SOUND TIGERS BITE PENGUINS IN THIRD FOR WIN

WILKES-BARRE, PA –Trevor Smith’s goal with 3:01 to play was the Penguins’ downfall, as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers posted a 3-2 win Friday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

The loss dropped the Penguins’ record to 32-23-0-3 on the season, while the Sound Tigers now stand at 31-26-1-1.  More importantly, the win allowed Bridgeport to pull within three points of the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division.

It was another disappointing loss for head coach Todd Richards, who saw his club suffer its fifth loss in the past eight games.

“We had some opportunities, but I don’t think we deserved the win,” Richards said.  “We had some guys play hard, but we made lots of mistakes.  And that’s what happens.  When you allow a team to hang around and hang around, they gain in confidence.  Now you’re trailing and you battle back, and they get a goal at the end.  That’s disappointing.”

The game started with promise though, as Nathan Smith tallied his 13th goal of the season late in the first period to put the Penguins up, 1-0.  Ned Havern, making his first appearance since picking up a broken bone in his hand two weeks ago, created the play by pulling up on the left wing and feeding Smith with a perfect pass in the slot for an easy tap in.

That score held until the final minute of the second period, when Ben Walter beat Pens’ netminder John Curry from the slot for his 16th goal of the campaign.  The fact that the home club went scoreless on three power play attempts in the middle frame didn’t make matters any better.

“We went in spurts, and you are never going to play a perfect game…but tonight we were too sporadic,” Richards said.  “We were taking 10 minutes off, our power play wasn’t good again.  Our execution, didn’t win battles.  That gave them some momentum, they were able to generate some opportunities.  Then they came out in the third period with confidence, and they should have because of how the second period went.”

Tim Jackman gave the Sound Tigers their first lead of the night  2:42 into the third.  Jackman carried the puck through traffic and down the left side of the ice, finally getting a shot off that appeared to deflect off the back of a Penguins’ defender for a shorthanded score.

Kurtis McLean tied the score a minute and a half later with a shot that went shortside to beat netminder Joey MacDonald, who snuffed 35 shots on the night.

Smith completed the win with a backhander from in close.

The Penguins return to action on Saturday night when they host the first place Philadelphia Phantoms at 7:05pm.