Sound Tigers Fall In Finale 5-1 To Hartford
April 15, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release
HARTFORD, CT - The American Hockey League's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, top affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, lost their final game of 2005-06 regular season 5-1 on the road to the Hartford Wolf Pack Saturday.
The teams zipped through a scoreless first period with Hartford holding a shots on goal advantage of 8-5 despite three Sound Tigers power plays to the Wolf Pack's one.
Hartford took a 1-0 lead when the rebound of a shot by Dave Liffiton deflected off a Sound Tigers defender for the Wolf Pack blueliner's fourth goal of the season off an assist from Lee Falardeau at 13:34 of the middle frame.
The Sound Tigers tied the game on a major power play, and just one second after a two-man advantage expired, when Rob Collins blasted home his 21st goal and team-leading 69th point of the season off assists from David Masse and Peter Tsimikalis at 15:52, but Hartford regained the lead at 2-1 with its league-leading 22nd shorthanded goal, it's fourth against the Sound Tigers this season, when Greg Moore took the rebound of a save by goaltender Robert Gherson and rushed up ice for his first professional goal with 1:05 left in the period. Moore scored on the same major penalty as Collins.
The Wolf Pack put the game away with three third-period goals, including two early in the frame. Lauri Korpikoski made it 3-1 at the 1:09 mark with his second of the year off assists from Craig Weller and Liffiton. Martin Grenier upped the lead to 4-1 with his fourth of the season off assists from Falardeau and Dane Byers. Chad Wiseman finished things at 5-1 with his 19th with 3.7 seconds left to play off assists from Brad Smyth and Alexandre Giroux.
Liffiton was the first star of the game, Moore the second and Korpikoski the third. Wade Dubielewicz stopped all eight first-period shots he faced in goal for the Sound Tigers before being replaced at the start of the second by Frederic Cloutier who made 30 saves. Robert Gherson earned the win with 18 saves for Hartford who had a 43-19 shots on goal advantage. The Sound Tigers were 1 for 10 on the power play and 5 for 5 on the penalty kill.
Prior to the game the Sound Tigers signed defenseman Peter Tormey to a professional tryout contract after Ryan Caldwell was recalled by the Islanders. Caldwell made his NHL debut on Long Island Saturday in the big club's home game versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Sound Tigers will begin the Calder Cup Playoffs on the road versus the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this coming Thursday, April 20th at 7:05 p.m. in the first game of their best-of-seven East Division semifinal. Game two will be in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday the 22nd with game three scheduled for next Sunday, April 23rd at 3:05 p.m. at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard. The complete series schedule can be viewed on-line at www.soundtigers.com/2006round1a.pdf.
Sound Tigers playoff tickets cost as little as $11 for children and $16 for adults and can be purchased at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard box office, by calling 203-368-1000 or on-line at www.ticketmaster.com. Sound Tigers Playoff Gift Packs-- which include four tickets, an autographed puck and four SportsCenter of CT activity passes --are also on sale for as little as $69. Information regarding all Sound Tigers ticket packages, promotions and upcoming games is available on-line at www.soundtigers.com, by emailing info@soundtigers.com or by calling 203-334-GOAL.
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