Hartford, CT, – A natural hat trick by the Providence Bruins’ Samuel Asselin carried Providence to a 4-2 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack Tuesday at the XL Center.
The Wolf Pack had a 2-1 lead coming out of the first period, after Morgan Barron and Zach Giuttari scored in the first, but Asselin started his run with a power-play goal late in the second period to tie the game, and then found the net twice in the third.
Providence opened the scoring at 5:27 of the first period, on defenseman Brady Lyle’s third goal in four games. Jack Ahcan passed the puck from the left point to Lyle at the top of the right circle, and his slap shot beat Wolf Pack goaltender Dylan Garand to the glove side.
Garand, who finished with 18 saves, was making his first pro start.
The Wolf Pack tied it only 2:08 later, at 7:35, on the game’s first power play. With Alex-Olivier Voyer off for holding, Tim Gettinger took a feed from Anthony Greco at the right side of the goal mouth and handed the puck across the crease to Barron, who was easily able to put it in behind Providence netminder Dan Vladar (28 saves).
Giuttari then put Hartford ahead at 15:33, with his first pro goal. A pass from the left-wing corner by Patrick Sieloff deflected right to Giuttari at the top of the circles, and his quick shot went off the goal post on Vladar’s glove side. Giuttari stopped a Providence clearing attempt and fired again, and that shot cleanly beat Vladar for a 2-1 Wolf Pack advantage.
That lead lasted for just over a full period, until the 15:36 mark of the second, when Asselin scored on the third Providence power play of the period, tying the score at two. After Mason Geertsen was called for cross-checking at 14:53, Jakub Lauko sent the puck from the left-wing boards across the slot to Oskar Steen, and he put it perfectly on Asselin’s stick right in front of the net for the finish.
The Wolf Pack outshot the Bruins 17-5 in the third, but couldn’t solve Vladar, and Asselin scored the game-winner at 10:38, deflecting a bid from the right point by Joel Messner through Garand’s legs and in.
Asselin completed the hat trick on a power play at 13:59, with Barron serving a roughing minor. A shot from the middle of the blue line by Cooper Zech was blocked by Wolf Pack defenseman Vincent LoVerde, but the puck caromed right to Asselin in the slot, and he ripped a hard shot past the stick side of Garand.
The Wolf Pack had a two-man advantage of 1:41 later in the period, after Matt Filipe was called for slashing at 14:44 and Anton Blidh for tripping 19 seconds later, but could not cut into the Providence lead.
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