Varlamov shines in first AHL win since 2010, Bridgeport tops Hartford

Semyon Varlamov’s return to the American Hockey League felt like a rare collision of eras, and Bridgeport made it count. The veteran goalie stopped 18 of 20 shots in a 5-2 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Wednesday night at PeoplesBank Arena, giving Bridgeport the final intrastate victory in a 254-game series and earning his first AHL win since November 2010.

Varlamov played all 60 minutes and helped Bridgeport outshoot Hartford 24-20 in a game that carried more weight than a typical late-season meeting. For Bridgeport, it was a clean break from a long-running Connecticut rivalry that has now ended. For Varlamov, it was something even stranger: a minor-league win for a goaltender who has spent almost his entire career at the NHL level. Bridgeport’s official bio says his last AHL action came in November 2010 with Hershey during a conditioning stint after a groin injury, and the Islanders also listed Wednesday’s appearance as his first game action since Nov. 29, 2024, after a lower-body injury.

The resume behind the performance is still unmistakably NHL. Varlamov was the Washington Capitals’ first-round pick in 2006, 23rd overall, and made his NHL debut on Dec. 13, 2008, at age 20 years, 230 days, becoming the youngest Russia-born goalie to appear in the league. Now 15 years removed from that minor-league bridge in Hershey, he resurfaced in Bridgeport on a long-term injury conditioning loan while rehabbing partial knee replacements on both knees and trying to push his way back toward the NHL.

Bridgeport did not need much help once the game opened up in the first period. Cole Eiserman, the New York Islanders’ 2024 first-round pick and a Boston University product, set up Victor Eklund, Liam Foudy and Matthew Maggio on three first-period goals. Eiserman entered the night with eight AHL games, one goal and two assists, and left with three more helpers in a late-season tryout role that does not make him eligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs.

The result fit the moment in more ways than one. Hartford was left with the final chapter of the state rivalry, while Bridgeport got a win built around a goalie whose nightly spotlight usually belongs much higher up the ladder. Varlamov told Newsday his goal remains to return to the NHL, and Wednesday’s performance suggested that even in an AHL setting, his experience and calm still travel with real force.