Sound Tigers win in overtime

The degree of difficulty kept sneaking up, but the Bridgeport Sound Tigers managed to pull out a win Friday to end their seasonlong road trip.

Parker Wotherspoon’s goal with 35.9 seconds left in overtime gave the Sound Tigers a 4-3 win over the Utica Comets at the Utica (N.Y.) Memorial Auditorium.

Tanner Fritz carried the puck end to end, around the Comets net and back near the blue line to hand off to Wotherspoon, who moved left away from a defender and beat Ivan Kulbakov.

Bridgeport snapped a season-long three-game winless streak and finished the road trip 3-2-0-1.

The struggles were both self-inflicted and thrust upon the Sound Tigers, sometimes both at the same time in a feisty game.

The Comets took their first lead with 8:28 remaining on Zack MacEwen’s power-play goal. But a Comets double minor handed Bridgeport a chance to tie it, and Yannick Rathgeb’s blast did so with 4:38 left in reg-

ulation.

Steve Bernier spun into Kulbakov after the puck went in and was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. During the Utica power play, Kulbakov stepped out into Connor Jones’ path, and Jones obliged the goalie with contact that was called interference, giving Utica a 78-second two-man ad-

vantage with 3:56 left.

But Bridgeport killed it off to get to overtime.

Defenseman Chris Casto gave the Sound Tigers a lead 50 seconds into the game with his first goal in over a year. Wacey Hamilton tied it short-handed early in the second after the puck caromed away from Bridgeport goalie Jeremy Smith to the front of the net.

Fritz’s power-play deflection restored a one-goal lead midway through the second, but Brendan Gaunce knocked Josh Ho-Sang off the puck late in the period and set up Tom Pyatt to tie it again.