Preseason Recap: Wolf Pack 5, Islanders 3
Oct 5, 2023The Bridgeport Islanders, American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, opened their preseason schedule with a 5-3 loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack at Total Mortgage Arena on Thursday.
Anthony Callin, Samuel Asselin and Ashton Calder each scored for the Islanders, while Henrik Tikkanen made 21 saves.
The Islanders and Wolf Pack will rematch on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. puck drop at the Koeppel Community Sports Center on the campus of Trinity College in Hartford.
The Wolf Pack took the lead just 4:07 into the contest, as Cristiano DiGiacinto scored a tap-in goal from the far post following a nice backhand feed from Matej Pekar. DiGiacinto’s opening goal of the preseason was the first of three in a row for Hartford.
Just over eight minutes later at 12:44 of the first, Brett Berard took a pass from Bobby Trivigno, who ripped a shot from above the left circle through traffic, to make it 2-0 at the first intermission. Karl Henriksson picked up the secondary assist.
At 12:29 of the second period, Trivigno found himself alone in the slot on the power play, after a nice feed from Matthew Robertson. Trivigno fired a shot past Tikkanen’s blocker, extending the Wolf Pack lead to 3-0.
A little over three minutes later, Callin gathered a rebound in the crease, off an Adam Goodsir shot from the point, to put one past Hartford goaltender Dylan Garand. Blade Jenkins was credited with the secondary assist, with a nice feed to Goodsir, to make it 3-1.
Trivigno continued his impactful night just 17 seconds into the third, crashing the net and gathering the rebound off a Zach Berzolla shot from the point. Trivigno’s second goal of the night extended Hartford’s lead to 4-1.
Pekar added to the Wolf Pack advantage 2:14 into the third period, with a shot from the bottom of the right circle after collecting a pass from DiGiacinto.
Just over 10 minutes into the third, Asselin corralled Trevor Cosgrove’s pass down low and went forehand, backhand to cut Hartford’s lead down to 5-2. Jeff Kubiak earned the secondary assist to contribute to the goal.
Zsomber Garat then forced a defensive zone turnover for the Islanders at 18:51 of the third before feeding the puck to Ashton Calder, who solved Garand’s five-hole to end the scoring.
The Islanders finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.