RANGERS 101

The Connecticut Whale opened up the 2012-13 season Friday night with a 6-4 loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

Bridgeport scored five times in the second period and once in the third.

Veteran Kris Newbury scored twice for the Whale and Kyle Jean scored in his first ever professional game.

Newbury's goal came at the beginning of the first period, on Connecticut's first power play of the season. Matt Gilroy fired a shot from the point that Bridgeport goaltender Kevin Poulin (27 saves) got a piece of, but Newbury was there to slap home the rebound giving the Whale a 1-0 lead.

The assist for Gilroy was his first in the AHL since 2009-10 with the then-Hartford Wolf Pack.

With 6:08 remaining in the first, Jean was awarded a penalty shot while the Whale were killing a penalty. Jean calmly skated the puck in, put a great deke on Poulin and slid the puck past him on left to put the Whale up 2-0.

They took that lead into the first intermission, but Bridgeport stormed out of the gate to start the second.

Not even seven minutes into the period, Bridgeport had a 3-2 lead. Casey Cizikas netted two goals while Nino Niederreiter had one of his own.

Brock Nelson and John Persson closed out the scoring in the second period, putting an end to Jason Missiaen's night after giving up five goals on 38 shots.

The Whale replaced Missiaen with Scott Stajcer in the third period, but he couldn't stop the bleeding as he allowed a goal to Brandon  DeFazio just a minute into the third period, making it 6-2 Sound Tigers.

Mike Vernace and Newbury would score later in the period making it 6-4 Sound Tigers, and the Whale wouldn't get any closer than that.

“There were some positives, but by and large we’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Whale head coach Ken Gernander. “I think it starts with a little more commitment to winning some one-on-one battles. I think we have to track pucks and pursue.”

The Whale go back to work Sunday Oct. 14, as they host the St. John's Ice Caps at the XL Center at 3 p.m.

Tags: AHL, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Casey Cizikas, Connecticut Whale, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hockey, Kris Newbury, Kyle Jean, Matt Gilroy, New York, New York Rangers, NHL, Nino Niederreiter

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