Having allowed only two power play goals in their first five games of the season, the Worcester Sharks surrendered four power play goals to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders) on nine power play opportunities in an embarrassing 7-1 home loss at the DCU Center Friday night.
“I don’t think you’re going to win many games being in the box for twenty minutes,” said a frustrated Sharks head coach Roy Sommer in a post game interview with Carl Setterlund of Telegram.com. “I saw a lot of stuff that turned my stomach. Not a lot of guys wanted that puck tonight. Some guys couldn’t get off the ice quick enough.”
Sound Tigers forward Ryan Strome, who finished with five points (2-3-5), put the Sound Tigers up 1-0 at 15:51 of the first period with his second goal of the season off a quick snap shot from just inside the top of the left face-off circle that beat Sharks goaltender Harri Sateri up high.
In the second period, the Sound Tigers scored four times to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Strome buried home a rebound from on top of the crease at 3:17 for a power play goal, his second goal of the game; forward Nick Larson beat Sateri with a backhanded shot from in the slot at 10:52 for his first professional goal; and forward Mike Halmo scored two power play goals in a 1:56 span (16:47, 18:41) to give him a four point (2-2-4) game.
The Sound Tigers extended the lead to 6-0 at 4:39 of the third period when forward Joe Diamond deflected in linemate Alan Quine’s backhanded shot from the right face-off dot for his second goal of the season. Coach Sommer pulled Sateri for rookie goaltender Troy Grosenick but just 93 seconds later, Sound Tigers forward John Persson beat Grosenick with a quick snap shot off a face-off win in the left circle for his third goal of the season.
Recently reassigned second year Sharks forward Freddie Hamilton spoiled Sound Tigers goaltender Anders Nilsson’s shutout attempt with a power play goal, his second goal of the season, at 13:03 off a one-timer from the right face-off dot. Sharks defensemen Adam Comrie and Taylor Doherty were credited with the assists.
The Sharks will be back on the ice Saturday night as they host the St. John’s IceCaps at 7pm/et.
“I’m glad we do play, because we’ll see what we’re made of,” said Sommer. “We had a lot of no-shows.”
NOTES… Final shots were 36-28 in favor of the Sound Tigers… The Sharks went 1-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-9 on the penalty kill… Sateri made 23 saves in 44:28 of playing time and is now 1-4-0 with a 3.61 goals-against-average and .858 save percentage… Grosenick stopped 6-of-7 shots in 15:21 of playing time… The win was the Sound Tigers’ first since Oct 12, snapping a five-game losing streak… Hamilton was reassigned to Worcester from San Jose prior to the start of the game… Sharks forward Bracken Kearns had his five-game point streak snapped while Sharks forward Daniil Tarasov had his four-game point streak and three-game goal streak snapped… Doherty had a team high 11 penalty minutes and a game high five shots on goal… Konrad Abeltshauser (scr), Dylan DeMelo (scr), Jimmy Bonneau (inj), Collin Bowman (inj), Lane Scheidl (inj) and Marek Viedensky (scr) did not dress for the Sharks… The Sharks have lost 12 of their last 13 games at the DCU Center… This was the first of four meetings between the teams this season… The Sharks are 0-1-0-0 against the Sound Tigers this season, 1-3-0-0 at the DCU Center and 2-4-0-0 with four points overall.
Three Stars
1. Ryan Strome – Sound Tigers (2-3-5)
2. Mike Halmo – Sound Tigers (2-2-4)
3. Nick Larson – Sound Tigers (1-1-2)
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