You know, I bought into it a little.
Not to the extent that it was going to turn the series, but that it was going to be a pain in the neck for Bridgeport. The gritty, gritty Penguins against the slick-and-speedy Sound Tigers.
Like I said, a little. WBS is more physical. No doubt there. In fact, part of what Bridgeport wants to do is let the Penguins play physically and take their penalties, then try to capitalize.
But Thursday night, there was something else: The Sound Tigers came out hitting. They came out working. They played with every bit of grit as the Penguins, driving to the net, punishing anyone who tried to get near Wade Dubielewicz.
When we were chatting up here (way up here) last Friday, the obvious gritty Sound Tiger that came to mind was Sean Bergenheim. And he came through tonight. A few big hits early, then a big play to shirk off Drew Fata and set up the first goal.
Jarrett hit. Colliton hit. Thompson drove to the net, took two guys with him and allowed Rob Collins to get free for a goal. (It sounds like the goal was worse for Dany Sabourin than I saw it up here, but Sabourin made up for it with some huge saves.)
Pettinen was a force down low in the third period. Wade Dubielewicz loved his teammates for their third-period effort; their effort all game, really. And Dubielewicz was good all night; the best one was probably a left-to-right job, kick out the right pad, on Maxime Talbot in the second.
Speaking of, Pettinen nailed Talbot into the endboards with 1:32 to go. The Penguins were incensed. Pettinen thought it was clean, with Talbot just hunched over a little; I couldn’t tell from where I was.
It’s only one game, of course, but grit doesn’t look like that big an edge for the Penguins. Neither does physical play. There’s six more games to see where it goes.
LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Bergenheim-Colliton-Nilsson
Tambellini-Collins (A)-Comeau
Marjamaki-Koalska-Masse
Papineau-Regier-Thompson
D: Jarrett (A)-Gervais
Pettinen (A)-Caldwell
Grebeshkov-Pratt
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON
F: Hussey-Talbot-Kolanos
Carcillo-Christensen-Stone
Lefebvre (A)-Taticek-Filewich
Dixon-Corupe-Bonvie (A)
D: Lannon-Whitney
Welch-Kelleher (A)
Bissonnette-Fata
Late, Bridgeport went with Pettinen-Gervais and Grebeshkov-Pratt to the finish. Regier spelled Comeau a few times, including that line’s final shift; Bergenheim-Colliton-Collins finished it up with Pettinen and Gervais.
Pratt was solid, particularly in the third, blocking shots and keeping Penguins away from the net.
Used this in first edition, not in second: In 23 career AHL playoff games with Grand Rapids and Bridgeport, Collins has seven goals and 13 assists.
Every time I hit F5 tonight on the Portland box score, it seemed, Max Kondratiev had another point. Four points in 18:36 pro-rates pretty well. Five in 34:09 (or even in 60) isn’t too bad, either.
The gang’s all here: equipment men, trainers, massage therapists. Nice surprise to see Garrett Timms in the training room today. And Corey Witt from the Isles’ PR department, and Kerry Gwydir, and Sudsie Maharaj, and Kevin Maxwell… And it looked like most of the BST front office, too. They were in the suite right next to the press box, and they were having a good time watching their boys.
Did I just see Kaz Matsui hit an inside-the-park home run? A home run in his first at-bat of the season? For the third year in a row? (Most wonderful time of the year.)
I won’t subject you to my family-history chasing, but I’m stoked at some of the stuff I found today digging through Scranton census records. If I had this stuff available at home, I might never leave the house. (Although I swore that would happen when I got Season 4 of The Simpsons on DVD…)