By: Jason Shaya, Bridgeport Islanders
Bridgeport, CT – The Bridgeport Islanders took the ice Wednesday morning for their much-anticipated School Day game in front of a sold-out crowd, riding the momentum of a two-game winning streak. In an exciting contest that needed 65 minutes and then some, the Islanders forced overtime with 38 seconds remaining but fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 5-4 shootout loss.
The fans were treated to action right from the start, as Cole McWard followed up a fight just 35 seconds into the contest with a goal, sniping a wrister over the glove of Maxim Pavlenko at 1:16 for his third of the season.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton pushed back at 7:29 with a net-front scrum that ended in Sam Poulin’s sixth goal of the season and his third in as many games.
Adam Beckman put Bridgeport back in front at 13:46, burying Matthew Maggio’s feed from the slot. The goal was Beckman’s third in as many games and extended Maggio’s assist streak to five games, giving him seven assists in that span.
A dominant shift from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was capped by Aaron Huglen’s first professional goal, tying the game at 18:58 of the period.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton didn’t waste time taking the lead in the third after a scoreless second period. Alex Alexeyev recollected the puck at the point and sniped a wrister past Marcus Hogberg 39 seconds into the frame, giving the Penguins their first lead of the game.
Minutes later, the Islanders knotted the game up at 3 thanks to Isaiah George, who received a pass at the blue line before walking in and firing home his first goal of the season.
The back-and-forth scoring continued at 16:49 as Poulin found empty ice in the slot and roped a one-timer past Hogberg to give his Penguins a 4-3 lead and his second of the contest.
With their backs against the wall and their net empty, Joey Larson deflected a point shot from George with 38 seconds left, sending the game to overtime.
An exciting, but scoreless, overtime pushed the contest to a shootout. With three conversions for each team in their first four attempts, Rafael Harvey-Pinard’s goal gave the Penguins a shootout lead, and Pavlenko provided the game-winning save moments later.
Bridgeport won’t wait long for their next matchup against the Penguins as they head to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop. The Islanders return home on Saturday to face the Rochester Americans at 7 p.m. for Hockey Fights Cancer Night. For ticket information, visit bridgeportislanders.com.
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