Rich Stieglitz
Scott Munroe nearly escaped a 6-on-3 Portland assault at the end regulation and ended with 44 stops.
With the game tied 1-1 after the second intermission, Portland's Joe DiPenta was called for hooking with 5:35 left in the third period. On the ensuing power-play, Mark Flood blasted a shot from the blue-line that beat a screened Jhonas Enroth, giving the Sound Tigers a 2-1 lead with 3:53 remaining in regulation.
The young Sound Tigers appeared to come unglued at the end of the third stanza, however. With 1:55 remaining, Bridgeport's Jake Gannon received a hooking penalty . One minute later, Jon Gleed was called for holding. The Pirates then pulled their goaltender giving Portland an unheard of 6-on-3 skating advantage. The Sound Tigers desperately tried to hold on in the final seconds, but, with one second tick on the clock, Mancari fired a shot through Munroe's pads from the top of the face-off circle to send the game into overtime.
After a scoreless four-on-four five-minute extra period, Mancari scored the only goal of the shootout in the third round, snapping a shot under Munroe's arm. Enroth stopped all five Bridgeport shooters, including Tyler Haskins to clinch the game for Portland.
Scott Munroe made 44 saves for Bridgeport to help the Sound Tigers earn one point and move their record to 22-20-2-5. It was the third 40 save game of the year for Munroe and the sixth by a Bridgeport goaltender. Enroth stopped 23 shots to earn the victory for Portland. All four regulation goals were scored by special teams—Bridgeport was 1-for-3 on the power-play while Portland went 2-for-5 with the man advantage.
Bridgeport falls to 22-20-2-5 and with 51 points, are two behind Portland one in back of Hartford for fourth place in the AHL Atlantic Division. The top four teams in each division qualify for postseason play. However, Hartford has one game in-hand and Portland has three games in-hand on Bridgeport. While the clock hasn’t exactly started ticking yet on the young Sound Tigers, in order for Bridgeport to have a realistic chance at making the playoffs, the Tigers simply have to learn to close out games instead of settling for shootout losses and considering one point a “moral victory.”
The Sound Tigers and Pirates finish off their weekend set Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center. Face-off is set for 7 p.m. Bridgeport returns home on Sunday to host the Norfolk Admirals at the Arena at Harbor Yard. First puck drops at 3 p.m.
