Last call, before we get to tonight: Fake Team Awards voting remains open until 11 tonight. Both awards can still be determined.
The Phantoms wrap up their time in Glens Falls tonight, though there’s a lot to be determined about whether there’ll be someone replacing them next year (a lot to be determined everywhere, as that smoke — smog? — gets thicker.) For Bridgeport, meanwhile, it’s the return of a bunch of guys who helped make things interesting in February. We’ll see exactly how the coaching staff puts the lineup together for the final two games (which are, obviously, final; posted the annual no-playoff-series-win context piece earlier this afternoon).
We’ll be listening to Bob Rotruck (audio/video) and following the teams, Diana and Bob on Twitter.
Missing from the league’s playoff primer and clinching scenarios: Bridgeport avoids last overall with a win, an overtime loss or a shootout loss. Bridgeport can finish no higher than 29th overall with an Iowa win, OR with an Iowa overtime loss or shootout loss plus a Bridgeport loss of any sort. (Speaking of that Iowa game, it’s at OKC for Mark Arcobello bobblehead day: We’re totally not-at the wrong game.)
Colin McDonald joins Matt Donovan and Brock Nelson on the U.S. national team going to the Worlds. Neat note in the release: He’ll be putting on the Red, White ‘n’ Blue for the first time. Stockton finished up its playoff roster with the logical add of Alan Quine. (Logical, at least, given what it announced earlier this week and the transactions before it.) Game 1 against Ontario is tonight.
Travis Morin is the AHL’s Cunningham Award winner as MVP. Michael Davies repeats as the Chicago Wolves’ Dan Snyder Award winner.
Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone. Wow.
RIP, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
More in a bit.
–Poulin vs. Capobianco, from Diana.
ADIRONDACK from Diana
F: Straka-Flanagan-Holmstrom
Serratore-Bordson-Eddy
Whitmore-Cousins-Alderson
FitzGerald-Goumas-Brown
D: Manning-Gostisbehere
Hagg-Alt
Lauridsen-Delisle
G: Capobianco
Weninger
—The box is here. No Harris, Antipin, Bruton (Johnson’s in), Donovan. Four righty D’s in there. Got to check if that’s a record. Might be.
–Giving 10 inches, officially, Joey Diamond vs. Oliver Lauridsen.
Looks like BRIDGEPORT
F: Halmo-Langkow-Vaughan
Persson-Sundstrom-Crus Rydberg
Diamond-Mangene-Hickman
Gallant (A)-Holmstrom-Johnson
D: Ness (A)-Mayfield
Finley (A)-Graham
Burroughs-Pulock
G: Poulin
Trudeau
–Poulin plays it along, Whitmore picks it up on the left wing and puts it to the net; Alderson buries it. 1-0 at 4:26.
–Bob says Diamond’s hurt on a slash from Goumas. After the teams come together, Lauridsen and Gallant get misconducts.
–Pulock’s first pro shot, finally, is a power-play wrister. It’s not a simple stop for Capobianco, but he holds on.
–Phantoms up 1-0 after one. Bridgeport’s 0-for-3 on the power play. The Phantoms have 35 seconds remaining on a Halmo roughing minor, their second power play.
–The tough guys get their chances five minutes into the second. Zack FitzGerald misses from in tight; Capobianco stops Gallant from just inside the left circle.
–Binghamton leads the Penguins 5-0, so looks like the BSens get the East Division title.
–Dave Banfield, working this one out the old-school Terry Koharski handbook, hands out more misconducts, another one to Lauridsen and one to Justin Johnson.
–It’s hard to imagine a softer boarding penalty than the one Johan Sundstrom was hit with against the Phantoms in Philadelphia. But he gets a boarding penalty here, and Whitmore scores on the power play. 2-0 Phantoms at 12:32 of the second. Edit: They’ve announced it as roughing.
–Poulin makes a diving save on Flanagan’s back-door one-timer with Josh Holmstrom in the box for boarding his brother. (Think we saw the Ginand brothers involved in the same thing on the last day of 2010-11.) Halmo got a misconduct, Diana noted, at the same time as the Holmstrom penalty. Fourth consecutive Phantoms power play, but the streak ends with a Hagg hook in the last minute of the second.
–Phantoms lead 2-0 after two. Bridgeport’ll have 1:14 of power-play time on the other side.
–Diana says the Glens Falls crowd cheered for the Abbotsford score at intermission.
–Meanwhile, Aaron Harang has no-hit the Mets through six.
–After yet another penalty (Mayfield, unsportsmanlike), Finley kicks the puck out, Ness to Josh Holmstrom to Vaughan, and Bridgeport’s on the board with 12:40 to go. Banfield then calls Manning for unsportsmanlike, and Bob notices that Banfield’s getting in the way of a pretty good game. It’s Holmstrom’s first pro point, cutting it to 2-1 Phantoms.
–Bridgeport doesn’t score on the power play but has a bit of momentum. Persson hit a post just after the power play.
–Harang’s through seven in Flushing but has thrown over 120 pitches. Meanwhile 8:47 remaining in Glens Falls.
–Bob was a lot less agitated about the officiating when power plays were 7-4, but they’re 7-6 now with 7:13 left as Eddy goes for a board.
–Halmo ties it from the right-wing boards with 6:16 left on the power play. It’s 2-2.
–Pulock gets an assist, his first point as a pro.
–Ben Holmstrom for a hook for some reason with 3:25 to go. Bridgeport’s seventh power play.
–Bingo held on for a 5-4 win to take the East Division crown. Capobianco made a couple of good saves through this penalty.
–Overtime. Bridgeport hasn’t won a game in overtime in 371 days.
–The nightmare’s over. Sundstrom scores off a turnover with 1:37 to go in OT. Bridgeport 3, Adirondack 2 (OT). The winless streak ends at 12. The road winless streak ends at eight.
–Norfolk beats Hershey. The Ads are in. The Bears are out.
–OKC beats Iowa in overtime. Bridgeport, definitely not 30th, can still catch 28th tomorrow.
–They didn’t have the execution where they needed it the first 40 minutes, Scott Pellerin said. They didn’t give up on it and found it in the third. They got it done in overtime: “tracking, commitment level, puck pursuit.”
(Should’ve led with this: How’s it going? “Good. No: GREAT.”)
The young D: “They did well. Tonight’s pace was a little faster than the last couple of games. Adirondack came out really strong. The young guys were pushed out of their comfort zone. They took away a lot of their time on some opportunities, on some breakouts. … I’m proud of the guys. They came into a tough situation, played better, excelled.”
I was asking something about the penalty kill, but he mentioned in there that Dave Banfield came over to the bench and told them that any extracurriculars were going to earn misconducts. “He followed it up,” Pellerin said.
He mentioned that Joey Diamond wasn’t able to finish the game and was going to be evaluated later tonight and tomorrow.
We’ll meet them up there to finish the season. Game 76. Hard to believe.