A little better, though one of the words in the room was “sloppy.” Not as many odd-man rushes, not as much of a problem in the defensive zone, and they held a team under 34 shots for the first time in a while. Yes, to all of 31.
But for two posts and some big Kelly Guard* saves in the third, this could have been a more lopsided game. Well, actually, tweak history at my own risk: One of those big saves preceded the Regier shorty as Blake Comeau nearly lost his mind in disbelief; a bigger lead would have probably precluded the empty-netter.
But hey, the Senators are in last place; if Bridgeport’s going to be a playoff team — and they keep moving in that direction, though the Rats keep a half-step ahead — the Sound Tigers have to beat teams like the Sens, regularly.
Dubielewicz made some big saves when it was tight, and Berry-to-Boguniecki produced the game-winner, and the gates finally opened in the last four minutes.
It’s an important win with a big weekend coming up.
LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Tambellini (A)-Nielsen-Nilsson
Comeau-Regier-Nolan
Marjamaki-Nokelainen-Pitton
Mitchell/Boguniecki
D: Fata-Berry
Fraser-Wotton (C)
Malec-Rourke (A)
Edit: fixed the above.
BINGHAMTON
F: Potulny (A)-Ebbett-Heerema (A)
Pecker-Hennessy-Vesce (A)
Luttinen-Payer-Robins
Maloney/Koalska
D: David-Hedlund
Komadoski-Cook
Rawlyk-Petruic
Mitchell started as a seventh defenseman and moved up to sixth in place of Fraser by the third. And how weird was it to glance at the lineup sheet before the game and see Ryan Fraser reffing? The league office says it’s not an issue, and you know what? If the games are going to be called like this, then give us players’ relatives for every game. (If I’m up-to-date, the last BPT game Ryan Fraser worked was Jan. 28, 2006. I’ll try to double-check and amend if I’m wrong.)
The Sens had to wear their whites because Worcester is wearing a dark sweater at home Friday, and Binghamton, which travels like a pro hockey team, isn’t going home in between. And because the WBS Penguins will be in Philadelphia on Friday as the Phantoms celebrate the Quakers, watch for the blues at home again Saturday.
Another thing mentioned downstairs somewhere tonight was a reminder of the Dean Arsene quote on the bottom of this page.
Masi Marjamaki had been the forward with the most AHL games played and no goals. That label now falls to another familiar face, Eric Manlow, 38 games for Hamilton. It should be good for Marjamaki, who puts tons of pressure on himself, to have a line instead of a circle in that column.
Matt Koalska drew two penalties tonight, and it almost felt normal to be here again. From a morning chat about everything and nothing, he seems to be doing OK. He’s been on the fourth line, basically. Saw him chatting with Frans Nielsen and ex-3M**-mate Marjamaki in the hallway as I ran past (through) them and upstairs to make second-edition deadline. “Hey, why don’t you interview this guy?” Marjamaki said, pointing to Matt. On principle, I thought about it.
Tomas Malec on playing the Sens again, courtesy of Michael Sharp from the Press and Sun Bulletin: “It was kind of weird, you know? I was thinking before the game, how it was going to feel on the ice against those guys. It was OK. It’s a game. It’s hockey.”
Note-o-rama, links optional: Darius Kasparaitis may be with Hartford on Friday, as the Rangers waived him today. And in a trade of former Hartford players, Anaheim traded Colby Genoway to Vancouver for Joe Rullier. WBS’s Alexei Mikhnov went back to Russia.
I was updating something when The Incredible Crashing Work Computer went down. It went down again on the reboot. I can’t remember what I was updating. If you see an incomplete sentence above, please advise.
*-Hey, not Jeff Glass!
**-Yeah, I’m still milking that for all it’s worth.