Brandon Halverson made 39 saves and went 3-for-3 in the shootout Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, PA, as the Wolf Pack pulled out a 3-2 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Bobby Butler had the only goal of the shootout, and Drew Melanson scored his first career AHL goal for the Wolf Pack. Ryan Gropp had the other Hartford goal, and Sean Day had two assists. Joseph Cramarossa and Ethan Prow scored the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goals, and Tristan Jarry made 27 saves.
(Photo courtesy of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins)
“I thought the group worked really hard, habits were good, played on the right side of the puck,” Wolf Pack head coach Keith McCambridge said. “I thought [Halverson] did a real good job in the overtime. I thought the third period, when they got momentum, he held the fort. He did a good job for us.”
The Wolf Pack outshot the Penguins 13-8 in the first period, but the home side got the only goal, an unassisted effort by Cramarossa at 14:14. Cramarossa jammed the puck to the Wolf Pack blue line, and then was able to work it away from Ryan Lindgren on the left side. Cramarossa then made a move to the middle in front of the Hartford net and slipped a backhander past Halverson.
Hartford got the next two, tying it early in the second, at 4:31. Butler was able to pressure the puck loose in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton zone, and he passed out of the left-wing corner to Day at the point. He fired a shot that hit Melanson, who was tied up with Penguin defenseman Jeff Taylor to the right of Jarry, and deflected into the net.
The Wolf Pack then took their first lead of the game just over four minutes later, at 8:47, just 12 seconds after Taylor was called for slashing. Day fed a pass from high in the slot to Gropp on the right side, and his shot from below the faceoff dot went through a Tim Gettinger screen and past Jarry.
That lead lasted for nearly a full period, but penalty troubles caught up to the Wolf Pack in the third. Calls three seconds apart, on Vinni Lettieri for slashing at 7:24 and Darren Raddysh for high-sticking at 7:27, gave Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a two-man advantage for 1:57, and the Penguins capitalized at 7:53.
Adam Johnson sent the puck from the right point to Prow, just below the left point, and his one-timer got by Halverson on the stick side.
That was it for the scoring in regulation, and both Lettieri and John Gilmour had breakaways in the overtime, but Jarry stopped both. Halverson had six saves in the OT.
In the shootout, after Halverson denied Johnson on the Penguins’ first attempt, Butler put a forehand shot past Jarry’s stick side. That turned out to be the winner, as Halverson also made saves on Prow and Cramarossa, earning the Wolf Pack the victory.
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