Sound Tigers Outpowered 3-1 In Hershey
Published on December 11, 2004 under 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, had a three-game winning streak snapped with a 3-1 road loss to the Hershey Bears Saturday in a game that saw all of the scoring take place on power plays.
Playing without injured forwards Blaine Down and Matt Koalska, the Sound Tigers took to the ice Saturday short one skater as Justin Mapletoft and Richard Seeley were late scratches with a jammed wrist and stiff back respectively.
After controlling the better of the play for the first few minutes, the Sound Tigers were put further shorthanded when Brett Nowak accidentally high-sticked Hershey's Martin Wilde and was assessed a five-minute major penalty 7:18 into the game. The Bears took advantage as Marek Svatos fired the rebound of an Eric Perrin shot past Sound Tigers Goaltender Dieter Kochan for his fourth goal of the season at the 8:28 mark. Jamie Rivers also assisted on the play.
Hershey took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission and tripled it to 3-0 by the end of the middle frame with two more power-play goals. Mathieu Darche was credited with his tenth marker of the season when a puck deflected off his upper body then the cross-bar and past Kochan at the 8:36 mark with Svatos and Perrin earning assists on the play. Rivers then fired a wrist-shot from the mid-point through traffic for his second goal of the season with 44.6 seconds left in the period off assists from Brett Clark and Perrin.
The Sound Tigers called timeout 2:56 into the third period looking to take advantage of a brief five-on-three power play when the Bears took a penalty with eight seconds remaining on a previous infraction. Rob Collins scored just as the two-man advantage ended at the 3:04 mark to cut the lead to 3-1. The goal was the ninth of the season for Collins tying him with Sean Bergenheim for the team lead. It was also the team-leading 18th point on the year for Collins. Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais assisted on the play. Collins is now on a four-game point streak while Campoli is on a four-game assist streak.
The Sound Tigers went on another five-on-three with 1:17 left to play when Hershey once again took a penalty while already shorthanded. Kochan was then pulled in favor of an extra attacker, but the Sound Tigers could not tie the score. In fact, they pulled the netminder three different times as Kochan had to return to the ice for a pair of face-offs that were out of the Bears' zone.
Perrin was the first star of the game, Svatos the second and Hershey Goaltender Tom Lawson the third with 35 saves as the Sound Tigers set a team, season-high mark with 19 shots in the third period en route to a 36-30 advantage. The Bears were 3 for 5 on the power play while the Sound Tigers were 1 for 7.
The Sound Tigers will return home to host Hershey at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard this coming Wednesday, December 15th at 7:05 p.m. before heading on the road for a two-game weekend trip to play the Binghamton Senators next Friday and the Portland Pirates next Saturday. All three games will be broadcast live on 600 WICC-AM and www.soundtigers.com.
Information regarding Sound Tigers ticket packages and sponsorship 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.
American Hockey League Stories from December 11, 2004
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- Monarchs Edged By Pack, 3-2 - Manchester Monarchs
- Bears down Sound Tigers 3-1 - Hershey Bears
- Bruins fall in shootout - Providence Bruins
- Sound Tigers Outpowered 3-1 In Hershey - Bridgeport Islanders
- Phantoms lose 6-4 in Wilkes-Barre - Adirondack Phantoms
- Road Runners Hit Net Audio - Add Voices to Broadcasts - Edmonton Road Runners
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