PHN’s Best Shots of the Game: Penguins hit hot goalie and fall to Bridgeport, 3-2

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday night, only to fall, 3-2, at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

Sound Tigers’ rookie goalie Stephon Williams put forth a 30-save effort, his highest save total since Dec. 27, 2015, and kept the Penguins (36-20-4-1) at bay long enough for the Sound Tigers to eek out the win.

“(Williams) was spectacular. He was really great,” said Penguins head coach Clark Donatelli after the game. “He had his A-game going… The first 30 minutes, we couldn’t buy a goal, and then he made some tough stops down the stretch when he had to.”

The first period concluded in a scoreless tie, thanks in large part to both the performances of Williams and Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry. Williams finished the first period with 16 saves, and denied Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on multiple chances during a two-man advantage that lasted 1:56 of game time. Jarry faced a lighter opening period workload– six shots– but turned away a drastically redirected shot in the waning seconds of the first.

A series of beautiful power play set-ups still weren’t enough to beat Williams, but a fortuitous bounce right to the stick of Tom Kostopoulos led to a greasy goal, breaking the scoreless tie with a man advantage marker at 7:47 of the middle frame.

With both teams down a man and playing four-on-four, Bridgeport’s Colin Markison made it 1-1 at 10:18 of the second period.

Carter Verhaege buried a two-on-one rush for a 2-1 Sound Tigers lead 5:07 into the third.

Bridgeport extended its lead to 3-1 when Mike Halmo tipped in a power play goal 8:01 of the third period.

As exactly three minutes remained on the game clock, Kael Mouillierat blasted home a one-timer, cutting the score to 3-2.

Carter Rowney, who already had locked up assists on both of the Penguins’ goals, looked to have surely tied the game until Williams pulled out one final show-stopping saves to deny Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the equalizer.

The Penguins came out on top in the special teams battle, going two-for-six on the power play, whereas the Sound Tigers’ man advantage unit went one-for-five.

Jarry finished the game with 16 saves in net for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Penguins won’t have to wait long for the opportunity to exact revenge on the Sound Tigers, as the two teams face-off again tomorrow, Sunday, Mar. 13. Puck drop between the second half of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Bridgeport’s back-to-back weekend series is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at Webster Bank Arena.
With Penguins game report