AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Rally Past Springfield 4-3 In OT

October 4, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


SHELTON, CT – The American Hockey League's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, top affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, won for the second time in as many preseason games rallying to beat the Springfield Falcons 4-3 in overtime at the Rinks at Shelton Monday. The Sound Tigers also shutout the Albany River Rats 4-0 in Shelton this past Friday. Chris Campoli continued to have an impressive training camp with a three-goal hat trick tying the game with a third-period power-play goal and winning it with another on the advantage.

A few minutes after failing to convert a five-on-three power play, the Sound Tigers opened the scoring when Barrett Heisten chipped home a shot from the top of the goal crease off a pretty give-and-go play with John Morlang. Paul Caponigri also assisted on the goal which was Heisten's second in as many preseason games and was scored at the 13:07 mark of the first period.

Springfield turned the 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead by scoring twice in the final 1:09 of the opening frame. Nikita Alexeev notched his first goal of the preseason on the power play off assists from Evgeni Artukhin and Craig Darby at the 18:51 mark then Ryan Craig notched his first exhibition marker off assists from Adam Henrich and Paul Ranger with 18.7 ticks left on the clock.

Veteran Goaltender Jamie Storr kept the Falcons ahead with a nice blocker save on Nicolas Laplante just past the mid-point of the second period. Both teams then switched netminders at the next whistle with Wade Dubielewicz replacing Dieter Kochan for the Sound Tigers, and Brian Eklund relieving Storr with 7:30 left in the middle frame. Kochan departed having stopped 15 of 17 shots in 32:30 of work. Storr made eight saves on nine shots in the same amount of time.

Campoli tied the score at 2-2 with his second goal and fourth point of the preseason off assists from Matt Koalska and Sean Bergenheim with 2:58 left in the second period, but Springfield regained the lead at 3-2 on a power-play goal by Alexeev, his second of the game and the preseason, 2:12 into the third period off assists from Darby and David Bowman.

With Jeff Bateman solidly ensconced in front of Eklund to provide a screen, Campoli tied the score at 3-3 with a power-play goal with 11:11 left to play off assists from Bruno Gervais and Mike Bayrack. The goal was Campoli's second of the game and third of the preseason. It was also his fifth exhibition point.

Artukhin took a cross-checking penalty at the final buzzer of regulation, and the Sound Tigers needed just 51 seconds and one shot to take advantage. Mirroring their effort on the equalizer, Gervais slid a pretty pass from the left point to Campoli who blasted another one-timer through traffic and past Eklund. Heisten also assisted on the goal.

Campoli was the first star of the game and now has four goals, two assists and six points and is a +3 this preseason. Alexeev was the second star of the game, and Darby was the third. The Sound Tigers were 2 for 6 on the power play while the Falcons were 2 for 4 and had a 32-30 shots on goal advantage.

The Sound Tigers will play two more preseason games in Shelton hosting the Lowell Lock Monsters this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and the Hartford Wolf Pack this Saturday at 7 p.m. The Sound Tigers will open the 2004-05 regular season on Saturday, October 16th when they host the Albany River Rats at 7:05 p.m. at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard. 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.

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