SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Springfield Thunderbirds (29-23-2-0) returned home and scored the final four goals unanswered en route to a 4-1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack (29-14-5-5) on Friday night inside the MassMutual Center before a crowd of over 6,000 fans. The win is Springfield’s third in a row.
Hartford would do its best to quiet the Thunderdome faithful just 3:55 into the first as Steven Fogarty went down the gut of the T-Birds defense before slipping a pass to Ryan Gropp on the doorstep, who beat Philippe Desrosiers to give the Wolf Pack a 1-0 lead. It was the sixth straight game that saw Springfield trailing by a 1-0 score.
After being outshot 8-3 in the opening minutes, the T-Birds rebounded to tally seven of the final 11 shots of the period. With less than four minutes to play in the first, the offense connected when Jack Rodewald poked a rebound near the crease and past J-F Berube to tie the score at 16:45. Will Lochead took the initial shot from the right point that careened into the paint, where Rodewald finished it off.
Just two minutes later, Thunderbirds captain Paul Thompson crashed the center lane to redirect a Daniel Audette pass into the back of the net to end a personal 14-game goal drought and give Springfield a 2-1 lead at 18:45 of the first. T-Birds debutant Danick Martel started the play with a perfect backhand stretch feed over the left wing side, where Audette outraced a defender to the loose puck before spotting Thompson just outside the crease.
Springfield had the decided edge in play in the second period, including a 12-7 advantage on the shot counter, but it would take the T-Birds until the final two minutes of the period to get an insurance goal. Aleksi Heponiemi cashed in for his second of the season after he stationed himself near the blue paint to bat an Ethan Prow rebound into the back of the net from mid-air. That tally at 18:28 of the period put the T-Birds ahead, 3-1, heading into the final frame.
The Wolf Pack threw a bevy of shot attempts at the net of Desrosiers in the third, but the Springfield netminder was sturdy in knocking each attempt away from danger. Martel ended his debut game with Springfield in grand fashion, hitting an empty net with just 1:26 left on the clock to put the finishing touches on a two-point night.
Winners of three straight, the T-Birds now sit just two points back of playoff position and four points back of third-place Providence, with the Bruins and T-Birds squaring off on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. inside the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.