At home on the road, Gwinnett was eliminated in six games Tuesday night in Cincinnati. With Dallas Jackson’s season coming to a close, that means the only Sound Tigers left playing are… in Uniondale. Well, and Nino Niederreiter at the Worlds. And, well, actually, Anders Nilsson is probably in Pittsburgh by now. Jack Capuano said Tuesday morning that Nilsson’s making the trip. Logical — if you’ve got the extra goalie, better bring him along. Look no further than Minnesota tonight, when Niklas Backstrom was injured in warmup, leaving Josh Harding tossed in on give or take a half-hour’s notice and without a backup.
Took a run down to the Island on Tuesday, chatted with a few former Sound Tigers after practice, wrote one story for Wednesday’s paper and hope to have at least one more this week. Got one or two of those probably-only-interests-me-but-what-the-heck-I’ll-share facts to come. Fair warning.
Looking forward to that series. Down Goes Brown has probably given them the best chance to win (and the best reasons to hop on the bandwagon). My (less-than-scientific) numbers all suggest you ought to pick the Penguins in five, six or seven before you consider “NYI in seven.” But they’re in. And their games have a lot to live up to after tonight’s.
Isles draft pick Mitchell Theoret and the Barrie Colts reached the OHL final on Monday.
The AHL playoffs resume Wednesday out West, with Rochester playing for its season. Three series in the East resume Thursday, all of them 2-0.
Meanwhile, Yale’s own Tim Taylor appreciation quotes a few familiar Bulldogs.