The Hartford Wolf Pack came out of Sunday afternoon with the kind of result they didn’t want, but the script started with a familiar flash. For the second straight game, Hartford scored first. For the second straight game, that lead didn’t hold.
Laval answered with five goals and left with a 5-2 win in Hartford’s home opener follow-up, which also finished the club’s first three-in-three stretch of the season. The teams are set to meet four times this year, and the Rocket grabbed the first one.
Hartford’s early punch came on the power play. Nathan Aspinall entered the zone, split the defense and tried to send the puck across the crease. The pass hit a Laval skate and bounced loose in front, where Anton Blidh jumped in and knocked it home for his first goal of the season.
But Laval quickly took control of the period. Luke Mittelstadt tied it with a shot from the left circle that slipped past Callum Tung, and then a four-minute advantage followed when Glenn Gawdin was assessed a double minor for high-sticking. Josh Nadeau made that power play count by tipping in a shot to put the Rocket ahead before the first intermission.
The second period turned into trouble for Hartford, especially late, when the penalties piled up and Laval used the extra space to widen the gap. Sasha Pastujov scored on a five-on-three to make it 3-1, and Laurent Dauphin added another midway through the third to stretch the margin to 4-1.
Hartford did manage to cut into it 11 minutes into the final period. With Mittelstadt in the box for holding, Kaapo Kähkönen came out behind the net to play the puck, but Laval forced the turnover and Liam Greentree buried the empty cage. It was Greentree’s second goal of the season and his second in as many games.
“The puck finds him,” Wolf Pack head coach Jay Leach said of Greentree following the contest. “At the same time, I think he'd tell you that he's still working to figure out professional hockey and what his role is going to be.”
Hartford’s push didn’t last long. Xavier Simoneau pounced on a turnover in front of the net and shut the door on any comeback hopes, sealing the 5-2 final.
“We fell short, there's no question,” Leach told Blueshirt Banter after the game. “We've run up against some injuries and some fatigue, and we're learning to play professional hockey. A lot of our younger guys are in pretty big roles that are learning that [the AHL] is a pretty good league.”
Leach said there were still some encouraging pieces in the performance, even if the overall picture remains a work in progress. As he put it, Hartford has “a long way to go,” and the schedule won’t ease up much. The Wolf Pack are back at home Wednesday, October 14, when they host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at 6:30 pm.
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