Albany from afar, one eye on Newark edition

Like a lot of folks I’m sure, will be following the Sound Tigers and Albany while keeping tabs as best as possible on the NHL debut of Justin Johnson, in which he joins a lineup made up largely of guys he knows.

No Albany as usual for us, so we’ll be following along with Josh on AHL Live. Follow Corey for the Bridgeport side, Pete Dougherty for the media side, and the Devils for their side. Kinkaid vs. Trudeau is the goalie matchup. Believe Poulin’s home from the road again.

If we had a third eye, we’d have it on the WHL playoffs, where Griffin Reinhart can eliminate Ryan Pulock. Pulock could then join Bridgeport for the last week. But we’ll see, in general. (It’s a little later, anyway.)

Stamford’s Ryan Haggerty was named a second-team All-American, Pete notes. (With the Rangers locked into second, wonder if he gets a sniff at a game in Montreal tomorrow.) Keith Aucoin back up to the NHL, with St. Louis. Jake Dowell wins the AHL’s Hunt Award for dedication to the game, determination and sportsmanship.

Oh, and in the most foregone conclusion in the history of foregone conclusions, Johnny Gaudreau won the Hobey Baker. He’s reportedly set to sign with Calgary, too.

More along the way.

–Josh says scratch Poulin, Newton and Crus Rydberg.

The box is here. Ness and Finley with the A’s. Jason Clark in his first AHL game since Nov. 11 at… Albany. Game on.

–Appears to be something like:

BRIDGEPORT
F: Vaughan-Langkow-Harris
Walters-Quine-Bruton
Antipin-Hickman-Holmstrom
J.Clark-Root-Gagnon
D: Finley (A)-Burroughs
Ness (A)-Graham
Pedan-Leboeuf
G: Trudeau
Reiter

–Gallant-Halmo-Johnson, tweets the Islanders’ account.

–Hickman — anybody wanna start a pool for the first time I call him Jim? — becomes the 400th regular-season Sound Tigers player. He’s No. 64 this year, tied for second league-wide since 1999.

By the way, lines may be different already. Will have to try to figure out if that’s a shuffle or if someone’s missing.

–To sum up the season: Bridgeport plays a decent little road first period, kills a penalty, gets about a minute away from intermission; the puck goes to the crease, pops up in the air; Quine goes to knock it down and knocks it directly off the noggin of Kelly Zajac and into the net. 1-0 Devils.

–About 13 minutes into the second. Bridgeport gets its first five-on-three in 10 games, since the three consecutive two-man advantages in the win over Adirondack.

–Ness and Graham swap sides at the point, and Graham at the left point one-times Ness’ pass past Kinkaid to tie it at 1 at 14:27. Vaughan setting the screen. Graham’s first pro goal.

–Our old pal Pat Pickens notes on Twitter that Chico Resch is retiring from the Devils’ broadcasts.

–It’s 1-1 after two in Albany.

–The league notes that Louis Domingue stopped two penalty shots in a period tonight for Portland. He’s the first AHL goalie to do that since Dec. 10, 2005. That was Wade Dubielewicz in Hershey.

(Wait, that post’s the origin of the running “(objectionable or inadequate)” gag!)

–Not easy to tell how Kelly Zajac makes it 2-1 Albany at 5:08 of the third. Matteau from behind the net, bounces to Zajac on the right side, somehow in from there. Either way, 2-1 Albany.

Bill Cain says on Twitter that Zajac knocked it out of midair, waist-high.

Albany 2, Bridgeport 1, final. Bob Crawford was quickly on Twitter to note that that eliminates Hartford. Two years in a row with no AHL playoffs for Connecticut.

–First time in 364 days they’ve allowed an opponent only one power play.

–Saved it for last on the phone, but let’s lead with it here. Justin Johnson. “To continue to play, and play his role, at 32 years old, I couldn’t be happier,” Pellerin said. “My kids know J.J. a long time, and they’re excited.

“Me, personally, but also as a coach: He’s gotten better. He’s improved his game, his attention to detail, his conditioning level.”

So that was pretty neat. The game, no luck on the goals, the one off the helmet, and he said the second one bounced in off a defender, though he wasn’t sure if that was Trudeau or someone else.

Otherwise satisfied? “Absolutely. Absolutely,” he said. “I couldn’t have been prouder of the effort, the execution. I thought there were quality plays. … The young players played with poise and confidence. We pressured them. We pushed them almost to the breaking point.”

He thought they outchanced them; I wondered if that meant Kinkaid came up big. “A couple (of saves), yeah,” he said, but there were a few times they hit him, and a few rebounds they couldn’t put away.

On ATO12, Hickman: “He did very well. He’s a big kid. He skated well. He came exactly as the scouting report said. We put him at the front of the net on the power play. He was on the ice at the end.” He liked his hockey sense. “There were a couple of times he had to get the puck in deep (to get a change). He kept his feet moving and got it in.”

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oil Kings are up 3-0 late in the second, so Ryan Pulock could be available soon.

–Edmonton wins 5-1.

Michael Fornabaio