Sources: www.soundtigers.com

It has been nearly two months since the Sound Tigers' offense has exploded for five goals. Behind the offensive punch of Ben Walter's two goals, including the game-winner, the Sound Tigers beat the Portland Pirates this afternoon by the score of 5-2. Pascal Morency opened the scoring in the first period with his first tally of the season and Mike Iggulden and Tyler Haskins also added goals in the victory. Colin Murphy and Felix Schutz had the two tallies for the Pirates. In goal for the Sound Tigers this afternoon was Nathan Lawson who earned his 13th win of the season, making 21 saves on 23 shots. The Sound Tigers now have a 33-17-3-4 record which gives them 73 points in the East Division and moves them within two points of the second place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Two minutes into the first period, Jack Capuano put his fourth line of Morency, Tomas Marcinko and Mitch Fritz on the ice to bring the energy level up on the bench. Marcinko and Fritz were behind the net battling with two Portland defensemen for control of the puck. Marcinko came away with possession and fed a pass to Morency in front where he snapped a shot on Pirates' staring goalie, Jhonas Enroth. He made the initial save however, the puck circled back around the net and in almost an identical play, Marcinko centered the puck to Morency who snapped a shot through Enroth's legs for his first goal of the season to give the Sound Tigers the 1-0 lead. Iggulden doubled the Sound Tigers' lead three minutes later when he added to his team lead in points with his 21st goal of the season. Jeremy Colliton and Jesse Joensuu had the assists on Iggulden's goal to give the Sound Tigers the 2-0 lead. Portland would cut that lead in half at the 15:42 mark of the opening period when Murphy finished a pretty passing play with Mark Mancari for his fifth tally of the season. Felix Schutz also had an assist on the goal to make the score 2-1. Walter would score his first marker of the contest two minutes later when he broke to the far post, opening a passing lane for Trevor Smith to feed his center-man the puck. Smith's pass hit Walter in stride as he redirected the puck past the right pad of Enroth for his 13th goal of the season. Kurtis McLean had the second assist on the goal to regain the Sound Tigers' two-goal lead.

Less than a minute into the second period, Walter would score his second goal of the game when he skated through the right circle and snapped a shot over Enroth's glove. The goal came unassisted and gave the Sound Tigers a 4-1 lead. Haskins was the next to join the offensive output 12:57 into the middle frame. Joensuu sent a cross-ice pass to Iggulden in stride along the left-wing boards. The team's leading scorer drew a defenseman towards him then saucered a pass to Haskins who caught the feed on his forehand, then dragged the puck to his backhand and slid the puck past Enroth for his fifth goal of the season giving the Sound Tigers a commanding 5-1 lead. Portland would tack on one more goal in the second period by Schutz. But, Lawson would close the door stopping all nine shots he faced in the third period to give the Sound Tigers the 5-2 victory.

The Sound Tigers out-shot the Pirates 26-23 and were perfect on the penalty-kill going 7-for-7. Lawson had 21 saves while Enroth turned aside 20 of the 25 shots he faced.

On Wednesday, the Sound Tigers will take on the Albany River Rats at 7 p.m. at Arena at Harbor Yard. Alany will return to action for the first time after their terrible bus accident Wednesday night.

3 Stars

1. Ben Walter - 2 goals including the game-winner
2. Mike Iggulden - A goal and an assist
3. Pascal Morency - Scores his first goal of the season
Honorable Mention: Nathan Lawson - Improves his already impressive marks this season with his 13th win of the season

Game Ops: During the first intermission, STAR 99.9 was ready to shell over $10,000 if the lucky fan selected to shoot in the half-ice shot could score through the small hole cut into a board covering the net. The contestant did not win as her shot didn't make it to the goal. In the second intermission, the game ops crew had their classic Chuck-A-Puck with the Booster Club. Throughout the night, there were different singing groups performing God Bless America, America the Beautiful and God Bless the USA.

Major Boost: To receive offense from your fourth line does not happen much but when it does it can give the team a huge boost. Pascal Morency's first goal of the season did just that as the Sound Tigers piggy-backed his first tally since last season with four goals to beat the Pirates 5-2.

Chased: Portland net-minder Jhonas Enroth was pulled by Pirates' head coach Kevin Dineen late in the second period. This was the first time the Sound Tigers had chased a net-minder since their 6-5 shootout victory back on December 5th against the Binghamton Senators. Brian Elliott was in goal for Binghamton and after letting in three Sound Tiger markers in less than 15 minutes, he was replaced by Jeff Glass.