news

SOUND TIGERS 3, PENGUINS 2

Mar 26, 2008

Box Score

Watch Highlights

For the second straight game, Colton Fretter has played a big part in two Sound Tiger wins and tonight he contributed with the game-winning goal in the third period to help the Sound Tigers to a 3-2 victory. Fretter has scored eight goals in ten games with the Sound Tigers this season since his acquisition at the beginning of the month.

Ben Walter would grab the early 1-0 lead for the Sound Tigers in the first period, a tough feat to do in an intimidating building like Wachovia Arena. Tim Jackman did a great job of pursuing the play deep in the Penguins' zone and caused a turnover at the blue-line where he stripped the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defender. Walter collected the puck and skating in from the right half-wall, snapped a shot through the right arm and body of Penguins' starting goalie David Brown for his 17th goal of the season at 8:58.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got on the board in the second period when Mark Ardelan blasted a shot from the point past Sound Tigers' goalie Mike Morrison to tie the score at one. Kurtis McLean and Alex Goligoski had the assists on the goal coming nearly five minutes into the middle frame. The Sound Tigers would regain the lead at 2-1, while on the power-play when Matt Keith scored his 11th goal of the season. Trevor Smith made an impressive play to dive towards a loose puck in the slot where a Penguin defender was just about to clear it. The puck came to Keith in the right circle where he and snapped a shot under Brown at the halfway mark of regulation. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would not go away and tied the score at 2-2 when captain, Nathan Smith chipped a shot over Morrison's shoulder about two minutes remaining in the period. Connor James and Deryk Engelland had the assists on Smith's 18th tally of the season.

Fretter would grab the 3-2 lead for the Sound Tigers 4:24 into the third period when he snapped a shot over the blocker of Brown for his ninth goal of the season and eighth with the Sound Tigers. Sean Bentivoglio and Drew Fata had the assists on the game-winning goal.

Morrison finished the game stopping 34 of the 36 shots he faced while his counterpart at the other end of the ice, Brown, had 20 saves. The Sound Tigers finished the game 1-for-6 on the man-advantage and went 3-for-3 on the penalty-kill.

The Sound Tigers will return home tonight and prepare for a busy weekend with three straight home games starting Friday against the Hershey Bears at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Penguins will pay their final visit to Arena at Harbor Yard at 7 p.m. The Sound Tigers will conclude the weekend on Sunday when they face-off against the Hartford Wolf Pack at 4 p.m.

3 Stars

1. Colton Fretter - Game winning goal his ninth of the season
2. Mike Morrison - 34 saves to earn the win tonight
3. Mark Ardelan - 1 goal
Honorable Mention: Matt Keith - Scores a goal the shift after he took a big hit

Transactions: Over the past three days, the Sound Tigers have had nine players recalled and added to their lineup with players coming in and out of Utah and Long Island. The latest maneuvers were Keith Johnson coming up from the Grizzlies in the ECHL and Michael Mole getting his first call-up to the big club in his career.

Learning: Jesse Joensuu sat in the stands tonight with assistant coach Bernie Cassell and was learning the different breakouts and systems that it will take for him to succeed with the Sound Tigers. Cassell worked with Joensuu over the summer in Finland and says the Islander prospect has a lot of potential.

Packed House: There are 27 players on the Sound Tigers current active roster and 25 that made the trip to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take on the Penguins tonight. This is the greatest number of players the team has carried all season.

Lineups

SOUND TIGERS

Forwards
25 Tyler Mosienko - 9 Ben Walter - 16 Tim Jackman
10 Sean Bentivoglio - 23 Trevor Smith - 22 Colton Fretter
39 Steve Regier - 21 Jeremy Colliton - 27 Matt Keith
11 Tyler Haskins - 28 Jean Desrochers

Defensemen
4 Mark Wotton - 40 Jamie Fraser
44 Drew Fata - 19 Scott Ford
6 Matthew Spiller - 50 Dustin Kohn

Goalies
33 Mike Morrison (starter)
35 Joey MacDonald

PENGUINS

Forwards
15 Dave Gove - 16 Ned Havern - 24 Tim Wallace
9 Connor James - 18 Jonathan Filewich - 7 Nathan Smith
23 Ryan Stone - 17 Kurtis McLean - 8 Tim Brent
26 Jean-Michel Daoust - 20 Paul Bissonnette

Defensemen
5 Deryk Engelland - 13 Alex Goligoski
32 Alain Nasreddine - 6 Ben Lovejoy
12 Mark Ardelan - 2 Ryan Lannon

Goalies
30 David Brown (starter)
1 John Curry