Pete Michaud once again on Norfolk’s broadcast. Following Twitter reports from Jamie, Pete, the Ads’ official feed and their play-by-play account. The box will be here.
It’s a 7:15 start. Pete will be on at 7, with warmup a bit earlier. Back in a bit.
@sporkabella congrats buddy! Hope you sent a gift basket to @hallsy04 and @ebs_14 #justkiddingyoudeserveit
— Yann Danis (@ydanis35) January 26, 2013
–The first-goal tweet has Dallas Jackson out, which would seem to indicate either Cantin or Hill for the last scratch. Watkins remains out, apparently.
–Anders Nilsson vs. Frederik Andersen.
–Preliminary best-guess lineups, based on tweets and history:
BRIDGEPORT
F: Persson-Nelson-Niederreiter
DeFazio-Campbell-Riley (A)
Costello-Combs-Kabanov
Gallant-Backman-Halmo
D: Donovan-Wishart
Ness-McIver (A)
(Hill-scratch)/Cantin-Landry (A)
G: Nilsson
Poulin
NORFOLK, via the Ads:
F: Caputi-Maroon (A)-Etem
Brittain-Wagner-Sexton
Letourneau-Leblond – Pelley (A)- Mitchell
Rosehill-Kurtz-Kennedy
D: Smaby-Guenin (C)
Guentzel-Clark
Parent-Vatanen
G: Andersen
Bobkov
R: J. Koharski. L: Murray, Hamlett.
–Hill out, says Jamie — same lineup as last night.
–Apparently Internet problems down in Virginia. We’ll see how it affects updates on the AHL site and from Jamie. Pete’s coming through loud and clear, though, at least. Game’s well on.
–Maroon steal sets up an goal for Emerson Etem, the Admirals’ all-star, to make it 1-0 Admirals at 6:11. Pete’s got Luca Caputi in between those two, though they announce just Maroon on the assist.
–Bridgeport has killed a couple of penalties in the first 10 minutes, to Kirill Kabanov for a slash and Marc Cantin for a cross-check. Still down 1-0, though. They’ve added that Caputi assist.
–Shots were 16-7 Norfolk when Matt Smaby went for interference with 1:10 left in the period. Looks like they’ll be 16-10 after one. Power play carries over for 50 seconds.
–Fortunes: It’s only 22 days that the Sound Tigers went to Springfield with a chance to move into first. And tonight it’s conceivable that either Bridgeport winds up in fourth place in the division and 13th in the conference, or it sits as many as 16 points behind Springfield.
–Steve Oleksy has a goal in Bingo for Hershey tonight. Prescout, by the way. Think the team will get back together Wednesday before Thursday’s home game.
–The Canadiens tweeted a few minutes ago that New Canaan’s Max Pacioretty had an appendectomy tonight.
–With McIver away for boarding Sexton, Etem makes a nice play, Pete says, knocked down but finding Caputi in front to make it 2-0 a couple of minutes before the game’s midpoint.
–That’s just Etem’s second assist against 11 goals. #cyyoung
–Just noticed on the sheet — Etem was credited with six of Norfolk’s 16 shots in the first period.
–Josh Brittain gets Dan Sexton’s feed in front and puts it up high to score and give Norfolk a 3-0 lead with 5:04 left in the second.
—Line brawl with goalie fight elsewhere.
–It’s 3-0 Norfolk after two. Shots 23-16, so 7-6 in the period in Norfolk’s favor. (None for Etem.)
–Two goals for Bridgeport in the past eight periods, one of them a last-minute power-play goal. (Theoretically, they’re about a minute and a half apart, although five days apart.)
–Scott Howes has a goal for the third game in a row for Springfield. Meanwhile and unrelatedly, Norfolk’s killing off a power play in the first couple of minutes of the third.
–Just as things got testy, the Web site decided to test if I was there. Great. So there was one scrum where apparently Brandon DeFazio was escorted away, and then McIver and Maroon go off the draw.
–McIver apparently deemed the aggressor, gets instigating, fighting, a misconduct and the game against Maroon’s roughing. A two-man advantage for a couple of minutes on DeFazio’s penalty.
–Meanwhile, I miss the heck out of Pat Shetler.
–Etem tips a Vatanen shot to make it 4-0 on the five-on-three; a little under four minutes left on the major. Well, they announce Guentzel. No, they change it to Etem. A Brittain minor takes two minutes off the major, which Mike Halmo finally serves after serving DeFazio’s minor.
–Rod Pelley scores on a power play — Halmo in the box of his own accord this time — with 40.9 seconds to go. 5-0.
That’s it: Norfolk 5, Bridgeport 0, Bridgeport’s first time shut out since Robin Lehner did it in Binghamton last March 21, 54 games. It’s their worst shutout loss in a little over 13 months since a 5-0 lead at Hershey on Dec. 17, 2011.
–Tonight’s assorted scores leave Bridgeport in fourth in the division and 12th in the conference, three points behind playoff position.
–Four points for Tyler McNeely in his ECHL return. Puck Daddy links up video from the goalie fight, and the best part of the whole thing is that St. John’s is abbreviated “NF” in the scorebar.
–No excuses out of Scott Pellerin. They talked about refocusing over the break, coming back ready to execute. “For me the most important thing right now, tonight, we weren’t able to sustain any kind of compete level,” he said, quick to add, “I’m not talking about compete level where guys aren’t trying, but compete level at critical times, on pucks in corners, backchecking at critical times. That’s the focus you need to have.”
He was a little frustrated over the two goals in the second period, which happen to be up on the highlights: On the power-play goal, they had a good neutral-zone forecheck, Wishart broke the play up at the blue line, and the puck popped up and came down to Etem sliding down the slot to start that play. On the third, the puck hit Jamie Koharski’s skate and shot to an Admiral, two-on-one with a backchecker trying to get there. “Another type of broken play, and all of a sudden we’re down 3-0,” Pellerin said. “But it comes down to capitalizing and competing when we have opportunities.”
Apparently the McIver-Maroon thing stemmed from Maroon working over Niederreiter and chirping from the Norfolk bench. The altercation itself is on the highlight video, if you want to see what an aggressor looks like tonight.
Break’s on — they’ll be back late Wednesday before starting the unusual Thursday-Saturday three-in-three — but we brake only for coffee. And maybe lunch. More tomorrow.