Game Day: Islanders at Bears
Jan 31, 2025THE STORY COMING IN
The Bridgeport Islanders (10-28-2-2) open a two-game set in Chocolatetown this weekend, squaring off against the Hershey Bears (26-12-5-0) in their final two games before the All-Star break. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. tonight and tomorrow at Giant Center. The Islanders return to the road following a 9-2 setback to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at home on Wednesday, receiving goals from Chris Terry and Liam Foudy. Terry’s goal at 13:01 of the second period was his team-leading seventh on the man advantage, giving Bridgeport a power-play goal in six straight games. The Islanders have 12 power-play goals in their last 12 games after recording just 17 total in their first 30.
Watch tonight's game live: AHLTV on FloHockey
Listen to tonight's radio broadcast: Mixlr
ISLANDERS VS. BEARS
Tonight’s game is the fourth of six meetings between the Islanders and Bears this season, and the second of three at Giant Center. Bridgeport is 1-2-0-0 in the series, but dominated the Bears in their building on Nov. 15 (most recent matchup). Fredrik Karlstrom scored twice, Tyce Thompson and Matt Maggio both had one goal and one assist, and 14 different Islanders recorded a point that evening. Bridgeport hasn’t won back-to-back games in Hershey since Oct 7, 2018 - Mar. 2, 2019. Chris Terry, who played his 1,000th professional game the last time the Islanders visited on Nov. 15, leads all players in the series with four points (1g, 3a).
VIEW FROM HERSHEY
The first-place Bears suffered a 9-0 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on the road Wednesday night, their largest margin of defeat since an 11-0 loss at Cornwall on Oct. 8, 1993 (Rick Kowalsky was a rookie on that Cornwall team). It snapped their season-high seven-game point streak (5-0-2-0) and marked only the club’s second road regulation loss of the year. Still, Hershey enters the weekend with 57 points - most in the Eastern Conference and second in the AHL behind Calgary (58). The Bears are led in scoring by veteran Mike Sgarbossa, who has 29 points in 30 games (7g, 22a). Ethen Frank remains on call-up with the Washington Capitals.
FOUDY’S SIX-GAME STREAK
Liam Foudy has six goals in his last six games and carries a season-long, six-game point streak into the weekend. He has 10 points during that span (6g, 4a) including his 16th goal on Wednesday, just one shy of AHL All-Star Brian Pinho for the team lead. Foudy is second on the Islanders in goals and points (29), and paces the club in shots (123) and game-winning goals (3). Bridgeport is 7-6-1-0 when Foudy finds the back of the net this season.
TERRY KEEPS CLIMBING
Chris Terry also has six goals in the last six games, including a three-game goal streak dating back to last Friday in Syracuse. Terry converted his 13th goal of the season on Wednesday, his 70th career goal with Bridgeport in just 169 games. He is fifth on the team’s all-time list, just one goal behind Jeff Tambellini (2005-09) for fourth. Terry is three points behind Otto Koivula (2018-24) for second all-time in points. The five-time AHL All-Star has a team-leading 37 points, 24 assists, and 10 multi-point games in 41 appearances this season. He is tied for ninth in the League’s scoring race.
QUICK HITS
Terry has nine goals in his last 10 games after starting the season with just four goals in his first 31... Hudson Fasching was assigned to Bridgeport for conditioning on Thursday... He played 19 games with the New York Islanders this season after beginning the year with Bridgeport, where he collected two points in five AHL games (1g, 1a)... Fasching hasn’t played since he was injured on Jan. 5 at Boston... Tyce Thompson could play his 200th professional game between the NHL (11) and AHL (189) tonight.
AFFILIATES
New York Islanders (23-20-7): Last: 3-0 W at Philadelphia, last night -- Next: Tomorrow at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. ET
Worcester Railers (16-19-2-4): Last: 3-1 L at Maine, Saturday -- Next: Tonight vs. Adirondack, 7:05 p.m. ET