“We’re right there,” Anders Lee said after another home shutout. “We’re not putting the puck in the net. It’s frustrating. We’re trying our best out there. It’s not going in right now. All you can do is come back with a lot of energy and try to get two points.”
With 31 shots, a couple of breakaways and near-breakaways, a few shifts where they were absolutely all over Portland but couldn’t get that one golden scoring chance to (a) score first (b) tie it up (c) get back in it…
No dice.
“Looking at the whole tempo of the game, the structure of the game, I’m very happy with the work ethic,” Scott Pellerin said. “All of our lines came to play. They sustained some offensive-zone time. They competed at a level I’m happy with.”
He wasn’t, you’ll recall, happy Friday night. Looking to jar something loose, he switched up the lines. “It’s nothing they did wrong. We’re just looking for different chemistry,” he said.
No dice.
You can point to all different issues. Ryan Strome’s gone. Two other missing centermen for the past few weeks. Different players filling different roles. Other injuries. And it’s not like there was a lot of proven scoring here to begin with.
It adds up to six goals in the past five games and 12 in the past eight (not counting the shootout-win goal).
…..
Tonight marks the midpoint of the Sound Tigers’ season. Only Manchester got there faster in the Eastern Conference, though Providence got there tonight, too.
Bridgeport sits 14th in the conference, 10 points and a tiebreaker behind eighth-place St. John’s. It owes games in hand to everyone in the way.
So there’s that.
Persson was sore this morning; they’ll try him again Sunday morning and see how he is.
Pellerin said the ice conditions weren’t abnormal for the building. I’ll respectfully disagree, though it’s conceivable I just went looking for it today. Lucas Lessio had a breakaway in the third, and the puck decided not to go with him. Passes weren’t getting there. Guys were falling.
First AHL point for former future Sound Tiger Corey Trivino.
Prescout. They’re winless in five, too, Hartford.
Missed it yesterday: Alain Nasreddine is part of the inaugural class of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Hall of Fame.
And Corey points out this event on Feb. 1, if you want to blow off the Springfield-Bridgeport game. (The inductee won’t, but anyway.)