BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
BRIDGEPORT, CT – Sporting one of the stronger home records in the AHL, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers got a goal from Otto Koivula with 6.9 seconds left in overtime to lift them to a 4-3 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Koivula had two glorious chances on the same type of play, a rush off the right wing. The Pack, however, saw netminder, Brandon Halverson, stop the first one, but he lost control of the puck on the second shot, but the third time was the charm for the Sound Tigers as Koivula took a pass from Chris Bourque, the ex-Pack, and came from the left wing side to score the game winner.
The Pack deserved a better fate after having played a fairly solid road game in a building that has seemed to have a hex on them and other teams in the AHL.
“This place is tough for a lot of teams in the AHL, but I thought for large chunks of time, we controlled play. We got off to a good start, but we just had those lapses and mismanagement of pucks that hurt us. That being said, I think the guys worked very hard and just didn’t get the reward for their efforts,” said Pack head coach, Keith McCambridge.
The Wolf Pack erased the sting of a late Josh Ho-Sang second-period goal by scoring early and taking a one-goal lead.
Steven Fogarty fed Ryan Lingren who took a shot from the left point which produced a strange rebound. The puck came right into the right wing circle where Tim Gettinger was there and able to pop his second goal in as many games into the net at the 17 seconds mark. For Gettinger, it was his 11th goal of the year.
The Sound Tigers returned the favor and evened the game at three.
In his first game on conditioning loan from the parent New York Islanders, Thomas Hickey received a tight pass along the blue line. He was being pressured and seemingly had little room to operate, but saw his 55-foot shot somehow get past a plethora of bodies and past Halverson at 3:20.
“We have to do a better job defending that play,” said McCambridge.
The Wolf Pack made quick use of open ice to take an early 2-1 lead in the second period.
While playing four-on-four, Fogarty got the team off to a good start by winning the faceoff.
Fogarty advanced the puck to defenseman, Sean Day, who in turn flipped it over to Lindgren. He launched a shot from the right point that Fogarty redirected while screening Christopher Gibson. The Sound Tigers netminder was also screened by a Bridgeport defenseman. For Fogarty, it was his 13th goal of the season and came just thirty seconds into the four-on-four.
“I knew I had some room there,” Fogarty said. “It was a good shot by Lindgren and I was able to get my stick on it.”
The two teams combined for 25 shots in the period. The Pack got off to a good start getting three early on and two of those came off the stick of rookie, Lias Andersson.
Bridgeport’s Travis St. Denis, the former QU Bobcat, was denied. John Gilmour followed as he calmly came along the upper right wing half wall and snared a loose puck. Gilmour sent it to Peter Holland, who in turn put a sharp angle shot on net. At 7:26, Halverson stopped Koivula and Steve Bernier attempts and then another by St. Denis.
The Sound Tigers tied the game up late in the second period. Off a strong rush, Andersson had an open chance on the left wing side but missed the net completely. Sebastian Aho picked up the loose puck for the Sound Tigers and fed Andrew Ladd, who was playing in his first game since being assigned on a conditioning loan by the Islanders. Ladd sent a perfect lead pass for Ho-Sang who busted through the middle of the ice.
Andersson was cruising back thru center ice and made a weak stick-check and watched as Ho-Sang barrel thru it and a Wolf Pack defenseman and straight on in on a breakaway. He cut from the left wing to the right wing side before beating Halverson on the forehand. The goal was Ho-Sang’s third goal of the year.
“You can’t let a player get through the neutral zone like that. A strong defense was needed there.” McCambridge stated.
After just five shots on goal between the two teams and many more missed shots, the Pack cashed in on their first power play in 40 seconds.
Regular linemates Matt Beleskey fed Holland deep on the left wing. He quickly found Vinni Lettieri on the right point and zoomed in down the middle and buried Holland’s pass for his 16th of the season at 6:34.
“That was a good solid play. We executed it quickly and Vinni has a good finishing touch,“ remarked McCambridge.
