Hartford, CT, – Michael Joly scored two goals, including the game-winner, and added an assist for the Hartford Wolf Pack Saturday night at the XL Center, in a 4-3 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Marek Hrivik added three assist for the Wolf Pack, who snapped an 0-8-1-0 drought.
After a scoreless first period, Joly got the Wolf Pack on the board with his first of the game at 8:49 of the second. Hrivik passed the puck out of the right-wing corner to Joly in the slot, and Joly fired a shot over Sound Tiger goalie Eamon McAdam’s shoulder.
Shortly after killing a holding penalty that was called against Chris Brown at 10:48, Hartford scored its second goal of the game, on a sharp passing play. Hrivik started off the attack before finding Joly near the front of the cage. Joly then opted to send a cross-crease pass to Ryan Graves, who was able to deposit the puck past McAdam (25 saves) and increase the lead to 2-0.
At 3:45 of the third period, the Wolf Pack were able to add to their lead on a fast-developing play. Dan Catenacci and Taylor Beck assisted Ty Ronning, who scored his first professional goal on a shot past McAdam’s catching glove.
At the 9:07 mark, the Sound Tigers netted their first goal of the game. Michael Dal Colle and Kyle Burroughs teamed up to find Andrew Rowe, who finally beat Wolf Pack goaltender Mackenzie Skapski (27 saves) to cut the lead to 3-1.
Just 1:57 later, at 11:04, Rowe received a pass from winger Carter Verhaeghe and was credited with his second tally of the game to make the score 3-2.
Joly connected for a second time in the game with 4:29 left, after Hrivik set him up at the left side of the slot with a beautiful pass.
That would turn out to be the game-winner, as the Sound Tigers answered just 40 seconds later, at 16:11. Ryan Pulock fed a pass across the middle from right to left, and Kellen Jones buried it from 20 feet out.
The Pack, though, were able to fend off Bridgeport’s attack for the remainder of the contest to seal the 4-3 win and get their first victory since March 1.
Joly said, “What really helped was we came out as a team. We’ve been struggling for a while but tonight we showed what we’re capable of as a team.”
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