Springfield, MA, February 20, 2015 – Oscar Lindberg’s second goal of the game 33 seconds into overtime gave the Hartford Wolf Pack a 3-2 win over the Springfield Falcons Friday night at the MassMutual Center.
The Wolf Pack trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in the game, but Lindberg tied the score at two early in the third period, and then bagged the winner on the opening shift of OT. The victory lifted the Wolf Pack (29-16-4-3, 65 points) one point ahead of the Falcons in the Northeast Division and Eastern Conference standings.
On the winning goal, Chris Bourque and Mat Bodie exchanged passes on the left-wing side in the Springfield zone, and Bodie sent a cross-slot feed to Lindberg, who one-timed it from just inside the right faceoff dot past Falcon goaltender Oscar Dansk.
“It was a real nice exchange between [Bourque] and [Bodie] coming down the back wall,” Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said of the winning play, “and then Bodie coming back-side on his forehand, great vision, and found [Lindberg] through the seam. And ‘Lindy’ (Lindberg), rather than stickhandling or taking any time with it, he just one-timed it. I thought it was, all around, a real good offensive-zone play.”
Tyler Brown had the other Wolf Pack goal, and Jeff Malcolm made 29 saves to improve his AHL record on the year to 4-0-0. Sean Collins and Domenic Monardo scored for Springfield, and Dansk made 24 saves.
The Wolf Pack were outshot 9-4 in the first period, and gave up the session’s only goal on the game’s first shot.
Hartford lost track of Collins, and T.J. Tynan was able to feed him a pass along the goal line on the right-wing side. Collins cut toward the front of the net, and lost the puck once but got it back, and put a close-range shot past Malcolm on the stick side.
The two teams traded goals in the second period, with Brown connecting for his third goal in four games for the Wolf Pack, and Monardo responding late for Springfield.
Brown and Danny Kristo hooked up at 7:49 to tie the game, with Kristo moving below the goal line and centering to Brown, who slammed the puck into the net high on the stick side of Dansk.
That tie lasted until Monardo put the Falcons back in front with 37.1 seconds remaining in the period. Springfield scoring leader Luke Adam carried the puck into the Wolf Pack zone down the left-wing side and passed in front to Monardo, who got inside position on the Hartford defense and jammed the puck past Malcolm.
The Wolf Pack responded at 4:44 of the third session, though, on Lindberg’s first of the game and 14th of the season. Dallas Jackson’s slap shot from the left point hit traffic in front of the net, and Lindberg tracked down the carom and lifted it over Dansk’s left shoulder, from along the goal line on the left-wing side.