The Sound Tigers evened the game as the Wolf Pack got caught in a bad line change on a neutral zone turnover. They never got set up in their own zone and the Sound Tigers defensive tandem of Parker Wotherspoon and Yanick Rathjeb did some point-to-point passing once in the Pack’s zone.
At 17:20, Rathjeb launched a shot from the right point that Ladd redirected from 15 feet out past Halverson, who was making his fourth straight start.
SCRATCHES:
Chris Bigras (right ankle, out at least a month)
Ville Meskanen (lower body, day-to-day)
Rob O’Gara (lower body)
Ty Ronning (lower body injury from playing in Maine)
Derek Pratt (healthy)
Shawn St. Amant (healthy)
Brandon Crawley (healthy)
LINES:
Fogarty-Gettinger-Gropp
Holland-Beleskey-Butler
Melanson-Lettieri-Leedahl
Fontaine-Andersson-O’Donnell
Gilmour-Lindgren
Tolkinen-Hajak
Day-Finn
NOTES:
The roster revolving door keeps up for the Wolf Pack.
UCONN grad defenseman Derek Pratt was signed from Maine (ECHL) and wore jersey number two, Drew Melanson was recalled from the Mariners for his second tour of duty and switched to number 13.
The latest roster addition comes in the form of another defenseman, Matt Finn from Florida. He also played four games for the Grand Rapids Griffins in an early action out of training camp tallying just a goal.
Finn played for the Sound Tigers twice. He played in the first 33 games back 2015-16 and then two games the following season. He is donning jersey number 20.
This year he has played 26 games with the Florida Everblades with nine goals, 18 points in 26 games.
He arrived at 6 pm last night and just in time for the UCONN-BU game at the XL Center.
He becomes the 37th player to play for the Wolf Pack and Sound Tigers.
GM Chris Drury was not in attendance but was just up the road at the Yale-Colgate game at Ingalls Rink doing some scouting for future Wolf Pack players.
Ex-Wolf Pack/CT Whale goalie, Cam Talbot, was traded straight up for Flyers goalie Anthony Stolarz by the Edmonton Oilers. The signing on the day before he was fired by former Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli, of former Sound Tiger goalie Mikko Koskinen to a three-year extension forced a move since the Oilers would have been over the cap limit.
Stolarz played against the Wolf Pack in a rehab start two weeks ago at the XL Center.
Sam Gagner, the son of ex-New Haven Nighthawk, Dave Gagner, who was just in here a week ago with Toronto, was traded by Vancouver who then loaned him to the Marlies to Edmonton for former Ranger Ryan Spooner.
Former UCONN Husky, Jesse Schwartz, was loaned from Roanoke Valley (SPHL) to Brampton (ECHL).
UCONN dropped a back-end of home with BU getting shutout 2-0.
Maine beat Merrimack 4-2 and have gone back to being up eight on UCONN for the eighth and final playoff spot.
PERSONAL NOTE:
Its been a tough two weeks with the sudden loss of my middle brother, Kieran, who passed away at the way too young of an age of 56 yesterday. We also lost one of the better minor pro hockey fans in New Haven Nighthawks super-fan, Butch Gesner.
A fixture at the New Haven Coliseum, Gesner loved the Nighthawks. He migrated when the Beast of New Haven folded and became the newborn Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 2001. In the mid-1990s, when New Haven had no AHL team after the Senators left for PEI, he befriended Springfield Falcons GM, Bruce Landon, and went to many a Falcons games.
Gesner recently sent me a very touching note about how my personal Facebook page posting of my game stories on the Wolf Pack and UCONN helped keep him in the hockey loop.
Many knew Gesner, who was paralyzed from the neck down after a severe home accident, that he still maintained his joyful attitude. When cancer came calling, he met that challenge like a fierce forechecker.
RIP you have earned it my friend.
Our warmest and sincerest condolences to the Gesner family.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Howlings wouldn’t be Howlings without the remarkable contributions of Gerry Cantlon. He has become family to us and we offer him our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Gerry and his entire family. May Kieran rest in peace…)
