Fix-Wolansky’s five points lift Hartford past Springfield 7-5

Five goals in one period turned Hartford’s final home game into a runaway. Trailing 5-2 after 40 minutes, the Wolf Pack erupted for five unanswered goals in the third period and stunned Springfield 7-5 on Fan Appreciation Night at PeoplesBank Arena.

The comeback had Trey Fix-Wolansky’s fingerprints all over it. He opened the scoring 14:14 into the first period, finishing off a rush after Carey Terrance set him up, with Brendan Brisson nearly breaking through earlier in the shift. That goal gave Fix-Wolansky his 29th of the season, and he later buried his 30th, making him Hartford’s first 30-goal scorer since the 2016-17 season. By the end of the night, he had five points, the kind of haul that can change the tone of a rivalry game and the feel of a late-season lineup.

Springfield kept answering early and often, and the Thunderbirds took a 5-2 lead into the third. But once Hartford found one crack, the game flipped. Brody Lamb started the rally, Kyle Jackson followed with his first career AHL goal, and captain Casey Fitzgerald kept the pressure on as Hartford closed the gap and forced Springfield onto its heels. In a building that had spent much of the first two periods trading punches, the third became a full-scale avalanche.

The decisive moment came with 4:30 left, when rookie Carey Terrance squeezed a sharp-angle shot through the Springfield goaltender to put Hartford ahead for good. Fix-Wolansky then finished the job with the empty-netter that made it 7-5 and sealed one of the loudest finishes on the league’s Friday slate.

The win carried more weight than a wild scoreline. It came on Hartford’s final home date of the 2025-26 regular season, with the Wolf Pack and Thunderbirds set to meet again in Springfield on April 18 to finish the schedule. Springfield entered the weekend still in the playoff chase, which gave the I-91 rivalry another layer of urgency, and Hartford made sure the last word at home belonged to the team that could finish when the game opened up.