You again…

Here’s where I go, and here’s where I bucked the trend and picked Jamie Johnson first star tonight: There’s about 20 seconds left in the first, and Bridgeport maybe isn’t coming, but they’re in the game after a mind-blowing first six minutes that had them down 3-0.

It’s 3-1 after Darryl Bootland’s goal. There’s a neutral-zone faceoff. Jamie Johnson wins it, pushes is past Frans Nielsen, pushes it past Joe Rullier, gets going, and gets stopped… but he beats everyone to the rebound and backhands it home, and it’s 4-1 with 15 seconds left in the period.

Good night.

Jeremy Colliton made the good point that they’re not stringing together good shifts: They’ll have a good one, but the next one will lack. They’ll have a good one, but they won’t keep the puck deep, so the next line has to start fresh.

About the best news is they’ll play again tomorrow.

BRIDGEPORT
F: Tambellini (A)-Nielsen–Bentivoglio
Comeau-Colliton-Bootland
Kinasewich-Walter-Regier
Johnson
D: Kohn-Spiller (A)
A.MacDonald-Rullier
Fraser-Wotton (C)

ALBANY
F: Bayda (A)-Aucoin (C)-Nolan
Petruzalek-Angelidis-Brookbank
Gove (A)-Damon-Blanchard
Johnson/Samson
D: Borer-Flood
Forrest-Conboy
Mormina-Carson

Chatted with Messrs. Nolan and Johnson for something early next week.

Both teams’ lines differed as the game went on, dramatically at times. Brookbank took one shift and left with an injury.

Aucoin — whose 400th AHL point was his assist — was apparently wearing the full face shield after he took an accidental Jason Morgan high-stick in the mouth last Sunday. Speaking of whom, the scoresheet says Cozzan cited Rules 53.6 and 56.6 on the penalty shot, which involve throwing equipment. Didn’t see that. And speaking of whom, at least Cozzan didn’t call 21 power plays, like he did when he had Bridgeport and Hershey on Nov. 3.

Jerome Samson accents the latter syllable, which is why the press room here still echoes with the occasional “ooh, la la, Samson.”

Hey, did I mention last night about Pat Dapuzzo marching into the Bridgeport room, looking for Steve Regier to continue chatting about that icing call? No? Oh well.

Kids playing musical chairs with inflatable chairs between periods… With three kids left, one kid plopped right into one, while the other two fought over the other one. The chair popped out, and one kid ran, picked it up and started running down the ice while the other kid chased him. Classic.

Finally, I think the quote makes the gamer, but Colliton said the only way they break the slump “is to play with good habits.” I missed a couple of keys, and “play” came out “polka.” That’s different.

Michael Fornabaio