Cam Talbot, pride of Alabama-Huntsville (at least since that last UAH guy, who played here), made 42 saves the other night. He made 41 more tonight. He’s a huge reason the Sound Tigers suddenly need a three-game winning streak over the next seven days, or their season is done.
“You’re running into a hot goalie,” Brent Thompson said. “They’ve obviously played very well. For us, we’ve just got to stay the course. We’ve got to find a way to create offense, whether that’s more shots, on the rush, net drive, net presence, cutting back, puck possession.”
Thompson seemed most frustrated with the start. The five-on-three didn’t do enough; Wade Redden and Tim Erixon blocked some shots, they only got one through (and that from a bad angle). And then Jon Landry throws one into the slot, and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault makes them pay.
Two more along the way, but 1-0 or 3-0, it didn’t matter at that point. They have 83 shots. They have no goals. Simple as that.
And if that doesn’t change tomorrow, well, yeah.
….
Bridgeport had been shut out just once at home in the playoffs, and now this. Hartford had never had back-to-back shutouts in the playoffs, and now this.
David Ullstrom turns 23 tomorrow. Sound Tigers seem to score inordinately on their birthdays. Cam Talbot is out of his gourd. Something’s got to give.
Casey Cizikas’ game misconduct was finally written up under the more lenient piece of the abuse-of-officials rule. The category (Rule 39.5 (ii)) deals with language and gestures. Had they gone with the physical-abuse section, considering how hard he was working to get away from Brent Colby, that could have carried an automatic suspension. Cizikas wasn’t available for comment.
Rhett Rakhshani also wasn’t up for comment for a very different reason: He took a clearing pass in the mouth in the second period. The extent of the damage wasn’t immediately available, but it sure looked like enough that it was impressive to see him appear early in the third.
Other teams with 2-0 leads include Wilkes-Barre (decisively), Toronto, San Antonio (links left as an exercise for the reader), of course NorHOLY CRO NORFOLK LOST A GAME. Had to happen sometime this century, I guess. Big nights for Martin Jones and Linden Vey. That series comes up to ManchVegas beginning on Wednesday, suddenly a best-of-3. Also a best-of-3, though going further northeast, is Syracuse-St. John’s. The Caps kept the Crunch’s big boys mostly quiet, but they put only 21 shots on Iiro Tarkki, and Kyle Palmieri got the puck to the crease for a good-bounce winner.
Guess 41 was the number of the night. Brian Boyle is a huge loss.
And finally, my 20th annual Stanley Cup pick of San Jose doesn’t seem to have panned out. Ah well.