Appears that Nino Niederreiter returns, at least from the first rushes. Jordan Hill rushed with the defensemen. We’ll see who they scratch. Appears Mike Keenan makes his pro debut, though; he rushed first. Both teams have one to scratch. Edit: Hill’s in, Jason Clark’s out. Stepanov’s the last scratch for the Devils.
Meanwhile, Fun With Math: When Bridgeport scored on the power play Feb. 12 against Springfield, the Sound Tigers were 44-for-205 on the power play, a 21.5-percent clip. (The league has them charged, IIRC, with an extra attempt, a discrepancy on New Year’s Eve. I’m overconfident in myself but I think I’m right.) Since then, the Sound Tigers are 3-for-77, 3.9 percent. Yeah. That’s why they’ve slipped from second to 16th. If you take 77 chances and score at a 21.5-percent clip, that’s 13 more goals than they’ve scored in the past almost-six weeks. Doesn’t help.
BRIDGEPORT
F: Watkins (C)-Sundstrom-Backman
DeFazio-Campbell-Riley
Diamond-Nelson-Niederreiter
Halmo-(Clark-scratch)-Wiles
D: Donovan-Wishart (A)
Ness-McIver
Hill/Keenan-Landry
G: DiPietro
Reiter
ALBANY
F: Whitney-DeSimone-Sislo
McKelvie-Zalewski-Anderson (A)
Hoeffel-K. Zajac-D. Zajac
Berube-Wohlberg-Janssen
D: Leach (C)-Gelinas
Burlon-McPherson
Young-Urbom
(Stepanov-scratch)
G: Kinkaid
Frazee
R: J. Koharski, D. Banfield. L: Colby, Simeon.
Meanwhile, fun with coincidences: Bridgeport has gone 0-for-10 on the power play three times. All three games went to shootouts.