Adirondack 8-9-12-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 2 / 2; Adirondack 0 / 4.
Goalies-Hartford, Grumet-Morris 5-10-4 (29 shots-26 saves). Adirondack, Heeter 14-14-0 (27 shots-23 saves).
A-3,154
Referees-Geno Binda (22).
Linesmen-Mike Emanatian (69), Steeve Lemay (64).
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