Hartford, CT, March 24, 2017 – Taylor Beck scored the lone goal for the Hartford Wolf Pack Friday night at the XL Center, and Magnus Hellberg finished with a team season-high 46 saves, but the Providence Bruins’ three goals proved to be too much to overcome.
The first half of the first period between the Pack and Bruins was a defensive battle, as both teams combined for a total of eight shots.
Hartford had a quality chance early, as Michael Joly collected a loose puck behind Providence’s goal and dished it to a streaking Adam Chapie. Bruin goaltender Zane McIntyre, however, was up to the challenge and denied Chapie to keep the game scoreless.
With 5:25 remaining in the period, Dan Catenacci wristed the puck toward the Providence net from the right side and Beck, headed toward the goal, had it go into the net off of one of his skates for a 1-0 Hartford lead.
That edge held up until only 25.4 seconds remained in the period. That is when Providence’s Anton Blidh poked the puck past Hellberg from in the goal mouth, off of assists from Danton Heinen and Sean Kuraly, to even the score at one headed into the second.
The Bruins started off the second period hot and applied a lot of pressure on Hellberg and the Wolf Pack defense. Hartford head coach Ken Gernander’s team demonstrated some tough play, blocking several shots to keep the game level.
Finally, Providence managed to claim their first lead of the contest at 6:45, after Peter Mueller ripped a slap shot from just inside the blue line that beat Hellberg to the glove side and made the score 2-1.
The Bruins then added an insurance goal at 8:36 of the third period. From the left-wing corner, Colton Hargrove fed a pass to Colby Cave, who was able to corral the puck in front of the net and fire a backhand shot that beat Hellberg.
After the game, Hellberg, who was seeing his first action since March 5, noted, “I was excited to get back in there and try to help the team win. It was a tough one, obviously. They were better than us tonight.”
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