Hartford, CT, March 31, 2017 – Magnus Hellberg made 20 saves Friday night at the XL Center in the Hartford Wolf Pack’s first shutout of the season, a 3-0 win over the Hershey Bears.
Michael Joly, John Gilmour and Nicklas Jensen scored the Wolf Pack goals.
Joly would net the only goal the Wolf Pack would need just 3:55 into the game. Jensen sent Joly streaking down the left side of the ice to create a one-on-one opportunity. Joly continued his hot streak, scoring his fourth goal in the last three games, just past the right pad of Hershey goaltender Pheonix Copley (24 saves).
That was the only scoring until the 14:04 mark of the second period, when Gilmour tallied his fifth of the year. The defenseman passed the puck from the right-wing boards toward Joly in the slot, and it deflected off of Hershey defender Tyler Lewington and got past Copley.
With the Wolf Pack defense continuing to stifle the Bear attack, Hershey opted to pull Copley with over three minutes remaining in the third period, but the Bears’ Chris Bourque took a tripping penalty at 17:59.
Copley was lifted again when the puck came into the Wolf Pack zone, but the Wolf Pack were able to clinch the victory with an empty-net goal by Jensen with 1:06 remaining, off of a setup pass from Chris Brown.
“It felt really good,” Hellberg said of the shutout. “Obviously, I think we played really well as a team tonight for the entire game, which is key.”
Defenseman Chris Summers echoed Hellberg’s statement when he said, “Tonight was our most complete 60-minute game. From five-on-five to special teams, it was just a full 60 minute game.”
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