Sound Tigers Blanked by Phantoms

The Sound Tigers fought valiantly, but ultimately came up on the short
end of a 1-0 decision to the Binghamton Devils on Sunday.

BRIDGEPORT—The Bridgeport Sound Tigers wrapped up a three-in-three weekend series by dropping a 1-0 decision to the Binghamton Devils before 4,133 fans at the Webster Bank  Arena on Sunday.  This was the fifth time the Sound Tigers have been shut out this season. It also concluded the two-game season series between the teams won by the Devils two  games to none.

Devils goaltender Zane McIntyre stopped 36 shots in his Binghamton debut after being acquired by the New Jersey Devils from Vancouver prior to the NHL trade deadline last Monday. It was his first shutout of the season, while another Devils newcomer, Janne Kuokkanen, scored the night’s only goal on a five-on-three power play in the second period. Kuokkanen was traded to New Jersey from Carolina on Monday as well.

Indeed, both goaltenders had outstanding games—Sound Tigers netminder Christopher Gibson (7-8-5) stopped 27 of the 28 shots the Devils took at him—and this was particularly true in the opening frame when each goaltender stopped eight shots in a scoreless first period. Bridgeport had two power-play opportunities in the first frame that came up short and Jeff Kubiak rang a shot off of the post.

In the second stanza, Kieffer Bellows was called for holding at 7:27 and Robert Carpenter aired a clearing attempt into the stands for a delay of game penalty nearly 10 seconds later. The Devils took advantage of the two-man advantage and recorded the game’s only tally at the 9:04 mark when Kuokkanen settled Chris Connor’s pass and fired home his 14th goal of the season on a wrist shot below the hash marks.

McIntyre kept the visitors out front with several highly-athletic saves the rest of the way, including a lateral stop on Ryan Bourque’s rebound chance following Colin McDonald’s blast off the pads. The Sound Tigers outshot Binghamton 28-20 in the final two periods, but failed to tie the game.

Bridgeport went 0-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the kill. Nick Schilkey, who played with Koukknen on the Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers last season, had a team-high five shots-on-goal for the Sound Tigers. Overall, Bridgeport outshot Binghamton 36-28. With  the win the Phantoms improved to XXXX while the Sound Tigers fell to 20-32-5-2.

THE SKINNY

The Sound Tigers are now off until Friday night when they will travel to Allentown, PA, to open their second straight three-in-three weekend vs. the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. First puck drops at the PPL Center in Allentown, Penn., at 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on the Sound Tigers Radio Network or seen on AHLTV beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m.  

—Staff Reports

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