news

RIVER RATS 5, SOUND TIGERS 2

Nov 24, 2007 | Photo Gallery

Darryl Bootland and Gregg Johnson’s first goals of the season were not enough to snap the Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ losing streak, which is now four games, as the Albany River Rats defeated the Sound Tigers 5-2. Former Sound Tigers Brandon Nolan and Jamie Johnson combined for three points against their former team to help pace the River Rats’ offense with four goals in the first period.

It was a painful first period for the Sound Tigers as Albany jumped out to a three-goal lead just 5:40 into the frame. River Rats’ leading scorer, Jerome Samson opened the scoring 2:37 into the period when he scored his seventh goal of the season with the assists going to J.D. Forrest and Mark Flood. Nolan and Johnson, would connect for Albany’s second goal when Nolan finished a lose puck behind Sound Tigers starting goalie, Mike Morrison. Johnson received a pass in the far circle from Jakub Petruzalek and snapped a quick shot on net that was stopped by Morrison but with Nolan crashing the net, Morrison was unable to control the rebound and Nolan tapped in his eighth goal of the season at 5:01. The Rats’ second goal came when Keith Aucoin won a face-off back to Samson who crept into the slot and wristed a shot past Morrison for his eighth goal of the season just 39 seconds later for the 3-0 lead. After a one-sided fight between Sound Tigers’ defenseman Joe Rullier and Albany’s Conboy that saw Conboy leave the game bloodied, the Sound Tigers were able to jump on the scoreboard. Bootland scored his first goal of the season when he collected his own rebound and shot the puck past Albany net-minder, Michael Leighton trimming the River Rats’ lead to 3-1. Steve Regier and Andrew MacDonald assisted on the goal at 11:18. Before the period would end, Albany would regain their three-goal lead when Johnson would finish a pretty individual effort for his fourth goal of the season. Johnson tied his man up on the draw and was able to split the Sound Tiger defensemen and backhand a shot past Morrison for the 4-1 lead with 16 seconds remaining in the period.

With Aucoin in the penalty box for tripping four minutes into the middle frame, the Sound Tigers were unable to capitalize. As his penalty came to an end, Aucoin came out of the box, skated in all alone on Morrison but was taken down by Bootland who seemed to knock the puck off of Aucoin’s stick before he took Aucoin down. However, referee, Chris Cozzan immediately pointed to center-ice awarding Aucoin a penalty shot. Aucoin, came in on Morrison and snapped the puck over Morrison’s glove for his second goal of the season, making the score 5-1.

In the third period, Morrison would have his best save of the game when he stopped a one-time shot off the stick of Johnson. The former Sound Tiger tried to shovel a hard cross-ice pass from Brett Carson into the net but Morrison was able to slide from post-to-post and get his pad in the way of the shot to keep the score at 5-1. Gregg Johnson would score his first goal of the season, when he took a pass from Regier at the top of the right circle and wristed a shot on goal with Ben Walter screening Leighton. The puck went over Leighton’s glove to cut the River Rats’ lead to 5-2. The goal would come with just under five minutes remaining in the final period as Albany would finish off the Sound Tigers, winning the game 5-2.

Morrison finished the game with 21 saves on 26 shots and his opposing goaltender, Leighton had 27 saves on 29 shots. The Sound Tigers finished the game 0-5 on the power-play and 5-6 on the penalty kill.

The Sound Tigers will return home for the second half of a home-and-home series with the River Rats tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.

3 Stars

1. Jerome Samson – 2 goals with his second goal turning out as the game-winner
2. Jamie Johnson & Brandon Nolan – Came out with a lot of energy looking to help the River Rats defeat their former team (Johnson – 1 goal & 1 assist, Brandon Nolan – 1 goal)
3. Steve Regier – Set up both goals for the Sound Tigers

Rewarded for your Efforts: It was obvious that the coaching staff was pleased with the hard work from the Comeau, Colliton and Bootland, line awarding them with plenty of ice-time tonight. The line did have the Sound Tigers lone goal but they skated with a lot of intensity and created chance from all over the ice.

Minus One: The Sound Tigers were forced to play a man short tonight, dressing only 18 as opposed to the 19 skaters teams are allowed to dress, due to a couple of minor injuries that the Sound Tigers are getting through. Drew Fata and Kip Brennan were once again scratched with minor injuries, both have missed the last two contests. Added to the Sound Tigers scratched list was Pascal Morency who has a big gash on his hand from his fight with Jake Taylor last night. Shawn Bates was recalled by the New York Islanders from his conditioning stint earlier today.

Lineups

SOUND TIGERS

Forwards
14 Blake Comeau – 21 Jeremy Colliton – 27 Darryl Bootland
7 Jeff Tambellini – 51 Frans Nielsen – 10 Sean Bentivoglio
39 Steve Regier – 9 Ben Walter – 8 Ryan Kinasewich
19 Gregg Johnson

Defensemen
50 Dustin Kohn – 6 Matthew Spiller
4 Mark Wotton – Jamie Fraser
2 Andrew MacDonald – 15 Joe Rullier

Goalies
33 Mike Morrison (starter)
35 Joey MacDonald

RIVER RATS

Forwards
26 Nicolas Blanchard – 10 Mike Angelidis – 9 Dave Gove
17 Jerome Samson – 11 Keith Aucoin – 8 Derek Damon
18 Ryan Bayda – 21 Jamie Johnson – 16 Jakub Petruzalek
12 Brandon Nolan

Defensemen
5 Tim Conboy – 28 Casey Borer
4 Mark Flood – 27 J.D. Forrest
7 Brett Carson – 3 Joey Mormina
6 Wade Brookbank

Goalies
29 Michael Leighton (starter)
30 Kevin Nastiuk