PROVIDENCE, RI – The Hartford Wolf Pack used a three-goal first period to gain a lead they never lost on Sunday afternoon. The final result was a 5-2 victory over the Providence Bruins at the Amica Mutual Pavilion, the club’s second in a row.
For the second straight game, the Wolf Pack broke the ice.
Dylan Garand flung a puck to the blue line that snuck by a defenseman and was collected by Trey Fix-Wolansky. Fix-Wolansky rushed in on the left-wing side and snapped a shot that Michael DiPietro denied. Fix-Wolansky corralled the rebound and stuffed it by DiPietro at 4:03 to make it 1-0.
Garand’s assist was his third of the season, while Fix-Wolansky’s goal was his team-leading 17th.
Case McCarthy helped extend the lead to 2-0 at 11:35 when he fired a shot into traffic. The shot created chaos in front that ended when Dylan Roobroeck batted a rebound from mid-air into the net. The goal was Roobroeck’s ninth of the season, while McCarthy’s secondary assist was his first point in the AHL this season.
2:01 later, a Brandon Scanlin shot from the point snuck through traffic and beat DiPietro to make it 3-0. Scanlin’s goal, scored at 13:36, was his third of the season and his second in as many nights.
Fix-Wolansky and Roobroeck both collected assists on the goal, completing a two-point period for both.
The Wolf Pack extended their lead to 4-0 just 97 seconds into the middle stanza. After a turnover by the Bruins in their own zone, Roobroeck fired a shot that DiPietro denied. The rebound popped in front of the crease, where Adam Sýkora was able to collect possession. Sýkora quickly gathered the puck on his forehand and swept in his eighth goal of the season.
The Bruins responded less than two minutes later, cutting it to 4-1. Riley Duran won a battle along the right-wing boards and sent a centering pass to Patrick Brown. Brown ripped a quick shot that beat Dylan Garand at 3:32 for his 15th goal of the season.
The Bruins cut the deficit to 4-2 3:58 into the third period. Victor Söderström snapped a shot from the right-wing point that beat Garand for his fifth goal of the season.
Garand stood tall from there, however, keeping the Bruins off the board to help preserve two key points.
Fix-Wolansky put the game away at 15:10 on the power play. The veteran forward blasted a shot from the right-wing circle that beat DiPietro for his 18th goal of the season, making it 5-2. The goal completed a three-point (2 g, 1 a) outing for the forward.