Apr 3, 2022
The Bridgeport Islanders (27-27-6-4, .500), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, bounced back from three different one-goal deficits but came up short in a 4-3 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (25-27-7-4) in front of 5,275 fans at Total Mortgage Arena on Sunday.
Chris Terry scored his team-leading 24th goal of the season and hit the 50-point mark for the ninth time in his career, while Collin Adams and Mitch Vande Sompel also beat veteran goaltender Pat Nagle. Three of the Phantoms’ four goals came on the power play, including two from Isaac Ratcliffe, who redirected home the game-winner with just four minutes to play.
With the loss, the Islanders fell to 2-1-1-0 in four meetings against the Phantoms this season. The division rivals will rematch in Bridgeport next Sunday.
Vande Sompel (one goal, one assist) and Parker Wotherspoon (two assists) both had a multi-point game, but the Islanders never led after consistently falling behind. Adam Johnson gave Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the second period after a scoreless opening frame that saw Bridgeport outshot the Phantoms 16-5. Johnson tipped Adam Clendening’s slap shot on the power play to beat Jakub Skarek (16-13-4).
Adams tied the game just over four minutes later when he crashed the net and put in a rebound off Wotherspoon’s high-rising shot. It was Adams’ fifth goal of the season, which came at even strength at the 11:19 mark.
Ratcliffe restored Lehigh Valley’s advantage with another redirection on the power play, this time in the final three minutes of the frame on Brennan Menell’s slapshot. Menell stepped into a one-timer near the deep slot and Ratcliffe changed its path to make it 2-1 at the 17:11 mark.
Bridgeport answered for a second time at 8:41 of the third period when Wotherspoon’s point shot was tipped by Otto Koivula and saved, but Vande Sompel cleaned up the…
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