SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (3-4-2-1) fell victim to a red-hot power play as the Hartford Wolf Pack (6-6-1-0) doubled up the T-Birds for a 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon inside the MassMutual Center.

The Wolf Pack leaned on their biggest weapon of the early season, the league’s fourth-ranked power play, to take the 1-0 lead at 9:37 of the first as Anton Blidh pushed a point-blank rebound past a sprawling Georgii Romanov.

However, that lead would prove to be fleeting, as just six seconds later, T-Birds captain Chris Wagner crashed the net to nudge a backhand rebound from Justin Carbonneau in behind Spencer Martin at 9:43, tying the game.

With neither team generating much at even strength into the midpoint of the second, the Wolf Pack’s scorching power play fired the next punch as Liam Greentree connected from the right circle at 12:01 of the middle period to restore the Hartford lead, 2-1.

After surviving three other Hartford power-play chances, the T-Birds got a man-up opportunity of their own and quickly evened the slate as Nathan Walker took a T.J. Tynan pass at the goal crease, turned to his forehand, and shuffled it past Martin at 8:31 of the third to make it 2-2.

Unfortunately, much like Springfield’s quick response to the Blidh power-play goal in the first, Hartford had a similar response in the third as Glenn Gawdin got a puck on his backhand in the low slot and flipped it through Romanov’s blocker side, giving the Wolf Pack the 3-2 advantage at 9:55.

Gawdin’s second point of the night proved to be enough, as Martin came up with a huge save from the net front on Dylan Peterson in the closing minutes, and Hartford then got insurance on an empty-net finish from Juuso Parssinen to wrap up the scoring late.

The T-Birds’ homestand continues on Friday and Saturday as they take on the Hershey Bears in back-to-back contests at 7:05 and 6:05 p.m., respectively.

2026-27 T-Birds season memberships and individual game tickets are on sale now. Reserve your seats at SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or call (413) 739-GOAL (4625).