ISLANDERS BEAT CRUNCH 5-2 FRIDAY NIGHT
By: Alan Fuehring, Bridgeport Islanders
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (January 24, 2025) – Chris Terry had three points for the second time this month, and Jakub Skarek tied his career high with 43 saves, leading the Bridgeport Islanders (10-26-2-2), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, to a 5-2 win against the Syracuse Crunch (17-14-5-4) at Upstate Medical University Arena on Friday.
Terry scored two goals and added an assist, while William Dufour and Gemel Smith beat Syracuse goaltender Matt Tomkins (6-8-3). Liam Foudy put the exclamation mark on Bridgeport’s fourth win in its last six road games, recording an empty-netter to extend his goal streak to a career-high four games.
Sam Bolduc and Tyce Thompson tallied two assists each.
Returning from a six-game absence due to injury, Dufour made it 1-0 on the Islanders’ first shot of the game, just 2:12. Eetu Liukas angled a pass up the boards to Dufour in transition, who had a step on the Crunch defense and zipped a wrist shot under Tomkins from the right circle. It was his sixth goal of the season, while Liukas collected a point for the fourth time in his last five games.
Skarek (5-11-1) stopped all 15 shots he faced in the first period, made 11 saves in the second, and 17 more in the third.
The Islanders built a 4-0 lead in the second period thanks to a pair of goals from Terry and Smith’s eventual game-winner. Terry hit double digits with his 10th goal of the season at 2:58, skating to the left circle and ripping a shot past Tomkins’ blocker. Grant Hutton took Thompson’s pass in the deep slot, head faked, and served up Terry near the faceoff dot.
Just 1:02 later, Smith muscled home Terry’s rebound from the doorstep to make it 3-0 on the power play. His fourth goal of the season came just 13 seconds after Declan Carlile was called for interference. Bolduc had the secondary assist.
Terry recorded his third point of the period with another power-play goal at 11:24. The team’s leading scorer took a cross-ice pass from Bolduc, stepped to the right circle, and placed a pin-point snapshot into the top-right corner for his 11th goal of the season – his seventh goal in the last eight games. As of tonight, Terry is tied for seventh in the AHL’s scoring race with 35 points (11g, 24a) in 39 contests.
Syracuse battled back with two straight goals to keep the Islanders honest. Tristan Allard sent home a rebound on the Crunch’s 26th shot to make it 4-1 at the 15:48 mark. Jujhar Khaira followed up on the power play at 3:02 of the third.
Skarek took over from there, making a key save after key saves to keep it 4-2. Former Bridgeport defenseman – now Syracuse head coach – Joel Bouchard pulled Tomkins for the extra attacker in the final three minutes, but Foudy found the empty net for his fifth goal in the last four games. Foudy has 15 goals of the season, two behind Brian Pinho for the team lead.
The Islanders went 2-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. It’s the fourth time the Islanders have scored multiple times on the man advantage this season. Bridgeport was outshot 45-23, earning its first win of the season when getting outshot.
It was also Bridgeport’s first win of the season against a North Division opponent. They finished their two-game series against Syracuse 1-1-0-0.
Next Time Out: The Islanders complete a four-game road trip tomorrow night with a 7:05 p.m. matchup against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at PPL Center. The game can be heard for free via the Bridgeport Islanders Radio Network or seen live on AHLTV on FloHockey, beginning with the Connecticut Lottery Pregame Countdown at 6:45 p.m.
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