Isles Get Payback, Spoil Frk's Hat Trick

BRIDGEPORT, Conn - The Springfield Thunderbirds (24-18-2-4) fell victim to the exact opposite fate as the last meeting against a division foe, falling in overtime by a final score of 5-4 against the Bridgeport Islanders (21-19-7-1) on Saturday night at Total Mortgage Arena.

Martin Frk was the star among stars in the opening 20 minutes with a period for the ages. He opened the scoring off a power play rush at 5:29, snapping a wrister over the blocker of Cory Schneider at 5:29 to give the T-Birds a 1-0 lead.

Arnaud Durandeau and the resilient Islanders evened the game when the speedy winger clanged one off the inside of the post behind Vadim Zherenko just 29 seconds later to even the tally, 1-1. 

Frk was far from finished, though. At 14:13, he showed tremendous patience in faking a couple of shots to open up a shooting lane on the right side. For the second time in the period, Frk used a wrist shot to beat Schneider over the blocker to restore the Springfield lead, 2-1.

Just 1:14 later, operating on a power play for the second time, Frk broke out his patented cannon of a slap shot to rattle it past Schneider at 15:27, giving Springfield a 3-1 lead and giving himself the fastest hat trick in T-Birds team history. It took Frk just 9:58 of game time to connect on his three goals.

Springfield quickly added to Frk's fantastic period at 2:59 of the second when Greg Printz arrived at the net front to chop home a loose puck off great forechecking work by his linemates, Drew Callin and Anthony Angello. Printz's fifth of the season and third goal against Bridgeport this year made it 4-1.

The Isles, much like Springfield two weeks earlier, would not throw up any white flags, and Sam Bolduc brought Bridgeport to a 4-2 score at 9:08 with a long flipper that squeezed through Zherenko. 

5:40 later, after the T-Birds courageously killed off nearly two full minutes of a 5-on-3, Ruslan Iskhakov jammed a loose puck through a lurching Zherenko, and Bridgeport had the lead down to a single goal, 4-3, heading into the third. 

Zherenko and Schneider traded saves through the entirety of the third until the final two minutes, when Printz was called for closing his hand on the puck, setting up a fifth Bridgeport power play. With Schneider on the bench for an extra skater, Dennis Cholowski blistered a slapper home for his first goal of the season with 55 seconds left in regulation, tying the game and forcing overtime.

After Springfield got the better of the Isles on the first four meetings between the clubs that went beyond regulation, Otto Koivula gave Bridgeport a dose of payback this time around, as he walked around Zherenko to his backhand to finish the Islander comeback at 1:15 of overtime.

The T-Birds look to bounce back when they complete the 3-in-3 weekend at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday in Providence in a rematch with the Bruins. 

Thunderbirds fans can reserve their seats for upcoming games by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.