VERSUS
A relentless forecheck, outstanding goaltending and just a touch of luck gave the Bridgeport Sound Tigers a 2-1 win over the visiting Hartford Wolf Pack in front of an announced crows of 5,791 at the Arena at Harbor Yard Saturday night.
“It was part of the game plan.” Head Coach Jack Capuano said about his team’s strategy of sending in two, three and sometimes four players after the Pack puck carriers. “We knew it was their fourth game in five nights, so we wanted to make sure we established some pressure and make them work for everything because they’re a highly skilled team and I really like the way they play. They’re also well coached” He said. “Every time we play each other it’s a close game so that was our area we definitely wanted to work on and make sure we’re above the puck and put some pressure on their defense.”
Pack forward Brodie Dupont felt the forecheck was a factor in the outcome. “Bridgeport plays pretty aggressive. If you’re not working to get low, the D are gonna have you all night.” But it wasn’t the only issue. “We’ve been struggling this year with consistency. We play unreal one game and we look like we should be at the top of the league and the next night it’s like someone threw out a completely different team.”
The Tigers and Pack played a tight-to-the-vest first period with the Pack unable to take advantage of two power play opportunities as Tiger netminder Nathan Lawson (33 saves) stopped all fourteen shots the Pack threw at him.
Things got real interesting early in the second when just 28 ticks in, Dustin Kohn took a high sticking call sending the Pack to their third man advantage. Artem Anisimov gave the Pack their best chance of getting ahead when he had a breakaway scoring chance stopped by Lawson. “Last time we played him (Anisimov) he scored on the glove side,” Lawson said. “Two plays before he shot it on the glove side and almost scored. I was just trying to play the angle and take away as much as possible and then he just shot it right into my glove.”
The turning point of the game came just moments later when the Pack dug their own hole. First Corey Potter took hooking call at 4:58. 12 seconds later Patrick Rissmiller was called for putting the puck into the stands from his own end for a Delay of Game call sending the Tigers to a two man advantage for 1:48.
Matt Zaba, (24 saves) following up his first career shutout Friday night, made a terrific stop on a blast from defenseman Trevor Lee. After the Pack cleared the zone, Lee’s defensive partner Andrew MacDonald advanced the puck into enemy territory along the right side. He passed off to the off point where Lee was waiting. The MacTier, Ontario native then put a hard wrist shot on net, but the puck was headed wide until it struck Trevor Smith in the foot and redirected it past a helpless Zaba.
“I was telling Lee before (the power play) that I was standing back door all by myself for just a little shot tip.” Smith, the Tiger’s leading goal scorer said. “The thing (puck) got away from him. I just kind of stuck my foot out.”
Smith, just back in Bridgeport after having been sent down by the parent New York Islanders where he scored his first career NHL goal Thursday night in Calgary.
What proved to be the game winner came at the end of the second period. The Pack’s Justin Soryal put a hard shot on net which was handled by Lawson, the game’s Second Star. The Tigers then cleared the puck out of the zone putting the puck in the hands of Jesse Joensuu at the blue line. Joensuu put a hard shot on net with Sean Bentivoglio and the game’s Third Star, Ben Walter crashing the net looking for rebounds. Zaba was unable to control the puck and went after it. However, Walter got to it first and was able to lift it over Zaba with a backhanded shot over the fallen Pack netminder.
Capuano was pleased as his team executed according to the game plan. “I think last time we played them they played pretty well defensively. We didn’t get as many shots as we’d like to last game. I felt tonight that we did a better job of putting the pucks on net. It’s something as a group that we need more pucks in to the net.”
The Pack got one back to make a game of it in the third. The Pack’s top scoring line of P.A. Parenteau, Dupont and Anisimov worked the puck down low on the right wing. Dupont began to carry the puck out of the zone but dumped it back to Anisimov behind the Tiger net. The young Russian then came from behind Lawson and slammed it in under the goaltender’s pads cutting the Tiger lead in half.
