The Wolf Pack completed a sweep of a two-game weekend Saturday night at the XL Center, defeating the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 4-2, in both teams’ last action before the AHL All-Star break.
The Wolf Pack had knocked off the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on home ice by a 4-1 score on Friday night.
Hartford is now 18-1-0-2 at home on the season, and is currently on a 10-game win streak at the XL Center. Igor Shesterkin shined yet again in net Saturday, stopping 28 of 30 shots. Ryan Gropp’s two-goal night included the third-period game-winner.
“We played a good team game,” said Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch. “A lot of respect for our opponent tonight.”
Relentless offensive-zone pressure by the Phantoms led them to a 2-0 lead early in the game.
The first Lehigh Valley goal came from forward Max Willman at 5:39 of the first period, and it only took 31 seconds for the Phantoms to find the back of the net again, this time on a goal by winger Greg Carey.
“A lot of credit to the Phantoms,” mentioned Knoblauch. “They came out hard and wanted to win this game.”
The Wolf Pack responded with two unanswered goals of their own shortly thereafter. Phil Di Giuseppe’s shot went wide into the right-wing corner, and a charging Darren Raddysh shot the puck on net and caught Phantoms starting netminder Jean-Francois Berube by surprise, cutting the lead in half and 7:49.
Then Hartford created an offensive zone turnover, as a result of an aggressive forecheck that started with forward Ryan Dmowski. Gropp took advantage of an out of position Berube with a whistling one-timer in the slot at 10:58. Forward Shawn McBride assisted on the goal.
That ended the night for Berube, who was replaced by Alex Lyon after making two saves
Defense and goaltending highlighted the second period, as both clubs were held scoreless.
Gropp snipped the game winner at 9:01 of the third frame. Linemate Dmowski created another scoring opportunity, as he sped through the neutral zone, attracting three Phantom players towards him and freeing up the slot for a wide-open Gropp.
“I thought we were the better team the second half. Our fourth line came up huge,” noted Knoblauch.
Di Giuseppe added an empty-netter to his two-point night, sealing the win for Hartford with 7.7 left.
By Bryce Grundy
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