(I just like saying that)
–Audio link, again, if you need it — and Chris Lee has just scored 30 seconds in, 1-0 Bridgeport. That’s a little better start than the last coupla games.
–Stats here. Same officiating crew. McLean, Pete Michaud says, is a late scratch — it’s the first break-up of the Smith-McLean-Iggulden line this season. Jeremy Colliton started with them. Hennigar is the late add. Marcinko and Fraser are back in, with Gleed and Haskins (who sounded banged up at one point in the second, though he played in the third) out.
-Apropos of nothing, Jaime Sifers gets a glowing review from Damien Cox in the Star today.
-The Norfolk broadcast crew doesn’t like the delay-of-game penalty. Stand united.
-The Rangers are wearing white tonight at the Garden. It looks really weird. (The Whalers’ third jerseys look even weirder.)
-You know a late addition is gonna do something good. Rob Hennigar scores his third goal — he had the other two in one game — to make it 2-0. (The one game was in PEI. So I still haven’t seen him score. Maybe it’s my fault.)
-Norfolk answers on Jason Ward’s goal. Mike Lundin gets the second assist in his first Norfolk game.
-Tambellini finally gets one, off an almost-turnover, apparently, from how it sounds — Blair Jones nearly picked it off, gave it up, and Tambellini scores his first of the year.
-Miracle of technology – my Internet cut out during Norfolk’s power play, so all I can tell ya is Chris Lawrence scored seconds after the power play expired — second night in a row that happened — to cut the lead back to a goal. Jay Rosehill has an assist in back-to-back games. That’s it for one.
-Four players have their first goals of the season. For Tambellini and Ward, that includes some NHL time. For Lawrence, that doesn’t include ECHL time; he had one for Augusta (RIP).
-The Norfolk broadcast team makes the point that there’s no fixed signal for too-many-men. Some officials will put up six fingers; I’m kind of partial to the little circle with the finger, as if quickly counting players. Anyway, Norfolk had six skaters, so Brandon Bochenski is off to the box.
-Peter Mannino’s making a run at Joey Mac (well, maybe not) with his third minor. Steve Downie’s just evened that out, though. Add: You’ve got to work pretty hard to make a run at Little Mac. Edit2: It’s a hat trick: slashing, tripping, cross-checking.
-A bunch of Sound Tigers in front, apparently, makes for plenty of deflection opportunities. Smith gets it, and the Sound Tigers lead by two for the third time.
-Steve Downie has three assists tonight, feeding Justin Keller for a deflection. That’s five assists in two games for Downie.
-And like that, 39 seconds later, Keller scores again to tie it. No two-goal lead is safe. Downie has his fourth assist, sixth in two games.
-That’s two periods, 4-4. Wow.
-That was the 24th time the Sound Tigers have taken at least a two-goal lead. The opponent has come back to tie the game on 13 of the 24. (In five of those 13, Bridgeport took a two-goal lead, the opposition scored a goal, Bridgeport scored to regain the two-goal lead, and then the opponent came back to tie. This is the first time Bridgeport took a two-goal lead, the opponent scored, Bridgeport scored, the opponent scored, Bridgeport scored AGAIN, and the opponent scored two.)
-They’ve added an assist to Iggulden on the Smith goal; that’s a three-assist game for him.
-As time kept on slippin’, Trevor Smith banged one in late. The Sound Tigers have erased a decent shots-on-goal deficit and took a 26-25 lead on the Smith goal. Add: Jeremy Colliton had an assist, for a two-point game, like Jack Hillen.
-Exhale: Trevor Smith finished the hat trick into an empty net, and with a half-second left, the Sound Tigers aren’t gonna give up this two-goal lead. Bridgeport 6, Norfolk 4. Iggulden gets his fourth assist (third BST player to do it); Hillen gets his third. Smith’s is the 18th (fixed) Bridgeport hat trick.
-Smith’s goal was the 16th-latest Bridgeport regulation-time game-winning goal. (Wow. Oooh. Can you feel the excitement.) Here’s the semi-interesting bit: Of the 24 Bridgeport game-winners that came with less than five minutes left, Smith is the only one who has scored more than one… and he has four of them.
-Kimber notes that tonight was Mark Wotton’s 700th AHL game. Solid work for the Captain.
-Brandon Bochenski was minus-5 tonight.
-Capuano was mostly happy: “All the guys played well,” Capuano said. “The defense moved the puck in neutral-zone transition. The forecheck was good. The only thing disappointing is we gave up a few more odd-man rushes than we did in the past.” He called a couple of the Norfolk goals fluky, including the one I missed, thank you Internet; but he also gave the Admirals credit for their work ethic. MacDonald was sore again, and again Capuano said he didn’t want to play guys who weren’t 100 percent; Haskins, too, from last night.
-Probably it for the night: Dave Eminian on Steve Regier. See ya Monday, unless events warrant.
—-I take it back, one more: Hershey’s box tonight, and what can you say but “wow”?