Sound Tigers Win Home Finale Over Wolf Pack

By Bob Phillips

Ben Holstrom (21) gets kudos from his Bridgeport teammates after scoring
his seventh goal of the season which gave the Sound Tigers a 2-0 lead.
                                                                 (Courtesy: Puck Stopper Photography)

BRIDGEPORT – After dropping both ends of a critical home-and-home series to the Providence Bruins on Friday and Saturday night, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers were able to salvage at least one game in what had the makings of a disastrous three-in-three weekend by edging their in-state arch-rivals, the Hartford Wolf Pack, 3-2, before an announced audience of 5,000 at the Webster Bank Arena on Sunday afternoon. It was the last home game of the regular season for Bridgeport.

After a scoreless first period, the Sound Tigers took command of the game by scoring all three of their goals in a 2:01 span in the middle stanza. Travis St. Denis began the deluge with his 11th goal of the season. The rookie right wing from Trail, B.C., knocked home a rebound off a shot by Michael Dal Colle from the right side past Hartford netminder Brandon Halverson at the 12:14 mark. It was the first goal for St. Denis, the former Quinnipiac star, since returning to the lineup after missing 16 games due to an injury.

Bridgeport doubled the lead just 30 seconds later when Ben Holstrom knocked a rebound past Halverson, who had stopped a slap shot by Ross Johnston from just inside the blue line. The Sound Tigers scored what would prove to be the game-winner at the 14:15 mark of the middle stanza. While on the power play, Andrew Rowe fed Ryan Pulock a pass from the right side. Pulock quickly slapped a one-timer past Halverson from the circle to stake the Tigers to a 3-0 lead.

Matt Carey (10) scored Hartford's first goal 1:17 into the
third period.
                      (Courtesy: Jon Tenca/Puck Stopper Photography)

But the Sound Tigers could not put it away. Hartford cut the Bridgeport advantage to 3-1 just 1:17 into the third period. Seconds after a Wolf Pack power play shift had ended, Vince Pedrie fired a slap shot from the left point that Matt Carey tipped past Tigers’ goalie Eamon McAdam.

Dan Catenacci would bring the Wolf Pack to within one with 12:12 left in regulation. Vinni Lettieri fired a wrister at McAdam which went wide left, but found Cattenacci in the crease who pushed it past McAdam to cut the Bridgeport lead to 3-2. But that’s as close as the Wolf Pack would get as the Sound Tigers shut the door, and kept their playoff hopes alive with the narrow victory.

“It seems to be a trend right now, where we get down early in the game, or midway through the game, and then we turn it up in the third period in desperation mode,” Catenacci said.  “And that’s something we can’t be doing.  We have to play that way from the start of the game.”

Playoff Push

With the win, the Sound Tigers improved to 44-26-3-1 (92 points), won the eight-game regular season series with the Wolf Pack 4-2-1-1. The Tigers trail the Hershey Bears by one point for the fourth and final playoff slot in the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division race. Both Bridgeport and Hershey have two games remaining in the regular season. Bridgeport trails the Providence Bruins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, locked in a virtual tie for second place, by three points—but both teams own a game in hand on the Tigers. Hershey will travel to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take on the WBS Penguins, who own the second-best record in the AHL, on Friday night before wrapping up their regular season at home vs. the Providence Bruins on Saturday night. On Monday, the Sound Tigers’ parent club, New York Islanders, loaned Bridgeport forwards Josh Ho-Sang and Connor Jones, along with defenseman Adam Pelech for the playoff push.

Hershey will travel to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take on the WBS Penguins, who own the second-best record in the AHL, on Friday night before wrapping up their regular season at home vs. the Providence Bruins on Saturday night.

If Bridgeport fails to reach the playoffs—which, unfortunately, has been commonplace for this team of late—it will be because of back-to-back losses to the P-Bruins this weekend (2-1 on Friday night at The Dunkin’ Donuts Center in downtown Providence, and 3-0 Saturday night at the WBA). Indeed, the Sound Tigers have reached the playoffs just two times in the past six years, and are 0-6 in postseason play in those seasons (2011-12 and 2015-16).

Next up, Bridgeport travels to Springfield where it will take on the sixth-place T-Birds on Friday night. First puck drops at 7:05 p.m. at the MassMutual Center, and the game will be streamed online at www.ahllive.com beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. The Sound Tigers conclude their regular season on Saturday when they will take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Mohegan Sun Arena (no, not that one) in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

The Wolf Pack, meanwhile, wrap up their season with three games on the road beginning on Wednesday night in Albany where they will face the Devils. The ’Pack, who have already been eliminated from postseason consideration, will conclude their season with games in Utica, N.Y., on Friday and Springfield on Saturday. All Wolf Pack can be heard live on News Radio 1410 WPOP, on-line at www.newsradio1410.com and iHeartRadio, and streaming at www.ahllive.com.

—with staff reports

THE SKINNY