Recap: Wolf Pack 6, Islanders 2
Apr 7, 2023The Bridgeport Islanders (32-28-7-1), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, suffered a 6-2 loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack (33-25-4-7) at XL Center on Friday.
Vincent Sevigny and Kyle MacLean each scored, while William Dufour collected two assists for his 11th multi-point outing this season. Jakub Skarek (14-15-3) made 30 saves.
The Islanders fell five points behind Hartford for the Atlantic Division’s final playoff spot with four games remaining. Bridgeport has one game in hand.
The Wolf Pack raced out to an early 2-0 lead when Adam Clendening and Will Lockwood scored back-to-back goals 2:45 into the contest. Clendening hammered a slap shot from the blue line that flew past Skarek’s glove just 1:21 in before Lockwood cleaned up a rebound near the crease for his 17th of the season.
Sevigny steadied the ship with his fifth goal of the season and first since Jan. 25th in Hartford, which came at 9:02 of the opening period. William Dufour served a pass from the left point to the deep slot where Sevigny wound up and released a one-time missile past goaltender Louie Domingue (21-12-8).
Hartford responded with the next three goals to all but solidify its sixth straight victory. Karl Henriksson wedged home another rebound at 10:41 of the first period and Ryan Carpenter deflected home Jonny Brodzinski’s slap shot on the power play to make it 4-1 at 2:35 of the second.
Anton Blidh swiped a backhand shot between Skarek’s blocker and the near post at 8:37 of the third period, making it 5-1 with his 13th goal of the season. Former Bridgeport forward Tanner Fritz registered the secondary assist for his game-high third point (third helper) of the night.
Arnaud Durandeau extended his point streak to four games with his sixth assist over that span, setting up a driving MacLean for his 10th goal of the season at 9:58. Will Cuylle capped the scoring at the 11:24 mark with his team-leading 25th goal of the season for the Wolf Pack.
The Islanders went 0-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill. They were outshot 36-24. Bridgeport finished the season series 5-7-0-0 against Hartford.
Next Time Out: The Islanders host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7 p.m. tomorrow night for Hockey & Hops at Total Mortgage Arena. The game can be seen live via AHLTV.com or heard live on the Bridgeport Islanders Radio Network.