The Bridgeport Sound Tigers (4-11-3-1), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, fell to the Providence Bruins (10-7-0-2) in a 5-0 final on Friday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
Providence goaltender Max Lagace stopped 17 shots for his league-leading fourth shutout of the season, while the Sound Tigers’ offense came up empty for the second straight game. Brendan Gaunce had three points for Providence (2g, 1a) and two of the Bruins’ goals came shorthanded.
It was Bridgeport’s third straight setback.
The Bruins scored three times in the opening 20 minutes to build a substantial lead that the Sound Tigers couldn’t overcome. Gaunce netted the eventual game-winner just 3:05 into the contest with a power-play goal for his fifth of the season. With Kyle Burroughs in the box for slashing, Alex Petrovic ripped a shot from the blue line that Christopher Gibson knocked down, but Gaunce jammed home the rebound from the crease to make it 1-0.
Ryan Fitzgerald’s sixth of the season made it 2-0 at the 13:19 mark, beating Gibson glove side with a wrist shot from the right circle. Less than six minutes later, Gaunce finished a sequence of tic-tac-toe passes at the left post for his sixth goal of the season. He also had the primary assist on Fitzgerald’s goal, giving him a three-point period. Gibson was replaced by Jared Coreau during the first intermission.
Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka each added a shorthanded goal in the back-half of the middle frame to put the contest away. Frederic crashed the net on an odd-man rush at the 12:41 mark, connecting on Jakub Lauko’s centering feed, while Studnicka finished off a centering pass from Lauko at 19:34 to solve Coreau.
Providence outshot Bridgeport 10-7 in the third period, but neither team found the back of the cage. The game included one fight when Seth Helgeson and Trent Frederic dropped the gloves early in the second period after Frederic tagged Oliver Wahlstrom with a hard hit at the red line.
Bridgeport finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Gibson (3-3-3) made 10 saves on 13 shots in 20 minutes of work, while Coreau stopped 18 of the 20 shots he faced in 40 minutes of a no decision.
You must be logged in to post a comment.