Sound Tigers Fall To Wolf Pack 4-1
Feb 23, 2020The Bridgeport Islanders (19-30-2-5), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, ended Hockey Weekend in Connecticut with a 4-1 setback to the Hartford Wolf Pack (30-14-6-5) in front of 5,427 fans at Webster Bank Arena on Sunday.
Josh Ho-Sang scored on the power play to give the Sound Tigers a first-period lead, but Hartford ended the afternoon with four unanswered tallies to earn its sixth win against Bridgeport in seven meetings. Two of Hartford’s goals came on the power play and one was shorthanded.
Bridgeport lit the lamp first on Ho-Sang’s third goal of the season at the 13:10 mark. With Mason Geertsen in the box for holding, Sebastian Aho set up the offense and fired a lengthy shot wide of the net. It was tipped down by Nick Schilkey and bounced off the end wall before Ho-Sang collected the puck and converted a wraparound to make it 1-0. It was Bridgeport’s fourth consecutive power play that resulted in a goal, dating back to a 3-for-3 performance on Saturday.
Hartford answered with a power-play goal of its own less than two minutes later to tie the game at 1-1. Following Parker Wotherspoon’s hooking penalty, Vinni Lettieri settled the puck and moved to the left-wing wall where he beat Jared Coreau’s glove for his team-leading 24th goal of the season at 15:08.
Hartford applied pressure in bunches as the second period began and eventually took a 2-1 lead. Darren Raddysh played the puck to the front of Bridgeport’s net and with Tim Gettinger providing a screen, Nick Jones converted his eighth goal of the season at 5:24. It was the only even-strength goal of the day and the only one in the middle frame, despite Hartford outshooting Bridgeport 11-2.
The Sound Tigers began the third period with two separate power-play opportunities, but didn’t capitalize either time. Instead, Gettinger made it 3-1 with a shorthanded goal at the 6:16 mark. He drove the net and went airborne to the side of Coreau after forcing a shot home for his 13th of the year.
Nick Ebert put the cherry on top at 13:20 of the third period with his fifth of the season, which also came on the power play. Robert Carpenter was sent to the box for holding and Ebert let one rip from just inside the blue line to make it 4-1.
The Sound Tigers finished the afternoon 1-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill. Coreau (10-14-1) made 26 saves on 30 shots, while former Sound Tigers goalie J.F. Berube stopped 17 of 18 chances. It was his second game against Bridgeport in less than a week after facing the Sound Tigers in relief on Wednesday with Lehigh Valley, prior to being traded by the Philadelphia Flyers immediately after that contest.