ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Julian Melchiori scored his first goal of the season, and the St. John's IceCaps held off a comeback attempt to edge the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 3-2 in American Hockey League action on Friday.
Jerome Samson and Kyle MacKinnon also scored for St. John's (35-19-4).
Johan Sundstrom and Chris Langkow replied for the Sound Tigers (26-27-5).
Samson opened the scoring for the IceCaps, scoring a power-play goal on a low wrister through traffic from the faceoff dot with 3:41 left in the first period.
Melchiori doubled the lead, wiring home a crisp wrist shot from the point at the 14:25 mark of the second period.
MacKinnon fanned on a shot and chased it to the net, tapping it in during the ensuing scramble to put St. John's up 3-0, 1:13 into the third period.
Sundstrom scored for Bridgeport, burying a wrist shot from the point which fooled IceCaps goalie Michael Hutchinson blocker side at the 3:08 mark of the third period.
Langkow whacked in a loose puck on the doorstep to put the Sound Tigers within one with 2:10 left in the game.
IceCaps forward Carl Klingberg left the game with just over a minute left after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Aaron Ness, who was served a five-minute kneeing penalty and a game misconduct.
Bridgeport goalie Kevin Poulin made 36 saves. Hutchinson stopped 22 for the IceCaps.
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