Net-front presence: Hartford postgame

So thanks to Anders Lee for giving me tonight’s lead last night.

All those things Lee talked about last night? They did ’em today.

Good night, everybody.

…..

Of course Hartford’s in about as bad a way as Bridgeport has been. But still.

“Our team, the way we play, the way we have to play to be successful, we have to play like that, a 200-foot game,” Scott Pellerin said. “Get pucks in deep. Move it efficiently. At the end of the day, we have to get tough in front of the net and win those puck battles.”

And that’s what Lee did at the front with help from, well, most of the rest of the guys on the ice. Peter Boyd and Scooter Vaughan win battles to set up Andrew Clark. Chris Bruton goes to the net and scores on a rebound (first point in 20 games). Diamond goes to the front and deflects in a goal. Good things happen, etc.

Parker Milner made a few huge saves. The one on J.T. Miller right before the Ness goal is the one that stands out, but there were others. Not bad coming off his first pro shutout in his last ECHL game? “I felt I did all right the last time I was here,” Milner said. “This trip, I want to ramp it up and show I belong here.”

Chris Langkow appeared between Lee and Pierre-Marc Bouchard late in the second, and I’d assumed the swap with Andrew Clark was a product of the end of the power play, on which Clark had played the second unit, and that it’d just stuck after the Aaron Ness goal that Langkow set up. Not quite so, Pellerin said: The way Hartford was rolling its lines, he wanted to get Langkow into a different spot in the Bridgeport rotation for his defensive abilities. It just so happened that both centermen were in on key goals in the last 3:22 of the second.

Pellerin singled out Langkow, actually, for his play in all situations. “He’s really elevated his game with his speed,” Pellerin said. “Other guys have got to follow.”

Only four skaters without a point. Spread it out well.

They’ll take tomorrow off and get back at it Tuesday, so more then unless warranted.

Michael Fornabaio