By Pat Salvas

Newly acquired Dylan Reese made his presence felt in his first game with the Sound Tigers after coming over in a trade with Syracuse on Monday. Playing with his new teammates for the first time, Reese scored a goal and an assist but the Sound Tigers fell to the defending Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears, 6-3, Wednesday night at Arena at Harbor Yard.

Hershey’s Alexandre Giroux was named the game’s first star, scoring twice and collecting an assist. Giroux’s first goal came off a one-timer from the far left circle off a Chris Bourque feed. The shot was deflected in front, floating over the right pad of Sound Tigers’ starting goalie Scott Munroe.

The Sound Tigers generated offensive pressure after falling behind, as their best chance to tie the game came off the stick of Jesse Joensuu who deflected a Greg Mauldin pass wide of Bears’ goalie Michal Neuvirth.  Hershey added another tally with 1:23 remaining in the opening period off the stick of Steve Pinizotto to take a 2-0 lead.

Reese put the Sound Tigers on the board early in the second as he notched is first goal in the Sound Tiger blue and orange, just 44 seconds into the second period. Reese wristed a shot from the blue-line that beat Neuvirth blocker side, cutting the Bears’ lead to 2-1. Hershey rattled off four unanswered goals following Reese’s fifth tally of the season, with three coming a minute apart midway through the middle frame. 
 
After Giroux’s second goal of the game, Sound Tigers’ Head Coach Jack Capuano sent out the line of Trevor Gillies, Pascal Morency and Joel Rechlicz to regain some of the momentum that was lost. Rechlicz and Bears’ defenseman Grant McNeil would circle the wagons in the Sound Tigers’ zone and drop the gloves 2:56 into second. Rechlicz landed several lefts before bringing McNeil to the ice.

However, the momentum tilted back in favor of the Bears following the fight as they continued their offensive pressure. Andrew Gordon collected his 29th goal of the season after a snap-shot handcuffed Munroe on the blocker side allowing the puck to trickle over the goal-line.  With a 4-1 lead 6:13 into the second period, François Bouchard skated into the Sound Tigers’ zone and beat Munroe with another snap-shot on the far left side to give Hershey the 5-1 lead on his 17th tally of the year.  Bourque would cap the three-goal outburst with his 19th goal of the season, slamming a loose rebound over the diving Munroe for the team’s sixth goal, prompting Nathan Lawson to take his place in between the pipes.

Mauldin gave the Sound Tigers a boost with just 2:33 remaining in the second. The assistant captain fired a one-time shot past Neuvirth from the side of the net after Trevor Smith zipped a cross-ice feed to the top of the crease to the waiting Mauldin. Reese collected his first assist with the Sound Tigers as he fed Smith down low from the point for his second point of the game.

The third period was nearly scoreless for the entire 20 minutes, but Jake Gannon’s first-career AHL goal with three seconds remaining was the game’s final goal. After the Sound Tiger’s pulled Lawson for an extra attacker, Gannon slammed a high shot over the glove of Neuvirth for the team’s third and final goal.

The Bears’ 6-3 win gives increases their AHL-best 96 points as they improve their record to 47-12-0-2 on the season. The Sound Tigers are now 27-27-3-6 during the 2009-10 campaign following the loss.

3 Stars

1. Alexandre Giroux – Scores two goals and an assist
2. Andrew Gordon – Scores a goal and an assist
3. Chris Bourque – Scores a goal and two assists
Honorable Mention: Dylan Reese – Scores a goal and an assist in his Sound Tiger debut

Cats Reunited: After playing together for two seasons at the University of New Hampshire, Trevor Smith and Mike Radja were reunited Tuesday night on the same line. Radja, playing in his first game with the Sound Tigers after being acquired from Syracuse as part of Monday’s trade, started at center alongside his former college teammate.

Welcome to the Sound: After coming over from Syracuse in Monday’s trade, Dylan Reese scored a goal and added an assist in his first game with the Sound Tigers. Scoring the team’s first goal of the game early in the second period, Reese would add an assist on Greg Mauldin’s goal with just over two minutes remaining in the middle period.

Lineups

SOUND TIGERS

Forwards
23 Trevor Smith – 25 Mike Radja – 14 Sean Bentivoglio
17 Jeremy Reich – 20 Greg Mauldin - 6 Jesse Joensuu
51 Trevor Gillies – 44 Joel Rechlicz – 55 Pascal Morency
18 Micheal Haley – 10 Tyler Haskins – 27 Matt Martin

Defensemen
32 Brendan Witt – 15 Dylan Reese
11 Jake Gannon – 22 Anton Klementyev
4 Mark Wotton – 26 Jon Gleed

Goalies
33 Scott Munroe (starter)
52 Nathan Lawson

BEARS

Forwards
27 Grant McNeil – 21 Jay Beagle – 36 Oskar Osala
24 Mathieu Perreault – 13 Steve Pinnizzotto – Chris Bourque
12 Andrew Giroux – 11 Keith Aucoin – 10 Andrew Gordon
28 Boyd Kane – 18 Kyle Wilson – 22 Francois Bouchard

Defensemen
4 John Carlson – 7 Karl Alzner
6 Sean Collins – 20 Bryan Helmer
32 Greg Amadio – 25 Zach Miskovic

Goalies
30 Michal Neuvirth (starter)
1 Braden Holtby