AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Snap Road Skid

February 4, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


WORCESTER, MA - The American Hockey League's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, top affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, went 2 for 8 on the power play, 7 for 7 on the penalty kill, scored shorthanded and received goals from five different players to snap a 15-game road-winless skid, 0-13-1-1, with 5-1 win over the Worcester IceCats Friday. The win was the Sound Tigers' first away from Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard since at 4-1 victory over the Hershey Bears on November 20th.

The Sound Tigers dominated the first period outshooting Worcester 17-8, including a 7-0 run to end the frame. They finally broke through with 55.8 seconds left in the period as Justin Mapletoft was the last player to swat the puck in a goal-crease scramble for a power-play goal, his sixth marker of the season, off assists from Eric Godard and Ryan Caldwell to make it 1-0 Sound Tigers.

The IceCats tied the score at 1-1 6:33 into the middle frame on Erkki Rajamaki's fourth goal of the season off an assist from Blake Evans, but the Sound Tigers quickly regained the lead at 2-1 then doubled it to 3-1.

First, former IceCat Jim Campbell blasted a slapshot past Worcester goaltender Curtis Sanford for his seventh goal of the season off assists from Rob Collins and Ryan Kraft at 10:51. Then, Brendan Yarema, who played despite battling a bad case of the flu, notched his second goal of the season, his second shorthanded, off assists from Kraft and netminder Dieter Kochan with 4:41 left in the second period.

The helper was Kochan's first point as a Sound Tiger and the team's first by a netminder since Wade Dubielewicz notched an assist in a 3-1 home loss to the IceCats on December 20th. It was also the first road point by a Sound Tigers goaltender since Rick DiPietro had an assist in a 5-2 win over the Binghamton Senators or February 23, 2003.

After hitting two posts in the first period, Kraft finally found the net for his ninth goal of the season, on the power play, off an assist from Chris Campoli with 2:55 left to play to make it 4-1.

Worcester pulled Sanford in favor of an extra attacker with just under two minutes left in the game, but Collins iced the win with an empty-netter, his team-leading 13th goal and 32nd point of the season with 4.7 seconds left to play. Yarema and Jody Robinson assisted on the final tally.

Kochan was the first star of the game with 25 saves, Kraft the second with three points and Campbell the third with the game-winning goal. Sanford made 24 saves in a losing effort as the Sound Tigers had a 29-24 shots on goal advantage.

The Sound Tigers will finish a stretch of three straight road games when they visit the Lowell Lock Monsters tomorrow at 2 p.m. Their next home game at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard will be Friday, February 11th when they host the Binghamton Senators at 7:35 p.m.

Information regarding Sound Tigers ticket packages and promotions 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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