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Bridgeport Islanders

Rapid Recap: Bridgeport Loses 4th Straight, Soshnikov Debuts, Dufour Scratched

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Bridgeport, CT- The Bridgeport Islanders hosted the Charlotte Checkers on Friday night as they tried to put an end to their three-game losing streak. However, they could not, as they fell 4-1, their fourth-straight loss.



The Bridgeport Islanders are now 7-3-3-0

Scoring

Chris Tierney gave the Checkers a 1-0 lead 27 seconds into the game with his third goal of the season. Lucas Carlsson and Anton Levtchi were credited with the assists.

Anton Levtchi extended Charlotte’s lead to 2-0 at 7:02 into the first period. The Checkers caught the Bridgeport Islanders defense off guard and created a wide opening for Levtchi to put it in easily before Skarek could get to the other corner of the net. Zac Dalpe and Michael Del Zotto picked up the assist on Levtchi’s second point of the night.

Hudson Fasching cut the Checkers’ lead the 10-minute mark of the period for his sixth goal of the season. Fasching beat Checkers netminder Alex Lyon over the glove from below the circle, as Ryan MacKinnon and Otto Koivula were credited with the assists.

Levtchi scored his second goal of the night and notched his third point of the contest at 4:57 of the third period to make it 3-1 Checkers. Justin Sourdif and Santtu Kinnunen were credited with the assists.

Riley Nash scored the empty net goal at 18:40 of the third period, as the Checkers won 4-1.

Power Play Unsuccessful

The Bridgeport Islanders went 0 for 3 on the power play against Charlotte Thursday.

Bridgeport had lots of opportunities in the offensive zone, but Alex Lyon was a brick wall for Charlotte. Entering Thursday night, the Islanders were 2-2-2 when they don’t score on the man advantage, now 2-3-2.

Head coach Brent Thompson believes repetition is the only solution to the Islanders’ power-play trouble.

“It’s just constant repetition. We got to get reps, and this is Chris Terry’s first game back in two weeks, so the units were slightly different,” Thompson said. “So getting used to different guys, obviously, we’re missing two. So, unfortunately, that really does affect your power play, and I expect it to bounce back. I mean, we’ve got a pretty solid power play, and I expect them to step up in the next few games.”

Nikita Soshnikov Debuts

When the Bridgeport Islanders take on the Charlotte Checkers coming up a little after 7 PM ET, they will have a new member on their bench in Nikita Soshnikov.

On Tuesday, the New York Islanders waived Nikita Soshnikov, and he cleared on Wednesday. In three games this season with New York, the 29-year-old Russian forward notched four shots, with eight hits and a few giveaways in 9:56 minutes per game.

Here’s more from his night:

Soshnikov Reports to Bridgeport, Plays With Holmstrom & Räty

Wiliam Dufour Benched

William Dufour was a full participant for warmups but was a healthy scratch Thursday night. Dufour will play this weekend per head coach Brent Thompson, who provided a reason for the decision:

“Healthy scratch and developmental. You know, I think there was, over the last few games in particular, learning details within the game, making sure that we’re continuing to get him to grow to the place that we want him to be, and again, we want him ready in the NHL,” Thompson said. “We want him to be able to play a solid 200-foot game, and we had some really good conversations, a couple of good days of video, and he’s getting his opportunity to play this weekend for sure,”

Injury Updates

Chris Terry made his return to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 1st, but Grant Hutton once again did not suit up. Hutton has not played in about a month.

Thompson provided an update on his situation:

“Hutton’s a lower-body injury, and it’ll be a little bit longer term, and we’ll reassess him each week. So he’s definitely going to be out for now, but it is lower body.”

Dennis Cholowski did not skate Thursday as well, and Thompson noted that he is also dealing with an injury but didn’t go into detail on the extent of it.

Emphasis on Shooting

The Islanders did win the shot battle against the Checkers, losing 39 to 18 but only managed to put one into the net.  In his first game back, Chris Terry had some close calls on the ice but was not able to bury.

He spoke after the game about his team’s willingness to get shots on goal by driving to the net.

“I think our emphasis this week was to get to the net. That’s where goals are scored, and that’s where plays are made,” Terry said. “I think we did better than last week. Obviously, I didn’t play, but I think we made an improvement. But you know, when you only score one goal, I think that kind of speaks for itself that we can still do better.”

Next up: The Bridgeport Islanders host the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins Saturday night with puck drop set for 7:05 eastern.

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