“I thought we played okay. “ Wolf Pack Head Coach Ken Gernander said. “Maybe we lacked a little bit of juice at times later in the game.” Perhaps a result of having completed four games in five nights all on the road.” The one-time Pack Captain added, “Chances were there and on a good night they go in. We had a night there in Manitoba where we won big but we finished on almost every chance.” He said. “It wasn’t like we weren’t there on a chance perspective so it happens over the source of a season.”
“Both goalies played well.” Dupont said. “We had trouble getting the puck past theirs (Saturday night). We worked hard. We’ve just got to bear down and start getting more guys to the net.”
Capuano summed it up this way. “The guys played extremely hard. We talked about some of the things we wanted to work on and we executed them pretty well. So it was a good win for our guys.”
Bob Crawford tells the tale at Hartfordwolfpack.com. For a true masterful write up, read Mike Fornabaio’s take from the Bridgeport perspective in the Connecticut Post.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET have all the stats.
NOTES:
* During the first period, a Corey Potter shot from the right point hit Dupont in the head and knocked him to the ground. He looked pretty well out of it. However, as he notes, it wasn’t as bad as it looked and he ended up not missing a shift. “The puck rebounded and knuckled and it hit me by the side of my ear pretty flat. There was no blood and it just stung a bit.”
* Here’s an odd stat that you don’t see every day. Of the Top Ten Scorers in the AHL, there are primarily only four teams represented. There are two from Hershey, number one is Keith Aucoin, and number two is ex-Pack Alexandre Giroux. Numbers three and four are from the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in Chris Minard and ex Pack Jeff Taffe. Two Milwaukee Admirals register at seven and nine respectively, Mike Santorelli and Cal O’Reilly. Then there are “YOUR HARTFORD WOLFPACK” represented by P.A, Parenteau at eight and Artem Anisimov at ten. Doesn’t that seem odd to you? That’s only four teams comprising eight of the top ten scorers. The other two, Bridgeport’s Mike Iggulden at fifth and Corey Locke of Houston at sixth. Also in the Top Ten they are all only separated by a total of twe
lve points. Aucoin has 51 (14g, 37a) and Anisimov has 39 (18g, 21a). Even more interesting is that at tenth, Anisimov is only four points behind Giroux. Parenteau is only three.
* The Pack power play slipped a bit to 12th after going one for their last seventeen tries after going three-for-four in the first Manitoba game.
* On the penalty kill, the Pack have moved up to 15th after surrendering only two goals in their last 29 shorthanded opportunities.
* Anisimov has now scored a goal in three of his last four (4g, 0a) and has points in ten of his last 12 (7g, 7a, 14pts).
* Parenteau meanwhile has assists in four straight In his last 11 games he’s secured 4g, 10a, for 14 pts.
* Conversely, Mike Sauer has not had a point in 16 games. Devan DiDiomete is absent of points in 12, and David Urquhart has been shut out of the scorer’s book in the last seven.
* When trailing entering the third period, the Pack are 3-12-1-2, 8-10-1-1 when outshooting the opposition and drop to 11-5-2-3 in games decided by a single goal.
* The Checkers were down by a goal three times in the game but finally achieved a lead and never looked back beating the South Carolina Stingrays by a score of 4-3.
LINES:
Rissmiller – MOORE – Weise
Dupont – Anisimov – Parenteau
DiDiomete – (Rotate) – Sugden/Soryal
Owens – Ouellette – Pyatt
Nightingale – POTTER
FAHEY – Denisov
Urquhart – Sauer
ZABA
(Alternate Captains in BOLD CAPS)
SCRATCHES:
Stefanishion – Healthy
Sanguinetti – On recall with the Rangers (Has already been sent back to Hartford)
Byers – Knee – Season
THREE STARS:
1. BRI – 23 Trevor Smith
2. BRI – 52 Nathan Lawson
3. BRI – 9 Ben Walter
ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Ryan Fraser (14), Referee
Paul Simeon (66), Linesman
Kevin Redding (16), Linesman
NEXT GAME:
If all plays out according to the up-and-down nature of this streak, the upside of the roller coaster continues Wednesday night with the back end of the home and home series against these very same Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Game time is 7:05.
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