BRIDGEPORT, Conn – – Ryan Strome scored two goals, and Anders Lee added a goal and an assist, to lead the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to a 3-2 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack Friday night at the Webster Bank Arena.
Conor Allen and Shawn O’Donnell scored for the Wolf Pack. Kenny Reiter made 19 saves to get the win in net for Bridgeport, and Jeff Malcolm stopped 22 shots for Hartford.
It was Bridgeport’s first win in three tries against the Wolf Pack, who fell back to the .500 mark on the year, 9-9-0-2 for 20 points.
“We battled hard, and they had some things go their way,” Allen said. “As a team we did well, but didn’t score enough goals.”
The Wolf Pack got on the scoreboard first, only 2:50 into the game, on a shot from the right point by Allen. The Wolf Pack’s J.T. Miller and Bridgeport’s Marc Cantin battled in front of the net, screening Reiter, and Allen’s long shot got by Reiter on the stick side.
Bridgeport would get the next three goals, though, and got a couple of breaks to tie the game at 9:32. Wolf Pack defenseman Tommy Hughes stumbled in the left-wing corner and lost the puck to Lee, whose centering pass hit Allen’s right skate and squeaked between Malcolm and the post to his right.
The Sound Tigers then took the lead on a power play with only 38.9 seconds left in the period, with Dylan McIlrath in the penalty box for holding.
Stu Bickel was unable to get enough on a clearing pass up the right-wing side, and after Matt Donovan kept the puck in, Lee fed a backhanded pass across the slot from left to right, finding Strome on the forehand, and Malcolm had no chance on Strome’s shot.
After that late goal in the first period, Strome scored again just 54 seconds into the second frame to give the Sound Tigers a 3-1 advantage. Strome took a feed from Donovan just inside the right faceoff dot, spun and fired shot that got through a block attempt by Aaron Johnson and eluded Malcolm.
The Wolf Pack answered that goal less than five minutes later, though, as O’Donnell notched his second of the year at 5:05.
Brodie Dupont took the puck around the net from right to left and centered the puck. The pass went through Kyle Jean, but came perfectly to O’Donnell at the right-wing side of the crease, and O’Donnell banged a shot past Reiter’s catching glove.
The Wolf Pack could not generate any more offense the rest of the evening, however, despite outshooting the Sound Tigers 9-4 in the third period.