Sports stats

AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Smith and Radja tally third period goals to lead Sound Tigers to 5-4 victory

March 5, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


Bridgeport, Conn. - It did not take long for the chemistry to return for Sound Tiger forwards Trevor Smith and Mike Radja. Both played together at the University of New Hampshire and were paired together on the same line tonight, combining for four points and leading the Sound Tigers to a 5-4 victory over the Portland Pirates. Tomas Marcinko and Matt Martin tallied the other two Sound Tiger goals while Sound Tiger net-minder, Nathan Lawson turned aside 28 shots to earn his 12th win of the season. The Sound Tigers improve to 28-27-3-6 this season, giving them 65 points and tying them for fourth place in the Atlantic Division.

Smith put the Sound Tigers on the board 1:30 into the game when Trevor Smith jammed his 18th goal of the season under Pirates starting goalie, J.P. Lamoureux. Sean Bentivoglio took a feed from Mike Radja, high in the Portland zone, then dished the puck low to Smith in the right corner. Smith tucked his shoulder and drove the puck to the front of the net, attempting to jam the puck around the right post. Lamoureux made the first save but Smith was then able to jam the loose puck under the Pirate net-minder for the 1-0 Sound Tiger lead.

Portland would answer three minutes later when Mike Weber snapped his third goal of the season past the glove of Sound Tigers' starter, Nathan Lawson. Weber crept in from the left point and took a pass from Phillip Gogulla in the left circle where he buried a shot through a screen in front. Drew Schiestel had the second assist on the play.

The Sound Tigers regained their lead at 8:19 of the opening frame when Marcinko intercepted a breakout pass from the Portland zone in the high slot and sent a turn-around shot over the shoulder of Lamoureux for the 2-1 Sound Tiger lead.

Gerbe would knot the game at two, backhanding a rebound through Lawson as the Sound Tiger net-minder spun in his crease, while scrambling back into position after Gerbe's first shot. Paul Byron made a terrific play in the neutral zone to dance around a Sound Tiger forward and feed a pass to Gerbe. The 5'5 winger, through a high shot on Lawson that he made the save on but Gerbe was able to settle the rebound and backhand it past Lawson for his ninth goal of the season.

The two teams continued the flip-flopping fashion of goals, with the Sound Tigers taking a 3-2 lead on Martin's 11th goal of the season. Newly signed defenseman Brett Motherwell, broke the puck out of the zone and feathered a pass to Jesse Joensuu, entering the zone from the right-wing wall. Joensuu did not have a clear passing lane to Martin at the back post, so he leaned into a shot that Lamoureux kicked aside with his right pad but the puck went right onto the stick of Martin. The Sound Tiger winger one-timed a shot under the Portland net-minder for his 11th tally of the season, coming 1:27 into the second period.

Gragnani and the Pirates were next to answer on the power-play, four minutes into the middle frame. After Portland set their man-advantage up in the Sound Tigers' zone, Marc-Andre Gragnani waited for a screen to set in front of Lawson before he sent a seeing-eye shot that floated past Lawson's blocker to tie the score at 3-3. Mark Mancari and Kyle Wanvig had the assists on Gragnani's tenth tally of the season.

The Pirates were the first to break the flip-flopping trend, pairing two tallies together to take the 4-3 lead. Weber dumped the puck deep into the Sound Tiger zone, which would have been an icing but Mancari beat a Sound Tiger defenseman to the puck and circled behind the net. Lawson attempted to poke check the puck off Mancari's stick as the Pirate winger came around the net but missed as Mancari saucered a pass to Gogulla cutting through the slot. Gogulla snapped his tenth goal of the season over an outstretched Lawson for his tenth tally of the season.

With the Sound Tigers trailing 4-3 going into the final 20 minutes of play, they needed a spark to pull them back into a tie and got it from Radja, 5:33 into the third. While short-handed, Sound Tigers' winger Matt Martin sprung Radja in alone on Lamoureux. The Sound Tiger forward wasted no time wristing a shot over the Portland net-minder's glove to tie the score at 4-4. Tyler Haskins and Smith would put the Sound Tigers back on top for good, just over the halfway mark of the third period. Bentivoglio chipped the puck deep into the right corner where Haskins picked it up and centered a feed to Smith at the back-door where he redirected the puck past Lamoureux to give the Sound Tigers the 5-4 lead.

Lawson finished the game with 28 saves to earn his 12th win of the season, while Lamoureux turned aside 28 of the 31 Sound Tiger shots. The Sound Tigers were 1-for-1 on the power-play and 1-for-2 on the penalty-kill.

Saturday night, the Sound Tigers will take on the Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. For tickets or information on how to receive a group discounted rate, contact the team's front office at (203) 334-4625 or e-mail info@soundtigers.com.

Check out the Bridgeport Islanders Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from March 5, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Bridgeport Islanders Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central