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| The Sound Tigers came back from a third-period, three-goal deficit on the road and captured a 6-5 shoot-out victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday. |
ALLENTOWN, PA—The
Bridgeport Sound Tigers, rallied from a three-goal deficit in the third period
on Sunday to earn a 6-5 shootout win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before
8,500 fans at PPL Center on Sunday. It was the Phantoms’ 100th sell-out since
moving to Allentown six years ago.
Newcomer Terry Broadhurst, who was acquired in a trade with
Charlotte last Monday, scored once in regulation and ended the two-round
shootout in just his third game with Bridgeport. Nic Pierog and Robert
Carpenter also converted in a span of less than six minutes to turn a 5-2
deficit into a 5-5 deadlock, which forced overtime.
Travis St. Denis opened the scoring just 4:05 into the first
period when he capitalized for the 11th time this season, tying Andrew Ladd for
the second-most goals on the team. Nick Schilkey crossed the blue line at the
left point and sent a diagonal pass to Jordan Schmaltz in the slot, who touched
the puck to the right circle for St. Denis’ one-timer. It was his 63rd career
goal with Bridgeport, tying Steve Bernier for fifth place on the team’s
all-time list. In addition, Schmaltz logged his first point (assist) with the
Sound Tigers.
The Phantoms responded with three straight goals to take a
3-1 lead into the final minutes of the first. Gerry Fitzgerald finished off a
wraparound at the 10:19 mark, narrowly filtering a forehand shot under
Christopher Gibson’s pads for his seventh goal. Reece Willcox followed with a
one-time slap shot from above the right circle to give Lehigh Valley the lead
and Isaac Ratcliffe scored a shorthanded goal at 17:38. Ratcliffe’s sixth goal
of the season was knocked home on a two-on-rush led by Mikhail Vorobyev, who
finished with a game-high three points for the home team (one goal, two
assists).
Sebastian Aho got one back for Bridgeport with the
afternoon’s only power-play goal, despite 13 combined opportunities in a
penalty-filled affair. With Nate Prosser in the box for tripping, Aho settled
Oliver Wahlstrom’s pass at the blue line and directed a long-range shot through
traffic and past the blocker of Kirill Ustimenko. It was Aho’s third goal of
the season and his team-leading 13th power-play point. St. Denis also logged
another point with the secondary assist.
Lehigh Valley bounced back and extended its lead to a
game-high three goals with the crowd cheering loudly in the background.
Vorobyev registered his 12th goal of the season with a backhand shot from the
right circle that found a hole on Gibson. More than a full period later, Greg
Carey banked the puck ahead and sprung David Kase on a breakaway that he
finished for his seventh goal of the year. It put the Phantoms on top 5-2 at
5:07 of the third.
A resilient Sound Tigers team, that scored six times in
Lehigh Valley on Friday, bounced back with the next three goals in a span of
5:26 to tie the contest. Broadhurst made it 5-3 with his first goal of the
season at 9:35, finding daylight just inside the left post and Ustimenko’s
reaching glove. Less than three minutes later, Pierog settled Hutton’s pass and
wheeled through the slot before beating Ustimenko with a wrister for his third
goal of the season and second of the weekend. It was also his sixth goal
against Ustimenko this season between the AHL and ECHL.
Carpenter completed the rally and tied the game at 15:01 of
the third period with his fourth goal of the season and also his second of the
weekend. Hutton fired a long-distance shot from the blue line that was
deflected down in the low slot and Carpenter muscled it home.
Following a scoreless five-minute overtime session,
Wahlstrom and Broadhurst each scored in a brief two-round shootout, while
Gibson didn’t allow a single goal on two Phantoms’ opportunities. Wahlstrom
improved to 3-for-4 in shootout attempts.
Gibson (9-8-5) made 20 saves on 25 shots against, while
Ustimenko (1-3-1) turned aside 25 chances in his fifth AHL appearance.
Bridgeport finished the game 1-for-8 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the
penalty kill.
With the shootout victory,the Sound Tigers improve to 22-33-5-2,
while the Phantoms slip to 24-28-2-7. The Sound Tigers ended their six-game
season series with Lehigh Valley at 3-2-1-0 and won both games against the
Phantoms on the weekend. The final three meetings in the series included 34
combined goals (17-17).
—Staff Reports
#soundtigers / @TheSoundTigers
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