Thoughts on a road trip: How ridiculously bad-(you know where) would it be if someone used “Darkness on the Edge of Town” as the first song in warmup? I picture all 20 guys stretching and just staring across the red line. Maybe it’s just me. Anyway.
Joey MacDonald isn’t back, and it sounds like he’s up for good (which is, what, three days), but Spiller, Keith and Fata are all here and ready to go. I’ll toss up the lineup after warmup.
Edit: Like this, kinda. And Edit2: Swap Keith and Fretter, the first few shifts at least. And as shoulda been noted with the AHL’s top power play in the house, your referee is Francois St. Laurent:
BRIDGEPORT
F: Tambellini (A)-Walter-Jackman (A)
Regier-Smith-Keith
MacArthur-Mosienko-Fretter
Bentivoglio/Haskins
D: Spiller-Fata
Kohn-Ford
Fraser-Wotton (C)
MANCHESTER
F: Tukonen (A)-Boyle (A)-Meckler
Murray-Cliche-Purcell
Moulson (A)-Lewis-Parse
Zeiler/Westgarth
D: Bagnall-Milam
Piskula-Likens
Hersley-Kidd
Your all-rookie team includes two guys here tonight, Teddy Purcell and Brian Boyle, along with Penguins John Curry and Alex Goligoski, Portland’s Bobby Ryan, and Milwaukee defenseman Cody Franson.
One trip and one trip only to Manchester, once again, third year in a row. How crazy is that? Four years ago, when they came here a few times, they also came on April 2, a day I’ll never forget because of three phone calls, which turned into one of the most scary stories I’ve ever written; a day that turned into three and a half months of nervousness, until the day they had a press conference announcing that the Sound Tigers had been sold to the Islanders. Not a fun spring, which is why I really feel for Kevin Oklobzija up in Roch, who’s had this last more than a year.
April 2 at Manchester. Again. Injury- and callup-depleted lineup. Again. Freaky. (2-2 tie that night behind Hamilton’s 40th goal and an assist. That result can’t happen again.)