We let a little milestone slip in St. John’s last weekend. When Colin McDonald suited up at the same time as Colton Gillies on Sunday, it was the first time in a little over 10 months that Bridgeport had two honest-to-God AHL veterans in the lineup together. You may recall that the one and only one such game last year was Dec. 13, 2013, at Albany: Jon Sim’s last game was Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s first. Justin Mercier’s brief tenure overlapped neither.
Bridgeport has already matched last year’s total of honest-to-God AHL veterans on the roster, thanks to Peter Sivak’s arrival. It seemed likely yesterday that they’d all play today. Did a little unscientific research with help from the IHDB and old stats. I have a feeling I may’ve missed a vet here and there, but my best ballpark on the last time Bridgeport dressed X veterans in a game:
Three: Jan. 11, 2013, at Providence (Colin McDonald, Ty Wishart, Nathan McIver — McIver was out the next night, then McDonald was called up). Four: Nov. 26, 2011, at Manchester (Dylan Reese, Jeremy Colliton, Tim Wallace, Trevor Gillies). Five: March 2, 2010, vs. Hershey (Mark Wotton, Jeremy Reich, Brendan Witt, Trevor Gillies, Greg Mauldin). Six: March 14, 2004, vs. Manchester (Brandon Smith*, Steve Webb, Tomi Pettinen, Eric Manlow, Alan Letang, Derek Bekar). Seven: Jan. 17, 2004, at Hershey (Brandon Smith*, Mattias Timander (his last game here), Alain Nasreddine, Tomi Pettinen, Eric Manlow, Alan Letang, Derek Bekar). Eight#: Dec. 20, 2003, at Wilkes-Barre (Brandon Smith*, Sven Butenschon%, Derek Bekar, Alain Nasreddine, Eric Manlow, Alan Letang, Mattias Timander, Tomi Pettinen).
#-stretching the definition, because *-Smith was exempt as the rule was written at the time and &-Butenschon was on a conditioning assignment so didn’t count toward the vets limit.
The olden days. Of course nowadays you’d need the conditioning assignment to get past six; you can’t even get six unless one of them hasn’t played more than 320 games.
Anyway, back to the present, where there’s a game and such with fewer veterans. AHL Live for your audio and pay-per-view needs; Phil is on the trip. We’ll follow Paul, Pete and the Devils among others.
–Ooh, hazards of cut-and-paste: Follow Phil, too.
–The Devils asked earlier which Albany player was most likely to score three. The answer is Raman Hrabarenka, obviously, yeah? Past performance=future value; causation=correlation and all that.
–Poulin vs. Wedgewood, from Phil.
–My computer’s a mess, but looks like Zolnierczyk’s in, Sivak’s in and Gallant’s out. Sivak with Gillies and Sundstrom.
BRIDGEPORT
F: Mouillierat (A)-Quine-McDonald (A)
Persson-Stretch-Zolnierczyk
Gillies-Sundstrom-Sivak
Courtnall-Langkow-Vaughan
D: Ness (C)-Pulock
Reinhart-Mayfield
Pelech-Czuczman
G: Poulin
Leggio
ALBANY
F: Whitney-Timmins-Thompson
Matteau-Black-Sislo (A)
Sestito (A)-Pelley (C)-Bernier
McKelvie-D.Zajac-Thomson
D: Harrold-Helgeson
Kelly-Hrabarenka
McPherson-Burlon
G: Wedgewood
Kinkaid
R: Kaval. L: Harper, F.Murphy.
Albany tweeted its; will try to catch up at intermission.
–71-second five-on-three with Sivak and Zolnierczyk off for taking down Thompson.
–Paul Thompson gets credit for a five-on-three goal as his shot, stopped by Poulin, caroms back in off Scott Mayfield’s stick as Scott Timmins battles with him. Midway first, 1-0 Albany. Not many shots on goal.
–Pelech got second-unit PP time and had a shot stopped.
–Devils lead 1-0 after one, though a Reinhart high-sticking penalty will give Albany a power play to start the second. Shots just 6-5 Albany. Edit: At the moment, the sheet shows Albany with a 6-5 edge, but six individual shots for Bridgeport and five for Albany. Phil says Bridgeport 6-4. There were 10-11 shots in all, I guess, is where we’re leaving this for now.
–A trade of power plays goes quietly. Then Gillies hits McPherson hard between the benches; Burlon goes with him, picking up an instigator to even out the boarding minor.
–Bridgeport ties it midway through the second. Ness’ shot was blocked and looked headed out of the zone, but Zolnierczyk took it right on the line, flung it to the net and got a bounce off C.J. Stretch for a goal.
–Albany’s off-ice crew has always been top-notch, but I’m not sold on the assists on either goal. Persson credited alone on Stretch’s goal.
–After a Poulin save, Bridgeport breaks out, Sivak forechecks and gets it to the slot; Pelley intercepts, but Ness keeps in and fires, and Gillies tips it in. 2-1 Bridgeport with 4:44 left in the second.
–Kelly for roughing Zolnierczyk, McKelvie for slashing McDonald: Pulock keeps it in and blasts it through Persson’s screen to make it 3-1 on its five-on-three.
–Effective second period for Bridgeport, getting three to lead 3-1. Shots may be 9-8 Albany in the period. We’ll see how it all officially ends.
–As Phil points out, they’ve changed the assists on the Stretch goal to Zolnierczyk and Ness.
–So shots are 14-14, and power plays are 1/4, 1/4.
–Arthur Staple tweets that Matt Carkner is likely out for the year after back surgery.
–Bridgeport kills a Sundstrom slash, but the Devils keep the pressure on and force an icing. Sundstrom gets himself tossed from the circle, but the linesmen don’t implement the new rule and make him take the draw. Gives Bridgeport about 20 extra seconds’ rest before everything’s finally set (while the Devils, rightly, complain). Sundstrom gets a high-sticking penalty soon after.
–Matteau evens it out with a trip.
–My feed’s apparently like five minutes behind reality now, because Paul tweets that Bridgeport has won 4-1 before Peter Sivak scores into an empty net on my computer. Anyway. Bridgeport 4, Albany 1, I trust, final.
Here’s the box, BTW. Springfield is in action at the moment.
Brent Thompson talked all week about intensity. Talked to Phil about intensity. Well, what’d he think of the intensity? He thought they got better as the game went on. “The power play obviously got a few goals for us, which was big,” he said. “The penalty kill was strong. There are structural pieces we’ve got to continue to work on. Decisions, whether puck battles, wall battles, defensive-zone coverage. It was a step in the right direction.”
Poulin, he said, was in control by the end of the game. Zolnierczyk, he said, was a game-time decision. (Without the ‘A’ on the blue sweater, it’d appeared that way.) Gallant was likely in, but “with their lineup and the fact (Zolnierczyk) was healthy, it was a last-minute decision.” Everybody got out healthy, but Halmo and Collberg remain day-to-day.
The next day is Sunday.