Rick DiPietro made 33 saves. Didn’t allow a goal.
Since that first period in Hartford, DiPietro has played six games. He has allowed 13 goals in those six games. He has stopped 157 of 170 shots.
“I thought he’s been playing solid. His work ethic, like I’ve mentioned before, has been solid,” Scott Pellerin said. “We gave up a little more shots than we want to, but the PK did a great job.
“It’s great to see him have success and get the shutout.”
They had to find a way to score — see the gamer for a story about how Pellerin brought that up in the second intermission — and they did. The PK got it going: Ness disrupted a pass, Campbell stripped the puck away from a defender, got it to Nelson, got a goal.
“We kind of changed our focus a little bit,” Campbell said. “We wanted to get quicker, shorter shifts. … get more rolls through the penalty kill units to keep fresh.”
They used seven or eight forwards on the PK at the end of the weekend, though they obviously couldn’t use Brandon DeFazio or Blair Riley on that last one; they were both in the box.
Campbell and Nelson hooked up instead for the game-winner. And 9:25 later, with a Nino Niederreiter goal in between, Rick DiPietro had a shutout.
….
Hershey and the Whale won, so Bridgeport is still six back, now with 15 to go.
FUN FACT: Rick DiPietro’s last two shutouts: 11/26/10 vs. New Jersey (29 svs), 1/18/10 vs. New Jersey (20). Three of his last four were against the Devils. (His first 12 were not. But three of his first four AHL shutouts were against Albany.) He tried for the empty net, but he didn’t get all of it. Can’t link you the box score to his last AHL shutout; two systems ago. (But it was a 1-0 home win over Providence, Dec. 4, 2002. Perhaps appropriately, the “one” was Trent Hunter’s.)
Prescout. Helped Bridgeport out just a little.
Chris Elsberry on Harbor Yard’s lack of CIAC championships.
An obscene gesture nets you a suspension, apparently.
Tomorrow’s off; they’re not skating Tuesday, though they’re working out. So more as warranted.