Powerless

Norfolk’s a darned good team. Toss St. John’s into the mix wherever you’d like, but the Admirals and the Penguins are probably two of the best teams Bridgeport faces.

Darned, darned good power play, too. Ranked second in the league for a reason. Great puck movement. Good work in front of the net.

“Obviously our kill has to be better,” Thompson said. “There’s no reason they get those goals.”

Well, they had enough chances. And Bridgeport had only one. Whatever earned Bridgeport that bench minor after the winning goal, it sure appeared the Sound Tigers were even more vociferous on the ice afterward.

Even after two periods, it didn’t feel like the kind of game that merited a 5-1 disparity in power plays. There was stuff going on all over the ice. After three, 8-1 seemed outlandish.

Again, that’s not to take away from Norfolk. Every chance the Admirals win this game no matter what, that some of those back-door passes happen anyway.

And it wasn’t that the Sound Tigers didn’t think they deserved their own calls (well, some of them, anyway), but earning only one power play of their own didn’t seem to sit well.

Bridgeport, short-handed, gets through a weekend with the Whale, the Penguins and the Admirals and gets two points out of it, a bounce or two away from more (though really a bounce or two away from fewer, too). Three good teams, three good battles, three playoff-style contests. This one felt like that for a while, anyway.

“This team’s learning what it takes in these big games, how hard it’s going to be,” Thompson said. “It’s only going to get harder.”

….

A game misconduct against Bridgeport popped up on the box score after the game was over. Not sure to whom or for what, though the rule covers verbal abuse of officials. Can’t imagine what they were talking about. Edit: apparently assessed against Eric Boguniecki.

Trevor Frischmon, who seems to generate a breakaway a week, buried one short-handed. “It was nice to actually finish one,” he said with a laugh. “I feel like I’ve been getting a lot of breakaways lately.”

Oleksy up front: “A team guy. He plays wherever he needs to play,” Thompson said. “I thought he did a great job. He was a factor on one of the goals. I’m proud of how he worked.” Landry has worked up front a bit on some power plays as well. “Just his vision; good puck skills,” Thompson said. “If you look at his skating, he fits into what we need on the power play. We’re missing a couple of guys up front on the power play, and he fits in that role. He’s played forward before.”

Prescout. Three teams with 72 points now for the fourth, fifth and sixth records in the Eastern Conference, though obviously one of those teams (Bridgeport at the moment) gets moved up to third seed if the season were to suddenly end.

We were totally watching the wrong game: Steve MacIntyre got a match penalty for punching Springfield goalie Paul Dainton.

Jason Guarente of the Reading Eagle on Yannick Riendeau and Marc Cantin.

And onetime Sound Tiger Wes Goldie is hitting some major ECHL milestones.

Team’s off Monday. Back Tuesday with the chat unless stuff happens in the meantime.

Michael Fornabaio