Recap: Islanders 5, Wolf Pack 3
Nov 5, 2022The Bridgeport Islanders (7-1-1-0), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, stayed perfect at home and extended their unbeaten in regulation streak to eight games (7-0-1-0) with a 5-3 victory against the Hartford Wolf Pack (2-4-1-1) at Total Mortgage Arena on Saturday.
Arnaud Durandeau (two goals, one assist), Samuel Bolduc (one goal, one assist) and Ruslan Iskhakov (three assists) each recorded a multi-point performance, as Bridgeport claimed victory for the third consecutive contest. Jakub Skarek (2-1-1) made 29 saves.
The Islanders scored at least two power-play goals for the third straight contest and have now scored a power-play goal in five straight. Andy Andreoff pushed his goal-scoring streak to five games in a row, while William Dufour sealed the victory with an empty-net tally.
The Islanders finished the game 2-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill. Bridgeport’s power play leads all AHL teams at 33.3% (12-for-36) and its offense paces the league at 4.44 goals per game.
Bolduc stepped into a slap shot from above the circles on a delayed penalty at 6:07 of the first period, beating Wolf Pack goaltender Dylan Garand’s glove to make it 1-0. The Islanders have collected the opening goal in seven of their first nine games and are 7-0-0-0 when doing so. Durandeau, who drew the penalty, and Otto Koivula were credited with assists on the defenseman’s second goal of the season. Bolduc extended his point streak to a career-high seven games (two goals, 10 assists)
The Islanders led Hartford in shots 7-1 at the time, but the Wolf Pack ended the period on a 13-3 run. Due to Skarek’s steady play in net, the game remained 1-0 at the first intermission.
C.J. Smith’s third goal of the season tied the contest exactly one minute into the second period. Tim Gettinger and Andy Welinski had the assists for Hartford.
Bridgeport regained its advantage less than two minutes later at even strength. Durandeau sent home a rebound on another delayed penalty for his second goal of the year and second point of the night. Vincent Sevigny and Parker Wotherspoon collected helpers on the Durandeau’s go-ahead tally.
Things got testy at 8:46 of the second period when Andreoff fought Ben Harpur following Harpur’s heavy hit on Ruslan Iskhakov. Each were assessed five minutes.
Bridgeport got a big insurance goal 10 minutes into the third period when Durandeau came through on the power play, sniping a pin-point shot over the left shoulder of Garand. Iskhakov and Bolduc helped create the attack to make it 3-1.
Andreoff scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season, and first at even-strength, on a cross-crease feed from Iskhakov to give the Islanders a 4-1 lead at 13:06 of the third. Iskhakov, who created a turnover in the offensive zone, notched his second assist of the game to give him the team lead in points with 13 (four goals, nine assists).
Hartford made things interesting with two goals in a span of 33 seconds late in the game to make it 4-3. Gettinger’s second goal of the season came at 17:11 after a deflected puck leaked under Skarek. Gustav Rydahl followed at 17:44 when he ripped a forehand try past a screened Skarek.
Dufour potted his fourth goal of the season into an empty next with just 18.7 seconds remaining in the game, sealing the 5-3 victory. Bridgeport improved to 4-0-0-0 at home this season.
Next Time Out: The Islanders host the Providence Bruins (7-1-1-1) at 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon inside Total Mortgage Arena. Tickets are on sale now! Bridgeport is 1-1-0-0 against Boston’s affiliate in two road contests so far this season.