Carey scores four goals in Bears' 6-4 win over Pack

Paul Carey scored four goals Saturday night at Giant Center, to lead the Hershey Bears to a 6-4 win over the Wolf Pack, in the second of back-to-back games between the two teams in Hershey.

The Bears had defeated the Wolf Pack 4-3 in overtime Friday night in the opener of the two-game set.

Taylor Beck paced the Wolf Pack Saturday with a goal and two assists, and Ryan Graves had a goal and an assist.  Riley Barber added a goal and an assist for Hershey, and Chris Bourque and Travis Boyd had three assists apiece.

The Wolf Pack fell behind 4-0 in Saturday’s game, before battling back to get to as close as 5-4.

“We’ve got to realize soon that we can’t let these games get away from us early,” Beck said. “When we’re playing at our best, we’re a hard team to play against, we’re getting pucks deep and we’re getting lots of chances. If we can just start like that, and continue that throughout the full sixty (minutes), that’s really what you’ve got to do.”

Hershey jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first period, on goals by Carey and Christian Thomas.

Carey started his big night by opening the scoring at 7:50 with his 20th goal of the season.  After the Bears won an offensive zone draw, Carey found a quiet spot in Hartford’s coverage and ripped a shot from the right side of the slot past Wolf Pack starting goaltender Mackenzie Skapski on the short side.

Then, on Hershey’s first power play of the evening, Thomas, a former Wolf Pack, made it a 2-0 game with his 24th of the year.  Boyd carried down the left side in the Hartford zone and moved toward the back of the net, before passing back to Thomas at the left side of the shot.  Thomas’ hard shot found the top corner over Skapski’s catching glove.

The two clubs split four goals in the second period, with the Bears strongly dominating the early action of the session.

Carey would get his second of the game at 7:13, increasing Hershey’s lead to 3-0.  Boyd again set up the play, feeding to Carey at the right side of the goal mouth for close-in finish past Skapski.

Barber ended Skapski’s night with a fourth Hershey goal at 14:06.  After the Bears completed a penalty kill, Bourque moved the puck into the Wolf Pack zone on right wing and handed off to Barber, whose snap shot found its way past Skapski’s stick side.

Jeff Malcolm replaced Skapski, who made 19 saves, at that point, and the goaltending change seemed to spark the Wolf Pack, who would come up with a pair of power-play goals in a span of 39 seconds starting at 16:57.

Graves got the Wolf Pack onto the board at 16:57 on a two-man advantage, with an unassisted goal.  Graves gunned a slap shot from near the top of the right circle, and it whistled high into the net past Bear netminder Vitek Vanecek (15 saves).

Then, at 17:36, after Carey had been called for delay-of-game at 17:15, Beck cut Hershey’s lead to 4-2.  Beck took a pass from Marek Hrivik and let go a shot from high in the slot, and, with Matt Carey (no relation to Paul) screening Vanecek, the try flew by the Bear goaltender and in.

Paul Carey got his hat trick goal on a Bear power play at 11:15 of the third period, with Chris Brown off for high-sticking.  Carey tried to pass the puck from below the goal line to Malcolm’s left, and the feed was blocked, but the puck came right back to Carey.  He sent it back into the goal mouth and it deflected past Malcolm (13 saves) for a 5-2 Hershey lead.

That appeared to be an insurance goal at that point, but it turned out to be the game-winner, as the Wolf Pack responded shortly thereafter with a pair of scores only 42 seconds apart.

Matt Carey tallied his 18th of the year to make it 5-3 at 14:51, setting up in front of the Bear net and re-directing a Beck shot past Vanecek.

Then, at 15:33, Boo Nieves, in his first game back in the Wolf Pack lineup after missing 19 games due to injury, cut Hershey’s lead to 5-4.  Beck and Dan Catenacci combined to send Nieves in alone up the middle in the Bear end, and he snapped a shot that beat Vanecek low to the stick side.

That would be as close as the Wolf Pack could get, though, and Paul Carey completed the scoring with his fourth of the night into an empty net with 1:11 remaining.  His four goals on Saturday gave Carey nine goals and three assists for 12 points in seven games against the Wolf Pack on the year.

Sound Tigers beat Wolf Pack 5-2

Taylor Beck and Marek Hrivik had a goal and an assist each for the Wolf Pack Sunday at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, CT, but three Bridgeport Sound Tiger power-play goals were too much for the Wolf Pack to overcome in a 5-2 loss

John Landry, Michael Dal Colle and Andrew Rowe all scored on Bridgeport man advantages, and Devon Toews and Josh Winquist had two assists apiece for the Sound Tigers.  Jaroslav Halak made 18 saves.

“We definitely improved from the last two games,” said Beck, a former Sound Tiger, of the Wolf Pack, who had suffered an 8-1 defeat at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Friday night and a 5-2 setback in Springfield Saturday.  “We did a lot more good things, but we’re still having breakdowns that are just really costing us.  And it doesn’t seem like, when we get our chances, we’re putting it in right now.  So it’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

The Wolf Pack had a strong start, but Halak denied several good scoring chances in the opening minutes, and the Sound Tigers would draw first blood with 1:07 remaining in the first, on their second power play of the game.

