3-goal third carries Sound Tigers past Wolf Pack

Three third-period goals lifted the Bridgeport Sound Tigers past the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-3 Saturday at the XL Center in Hartford.

Cole Coskey, Tom Kuhnhackl and Bobo Carpenter scored for Bridgeport in the third, after the two teams came out of the second period tied at one. The Wolf Pack kept the pressure on with goals by rookies Zach Giuttari and Justin Richards.

Coskey gave the Sound Tigers a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal 60 seconds into the third, putting a rebound of a Simon Holmstrom shot past Wolf Pack goaltender Adam Huska (21 saves), after Huska was unable to cover a loose puck.

Then, at 5:05, Kuhnhackl scored off of a 2-on-1 with Jeff Kubiak to make it 3-1. Kubiak broke down the right side in the Hartford zone and backhanded a pass to Kuhnhackl in the slot, and he dragged the puck to his right, and put it into the net on his forehand, as Huska slid across.

Giuttari got the Wolf Pack back to within one with his third of the year at 13:13. The defenseman had a shot from the middle of the blue line blocked, but the puck came right back to him, and his second try found its way through a Morgan Barron screen and eluded Bridgeport goalie Ken Appleby (30 saves), who had shut the Wolf Pack out the previous Saturday at the XL Center, in a 4-0 Sound Tiger win.

Carpenter then netted what turned out to be the game-winner at 17:06, on another rebound, after Jenkins sent the puck to the front of the net from near the right-wing corner. Huska stopped Kyle MacLean’s bid but couldn’t recover when Carpenter found the rebound, along the goal line to Huska’s right.

The Wolf Pack cut the margin back to one goal with Huska on the bench for an extra attacker, but only 11.4 seconds remained when Justin Richards converted Tim Gettinger’s rebound, and Hartford did not have enough time to threaten further.