BRIDGEPORT, CT - Anders Nilsson stopped 31 shots and nine different Sound Tigers recorded a point as Bridgeport earned its sixth straight win with a 3-2 victory over the Providence Bruins at Webster Bank Arena on Pink Rink Night sponsored by Norwalk Hospital on Saturday night. The Sound Tigers improve to 18-17-3-1 with the win. Providence falls to 16-20-1-3
Providence took a 1-0 lead midway through the opening frame when Craig Cunningham deflected Matt Bartkowski’s shot past Sound Tigers goaltender Anders Nilsson. The Sound Tigers evened the score with 3:44 left in the opening period. The top forward line of Tyler McNeely, Casey Cizikas and Rhett Rakhshani worked hard to keep the puck in the offensive zone and were rewarded. McNeely held the puck at the blue line and fed the puck down the right board to Rakhshani. Rakhshani heard defenseman Matt Donovan call for the puck and sent a pass through the slot to Donovan, who snapped the puck over Anton Khudobin’s shoulder for his fourth goal of the season to tie the score at one.
The Sound Tigers took the lead 7:35 into the second period courtesy of an aggressive forecheck. Scott Howes pressed behind the Providence net and forced a turnover, sending the puck up to Kael Mouillierat in the left circle. Mouillierat slid the puck to the slot for David Ullstrom, who beat Khudobin glove-side for his team-leading 14th goal of the season to give the Sound Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Bridgeport maintained its one-goal advantage and killed off two periods midway through the final period before netting what would be the game-winning goal with 2:26 left in regulation. After Kyle MacKinnon and Steve Oleksy dropped the gloves and Andrew Bodnarchuk and Casey Cizikas received penalties for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct, the two sides skated 4-on-4. Sound Tiger newcomer Brandon Gentile sent a shot from the left point that Trevor Frischmon deflected past Khudobin for his fourth goal of the season and the Sound Tigers led 3-1. Calle Ridderwall answered just 19 seconds later as he beat Nilsson from the slot, but the Sound Tigers withstood the Bruins’ final push as they came away with their sixth straight win.
Rakhshani’s assist pushes his point-scoring streak to seven games, and Gentile’s assist on Frischmon’s goal was his first career AHL point.
The Sound Tigers will close out the weekend in search of their seventh straight victory tomorrow afternoon when they host the reigning Calder Cup Champion Binghamton Senators at 3:00 p.m.
