Senators defeat Hartford, 5-1

Hartford, CT,  – Despite outshooting the Belleville Senators 35-28 Friday night at the XL Center, the Hartford Wolf Pack could not get those shots in the net and fell, 5-1.

The game was the first-ever meeting between the Wolf Pack and Senators, who are a new AHL franchise this year.

“We had enough chances to win the game but we didn’t put the puck in the net and it seemed like everything was bouncing their way,” said Wolf Pack forward Cole Schneider, who \had the only goal for the Wolf Pack.

Head Coach McCambridge agreed saying, “We had some decent chances, but the difference was they were able to capitalize on theirs and we weren’t.”

The game started out slowly, with some close-in shots by the Wolf Pack. Hartford goaltender Chris Nell stopped a break away by Nick Paul, but seconds later, at 4:29, Belleville’s Jack Rodewald put the visitors up 1-0, though their lead did not last long.

At 5:17 Schneider, with assists from Filip Chytil and Matt Puempel, tied it up 1-1 and scored what would turn out to be the Wolf Pack’s only goal of the night.

Chytil and Puempel had the chance to do it again shortly thereafter, but Senators goaltender Danny Taylor came up with the save.

Nell would not be as fortunate, as a long shot from the left point by Andreas Englund was deflected in by Gabriel Gagne snuck at 12:06, and the Senators led, 2-1. In addition to Englund, Max Reinhart also picked up an assist.

The second started the same as the first, though hard hits were being thrown all around and the game quickly began to get more physical. Scott Kosmachuk was sent to the box for tripping at 6:23, and the Senators took immediate advantage with Christian Jaros putting them up 3-1. Jaros was assisted by Francis Perron and Maxime Lajoie at 6:36.

At one point, the Wolf Pack stormed down the ice, taking shot after shot, and even when Taylor was caught off balance, Thomas Chabot stepped in the net and managed to stop the Pack from scoring.

The Pack had several scoring chances early the final period, from Dan DeSalvo flying down the ice to Dan Catenacci’s multiple close rebounds, but Taylor was not letting anything through.

Reinhart increase the Senators’ lead to 4-1 at 7:44, in a 4-on-4 situation. Later in the period, Ryan Graves had at least three quick shots that were all stopped by Taylor.