HARTFORD, Conn. — The Springfield Thunderbirds (8-8-1-0) got a leading performance from their captain en route to a 4-2 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack (8-6-1-1) on Saturday night at the XL Center.

For a third straight game, the T-Birds had the first entry onto the scoresheet. After killing off the first Hartford power play of the night, Springfield went to the offense, and Tyler Tucker made a perfect diagonal pass to Matthew Peca in the right circle, where the captain had a vacant net to deposit his sixth goal of the season behind Wolf Pack goalie Dylan Garand.

Following a pair of unsuccessful abbreviated power plays, one per team, the Wolf Pack drew even as the game hit the final minute of the first when towering winger Matt Rempe parked himself in front of Colten Ellis and deflected an Adam Sykora shot behind the Springfield netminder at 19:00 to tie the score, 1-1.

A swift response rendered the Rempe goal null and void, though, as Marcus Sylvegard cashed in on a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play from Leo Loof and Dalibor Dvorsky just 13 seconds later, sending the visitors to the dressing room with the 2-1 lead on Sylvegard's team-leading seventh goal.

The second period was marred with power play struggles for each side, as the clubs' man-advantage units combined to go 0-for-7 in the first 40 minutes. With less than three minutes left in the stanza, the T-Birds captain provided some insurance as Peca one-timed a Loof pass behind Garand to extend the lead to 3-1, a score that held up into the second intermission.

Brett Berard made things interesting for the Wolf Pack when he one-timed a shot over Ellis at 5:49 of the third, cutting the Springfield lead to 3-2, but the T-Birds locked things down in the defensive end the rest of the way. Ellis improved his record to 5-4-1 on the season, and Springfield is now 4-0-1-0 during its five-game point streak.

The T-Birds look to extend their winning streak to five consecutive games when they welcome the Utica Comets on Friday for a 4:05 p.m. matinee inside the MassMutual Center.

Interested 2024-25 season ticket members can call (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or visit www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com to learn how to become a regular at the Thunderdome.