Bridgeport Sound Tigers Edge Hartford Wolf Pack 2-1 - AHL

Bridgeport, Conn. – Trevor Smith returned to the Sound Tigers’ lineup tonight after spending the beginning of the new-year on recall with the New York Islanders, and improved upon his team-lead in goals, scoring his 19th tally of the season to help the Sound Tigers to a 2-1 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack.  Ben Walter also scored the eventual game-winner in the second period while Nathan Lawson was in goal, stopping all but one of the 34 Hartford shots to earn his eighth win of the season.  Artem Anisimov scored the only goal for the Wolf Pack, halfway through the third period giving him a goal in each of the last three match-ups between the two Connecticut rivals.  With the win, the Sound Tigers improve to 24-10-2-2, giving them 52 points and still hold claim to second place in the East Division.  
 
Lawson faced his heaviest work load in the first period, stopping all 14 shots that Hartford fired his way.  The Sound Tigers took two penalties in the period but Lawson was able to keep the Wolf Pack off the board heading into the second period.  
 
The Sound Tigers went on the power-play five minutes into the middle frame when Hartford defenseman Corey Potter took a two-minute penalty for hooking.  Andrew MacDonald set up the play in the Wolf Pack zone and fed a pass to Chris Lee at the top of the point.  Lee looked up and fired a shot towards the net that deflected off of Smith’s skate and past Hartford starting goalie, Matt Zaba to give the Sound Tigers the 1-0 lead.  With less than two minutes to play in the period, Jesse Joensuu sent the puck deep into the Hartford zone.  Sean Bentivoglio out-raced Wolf Pack defenseman, Vladimir Denisov into the corner and threw the puck in front where both Joensuu and Walter came crashing.  The puck squirted away from Zaba before he could cover up and Walter snapped it over the Hartford net-minder for his seventh goal of the season giving the Sound Tigers the 2-0 lead.  
 
Anisimov would score his 18th goal of the season to cut the Sound Tigers’ lead to 2-1 in the final period of regulation.  Brodie Dupont and Pierre Parenteau had the assists on Ansimov’s fourth marker this season against the Sound Tigers.  Hartford would pull Zaba for the extra-attacker but they could not push the equalizer past Lawson, preserving the team’s 2-1 lead and keeping him unbeaten in regulation this season with an 8-0-1 record.  
 
Zaba finished the game 24 saves for the Wolf Pack.  The Sound Tigers were perfect on the penalty-kill, going 4-for-4 and scored once on their three man-advantages, improving their record to 3-0-1-1 against the Wolf Pack this season.  
 
Wednesday, these two teams will complete a home-and-home swing at the XL Center at 7 p.m.  The Sound Tigers next home game is set for Friday, Jan. 16 when they take on the East Division leading Hershey Bears at 7 p.m.  Tickets are still available by contacting the team’s front office at (203) 334-GOAL or by e-mailing info@soundtigers.com.

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