AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Weekly Report - January 10

Published on January 10, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


THE WEEK THAT WAS ‚¬Â¦ The Sound Tigers weathered a tough start to the 2011 calendar year posting an 0-2-2-0 mark last week. Themes of last week included two of the Sound Tigers top players being called up to Long Island, Ty Wishart's Sound Tigers debut and a pair of tough overtime losses to round out the weekend.

PORTLAND 5, SOUND TIGERS 3 ‚¬Â¦

The Sound Tigers hosted the Portland Pirates on Wednesday night for the sixth matchup between the two teams this season. The home team had won each of the five meetings this season and 19 of the last 21 dating back to the 07-08 season, and Mark Katic's first period tally put the home team in front 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. But Portland would respond with goals from Paul Byron and Maxime Legault just 1:32 apart midway through the second to take a 2=2D1 lead. Brandon Svendsen's fifth goal of the year came 61 seconds after Legault's goal to tie the score at two, but Justin Bowers retook the lead for the Pirates for good with his second goal of the season at 12:06 of the period. T.J. Brennan and Mark Mancari added third period tallies and Sound Tigers captain Mark Wotton's power play goal with 1:33 left cut Portland's lead to two, but Wotton's goal was not enough as Portland skated away with a 5-3 win.

W-B/SCRANTON 5, SOUND TIGERS 2 ‚¬Â¦

The Sound Tigers traveled to Wilkes-Barre for their only visit to the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza to take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night. The Pegnuins dominated the first period with goals from Tim Wallace and Brett Sterling scored and Wilkes-Barre outshot the Sound Tigers 12-3 to carry a 2-0 lead to the second period. That lead increased to four as Bryan Lerg scored 1:07 into the middle stanza and Eric Tangradi netted his 16th of the year with 1:06 left in the period. Jean Bourbeau scored his first career AHL goal shorthanded with 10 seconds left in the second to make the score 4-1. Mark Katic cut the deficit to two with his second goal of the year coming on a five-on-three power play midway through the third period. However, Nick Johnson would score with 7:34 left in the game and the Penguins skated away with a 5-2 win as Mikko Koskinen suffered the loss for the Sound Tigers.

WORCESTER 2, SOUND TIGERS 1 (OT) ‚¬Â¦

The Worcester Sharks visited Webster Bank Arena on Saturday night as the Sound Tigers looked to snap a three-game losing streak. Worcester took the lead with just over six minutes to go in the first period when Chris Lawrence netted his first goal of the season off of a feed from behind the net by Cory Quirk. Micheal Haley's power play goal with 1:03 left in the first period tied the game at one. Worcester dictated the play the rest of the way, but Mikko Koskinen was up to the task to carry the Sound Tigers through regulation as the Finnish netminder stopped a Worcester onslaught in which the Sound Tigers were outshot 29-5 from the midway point of the second period onward. However, Andrew Desjardins would make the difference in OT with his fifth goal of the year at 1:35 of the extra session to give Worcester a 2-1 victory, stretching the Sound Tigers winless streak to four games.

MANCHESTER 4, SOUND TIGERS 3 (OT) ‚¬Â¦

The Sound Tigers hosted the Manchester Monarchs on Sunday night looking to snap their four-game winless streak to start 2011. Mikko Koskinen made his fifth consecutive start for the Sound Tigers following an impressive 38-save performance a night earlier, but allowed first-period goals to Bud Holloway and Dwight King to put the Sound Tigers in a 2-0 hole. Brandon Svendsen would tally his sixth of the year following a Ty Wishart shot from the point to cut the deficit in half at 7:15 of the second, but Viatcheslav Voynov would score with just over six minutes left in the period to bring the Monarchs lead back to two heading to the third. The Sound Tigers would awaken in the third with goals from Justin DiBenedetto and Olivier Labelle to draw even and force overtime. However, Voynov spoiled the Sound Tigers comeback with his second goal of the game 32 seconds into the extra session to give Manchester the 4-3 OT win and extend the Sound Tigers winless streak to five games.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK ‚¬" MARK KATIC ‚¬Â¦

Defenseman Mark Katic earns Sound Tigers Player of the Week Honors following his first two goals of the season. The Porcupine, ONT native's first goal of the season gave the Sound Tigers a 1-0 lead in the first period of their 5-3 loss to Portland on Wednesday. Katic also notched a power play goal to cut the Sound Tigers deficit to 4-2 midway through the third period of a 5-2 loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday. Katic made the breakout pass to Olivier Labelle who scored to tie Sunday's game against Manchester at three, and now has 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) this year.

LAST WEEK'S PLAYER TRANSACTIONS ‚¬Â¦

Following Kevin Poulin's first career NHL call-up to the Islanders last Tuesday, the Sound Tigers signed goaltender Joel Martin on Wednesday to a professional tryout contract. The Fort Worth, TX native was 10-9=2D0 with a 3.61 GAA with the Odessa Jackalopes of the Central Hockey League prior to signing with Bridgeport. Martin made his Sound Tigers debut late in the third period of Wednesday's loss to Portland but did not face a shot on goal. The Sound Tigers would make another move following the Islanders recall of Jeremy Colliton on Friday afternoon. Forward Brady Leisenring signed a PTO with the Sound Tigers on Saturday afternoon and played in both OT losses this weekend. Leisenring, 28, began the year in Odessa (CHL) before heading to Kalamazoo Wings, ECHL affiliate of the Islanders and Sound Tigers.

POULIN AND COLLITON CONTRIBUTE ON LONG ISLAND ‚¬Â¦

Goaltender Kevin Poulin and center Jeremy Colliton were difference makers for the Islanders this week. Poulin was recalled earlier in the week and made his NHL debut after Nathan Lawson was pulled just six minutes into Tuesday's game against Edmonton. Poulin was spectacular as the rookie netminder stopped all 19 shots he faced in the 2-1 loss to the Oilers. Colliton joined the club on Friday in preparation for the Islanders game against Colorado on Saturday afternoon and both played pivotal roles to earn a hard-fought win. Colliton scored two power play goals in his first NHL game this season and Kevin Poulin made 34 saves to earn his first NHL win as John Tavares' overtime tally gave the Isles a 4-3 win in Denver.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2011


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