Bridgeport handed early morning loss by Hershey

BRIDGEPORT – What looked to be a promising Sound Tigers comeback fell short and ended in a 4-2 defeat against the Hershey Bears Wednesday afternoon at the Webster Bank Arena.

The Sound Tigers came out flying with an early flurry of offensive chances, including a Kirill Petrov one-timer that was sent just wide by Hershey Bears goalie Justin Peters. The pressure paid off when the Sound Tigers took the five-on-three man advantage with 13:00 left in the first after two Bears tripping penalties.

Bracken Kearns continued his hot start to the season netting his team-leading seventh goal on the season. Alan Quine fed Kearns the puck in front of the net who refused to be denied after burying the rebound from the initial shot. Quine and Joe Whitney notched their ninth assists of the season on the goal.

The Bears responded with a goal of their own when Paul Carey sent a one-timer by goalie Christopher Gibson with 3:13 left in the opening period. Chris Bourque snuck a pass through the heart of the Sound Tigers defense to pick up the assist on the play.

The Bears seemed to wake up in the second period after the early 11:00 a.m. start to match the Sound Tigers intensity. Play looked even most of the way except for a Hershey goal five minutes in by defenseman Connor Carrick who beat Gibson glove-side with a wicked slapshot from the blueline. It was Carrick’s second goal of the season, assisted by Sean Collins for his first assist on the year, and Carter Camper who earned his second of the year on the play.

The Sound Tigers best scoring chances came from right-winger Sebastian Collberg on the power play. After narrowly missing the top shelf with a slapshot, he sent a beautiful pass across the ice for a one-timer, but neither resulted in the equalizer for the home squad.

The third period started off slow but the Sound Tigers found their groove and continued their strong offensive play. Justin Vaive worked his way past a Bear defenseman to try and tie the score but Peters stood tall. Quine was able to net the equalizer after crashing the net and burying the loose puck.

Momentum quickly turned when Carey sent a high-riser just over Gibson’s shoulder to record his second goal of the game with 5:35 left in the period. Chris Bourque set up Carey and earned his seventh assist on the season, Erik Burgdoerfer picked up his first point on the season with the secondary assist. Just over a minute later, Gibson misplayed a puck in the trapezoid which ended in Nathan Walker’s first goal of the season and a 4-2 Bears lead.

The score would stand despite multiple Bridgeport chances to close the gap in the closing minutes of the game. Peters stood on his head as the Sound Tigers doubled the Bears shot total for the game, he finished with 39 saves on 41 shots and came away with his third win of the season.

The Sound Tigers will look to get back on track after their second home loss of the season against the Springfield Falcons at Webster Bank Arena on Saturday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. They currently sit at 8-4-0-0 with 16 points.