Over the past eight days, Kevin Poulin has played five games (not to mention backed up in another) and made 42 saves, 35 saves, 35 saves again, 38 saves and, in just an easy ol’ day Sunday, 33 saves. That’s just 183 saves on 197 shots, if you’re adding. (If you’re thinking player-of-the-week, it’s 141 of 152.)
“I feel great,” Poulin said. “I’m a little tired, but game-wise, goalie-wise, I felt great on the ice.”
He made a bunch more ridiculous saves Sunday. The highlight is probably one on his old teammate Trent Hunter. He said he felt so focused, in the zone, that everything seemed slow.
Bridgeport took a couple of leads; Poulin made sure Manchester never took a lead of its own. The Sound Tigers handled Manchester’s transition game. The Monarchs came hard in the third, but Bridgeport withstood it and tossed in a couple of chances itself.
Then when Thomas Hickey tossed Aaron Ness into Poulin in overtime, the Sound Tigers got their chance on the power play. Donovan to Katic to Rakhshani through Romano’s screen, and Bridgeport was a little closer to its goal.
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Brent Thompson said Mike Halmo could play Wednesday. “He’s another edgy guy who’s got some skill,” Thompson said.
The Whale lost again in the final seconds of overtime. Ouch. Bridgeport’s magic number is nine for the division title (there’s no way the teams can be tied in points and have a scenario where Bridgeport has fewer tiebreaker-wins than the Whale; with six games to go, the Whale have 27 regulation/OT wins (“ROWs,” to steal the league’s abbreviation), while Bridgeport has 33).
The magic number is three for a playoff spot… basically. Simply, here are the two scenarios that will allow them to clinch a playoff spot on the ice Wednesday morning:
—Portland loses in any fashion Tuesday; Bridgeport wins in any fashion Wednesday. Straight-up math: Bridgeport at 85, Portland at max-84 or max-83 accordingly, Adirondack at max-84.
—Portland wins in a shootout Tuesday; Bridgeport wins in regulation or overtime Wednesday. “But that’s two.” Yes, but then Bridgeport would have 34 ROWs, and Portland could accumulate no more than 33 with five games to go. Tiebreaker to Bridgeport. (Why won’t it work if Portland wins in regulation on Tuesday, or if Bridgeport wins in a shootout Wednesday? Because if they both end up with the same number of ROWs, Portland has the tiebreaker: It won the season series by getting the game to overtime Saturday.)
If Portland loses in regulation and Bridgeport loses in overtime, Bridgeport can’t clinch a playoff spot Wednesday. It’ll clinch a finish ahead of Portland, yes. But Adirondack is at max-84 with a max 37 ROWs and doesn’t play until Friday, and Bridgeport would be at 84 with 33 ROWs, so the Phantoms could still catch them.
Fun with math. If you want to put it this way, the magic numbers are three to finish ahead of Portland, two to beat Adirondack and one against Albany. But then, Bridgeport can finish no lower than 10th in the conference: Albany and Adirondack play twice, and if Albany wins out, Adirondack has to lose two points.
Trent Hunter’s last goal in this building in a game that counted: May 2, 2003, when his deflection of a Martin Chabada shot won Game 4 against Binghamton at 19:38.6 of the third period. That was the last of his 15 Sound Tigers playoff goals, which remains a team record. Only four other Sound Tigers have more playoff points than that, all of whom did it in the 2002 playoffs alone. Because of his two playoff years, Hunter has the team career playoff records for most of the things in the usual stat line: 15 goals, 15 assists, 30 points, plus-13, five PPGs, four game-winners, 117 shots.
(Actually, that’s a weird little trivia question. Name the five Sound Tigers who’ve scored a short-handed goal in the playoffs. Heck, after looking them up, let’s see if I remember them in the morning.)
Prescout. Falcons have won two in a row since Friday.
Team’s off tomorrow. More Tuesday — and a mini-call for votes: What do you guys say to a postgame chat Wednesday instead of Tuesday? Something like 2:30 or 3 p.m. We’ll make a call tomorrow.