Rich Stieglitz
Dany Sabourin slammed the door shut on the Sound Tigers to lead Providence to a 3-2 victory.
Such was the case on Friday night as Lady Luck smiled broadly on the Providence Bruins, who came into Bridgeport having lost four of six games in the New Year, and left the Park City with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Sound Tigers before 4,190 fans at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
Entering the game, the Sound Tigers were 10-2 when leading after the first period, and 13-2 when ahead at the second intermission. That stat held no meaning whatsoever on Friday as the P-Bruins overcame deficits of 1-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second to earn their fourth victory in five games between the AHL Atlantic Division rivals.
Bridgeport broke the ice 14:12 into the game when Jesse Joensuu flew up the far boards and threw a puck on net that was re-directed past Providence goalie Dany Sabourin by Trevor Smith to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
The P-Bruins knotted things up on the power play when right wing Mikko Lehtonen goal fed center Drew Larman from the right circle, and Larman one-timed it past Bridgeport goalie Scott Munroe 6:05 into the middle frame. But the Sound Tigers responded less than a minute later when Trevor Smith picked up a loose puck, fed Greg Mauldin at the left circle, and Mauldin wristed one through Sabourin’s five-hole as Bridgeport regained the lead, 2-1, heading into the locker room after the second period.
At which point the dealer apparently cut the deck.
Sabourin, who started 35 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007-08 and 2008-09, proceeded to slam the door shut just as those crazy little bounces all started going the P-Bruins’ way.
The change in fortunes became apparent just 16 seconds into the third period when Providence right wing Jordan Knackstedt fired a shot on Munroe from the left circle that missed wide but hit the end wall and bounced back in front of the net where Lane MacDermid was conveniently stationed. The puck found MacDermid’s stick—literally—and the fortunate forward tapped a fortuitous shot past Munroe for just his second goal of the campaign to knot the score at 2-2.
Things moved from the sublime to the ridiculous—certainly from Bridgeport’s perspective—when Kirk MacDonald worked the puck up through the neutral zone and fired a blind shot toward the Sound Tigers goal. Munroe made a stick save, but loose puck hit Bridgeport defenseman Brett Westgarth and found its way back past Munroe as MacDonald got credit for what would turn out to be the game-winning goal, his ninth marker of the season.
“We blew a lead, you know? They came out strong, got a lucky bounce, scored that goal and got the momentum back,” said a disappointed Trevor Smith, referring to MacDermid’s propitious tally. “I think we were asleep in the first shift—well, the first five minutes of the third period—and that cost us the game right there.”
“It’s very frustrating,” added Joensuu, who has been paired with Smith and Mauldin for two weeks now on Bridgeport’s first line, which is just starting to gel. “We’ve got to bury teams when we’re going good. We’ve got to be very hungry to score more goals.”
There will be little rest for the weary for the young Sound Tigers as they board a bus and head to Albany where they will take on the River Rats at the Times Union Center on Saturday night at 7 p.m. before turning around and heading back to Bridgeport where they will entertain the Worcester Sharks in a special 1 p.m. start on Sunday at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
