The Springfield Thunderbirds’ Joe Diamond and Tim Bozon both scored second period goals to propel the visiting Thunderbirds to a 4-2 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack Wednesday night at the XL Center in Hartford.
Despite taking just over four minutes to record their first shot on goal, the Wolf Pack managed to land several threatening attempts on Mike McKenna’s net in the game’s opening frame. Hartford’s best opportunity came when Matt Carey feed a cross-ice pass to an unmarked Boo Nieves, but like he did nine other times, McKenna came up with the save. 
After a stretch of sloppy play, much of which took place in the neutral zone, the Thunderbirds drew first blood. Springfield defenseman Sena Acolatse sent a back-handed drive off Magnus Hellberg’s pad, and onto the waiting stick of Jared McCann, who easily deposited the puck to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage at the 14:22 mark. McCann’s tally, his second of the year, would prove to be the period’s lone score.
It did not make take long, however, for the Pack to exact their revenge. Just thirty-six seconds into the second period, rookie defenseman John Gilmour received a pass at the left point from Michael Paliotta, took a few strides in, and fired a snap-shot into the top-right corner of McKenna’s net, tying the contest at 1-1.
Following the game, the Wolf Pack’s Adam Tambellini noted, “That’s what Coach (Ken) Gernander has been big on, not sulking over goals against, and coming right back out and pushing even harder against them.”
Unfortunately for the Wolf Pack, Gilmour’s score would be their only glimmer of hope in the period, as Geordie Kinnear’s Thunderbird club would later respond with two goals of their own.
The first of those came at 13:29, when Juho Lammikko sent a high wrist-shot into a crowd of players in front of Hartford’s net. Upon entering the crowd, the puck deflected off of Diamond and trickled past a heavily screened Hellberg.
Less than four minutes later, Bozon pounced on a Hartford turnover, giving the Thunderbirds a 2-on-1 opportunity. Bozon faked a pass, instead choosing to launch a snap-shot towards Hartford’s net, which caromed off Hellberg’s catching glove and directly back to Bozon, who easily slid the puck past the Swedish netminder at 16:56.
Trailing by two scores, Gernander’s squad refused quit in the game’s final period. At the 7:04 mark, Hartford’s Michael Joly netted a breakaway attempt to bring the Pack within a goal of the lead. Chris Summers assisted on the tally, Joly’s first American Hockey League point.
As the Pack continued to bombard Springfield’s net, McKenna refused to be beaten again. Harford was finally left with no choice but to pull Hellberg, and did so with two minutes and seven seconds to play. Fifty-nine seconds later, Mike Sgarbossa sealed a Springfield victory with an empty-net goal from his own defensive zone, to make the final score 4-2 Thunderbirds.
In his post-game press conference, Gernander stated, “I liked our third (period), and during the other two, I thought we needed more energy.”
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