Sound Tigers Fall 4-3 in Shootout to IceCaps
January 25, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (Jan. 25, 2012) - Sound Tigers All-Star forward Casey Cizikas recorded two goals and added an assist, but St. John's recorded three power play goals and Carl Klingberg netted the game-winner in the fourth round of the shootout as the IceCaps defeated Bridgeport 4-3 at Webster Bank Arena on Wednesday night. With the win, St. John's improves to 25-11-3-1. The Sound Tigers eight-game winning streak is snapped with the shootout loss, but they do earn a point as their record now stands at 20-17-3-2.
The Sound Tigers opened the scoring midway through the opening period with a power play goal of their own. Cizikas, who was named to the 2012 AHL All-Star roster on Tuesday, held the puck deep in the St. John's zone. The rookie forward fired the puck off a St. John's defenseman and past goaltender Edward Pasquale for his 10th goal of the season to give the Sound Tigers a 1-0 lead. The IceCaps evened the score late in the period with the first of three power play goals. Shawn Weller was camped in front of Kevin Poulin and deflected Jason DeSantis' shot past the Sound Tigers netminder at 18:07 to make the score 1-1.
St. John's took the lead 2:44 into the second period when DeSantis beat Poulin with a blast from the point on the power play to give the IceCaps a 2-1 advantage. The score remained that way until the early portion of the third period when St. John's scored their third goal with the man advantage. Paul Postma sent a shot from the point that made its way through traffic past Poulin for his seventh goal of the season to give the IceCaps a 3-1 lead 1:59 into the final period.
The Sound Tigers cut their two-goal deficit in half just 1:39 later. Rhett Rakhshani carried the puck into the St. John's zone, waited by the right circle and dropped the puck back for Matt Donovan. The rookie defenseman skated towards the slot and sent a slap shot past Pasquale for his fifth goal of the season as the Sound Tigers trailed by a goal. Cizikas brought the Sound Tigers even with 8:16 left in regulation. Donovan sent a pass from the point down to Tyler McNeely, who sent a pass on net. Pasquale made the initial save, but Cizikas was there to bang the rebound home for his second goal of the night.
Neither side could break the tie throughout the rest of regulation or overtime as the respective clubs needed the shootout to settle the score. Ben Maxwell led the shootout off for St. John's by beating Poulin over his blocker in the first round. Sound Tigers forward Scott Howes made multiple dekes before backhanding the puck over Pasquale's left pad in the bottom portion of the third round to even the shootout at one. Klingberg beat Poulin in the first half of the fourth round to give St. John's the 2-1 advantage, and after Aaron Ness hit a post and Poulin denied Gregoire, Rakhshani was the final hope for the Sound Tigers. However, Rakhshani was unable to get a clean shot off on Pasquale as St. John's came away with the 4-3 shootout win.
The Sound Tigers return to action Friday night when they visit the Adirondack Phantoms at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.
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