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Sound Tigers win over Wolf Pack

February 13, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


Hartford, CT - Connecticut's two AHL entries had plenty to redeem themselves for after embarrassing losses Friday night.

While the injury-riddled Hartford Wolf Pack and Bridgeport Sound Tigers aren't likely to save the game film from their Saturday night encounter for any defensive or goaltending lessons, they provided loads of entertainment for the 5,117 at the XL Center.

After four ties and two lead changes, Greg Mauldin and Mark Flood scored 72 seconds apart late in the third period, enabling the Sound Tigers to escape with a 6-4 victory, only their second in nine starts (2-3-1-3).

Mauldin had one goal and four assists to tie the Sound Tigers' single-game point record shared by Blake Comeau and Jeff Tambellini, both of whom are now with the New York Islanders. Flood had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Kinasewich added two goals and one assist as the Sound Tigers (24-22-3-6) made amends for a 6-1 loss to the Worcester Sharks Friday night, their worst defeat of the season.

Meanwhile, turnovers, starting on the game's first shift, and shaky goaltending prevented the Wolf Pack (25-22-3-4) from atoning for a 7-1 loss at Providence Friday night, which matched their second worst defeat of the season.

"I thought coming off (Friday) night that the effort was a lot better all over ice, but we still lost the game," said Wolf Pack captain Dane Byers, who had two goals and an assist. "For whatever reason, both teams capitalized on each other's mistakes, and they were able to capitalize two more times than we capitalized on theirs.

"Right now we have got to get every point we can get because it's a tight (Atlantic) division, so every game is important from here on in. We have to eliminate the mistakes, get tighter all over the ice, support each other a lot better and not turn the puck over as much as we are right now."

The Wolf Pack's first turnover came while some of the crowd still hadn't reached their seats, when former Wolf Pack captain Greg Moore intercepted defenseman Ilkka Heikkienen's clearing attempt and beat Miika Wiikman high to the stick side at 19 seconds. Wiikman (27 saves) was making his first AHL start since Oct. 30 after spending most of the season with the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL.

After Sound Tigers goalie Scott Munroe (22 saves) denied Paul Crowder cruising down the slot on a power play, the Wolf Pack tied it when Byers picked up Kevin Schaeffer's clear-in behind the net and fired a shot that deflected in off Bridgeport defenseman Brett Westgarth.

Munroe managed to get his shoulder on Dale Weise's 20-foot shot from the slot through a maze of players with 4:10 left in the period, then 62 seconds later, the Sound Tigers regained the lead on a power play as Kinasewich tapped in Trevor Smith's pass off Mauldin's shot from the left point after Smith won a faceoff from Brodie Dupont.

But the Wolf Pack took their only lead with two goals in 57 seconds early in the second period. First, on a 4-on-3 power play, Byers' pass from behind the net found a wide-open Corey Locke for an easy tap-in at the right post for his team-high 21st goal. On an ensuing 4-on-4, Weise converted a brilliant pass by Locke off a 2-on-1 against veteran defenseman Brendan Witt, who joined the Sound Tigers from the Islanders on Feb. 4 after clearing waivers. Witt has played 890 NHL games with the Islanders, Washington Capitals and Nashville Predators.

But the Sound Tigers tied it at 6:10 on their third power play when Mauldin's shot from the left point went off the skate of Kinasewich and trickled in for his second goal of the game and the season.

The Wolf Pack nearly regained the lead again, but Munroe robbed a wide-open Weise from in close at 10:35.

Then with the teams skating four a side again, defenseman Mark Wotton scored off Mauldin's rebound with 3:35 left in the period after his shot from the left point ricocheted off the end boards, past Wiikman and into the slot.

The Wolf Pack nearly tied it again 1:35 into the third period, but newcomer Donald Brashear's shot hit the post. Brashear was playing in his first AHL game in 15 years after clearing waivers Friday and being loaned to the Wolf Pack by the Rangers. Brashear had one assist in 36 games with the Rangers, and has 85 goals, 120 assists and 2,634 penalty minutes in 1,025 NHL games with five NHL teams.

The Wolf Pack did tie it at 4 on a power play as Byers one-timed Dupont's pass through Munroe from 10 feet out in the slot at 7:29. And they nearly took the lead again with 6:45 left when Dupont made a backhand pass into the slot to Evgeny Grachev, whose excellent bid was stopped by Munroe.

On the Sound Tigers' ensuing 5-on-3 rush, Kinasewich's pass from the right circle across the slot found a wide-open Mauldin for a one-timer that beat Wiikman low to the stick side with 6:32 left.

"I can't fault our guys for trying to score a goal in that situation," Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said.

Flood iced it with the Sound Tigers' third power-play goal in six tries as he took a pass from Smith and fired a shot from the blueline that beat a screened Wiikman with 5:20 to go.

The Wolf Pack had only five healthy defensemen because of the recall of Corey Potter earlier in the day and injuries to All-Star Bobby Sanguinetti, Michael Sauer, Mathieu Dandenault and Brent Henley. They lost for the first time in regulation (3-1-0-2) in this season's GEICO Connecticut Cup series with the Sound Tigers.

"I thought we gave a pretty good effort and worked hard to get our goals, but it's a pretty fine line between winning and losing and we can't keep making mistakes," Gernander said. "You have to play consistently. You can't make the little mistakes. If you can do it for one shift, you can do it for six a period and for three periods.

"We're real close, right in the game, and players would like certain plays back. If you take those out of the game, then it's a different game."



American Hockey League Stories from February 13, 2010


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