Sound Tigers, Gibson finish strong in win at Hartford

HARTFORD — When it got to the end, it wasn’t about the nine goals that had gone back and forth, the iffy deflections, the turnovers.

It was all about a few defensive plays and a few saves from Bridgeport Sound Tigers goalie Christopher Gibson as Bridgeport preserved a lead with Hartford goalie Marek Mazanec pulled for an extra attacker.

“That’s when it gets to prison rules,” Ryan Bourque said after his Sound Tigers won 5- 4 Saturday night at the XL Center. “You’ve got to really bear down and not get lost. You’re not used to

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5 4 playing six- on- five. Positionally, it’s a little different. You’ve got to make hard, strong plays, whether on the wall or on a faceoff.”

Bourque denied Steven Fogarty a look in the slot a couple of times. Gibson came up big with a couple of stops. And Bridgeport has won two in a row.

Travis St. Denis and Steve Bernier ( power play) scored in the third to bring the Sound Tigers back from a deficit in a game in which neither team ever led by more than one.

Hartford took two leads in the second period on goals by Shawn O’Donnell and Ville Meskanen. Fogarty and Michael Lindqvist had tied the game with goals in the first for the Wolf Pack.

“We were talking in the second that we could take the game over if we played our game,” Bourque said. “I think we tried to keep the puck really going north. We played most of the period in their end, and in the latter part, Gibby really stole the game for us.”

Bourque scored his first two goals of the year in the first period, giving Bridgeport a lead both times. Linemate Connor Jones scored in the second to tie it at 3.

“There were some good things, some bad things we need to clean up,” Bridgeport coach Brent Thompson said. “Getting two points certainly makes it easier to go forward.”

Sebastian Aho had three assists. After his rush was broken up in the third, he got the puck back and found St. Denis open on the right side, giving St. Denis