The peanut vendors are standing up to them

I’ve already strained a metaphor here, but what the heck. Bridgeport stood up to Syracuse’s high-powered offense. They blocked shots, got in lanes, gave Kevin Poulin a look at the most dangerous shots. And those dangerous shots happened. And Poulin stopped pretty much everything he possibly could’ve stopped.

And it all happened, in the first period, when the Crunch was coming hard, as Ty Wishart stood up to one of Syracuse’s big guns, Patrick Maroon, who’d almost run Trevor Frischmon through the endboards.

“I felt sorry for the old guy,” Wishart said with a chuckle. “Everyone would’ve done it, especially for a guy like Frisch, who works so hard and does so much for this team.”

Syracuse put four shots on Poulin on that extra minor, but seconds after that expired, Josh Brittain grabbed hold of Mark Katic. Seconds after that, Tony Romano was putting home a Rhett Rakhshani pass. Six minutes after that, David Ullstrom was potting the rebound of Calvin de Haan’s right-point shot.

And Bridgeport was well on its way. Not least because Poulin was ridiculous. Again.

….

On New Year’s Day, Bridgeport woke up with the worst record in the Eastern Conference, 12-17-3-1. You knew that. Hershey woke up with the best record in the Eastern Conference, 19-8-3-3. At this instant, Bridgeport is 39-24-3-6, 87 points, with four of those wins by shootout, so 35 tiebreaker wins (ROW). After tonight’s loss to Wilkes-Barre, Hershey is 38-22-4-7, 87 points, with seven shootout wins, so 31 ROW. Though the Bears have a game in hand, Bridgeport has a better record. That’s what kind of second half this has become.

The Whale won in overtime to stay five points back; Bridgeport’s magic number is five for the division. The win clinched a finish ahead of both Syracuse and Manchester, so even if Hartford catches Bridgeport, the Sound Tigers can’t finish lower than sixth. And they’re three points behind St. John’s, which has a game in hand and most likely the tiebreaker.

Poulin has won seven in a row, tying Nathan Lawson’s AHL-career-opening streak for second in team history. Anders Nilsson won nine earlier this year. His 10th consecutive start, with Sudsie Maharaj back in town, tied the regular-season team record, which he already had a part of; he should break it tomorrow. (Rick DiPietro played 21 in a row: the last game of 2001-02, plus all 20 playoff games.) Poulin’s 24 wins are second only to DiPietro’s 30 in that inaugural season. His 46 games this year tie Wade Dubielewicz (2005-06) for second behind DiPietro’s 59. DiPietro made 1,407 saves that year; Poulin is up to 1,318. (Dubielewicz made 1,362 in 2005-06.)

Prescout. The Bruins’ hopes are barely alive, but they’re extant.

Adirondack won’t go away, either.

Minnesota Duluth’s Kenny Reiter had arrived by the end of the game. His teammate Jack Connolly won the Hobey Baker. Dan Clarke, meanwhile, was released from his ATO.

And finally, Norfolk. For crying out loud.

Michael Fornabaio