Vinni Lettieri scored with 53.9 seconds left in the third period Wednesday night at Giant Center in Hershey, PA, to give the Wolf Pack a 2-1 win over the Hershey Bears, in a battle between the two top teams in the Atlantic Division.
Hershey outshot the Wolf Pack 10-4 in the third period, and 27-15 in the game, but Adam Huska made 26 saves in the Hartford net, and Lettieri, the Wolf Pack’s leading scorer, tallied his 14th of the season for the winner.
Tim Gettinger jammed the puck off of the left-wing boards to Boo Nieves in the slot, and he spun and passed to Lettieri at the left side of the goal mouth. He took a step towards the middle and slid the puck through the legs of Hershey netminder Vitek Vanecek and into the net.
The victory was the Wolf Pack’s fifth straight, tying the club’s longest winning streak of the season, and improved Hartford’s season record to 22-8-2-5 for 51 points. Hershey lost for only the second time in its last 15 games and fell to 21-11-2-3, four points behind the Wolf Pack.
Wolf Pack were outshot 10-5 in the first, but came out of the period with a 1-0 lead.
Nieves opened the scoring for Hartford, with his eighth goal of the season, 1:34 before the end of the first frame. Matt Beleskey poked the puck down the right boards in the Hershey zone to Ryan Gropp, he backhanded a pass from near the corner across the slot to Nieves, who flicked the puck past Vanecek.
That lead lasted until the 15:59 mark of the second period, when Philippe Maillet got Hershey on the board.
Eric Burgdoerfer headed towards the right-wing corner of the Wolf Pack zone and had the puck knocked away by Vincent LoVerde. Burgdoerfer was able to regain control, though, and feed to Maillet beside the goal post to Wolf Pack netminder Adam Huska’s left. Maillet reached around the front of the net and tucked a shot just inside the opposite post.
(Photo by Caroline O’Connor/Hershey Bears/Great Save Productions)
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