BINGHAMTON, NY – Ryan Haggerty scored two goals, and Yann Danis made 37 saves, Saturday night at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, to lead the Hartford Wolf Pack to a 4-3 win over the Binghamton Senators.
The win was the Wolf Pack’s second straight after a six-game losing streak (0-5-1-0), and lifted the 32-21-5-3 (72 pts.) Wolf Pack back into a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Hartford jumped past both Worcester and Springfield and into seventh place in the conference, one point ahead of the Falcons and two points up on the Sharks. 
Oscar Lindberg had the second-period game-winning goal for the Wolf Pack, and Chris Mueller also scored. Defensemen Conor Allen and Michael Kostka had two assists apiece. Shane Prince had a goal and an assist for the Senators, and Carter Camper had a pair of assists.
All of the offense came in the first 25:54 of the game, before Danis and Binghamton’s Scott Greenham (23 saves) were able to stem the tide.
“Small rink and two teams with a lot of speed, and both sides were going for it,” Danis said. “Obviously as a goalie, it’s maybe not what you want to see, but I’m just glad we came out on top.”
Twice the Wolf Pack fell behind in the first period, and twice they came back to tie.
Cole Schneider, an ex-UConn Husky, gave the Senators the game’s first lead at 6:58, off of a pass from Camper. Camper had a shot from the slot stopped by Danis, but the puck came right back to Camper, who sent it to Schneider on the right side for a one-timer.
The Wolf Pack leveled it at one in a delayed-penalty situation 2:36 later, at 9:34. Chris Bourque took a cross-ice pass from Joey Crabb on the right side and dropped it back to Mueller, who banged a shot past the stick side of Greenham.
Prince made it 2-1 for Binghamton on a deflection at 15:35. Camper won a faceoff back to Patrick Mullen at the right point, and Prince tipped Mullen’s shot high into the net on Danis’ stick side.
Hartford responded quickly again, though, on a power play, with Max McCormick off for tripping. Allen rushed the puck into the Senator end on the left side and centered to Haggerty driving the middle, and Haggerty was able to put a shot past the catching glove of Greenham at 17:09, just 1:34 after Prince’s goal.
Haggerty struck again at 2:59 of the second period, giving the Wolf Pack their first lead of the game. Kostka sent Haggerty down the left side with a lead pass, and Haggerty sped past Binghamton defenseman Troy Rutkowski before beating Greenham’s catching glove high.
The two teams then combined for a pair of goals in 27 seconds starting at 5:27, when Ryan Dzingel lifted the Senators back into a tie. Danis stopped a shot from high in the slot by Chris Wideman but could not control the rebound, and Dzingel jammed it into the net from the goalmouth.
Lindberg gave the Wolf Pack right back the lead at 5:54, though, on another delayed-penalty goal. Lindberg found the puck on the left-wing boards and surprised Greenham with a sharp-angle shot that went through the Senator goalie and in for a 4-3 Wolf Pack lead.
That turned out to be the difference, and Danis was particularly strong in the third period, in which Binghamton outshot the Wolf Pack 12-7.
“We definitely had to bounce back from last weekend,” Danis said, “and so far so good. We’re playing hard, and it’s never easy to win on the road. Hopefully we can get one [Sunday] and go from there.”
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