Lots of good little things on this snowy night, when a whole lot of people (500-plus, supposedly) showed up. Bentivoglio’s unselfish assist. Colliton’s screen. Mannino’s fourth minor, albeit a duplicate; he already had a trip.
Lots of pressure. They carried the game for two periods. Springfield got a little more going in the second, but really only in spurts. The power play clicked in the third. And they’ve tied accidentally-idle Hershey for first place (minus a tiebreaker and the game in hand) in the division, though no longer overall.
Good start to the weekend. Good focused start, as Capuano talked about yesterday and McLean said tonight.
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Game started maybe 10 minutes late because of the Falcons’ late arrival. No TV promotional timeouts. Keep the game moving, considering the weather, is the official reason. Tickets for this one can be exchanged for tickets to today’s or Sunday’s games.
Outstanding Dave Zamboni work in the first period. “We’re gonna try something special,” he said. “The quietest fan gets a T-shirt. Shhhh!” For a split second, the barn was almost as quiet as I’ve ever heard it — and that’s counting after practice, when it’s empty. Beautiful.
Brendan Witt calls the system “more of a risky type of game in Newsday. It’s not as if it blows third-period leads, now, is it?
Prescout. Their Zack Smith hasn’t scored in a while. Since he fought Mike Haley, in fact, but I don’t think there’s a causal effect there. (At least he’s not going for the Cy Young anymore.)
Jonathan Filewich, once so scary for Wilkes-Barre, netted a future sixth-round pick from St. Louis. And while Filewich departs, Ryan Whitney will visit on a conditioning stint.
And RIP, Mark “Deep Throat” Felt.