Bridgeport Wins Fourth Straight, ‘We Haven’t Accomplished Anything’

Bridgeport, CT-  The Bridgeport Islanders (4-1-0) recorded their fourth straight win Sunday afternoon, as they defeated the Hartford Wolfpack (0-2-1-1) by a score of 5-2. But despite their modest win streak, the Bridgeport Islanders are not satisfied.

“I mean, obviously, you enjoy the wins when you get them, but we understand it’s a long season, and we don’t ever want to get too high,” Brent Thompson said. “We haven’t accomplished anything yet other than, you know, little baby steps, and for me right now, we haven’t accomplished anything.”

“We’re just playing one game at a time, and our focus is the next one… This is all done.”

Here’s your Rapid Recap from an exciting matinee:

SCORING

Kyle MacLean gave the Bridgeport Islanders a 1-0 lead at 1:01 of the second period as he scored shorthanded. The goal was unassisted.

The Hartford Wolfpack tied the contest at one as William Cuyle scored at 10:35 of the second period. Jonny Brodzinski and Andy Welinski were credited with the assists on Cuylle’s second of the season.

Andy Andreoff notched his second goal of the season, scoring on the power play. Samuel Bolduc and Ruslan Iskhakov were credited with the assists at 14:18 of the second period.

🚨Bridgeport #Isles Powerplay goal.

Andy Andreoff is able to get the redirect off his stick in front of the net for Bridgeport’s 3rd PPG of the season pic.twitter.com/DtRf2xE6xh

— Joshua Linsenberg (@JoshLinsenberg) October 23, 2022

Lauri Pajuniemi tied the contest at two at 13:41 of the third period. Gustav Rydahl was credited with the assist on Pajuniemi’s second of the season.

Paul Thompson notched his first of the year for Bridgeport at 14:29 of the third period to give Bridgeport a 3-2 lead. Iskhakov and Vincent Sevigny were credited with the assists.

🚨Not too fast, Bridgeport responds immediately. Paul Thompson gives the @AHLIslanders a 3-2 edge 14:29 into the 3rd. #Isles@NYIHockeyNow https://t.co/oJBT5IiWpq pic.twitter.com/6StE1sZpc9

— Joshua Linsenberg (@JoshLinsenberg) October 23, 2022

Hudson Fasching scored his third of the season at 16:16 of the third period as the Islanders took at 4-2 lead. Otto Koivula was credited with the assist.

🚨 Another one! Koivula finds a way to get the puck in the net here to make it 4-2 Bridgeport. Check out the replay.@NYIHockeyNow pic.twitter.com/igTuiw737i

— Joshua Linsenberg (@JoshLinsenberg) October 23, 2022

Cole Bardreau scored his first of the season on the empty net at 17:33 of the third period. Jeff Kubiak and Parker Wotherspoon were credited with the assists.

Too Many Trips to the Box for Bridgeport

The Bridgeport Islanders have struggled to stay out of the box this season, as they recorded 20 penalties over the first four games. Simple math has them in the box, on average, five times per game.

Despite not heading to the box five times on Sunday, the Islanders made four trips to the box.

Paul Thompson and William Dufour each took penalties in the first period, with Dufour’s carrying over into the second period. Hudson Fasching and Paul LaDue took penalties in the second.

Fortunately, Bridgeport’s penalty-kill units did their jobs, allowing zero power-play goals against.

“The issue is discipline. I think we got to focus on discipline. I still think tonight we took too many penalties, and I think it’s just reps in practice,” Thompson said. “Any coach will tell you they work on our special teams a lot during the course of the season, and that’s our job here,  to make sure we continue to work on it and continue to improve on it.”

Cory Schneider Stands Tall

Bridgeport Islanders netminder Cory Schneider turned aside 34 of the 36 shots he faced against the Hartford Wolpak as he had a tremendous performance.

He faced a high volume of shots throughout the contest, especially in the second period, as he turned aside 18 of 19.

“For me, it’s just you know, part of being an older guy is you’ve seen a lot of situations and a lot of scenarios, and it may give you a little jumper, a little anticipation on what may happen next,” the veteran Schneider said. “So that’s part of what I tried to use to my advantage, and I’m probably not as quick as I used to be, but if I’m both smarter and can see the game better, then that gives me an advantage.”

Hutton and Terry Were Healthy Scratches

Grant Hutton, a 27-year-old defenseman who was fighting for the seventh defenseman spot at New York Islanders training camp, played the first four games for Bridgeport but found himself a healthy scratch on Sunday.

On the season, Hutton had yet to notch a point.

Another veteran, in 33-year-old Chris Terry, found himself a healthy scratch as well.

“For me, it was just a situation that every guy on our team, whether it’s Terry, whether it’s guys that aren’t in the lineup, they’re a big value to our group, and I believe in all the guys,” Thompson said. “It’s going to take all of us to win certain situations. So as far as the decision, it was just a situation where I felt like this was the right move.”=

Up next: The Bridgeport Islanders are back in action Friday night at the Springfield Thunderbirds, with puck drop set for 7:05 P.M.