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| Hartford's Boo Nieves shown scoring what would turn out to be the game-winning goal on a power play in the second period. |
By Matt Morin
HARTFORD–Boo
Nieves scored the game-winning goal on a second-period power play, and Chris
Nell made 21 saves Saturday night at the XL Center, as the Hartford Wolf Pack
defeated the Providence Bruins, 2-1, in front of a season-high crowd of 9,021.
Lias Andersson
also scored for the Wolf Pack, who won for the seventh time in their last eight
home games, and Peter Cehlarik had the only Providence goal.
Saturday night’s
game was a defensive battle for the first thirty minutes, with neither team
finding a way to put any pucks into the net, and the first goal of the game did
not prove to be any different. Andersson hung tough in front of the net amongst
a host of Bruins defenders and found a way to tap in a stopped shot from
Brendan Smith, to break the 0-0 tie at 10:32 of the period.
Smith said, “I
got lucky finding [Andersson] going to the net hard and was able to put him in
a good position.” Smith was credited with an assist on that goal.
Just a few
moments later, Anton Blidh was sent to the box for holding and the Hartford
power play unit, which came into the game ranked eighth in the AHL, went to
work. Off a faceoff in the Providence zone, Scott Kosmachuk found an open
Ryan Sproul at the blue line, and he took a few steps to the net and fired a
rocket towards Jordan Binnington. The Providence netminder was able to put a
shoulder on the shot, but Nieves was there to clean up the rebound and score.
Sproul’s assist extended his point streak to five games, and he now has a point
in seven of his last eight. With 6:01 left in the second period the Wolf Pack
led the Bruins, 2-0.
The job was not
done yet, though. At 7:38 of the third period, Cehlarik found a way to sneak
one past Nell to put the Bruins on the board and cut the Wolf Pack’s lead in
half. Cehlarik’s goal came on a re-direction of a shot from the left point by
Emil Johansson. Other than the goal from Cehlarik, the Pack’s defense had a
stellar performance.
An Adam
Tambellini tripping penalty with 1:14 left in regulation, and when Providence pulled Binnington it gave the P-Bruins a six-on-four advantage. However, the Pack were able to stonewall multiple Providence shot attempts
in the last game's final 70 seconds and cleared the puck to ice the game.
“I liked our back
end. I thought we played a heavy game back there,” Wolf Pack head coach Keith
McCambridge said. “Sproul and Smith, obviously lots of experience there, we
were able to get pucks back in coverage and advance them up to our forwards,
let them do their job.”
Smith thought the
Wolf Pack did a better job Saturday, compared to Friday night’s 4-2 loss to
Hershey, with, “smarter plays [and] smarter reads, and that was best for us
with the outcome.”
The Wolf Pack and
Bruins complete a home-and-home set this afternoon in Providence, with faceoff
at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center at 3:05 p.m. All of the action can be heard
live on News Radio 1410 WPOP, and on-line at www.newsradio1410.com
and iHeartRadio. Video
streaming is available at www.ahllive.com.
The Wolf Pack’s
next home game on Saturday, March 3, also vs. the P-Bruins, with faceoff at 3 p.m.
Saturday will be “Military Appreciation Day” at the XL Center, with the first
2,000 fans through the turnstiles receiving Wolf Pack “Dog Tags” presented by
Go Graphix. In addition, the Wolf Pack players will wear special
military-themed jerseys which will be auctioned off, with proceeds benefitting
military-related charities.
Tickets for all remaining
Wolf Pack 2017-18 home games are on sale now at the
Agera Energy Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877)
522-8499. Season ticket
information for the Wolf Pack’s 2017-18 AHL season can be found on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com.
To speak with a representative about all of the Wolf Pack’s ticketing options,
call (855)
762-6451.
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