The Bridgeport Sound Tigers took a visit to their longtime rival the Hartford Wolf Pack at the XL Center Sunday Afternoon. It started out well for the Sound Tigers until a collapse in the second half of the game.

The Lineup:

The Sound Tigers went with this lineup:

Greer-MacLean-Kuhnhackl

Holmstrom-Jobst-Bardreau

Durandeau-Jenkins-Carpenter

Brown-Bibeau-Coskey

Helgeson-Vande Sompel

Bolduc-Hutton

Wotherspoon-Wilde

Skarek

Motte

Lineup changes for the Sound Tigers were Bode Wilde making his season debut in for Ryan MacKinnon. Arnaud Durandeau goes in for Brett Neumann. Blade Jenkins made his professional debut going in for the suspended Jeff Kubiak, and Cole Coskey replaced Tanner Fritz.

First Period:

In the first period of the game, the Sound Tigers had some solid opportunities on Wolf Pack starting netminder Keith Kinkaid who was sent down to Hartford earlier in the day. At the 14:12 mark of the period, Felix Bibeau tried to wrap the puck around the net, but it caromed back to Samuel Bolduc who ripped one past Kinkaid for his first professional goal. Erik Brown and Bibeau both got assists, which were also their first professional points. The Sound Tigers outshot the Wolf Pack in the first period 8-4 going into the second.

Second Period:

The Sound Tigers came into the period with some solid scoring chances. Bridgeport was hounding Kinkaid in the Hartford net. At the 6:55 mark of the period, Cole Coskey stole a puck from the Wolf Pack defense and roofed one with the backhand by Keith Kinkaid scoring his first professional goal in his first game. The goal was unassisted. About two minutes later, Tarmo Reunanen fired one through traffic and squeaked it past Skarek to cut the lead to one for the Wolf Pack. The Sound Tigers stood strong on the penalty kill going 2/2 in the second after Seth Helgeson took a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head. Bridgeport led 2-1 after two periods, leading in shots 20-13.

Third Period:

Just as the third period began, Jonny Brodzinski put home a shot just 26 seconds into the third period, tying the game at two. Four minutes later, Patrick Newell stole the puck and beat Skarek to give the Wolf Pack a 3-2 lead. Morgan Baron then put home a Power Play goal at the 10:51 mark after Felix Bibeau thought the play was offsides. A minute Later Will Cuylle put a rebound in and scored this fifth unanswered goal. It was not the ideal third period for the Sound Tigers as they had a total collapse in the game, giving up five unanswered goals.

Takeaways:

The first half of the game was all Sound Tigers. Getting shots on Keith Kinkaid and playing well in the zone. Jakub Skarek had a good first half of the game as well. But, Hartford came out firing in the third period. Scoring four goals in the period and Bridgeport didn’t get back. Some of the young defense for Bridgeport made many sloppy plays throughout the game, some of which leading to Wolf Pack goals. Bridgeport has been outscored 9-3 in the first two games of the season.

The Sound Tigers will be back in action next Saturday when they go home to the Webster Bank Arena for their home opener. Be sure to stay tuned here on Drive4Five for all of your Sound Tigers coverage.

Christian Gardecki

A Native of Danbury, CT. Christian is one of the longest tenured Drive4Five writers, Christian Gardecki began writing for Drive4five In May of 2017. Christian covers Minor League Hockey and the Bridgeport Islanders for Drive4Five. Outside of Drive4Five, Christian was the captain of his High School Hockey team and currently attends Hofstra University with a major in journalism. Christian was the play by play broadcaster for the Danbury Westerners summer collegiate baseball team during their 2021 NECBL Championship. Christian also was the Public Address Announcer for the Danbury Hat Tricks Minor Pro Hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League and NAHL Junior team from 2019-21.