Matt Rempe and key Rangers prospect score, but Wolf Pack suffer rare home loss
There was good news and bad news for the New York Rangers and their AHL affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday.
On the good side, forwards Matt Rempe and Brett Berard each scored a goal. The flip side is that Hartford had a rare home loss, falling to 8-2-0-0 at XL Center after a 4-2 defeat against Springfield.
Certainly, in the bigger picture, the good outweighed the bad for the Rangers.
Rempe scored an important goal, tying the game 1-1 at 19:00 of the first period. Peter Laviolette and company surely would’ve liked how Rempe parked himself in front of Springfield goalie Colten Ellis and deflected Adam Sykora’s shot into the net. The Rangers coach would’ve also loved Rempe’s compete level winning puck battles along the boards prior to the goal.
“Matt’s played very well the last three games,” Hartford coach Grant Potulny said postgame. “As a coach, you gotta start making sure you get the people that are playing well on the ice as much as you can. Matt’s gonna continue to get more ice.”
Rempe has two goals and one assist in nine games with Hartford after the Rangers assigned him to the AHL for the second time this season. The popular 22-year-old forward was without a point in three games with New York, receiving minimal ice time.
Related: 3 Rangers takeaways after road trip ends with dud against Oilers
Rangers prospect Brett Berard leads Hartford with 7 goals, 13 points
Brett Berard — photo courtesy Hartford Wolf Pack
Springfield scored 13 seconds after Rempe’s goal and added another in the second period to grab a 3-1 lead. Berard sniped his team-leading seventh goal from the top of the right circle to make it 3-2 at 5:49 of the third period.
The 22-year-old scored for the first time in five games and has two goals in his past 11 after a fast start. He also has a three-game point streak (four points; one goal, three assists) and leads the Wolf Pack with 13 points.
Last season as a rookie pro, Berard led Hartford with 25 goals.
Sykora and defenseman Casey Fitzgerald each had an assist Saturday. They are tied with Alex Belzile for the Hartford lead with seven helpers apiece.
Goalie Dylan Garand made 19 saves and the fourth goal was scored by Springfield into an empty net. Garand has a 2.59 goals-against average and .911 save percentage and allowed more than three goals once in eight starts this season.
More About:New York Rangers News