‘Unacceptable’

Twitter will say that about the goalie. And fine, it wasn’t that he showed up and was brilliant.

But five goals on 12 shots falls on lots of other shoulders.

“We were looking to have a good game for him in his first game,” Nathan McIver said. “We were hoping to have a good start.”

It was the opposite. A couple of decent shifts ended with a Matt Watkins penalty; bang, back-door to Kreider. Then Matt Donovan’s called for cross-checking down Nick Palmieri; bang, two-on-one, Newbury to Segal (who’s basically accelerated and made it a two-on-none).

It’s 2-0 at 3:55. Stoppable chances for Rick DiPietro? Zero.

“I don’t know how we come out flat,” McIver said “Two back-door tap-ins or whatever in the first minute of the game.”

The third goal looked like a screen, left point/high blocker; have heard more knowledgeable minds say he looked off his angle. Fine. Fourth goal’s a clean two-on-one between Christian Thomas and Brandon Mashinter. No chance.

And yup, he goes out, plays the puck, “miscommunication,” he said, it slides away on his backhand, the puck pinballs around, and still, if it doesn’t hit Kirill Kabanov’s skate, maybe it stays out and it’s only 4-0 after one instead of 5-0. “At the end of the day, when it rains, it pours,” DiPietro said.

This is not to say DiPietro’s going to bounce back. This is not to say DiPietro was fantastic. This is not to say DiPietro looked like his old self. This is not to say this was a good night.

It’s just to say that this is no night to make grand statements about Rick DiPietro. I know we want ’em on Day 1. But it’s not.

“Tonight doesn’t count for me (for DiPietro),” Scott Pellerin said, adding that DiPietro will start tomorrow against the Phantoms. “It was the way our team played in front of him.”

If your only experience is DiPietro’s past few years, I guess I can understand your “same-ol'” thinking. But if you’ve seen similar things happen to three other goalies this year, maybe you think differently.

….

Eight points out, 23 to play.

The five goals tied a Sound Tigers regular-season team record for goals against in a period; fifth time. (They allowed six in Game 3 in 2010 to Hershey.)

The power play, it seems odd to say in a 7-3 game but then again the Whale scored three, went 0-for-6 and is on an 0-for-29 drought that (a) covers the entire seven-game winless streak and (2) is tied for fourth in team history (33, late in 2003-04). “We’ve been working on special teams,” Pellerin said. “They made some quality plays on their power play early. … We had some good opportunities, some good looks, and we didn’t put the puck in the net. Guys have to make plays. You’re not just given the opportunity to be on the power play. We’re going to work on it. … If I have to make changes, I will.” One unit up front began as Nino Niederreiter with Jack Combs and Chad Costello, which was a change. The other began as John Persson-Brock Nelson-Kabanov. There were some swaps along the way.

This is, if I added correctly (no guarantees), Nathan McIver’s 422nd professional game. It was his second multipoint game (10/14/09 for Manitoba vs. Abbotsford). (He thought he might’ve had another; I didn’t see it.) His first goal in 52 games apparently caromed off two Whale defenders. It ended a Bridgeport scoreless drought of 98:35.

Double prescout: completion of suspended game and your regularly scheduled broadcast. A whole lotta Springfield, 8-2 in almost 90 minutes of action. Michael Leighton was sent down Friday. Non-prescout note: Scott Howes returned to the Springfield lineup from injury with a goal in a game he didn’t start, then two points in one that he did.

Hamilton and the Canadiens extended for three years.

Fun with CBA technicalities and rules about players returning from Europe: loved this this morning.

And RIP, Bonnie Franklin.

Michael Fornabaio