Feverish Efforts Not Enough in Bridgeport

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (7-8-0-4) battled feverishly in a back-and-forth affair with the Bridgeport Islanders (11-3-4-0) but came away on the wrong end of a 6-4 final score on Sunday afternoon at Total Mortgage Arena.

The opening period showed no indications of an offensive shootout, as scoring chances came few and far between after Steven Santini's game-opening goal for the T-Birds at 2:25. Santini had joined an offensive sequence and found himself right along the blue paint when Matthew Highmore one-timed a Steven Jandric pass toward the goal from the left circle. Although Islanders goalie Cory Schneider made the initial denial, the puck squeezed out of his equipment and down near the goal line, where Santini helped it across the end line for his first goal of the season to give Springfield the 1-0 lead.

Vadim Zherenko turned away each of the 11 shots that came his way in the opening 20 minutes, but the Islanders' potent offense came to life in the opening minute of the second. Former T-Bird Paul Thompson parked himself at the edge of the crease, deflecting a Sam Bolduc point slapper through Zherenko to tie the game, 1-1, just 31 seconds into period two.

The Thunderbirds found a response 5:04 later, with Highmore and Jandric again in the middle of it. Highmore found Jandric near the goal line, and after the rookie was stonewalled by Schneider, Martin Frk arrived on the scene to chip a backhander into the upper portion of the net, giving Springfield a 2-1 lead at 5:35. Frk now has scored four times in his last six games.

Bridgeport entered the game with a league-leading +10 goal differential in period two, and they proved why with three unanswered tallies in a 5:16 span. Hudson Fasching beat Zherenko on a breakaway forehand move at 7:32, Aatu Raty poked home a power-play rebound from point-blank position at 11:42, and Cole Bardreau finished off a three-man passing play from in tight on a delayed penalty to make it 4-2 Islanders at 12:48.

The T-Birds refused to throw in the towels, though, and on their first power play of the day, Will Bitten deflected a Brady Lyle point wrister over Schneider at 15:39, his second man-advantage goal in two days, to bring Springfield to within a single goal, 4-3, after two frames.

Springfield successfully completed the two-goal comeback at 5:37 of the third period when Anthony Angello finished off a centering pass from Greg Printz to tie the game, 4-4. Angello has now scored five goals over the last 16 days after he went goalless through the first month of the season.

Despite all their efforts, the T-Birds just did not have enough left in the tank, and with a late power play chance, the Islanders swung the game in their favor in a wild sequence that saw Bitten denied on a shorthanded breakaway by Schneider at one end, only to see Andy Andreoff pot a rebound goal at the other end just moments later, giving Bridgeport the lead, 5-4, at 16:55.

One last-ditch power play attempt came up empty for the T-Birds and Bardreau's second goal into an empty net rounded out the scoring.

The Thunderbirds are back in action on Friday, Dec. 2 as they welcome the Rockford IceHogs to the MassMutual Center at 7:05 p.m. in the first-ever T-Birds' regular season game against a Western Conference opponent.

Thunderbirds fans can reserve their seats for the 2022-23 season and lock in the best prices and member benefits by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.