AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Lose See Saw Game In Hershey

April 2, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


HERSHEY, PA - The American Hockey League's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, top affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, lost 4-3 in overtime on the road to the Hershey Bears Saturday in a game that saw the lead change hands three times.

Newcomer Tim Sestito, who signed a tryout contract with the Sound Tigers earlier in the day, opened the scoring on the first shift of his professional career off assists from Nathan Gillies, his third point in two games, and Ryan Caldwell to make it 1-0 Sound Tigers 2:55 into the game.

After being outshot 5-0 to start the game, Hershey went on an 11-5 run to end the opening frame and tied the score on the fourth goal of the year by Jeff Finger off assists from Brett Clark and Marek Svatos with 5:48 left in the period.

In a reversal of roles, the Bears had momentum and took the lead early in the second period, but the Sound Tigers rallied to tie the score by the end of the middle frame.

Martin Hlinka gave Hershey its first edge at 2-1 with a power-play goal, his fifth marker of the season, off assists from Jamie Rivers and Mathieu Darche at the 2:10 mark, but the Chris Campoli tied the score with a goal on the advantage, his second tally in as many games and 11th of the season, off an assist from Joe Tallari at 12:09. The latter play marked the second time in as many nights Campoli tied the score at 2-2 on the advantage. The assist was also the first point of Tallari's professional career.

The Sound Tigers regained the lead at 3-2 on the first AHL goal of Vince Macri's career off assists from Rob Collins and Justin Papineau 6:29 into the third period. The helper was the team-leading 34th assist and 55th point of the season for Collins.

The Bears tied the score at 3-3 on the back end of a two-man advantage when Jamie Rivers fired a shot through traffic from the right point for his sixth goal of the season off assists from Clark and Eric Perrin with 8:22 left to play.

The Sound Tigers finished regulation and started the extra session shorthanded but were able to kill the opportunity. However, Clark won the game for Hershey with his sixth goal of the season off assists from Perrin and Svatos 2:59 into overtime.

Clark was the first star of the game, Rivers the second and Macri the third. The Bears were 2 for 6 on the power play and had a 35-23 shots on goal advantage, including 5-0 in overtime. The Sound Tigers were 1 for 3 on the power play. Dieter Kochan made 31 saves in a losing effort for the Sound Tigers while Hershey's Peter Budaj made 22 for his 29th win of the season.

The Sound Tigers will return to Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard to host the Binghamton Senators tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. The game will be web cast live at www.soundtigers.com.

Information regarding Sound Tigers ticket packages and marketing opportunities is available by calling 203-334-GOAL or logging on to www.soundtigers.com. Groups, organizations, companies, etc. that are interested in having a member of the Sound Tigers appear at an event are invited to call 203-334-GOAL.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2005


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