With Tommy Hughes off for roughing, Winquist sent the puck to Landry at the right point, and Landry moved in a couple of steps before slamming a slap shot past the catching glove of Wolf Pack netminder Mackenzie Skapski (31 saves).

The Sound Tiger power play clicked again at the 7:55 mark of the second period for a 2-0 Bridgeport lead, after Chris Summers picked up an extra roughing minor out of a tussle with Kyle Burroughs at 7:00.

After a strong Wolf Pack shorthanded rush, the Sound Tigers broke back, and Skapski stopped a Winquist shot.  The rebound came right out into the slot, though, and Dal Colle, driving the middle, rifled it into the net.

The margin grew to 3-0 only 53 seconds on another rebound goal, this one by Bridgeport scoring leader Bracken Kearns.  Kane Lafranchise fired a shot from the middle of the blue line, and Kearns was able to fight off a check in front of the net and bury the puck, after Skapski made the initial save.

The Wolf Pack got on the scoreboard at 14:40 of the second, with Hrivik scoring his 13th goal of the season.  Beck played the puck off of the left-wing boards to Michael Paliotta at the right point, and Halak stopped his slap shot.  The rebound dropped to the ice, though, and Hrivik lifted it into the net from the right side of the goal mouth.

The Sound Tiger man-advantage unit scored a killer goal with only 1.7 seconds left in the period, though, after Dan Catenacci received a double minor at 19:52, two minutes for slashing and two for unsportsmanlike conduct.

After Kearns won a draw to Skapski’s right, Toews passed the puck from the right point down across the slot, and Rowe knocked it past a diving Skapski and just inside the opposite post.

Hartford answered that with Beck’s second goal in five games with the Wolf Pack at 6:37 of the third period.  He carried the puck into the Bridgeport zone on the left side and cut towards the middle, before having a pass blocked.  Beck then re-gathered the puck, stepped out higher in the slot and turned for a hard snap shot, which cleanly beat Halak on the stick side.

“It’s always nice to score against your old team,” Beck said, “but wish I could have scored a couple more times, helped the team out a little more.”

The Wolf Pack could get no closer after that, and Darren Nowick put the game out of reach at 16:11, with his first career AHL goal.  Playing his second game with the Sound Tigers, Nowick got to the rebound of a Kellen Jones shot and slid it just underneath Skapski’s catching glove.  That made the final 5-2.

Rangers recall G Magnus Hellberg from Hartford (AHL) after injury to Lundqvist

"The Neutral Zone" Staff Report

Magnus Hellberg

The New York Rangers on Thursday recalled goaltender Magnus Hellberg from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League due to the injury sustained to Henrik Lundqvist in game one of the Rangers' first round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.

Lundqvist was hit in the eye with teammate Marc Staal's stick in the game, finished the first period, and did not return for the second or even the rest of the game.

Hellberg has appeared in one game with the Rangers this season.

Rangers Recall Magnus Hellberg From Hartford on an Emergency Basis

Statement from the Rangers website.

Magnus Hellberg

New York Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton announced today that the team has recalled goaltender Magnus Hellberg from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) on an emergency basis.

Hellberg, 24, has appeared in 40 games with the Wolf Pack this season, posting a 22-16-2 record, along with a 2.39 GAA, a .919 SV%, and 3 SO. He has established an AHL career-high in appearances and has tied his AHL career-high in wins in 2015-16. Hellberg is tied for third in the AHL in appearances, ranks sixth in wins, is tied for seventh in SO, and is tied for ninth in GAA and SV% this season. He has posted a 14-6-0 record, along with a 2.08 GAA, a .931 SV%, and 2 SO in his last 20 appearances.

The 6-6, 200-pounder has appeared in one game with the Rangers this season, making his debut with the Blueshirts on Dec. 20 vs. Washington.

Jayson Megna reassigned to Hartford (AHL)

"The Neutral Zone" Roster Update

The New York Rangers have sent Jayson Megna back down to the American Hockey League today. 

We originally speculated yesterday Jeff Gorton called him up to be the long-term 13th forward thanks to the Derek Stepan injury, but that’s obviously not the case. 

Apparently an unknown Rangers forward was day-to-day yesterday and Megna was brought up in case he couldn’t go.

Rangers recall Jayson Megna from Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL)

"The Neutral Zone" Roster Update

Adam Hunger/USA Today Sports

A little under an hour after news broke on Derek Stepan's official injury timeline/diagnosis, the New York Rangers made a move to bring in another forward. According to the team's Twitter account, the Rangers have recalled forward Jayson Megna from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League.

OFFICIAL: #NYR have recalled forward Jayson Megna (@Jayson_Megna) from @WolfPackAHL. pic.twitter.com/dseeme0uUn

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 30, 2015

Megna was extremely impressive during the preseason earlier on in September, and as a result, he made it all the way up until the final roster cut. Since being sent down, Megna has appeared in 21 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack, where he has totaled 5 goals, 7 assists, and 12 points.