In my best fifth-grade mindset, I asked Sean Bentivoglio to compare this one to Friday night.
“I can’t even remember last night,” Bentivoglio said. “No, kidding. Kidding.”
This one was apparently more aggressive. This one was much more to form. This one still didn’t have two goals, for the third time in four games. But it sounds like they were happy to put Friday behind them with a game like this, even if it didn’t finish the way they hoped.
“We worked hard,” Jack Capuano said. “We had 40 shots against a good team. We rolled four lines. Pascal gave us a boost, drew some penalties. It was a great effort. Laws (Nathan Lawson) made some huge saves.”
Lawson wasn’t thrilled, but he did indeed make some huge saves. He allowed three goals in two games and had nothing to show for it.
So they hit the break on a down up-note, or an up down-note (dissonant chord, kind of). They’re 10 points behind Hershey, which maybe isn’t running and hiding just yet, but, well, you know. They’re tied in points with Wilkes-Barre, ahead of the Penguins on percentage but behind in wins. Philadelphia is three points back and isn’t going away. (Eight penalty minutes all night? Wow.) Binghamton is five back but has itself a goaltending situation in flux.
Won’t be an easy second half. But that’s the norm around here, isn’t it?