One’s not two

Didn’t take care of the puck, traded goals, gave up goals you don’t want to give up. Sounds like the story of the season, more or less. It all showed up in this come-from-ahead evening, when they led by two with four minutes left and started frittering it away within the next minute and a half.

They watched as Miele took the puck away along the boards and gave it behind the net to Martinook, who made a pretty pass to Brett Hextall: 4-3.

They gave up an easier shot than they might’ve liked to Troy Bodie, which Rick DiPietro knocked down (kind of similarly, from a quick look, to the Mark Louis goal earlier in the period) into the crease, where Lucas Lessio was alone for a tap-in: 4-4.

They tried to break out, were pushed back, gave it up: 5-4.

In theory, this isn’t a complete killer. But it’s not a lot of help. Had they lost in regulation tonight, they couldn’t have afforded a Manchester victory at all, and now they sort of can, depending on when it…

Nah. It’s painful. A regulation loss would’ve given them only one route to the playoffs. They have a couple now, still. But it could be over as early as 9:30ish Friday, regardless of what they do in Portland.

….

Just for the heck of it, here’s one wacky way Bridgeport could be eliminated without even worrying about its own result: The Whale lose in overtime/shootout in Albany, Manchester loses in overtime/shootout in Binghamton, Hershey wins in Adirondack. Hartford is past Bridgeport one way or another (80 points, 33 real wins; Bridgeport is max-80 and max-32). Manchester is 78/33, Hershey is 79/30 or 31. The latter two teams play each other on Sunday, so either Manchester wins and gets to 80/33 or 34, or Hershey wins and gets to 81.

We’ll be listening to Jeff Mannix on Friday and liveblogging here, so come hang about. We’ll try to keep the math to a minimum. But no promises.

Mathematically,

ah, jeez, did it already

Bridgeport could still finish anywhere from seventh to 14th. If this were still 2004 and there were no shootout, all those overtime losses would leave Bridgeport just three points (minus the tiebreaker) out of a playoff spot. But it’s not 2004, and besides, if it were the early 1990s and there were no point for overtime losses, Bridgeport would already be eliminated.

Our old buddy Chip Malafronte had this first: The Islanders should announce soon the signing of Quinnipiac defenseman Mike Dalhuisen, one of the seniors who helped them lead the nation in scoring defense. Yale’s Antoine Laganiere meanwhile signed with Anaheim. His new team’s director of pro scouting is Dave Baseggio, another Yalie of some note.

Eric Hornick notes that Jack Capuano is now the Islanders’ second-winningest coach ever. (Shootouts, etc., but still.) They lost Casey Cizikas to an upper-body injury early on tonight.

Willie Desjardins of Texas is the AHL’s coach of the year. And… Look, I have no quibbles with any individual award winner, least of all Desjardins. But from the awards so far, it appears we voters have assumed Springfield’s first playoff spot in a decade just sorta happened.

Jeremy Colliton had a power-play goal that stood up as the game-winner in Bentley’s Allan Cup opener Monday night against Rosetown, Manitoba. (Then his goalie scored an empty-netter.) They’re playing again Tuesday night; leading in the third at this writing; the tournament website is here.

And RIP, Pat Summerall, and the innocents in Boston. Senseless.

Michael Fornabaio