AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Earn Wild 5-4 Shootout Win Over Whale

Published on October 15, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


Tomas Marcinko scored the game-winner in the fifth round of the shootout and Kevin Poulin battled to make 41 saves as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers earned a wild 5-4 win over the Connecticut Whale at the XL Center on Saturday night. With the win, the Sound Tigers improve to 2-2-0-0 overall. The Whale's record now stands at 1-1-0-2.

The Whale took an early lead just 28 seconds into the game. Poulin made the first save on an Andre Deveaux shot, but the defense was unable to clear the puck from the slot and Kris Newbury backhanded it past Poulin for his fourth goal of the year to put the Whale up 1-0. The Whale outshot the Sound Tigers 12-4 in the opening 20 minutes and carried the one-goal advantage into the second period.

Andre Deveaux increased that lead to two at the 3:59 mark of the second period. Newbury fed Deveaux in front and Poulin stopped the first few attempts, but could not keep the puck out of the net. Deveaux's persistence paid off and he lifted the puck over Poulin who had thought the puck was covered, and the Whale held a 2-0 lead. However, the Sound Tigers took over the rest of the second period, and their rally began with a great effort by David Ullstrom.

Dylan Reese flipped a puck high out of the zone which was chased down by Ullstrom at the Whale's blue line. The second-year forward fought his way through a check along the right side wall, skated the puck into the right circle and beat Chad Johnson for his first goal of the season to make the score 2-1 at 8:59 of the second period. Jeremy Colliton earned an assist on the Ullstrom goal, and with that assist the Sound Tigers captain etched his name once more into the team's record books. The assist gave Colliton 111 assists as a Sound Tiger, breaking a tie with Rob Collins and making him the Sound Tigers all-time leader in assists.

Justin DiBenedetto continued his hot start and tied the score, deflecting a Ty Wishart shot past Johnson during a 5-on-3 power play for his American Hockey League leading fifth goal of the at 15:48. The Sound Tigers took the lead with a bit of good fortune at 18:26 of the period. Tomas Marcinko circled behind the Whale net and into the left circle before firing a shot towards the net, which deflected off of Whale defenseman Brendan Bell and past Johnson. It was Marcinko's second goal of the year and the Sound Tigers carried a 3-2 lead into the final period despite being outshot 22-12 in the middle frame.

However, great individual plays by the Whale's Carl Hagelin stemmed the Sound Tigers momentum. Hagelin took a feed in front and one-timed a shot past Poulin to even the score at three just 52 seconds into the third period. Then with the Sound Tigers on the power play, Hagelin intercepted the puck at center ice, skated in on a breakaway and beat Poulin to give the Whale a 4-3 lead at 7:12 of the third period. The Sound Tigers fourth line contributed once again when Brett Gallant tipped a Ty Wishart shot past Johnson for his first goal of the season, and the score was tied once more at four.

The Sound Tigers made big plays late, killing penalties at the finish of regulation and overtime to force the shootout. The first four shooters, John Mitchell and Brendan Bell of the Whale and Sean Backman and Tyler McNeely of the Sound Tigers, all scored in the first four shootout attempts. Neither side scored in the next two rounds, and Kevin Poulin made his biggest save of the night to start the fifth round when he denied Carl Hagelin. That set the stage for Marcinko, who beat Johnson five-hole to give the Sound Tigers an extra point as Bridgeport came away with a wild 5-4 win in Hartford.

Marcinko, Ullstrom and Wishart all had multi-point games for the Sound Tigers. Kevin Poulin earned third star honors, while Newbury and Hagelin earned the first and second stars in what was a losing effort for the Whale.

The Sound Tigers look to build off of their 5-4 win tomorrow afternoon when they host the Adirondack Phantoms at 3:00 p.m. Tomorrow's game is Kids' Opening Day, and all kids 12 years and younger will be admitted for free.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 15, 2011


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