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SOUND TIGERS 3, PENGUINS 2

Feb 29, 2008

Box Score

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Trevor Smith scored his 11th goal of the season with about three minutes left in the third period to help the Sound Tigers beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-2. With the victory, the Sound Tigers now have 64 points, just three behind the Penguins who occupy the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division.

Penguin captain, Nathan Smith put his team on the board 15:18 into the first period with his 13th goal of the season. As the Sound Tigers sustained pressure in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton zone, Jonathan Filewich was able to jump on the puck and clear it out of the zone. Ned Havern was the first to the puck in the Sound Tigers' zone and fed a pass from the corner to Smith cutting through the slot. Smith wristed the puck past the blocker of Sound Tigers' starting goalie, Joey MacDonald for the 1-0 lead.

Ben Walter, rejoining the Sound Tigers' lineup tonight after his shoulder injury, tied the score with less than a minute to play in the second period. Jamie Fraser sent a pass to his defense partner, Mark Wotton at the left point where Wotton snapped a shot towards Penguin starting goaltender, John Curry. Walter, standing in the slot, zeroed in on the puck and redirected it past the screened net-minder, tying the score at 1-1 for his 16th goal of the season.

Tim Jackman would give the Sound Tigers the 2-1 lead while the team was short-handed. Jackman came in one-on-one on a Penguin defenseman, pulled the puck to his backhand and chipped it over the blocker of Curry for go ahead goal. Wotton had the lone assist on the Sound Tigers' first short-handed goal since January 6th coming at 2:42 of the third period. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would answer nearly two minutes later when Kurtis McLean scored his 17th goal of the season on a slap shot from the top of the left circle. Mark Letestu and Ben Lovejoy had the assists to tie the score at 2-2. Smith would tally the game-winning goal with just under three minutes remaining in the final period. Justin Bourne made a great play at the Penguin blue-line holding onto the puck and timing his shot on net with Smith crashing. Curry made the stop on Bourne's shot but Smith cut through the crease and back-handed the puck through the Penguin goaltender for the 3-2 game-deciding goal, his 11th tally of the season.

MacDonald finished the game with 35 saves on 37 shots while his counterpart, Curry stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced. The Sound Tigers did not have a power-play all game but went 4-for-4 on the penalty-kill.

The Sound Tiger will return to action tomorrow night against the Binghamton Senators at 7 p.m. Sunday, the Sound Tigers will travel to Lowell to take on the Devils, face-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

3 Stars

1. Trevor Smith - Game-winning goal
2. Tim Jackman - Short-handed goal and looked good on the line with Walter and Regier
3. Joey MacDonald - 35 saves to earn the victory
Honorable Mention: Justin Bourne - A huge assist on the game-winning goal, showing a lot of poise to set the play up

No Gear: New acquisition, Colton Fetter was not in the lineup tonight due to his equipment not arriving to the Wachovia Arena in time for face-off. Fetter jumped on the bike and got a workout, hoping to have his equipment in time for the Sound Tigers' game tomorrow night against the Binghamton Senators.

Wally's Back: Sound Tigers' forward Ben Walter was back in the lineup for his first game since he injured his shoulder in the game on February 20 against the Norfolk Admirals. Walter centered a line with Steve Regier on his left and Tim Jackman on his right and scored the Sound Tigers' goal with 59 second remaining in the middle frame.

Lineups

SOUND TIGERS

Forwards
39 Steve Regier - 9 Ben Walter - 16 Tim Jackman
27 Matt Keith - 21 Jeremy Colliton - 12 Kyle Okposo
10 Sean Bentivoglio - 23 Trevor Smith - 8 Justin Bourne
55 Pascal Morency - 18 Micheal Haley

Defensemen
15 Andy Sertich - 6 Matthew Spiller
44 Drew Fata - 19 Scott Ford
4 Mark Wotton - 40 Jamie Fraser

Goalies
35 Joey MacDonald (starter)
33 Mike Morrison

PENGUINS

Forwards
16 Ned Havern - 7 Nathan Smith - 18 Jonathan Filewich
15 Dave Gove - 17 Kurtis McLean - 26 J.M. Daoust
23 Ryan Stone - 8 Tim Brent - 24 Tim Wallace
27 Dennis Bonvie - 10 Mark Letestu

Defensemen
32 Alain Nasreddine - 4 Jon D'Aversa
6 Ben Lovejoy - 2 Ryan Lannon
20 Paul Bissonnette - 5 Deryk Engelland

Goalies
1 John Curry (starter)
30 David Brown