Preview: Islanders at Phantoms
Oct 29, 2022THE STORY COMING IN
The Bridgeport Islanders (4-1-1-0) hope to extend their points streak to six games tonight as they close out a two-game road trip against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-2-1-0) in Allentown, Penn. Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m. Last night, the Islanders scored three times in both the second and third periods to produce at least five goals for the fourth straight contest, but suffered a 7-6 loss in overtime to the Springfield Thunderbirds. Dennis Cholowski had a career-high three assists, and Andy Andreoff and Ruslan Iskhakov each scored once and added one helper, while Aatu Raty had two assists. Jakub Skarek (1-1-1) made 31 saves.
LISTEN LIVE: https://bit.ly/BridgeportIslanders
WATCH: AHLTV.com
GAME AT A GLANCE
Tonight’s game is the first of eight meetings between the Islanders and Phantoms this season, and the first of four at PPL Center. Bridgeport went 4-1-1-0 against Lehigh Valley in 2021-22 and earned points in all three road games (2-0-1-0).
VIEW FROM ALLENTOWN
The Phantoms opened a three-game weekend series with a 3-1 setback to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last night at home. Max Willman began the scoring late in the first period, but the Penguins answered with the final three goals. Sam Ersson (0-2-1) made 32 saves. Lehigh Valley completes a four-game homestand tonight before traveling to Hershey for a 5 p.m. matchup tomorrow. The Phantoms are Bears are currently tied for sixth place in the Atlantic Division.
ISH STICKS
Forward Ruslan Iskhakov leads the Islanders in points (8) and is tied for the team lead in goals (3) and assists (5) to begin the season. In fact, he shares the league lead in scoring among rookies and is tied for second in assists and power-play points among rookies. The 22-year-old is on a five-game point streak and has three straight multi-point games, including one goal and one assist yesterday.
SAM’S STREAK
Defenseman Samuel Bolduc enters tonight’s tilt on a career-high four-game point streak, with six points (1g, 5a) total during that span. He is second on the Islanders in scoring and his six points are tied for third among all AHL blue-liners. Bolduc is also tied for second among all AHL defensemen in power-play points (4).
ANDY LAND
Forward Andy Andreoff is also on a four-game point streak, with three goals and seven points over that span. All three of his goals this season have come on the power play including Bridgeport’s sixth tally in last night’s overtime loss. His three power-play goals are tied for the most in the AHL. The 31-year-old forward had three power-play goals all of last season.
QUICK HITS
Despite having his three-game goal streak end last night, Hudson Fasching has points in five straight games (3g, 2a)... William Dufour scored his third goal of the season on his 18th shot last night, which is tied for the second most shots-on-goal among AHL rookies... The Islanders have scored a shorthanded goal in back-to-back games... Brent Thompson is two wins away from #300 as an AHL head coach (all with Bridgeport)… The Isles are 4-0-0-0 when scoring first and 3-0-0-0 when leading after 20 minutes... The last time Bridgeport scored five or more goals in four straight games was Nov. 3, 2018 - Nov. 10, 2018... Cory Schneider is 3-0-0 to start the season and his 2.63 goals-against-average is 18th among AHL netminders.
AFFILIATES
New York Islanders (4-4-0); Last: 6-2 W at CAR, last night -- Next: Tonight vs. COL, 7:30 p.m. ET
Worcester Railers (3-0-0-0); Last: 6-3 W at TR, Wednesday -- Next: Tonight at ADK, 7 p.m. ET