Different perspectives: Hartford postgame

Bleah.

I mean, there’s a Hartford perspective on this one, which I’d imagine is something like “took them out of the game in the first two until the penalties and even then had to break a stick to allow them room; capitalized on special teams; got the goaltending; and hey, how about doing that with five defensemen*.”

But the Bridgeport perspective? Bleah.

Penalties galore. (PKs Nos. 1 and 5 may’ve been among the best you’ll see. 2 and 3, less so; 4, less-memorable; 6, bent-but-didn’t-break; 7 and 8, anticlimactic.)

Shots wide. (Scott Pellerin said they were stuck on seven shots and had 15 attempts by the end of it.)

A handful of missed chances. (That didn’t look like an easy rebound for Sean Wiles in the third period, but if Dov Grumet-Morris doesn’t have the left pad right there, tie game.)

The power play could’ve been crisper, Matt Donovan thought (can’t argue); the cohesiveness wasn’t there. “That’s kind of how we played in all facets of the game tonight,” Donovan said. “It cost us, obviously.

“That’s not how Pelly wants us to play. That’s not how we want to play.”

While Hartford celebrated — hey, three goals — Pellerin kept them around the bench for a moment postgame, telling them that. See gamer.

…..

Mentioned before the game it’s probably worth an injury rundown, so here goes. Andrey Pedan: “upper body,” was termed a lingering thing at the time in mid-November; it has sure lingered. Indefinite, though he seems to be around a lot more of late. Riley Wetmore: Hit in the head with a puck Saturday night; no timetable. Johan Sundstrom: A nonspecific illness. They don’t seem to expect him back immediately. Joey Diamond: “Upper body,” has been skating and conditioning and has seemed to do fine in recent practices, adding in contact. Joe Finley: surgery on a circulation problem in his hand; out indefinitely, and not anytime soon. Kirill Kabanov: “Lower body,” hit in the leg with a shot Saturday, played it out but had to leave Sunday’s game. And Pierre-Marc Bouchard: slashed in the hand Friday; sounds day-to-day at this point.

Justin Johnson’s instigator penalty in the first period is his third in a month and a half. Accumulating three in a season is, per Rule 46.11, a one-game suspension. (All three have come against Hartford: McIlrath and Bickel and Kantor.)

D-pair switches in the third: Cantin-Mayfield, Donovan-Cornell, Keenan-Jackson. We’ll see if they stick tomorrow.

And RIP, Paul Blair.

*-Not sure why. Certainly didn’t appear to be the plan from the line rushes.

Michael Fornabaio