Bridgeport Sound Tigers Lose 5-2 To St. John's
October 16, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release
BRIDGEPORT, CT â The American Hockey League's 2001-02 Regular Season Champion and Eastern Conference Playoff Champion Bridgeport Sound Tigers, top affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, lost 5-2 at home to the St. John's Maple Leafs Wednesday in the first of four meetings between the teams in a two-week span. The Sound Tigers will visit St. John's next Friday and Saturday October 25th and 26th , and the Maple Leafs will return to Bridgeport on Wednesday, October 30th.
St. John's opened the scoring 3:18 into the game on Alexei Ponikarovsky's first goal of the season off assists from Craig Mills and Luca Cereda, but the Sound Tigers tied game at 1-1 1:59 later when Blaine Down, in his Sound Tigers debut, converted a nice centering pass from Konstantin Kalmikov for a shorthanded goal, the first of Down's professional career. The assist was Kalmikov's second point in as many games.
St. John's regained the lead with 3:46 left in the first period when Mills set up Brad Boyes for his third goal of the season, and it was 2-1 Maple Leafs after one period.
Trent Hunter, reassigned to Bridgeport by the Islanders earlier in the week, tied the score at 2-2 :49 into the second period with his first goal of the season on assists from Sven Butenschon and Eric Manlow. Butenschon, who was acquired by the Islanders from the NHL's Florida Panthers last week and assigned to Bridgeport this week, was making his Sound Tigers debut while Manlow extended his scoring streak to three games on the play.
St. John's made it 3-2 with a five-on-three, power-play goal by Paul Healy, his first goal of the year, at 12:14 of the middle frame with Brad Leeb and Bob Wren getting the assists, and the Maple Leafs held the lead through the end of the period.
St. John's put the game out of reach with two late, third-period goals; Aaron Gavey's first of the season, a power-play tally, with Wren and Josh Holden earning the assists at 16:31 and Healey's second of the night on a two-on-oh breakaway off an assist from Gavey with :24 left in the game.
The Sound Tigers were 0 for 9 on the power play while St. John's was 2 for 9. The Maple Leafs had a 25-24 shots on goal advantage.
The Sound Tigers will host the Hartford Wolf Pack this Friday, October 18th at 7:35 p.m. in the first of ten meetings with their in-state rivals this regular season on "New Haven Appreciation Night" courtesy of The New Haven Register and KC 101.3. They will visit the Springfield Falcons this Saturday, October 19th at 7:35 p.m. in the first eight meetings between the teams this regular season.
All Sound Tigers' games are broadcast live on "The ZONE" FOX Sports Radio 1300 and on the Internet at www.soundtigers.com. In addition, road games are broadcast on WSTC/WNLK 1400/1350.
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