Sound Tigers Survive Senators’ Scare

Photos By Bill Harper

Bridgeport's Christopher Gibson played a solid game between the pipes,
turning aside 30 Belleville shots in the Sound Tigers' 2-1 victory.

BRIDGEPORT—Christopher Gibson stopped 30 shots and Steve Bernier scored his 22nd goal of the season on Saturday, guiding the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to a 2-1 win against the Belleville Senators before 3,317 fans at Webster Bank Arena on Saturday night. Scott Eansor also scored his seventh goal of the season on a first-period deflection, while Belleville’s lone tally came from Cody Goloubef late in the third period to break up Gibson’s shutout.

The Sound Tigers broke the ice at 6:09 of the first period on their next shift following an unavailing 5-on-3 power-play opportunity. Kyle Burroughs caught a cross-ice pass from Seth Helgeson and snapped a lengthy shot from the right point towards the net. Eansor tipped the shot out of midair, and past goaltender Filip Gustavsson, for his second goal in as many games against Belleville this season. It was Eansor’s first goal since Feb. 2. In addition, Helgeson set a new AHL career-high in points (13) with an assist on the tally.

Other than Otto Koivula’s one-timer that rang off the crossbar a few minutes later, scoring chances from both sides were few and far between for the remainder of the opening period.

Despite being outshot 15-9 in the second period, Gibson remained dominant between the pipes for the Sound Tigers. His best play of the period at the 16:06 mark when he put on a clinic, stopping five shots within 30 seconds. It started with a point-blank denial on Darren Archibald and ended with Gibson showcasing his solid rebound control off Adam Tambellini’s backhand attempt.

Midway through the second frame, a strong shift from the Matt Lorito - Travis St. Denis- Kieffer Bellows line sparked offensive prowess and drew a slashing penalty on Erik Burgdoerfer. Just seconds after Burgdoerfer left the box, Aho fired a wrister from the high slot that caught a piece of Bernier and found twine, making it 2-0 at 14:13.

Steve Bernier (37) scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season, his
career high.

The Senators battled back and found themselves within one goal late in the third period when Goloubef fired a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that hit Gibson and trickled past the goal line for his sixth of the season, with 2:06 remaining in regulation. However, their efforts proved to be too little too late, as Gibson, who improved to 19-10-4, shut down the Sens the rest of the way to earn his 19th win in 35 outings.

The Sound Tigers went 0-for-5 on the power play, and were a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill. Mike Cornell and Joseph Labate did the two-fisted tango at 11:37 of the third period—the game’s only fisticuffs. Bernier’s 22 goals leads the Sound Tigers and represents his professional career high for goals in a single season.

Belleville, AHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators, outshot Bridgeport 31-22.

With the with the win, the Sound Tigers improved to 38-20-6-2, swept their two-game season series against Belleville (33-27-3-5), and extended their at-home points streak to nine straight games (8-0-1-0).

THE SKINNY

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—Staff Reports