AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Tambellini completes hat-trick with OT game-winner

Published on April 5, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


Jeff Tambellini scored the overtime game-winning goal for the Sound Tigers to defeat the Philadelphia Phantoms by the score of 6-5. The Sound Tigers earned two points in an almost must win to keep pace in the East Division with both the Hershey Bears and Binghamton Senators. Both teams picked up points in the Senators 3-2 shootout victory over the Bears. Hershey holds the final spot in the East Division by three points over the Sound Tigers.

The first period started fast with each team looking to gain ground and secure playoff spots in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Both teams traded power-play goals within the first six minutes. Colton Fretter broke the scoreless tie 3:21 into the opening period when he banged home a pass from Scott Ford in the slot. Steve Regier also had an assist on Fretter's tenth tally of the season. Phantoms leading scorer, Jared Ross would even the score at one with his 22nd goal of the season, also coming on the power-play. Jason DeSantis and Stefan Ruzicka had the helpers on the goal coming 3:13 after Fretter's marker.

Tambellini would regain the lead for the Sound Tigers nearly two minutes later when he tapped a loose puck behind Phantoms' starting goalie Martin Houle for his team leading 32nd goal of the season. Ben Walter the team's leader in assists and Jeff Dwyer had the helpers on the tally to give the Sound Tigers the 2-1 lead. Boyd Kane would answer for Philadelphia with four minutes remaining in the first period. The goal was Kane's 18th of the season coming on the man-advantage with Ruzicka and Ross collecting assists, tying the score at 2-2. With less than a minute to go in the period, Ben Walter would give the Sound Tigers the 3-2 lead when he out-worked a Phantom defenseman in front of Houle and dove to poke the puck into the net. The goal was Walter's 20th of the season. Sean Bentivoglio and Tambellini assisted on the tally coming with 19 seconds remaining in the frame to make the score 3-2 entering the second period.

Philadelphia would waste little time in the second, tying the score at three when Ruzicka walked in from the left face-off dot and rifled a snap-shot over the shoulder of Sound Tigers' starting goaltender Joey MacDonald for the team's third power-play goal of the game. Ross and DeSantis assisted on Ruzicka's 18th tally of the season. Kyle Greentree would give the Phantoms their first lead of the game just over the half-way mark of the period when he scored his 21st goal of the season. Jonathan Matsumoto and Lars Jonsson assisted on the power-play goal coming at the mid-way point of regulation time. The Sound Tigers would go on their own man-advantage two minutes later. Jamie Fraser scored his third goal in the last four games, tying the score at four. On a set play that has Tambellini settle the play up in the corner, Fraser waited for his opening and snuck down behind the Philadelphia defense. Tambellini fired a pass to the back-post where Fraser one-timed the puck through Houle, for his ninth goal of the season. Walter got his second assist of the game on the game-tying goal.

With the energy from tying the game, the Sound Tigers went out and grabbed the lead in the third period. Tyler Haskins was able to clear the puck out of the Sound Tigers' zone and out-race a Philadelphia defensemen into the Phantoms' zone. Haskins slid a perfect pass to Tambellini in the left circle where the team's leading scorer did not pass up the opportunity, snapping a shot past Houle's blocker for the 5-4 Sound Tiger lead and his 34th marker of the season. Joey MacDonald and the Sound Tigers seemed to have the game won with less than two minutes to play but Ryan Potulny, whose haunted the Sound Tigers this season with eight points coming into the two teams' seventh meeting of the season tonight, tapped a rebound past the out-stretched left pad of MacDonald to tie the score at 5-5 sending the game into overtime.

After several grinding shifts contributed by various offensive pairings that Sound Tigers' head coach Jack Capuano put on the ice, Tambellini would snap a shot over the glove of Houle to complete his hat-trick. Tambellini streaked into Philadelphia's zone on a feed from Dustin Kohn, came off the right half-wall and buried his 34th tally of the season to win the game for the Sound Tigers, 6-5.

MacDonald earned the victory making 26 saves on 31 shots while his counterpart Houle stopped 26 of the 32 shots he faced. The Sound Tigers were 2-for-7 on the power-play while the Phantoms were 4-for-7 on the man-advantage.

Tomorrow night the Sound Tigers take on the Hershey Bears at 7 p.m. at the Giant Center. Listen to the voice of the Sound Tigers' Phil Giubileo as he calls what could turn out as the biggest game of the Sound Tigers' season as the two teams fight for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division. Sunday the Sound Tigers will visit the Phantoms in Philadelphia at 5:05 p.m.

Check out the Bridgeport Islanders Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from April 5, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central