Sunday long weekend Albany liveblog

Bridgeport tries for a modern split of a three-in-three weekend today in Albany. Warmup soon at the Times Union Center sponsored by Hearst: We’ll be listening to Rob Adams today, filling in for Phil, at AHL Live, assuming one of our computers and NEW! Frontier internet can handle the strain of its being 2014. Follow Paul, Pete and the Devils among others.

Mike Cornell wasn’t back in the Coast long: St. John’s signed him to a PTO. A report from Sweden says Ty Wishart could go there to join Jeremy Colliton. He’s been playing in the ECHL.

RIP, Marion Barry.

More in a bit.

(Should mention the Wishart report via EliteProspects.)

After all those scoring streaks the past few weeks, there are precisely three remaining for Bridgeport: Stretch 1, Zolnierczyk 1, Pedan 1. (Three goals in two games after 60 in 15 will do that to you.)

–Leggio vs. Kinkaid.

Bill Cain says Albany is missing both Scott Timmins and Reece Scarlett.

–Via Bill Cain, scratch Graham, Pelech, Quine and Gallant. Persson with Langkow and Vaughan. Albany goes with 13 forwards and five defensemen, with Dan Kelly out.

–From the Devils:

ALBANY
F: Whitney-Sestito-Thompson
Matteau-Black-Sislo
Boucher-Pelley-McKelvie
Wohlberg-D.Zajac-Thomson
Johnson
D: Burlon-Faust
Hrabarenka McPherson
Baier
G: Kinkaid
Wedgewood

–Mayfield off for interference at 2:34. Vaughan chips one out to himself for a two-on-one; Kinkaid stops Langkow.

BRIDGEPORT in order of appearance
F: Persson-Langkow-Vaughan
Zolnierczyk-Mouillierat-McDonald
Halmo-Stretch-Collberg
Gillies-Sundstrom-Courtnall
D: Reinhart-Mayfield
Ness-Pulock
Pedan-Czuczman
G: Leggio
Poulin

R: C.Brown, Lambert. L: C.Low, Brady.

Here’s the box.

–Full two-minute five-on-three for Albany. Mouillierat for goalie interference; Halmo for slashing Paul Thompson’s stick.

–Thompson scores from the left side just past the midpoint of the period, a minute into the power play.

–Shots 12-6 Albany with about six minutes left in the period after Kinkaid stops Courtnall from the left circle. That’s partly because of the 3-0 penalties edge. Not all.

–Make it 4-0: Gillies for hooking Zajac.

–Czuczman dump on goal covered by Kinkaid with 45 seconds left. Courtnall protected the puck on the right-wing boards off Sundstrom’s faceoff win, Sundstrom took it to the net and scored on a backhander with 35.5 to go in the period. Tied at 1 after one. Shots 12-8 on the board… which means one or the other is unofficial, because pretty sure Leggio stopped one or two on that Gillies minor. Ah well.

–It seems as if Zolnierczyk and Halmo have swapped places. They were that way for a shift or two after the Gillies penalty.

–Another goal against on the rush: Burlon scores from the left circle, over the glove, to make it 2-1 Albany at 4:09 of the second.

–Hrabarenka’s left-point shot goes off Collberg and in a minute and a half later to make it 3-1. Time out, Bridgeport.

–Mouillierat called for another goalie interference penalty, skating by Kinkaid behind the net.

–Zolnierczyk knocks it away from Burlon. Burlon hooks him down. First Albany penalty.

–On the four-on-four, Whitney cuts to the inside on Pulock, gets to the net, Leggio stops the first but Baier scores on the rebound. It’s 4-1 Albany.

–Giveaway on Bridgeport’s third power play. Leggio stops Thompson’s partial breakaway, no one gets the rebound, Ben Johnson comes in to put it in. 5-1 Albany at 17:39 of the second on a short-handed goal.

–Albany leads 5-1 after two. Shots 13-6; think Bridgeport got only one in the last eight minutes. Turnovers, lots of little things adding up.

–This could just be Stuff Evening Out. They’ve been giving up shots. They’ve had some good luck with goalies on the other side having some off nights (though those tended to turn into blowouts). But in the smaller picture, it hasn’t been particularly pretty to watch this weekend.

–Rob says that when he told friends he was going to Albany, they wondered about the snow. No, he said, long way from Buffalo. Geography. Yeah.

–If there’s a positive, they’re 6-for-7 on the penalty kill today. Zolnierczyk put one wide on a two-on-one short-handed on that last PK, with Pedan in the box for a high-stick.

–Halmo works it around the boards to the back of the net and feeds Mouillierat at the front of the net to cut it to 5-2 with 6:47 left.

Albany 5, Bridgeport 2, final. Fourth loss in a row for the Sound Tigers.

—So I asked Brent Thompson if this was, sort of, things evening out; if young players can be phenomenal one week and turn the puck over constantly the next. That’s one way to look at it, he said, that that could be part of the inconsistency. But it’s not just the young guys, either, he said.

“You’ve got to channel your emotions into the next shift,” Thompson said. “The focus needs to be on that.” There’s more in the gamer tomorrow.

He thought that Sundstrom goal would be a lift, “a great line effort,” that if they cleaned up some stuff they’d be in good shape for the second. Didn’t turn out that way.

On Quine, he wanted to get Collberg back in and wanted Quine to watch a game, “to see how important intensity and one-on-one battles are. His offensive gifts, we definitely missed them. We have a thought process on these kids to develop them and make sure they’re ready for the NHL.”

About wraps up a mostly lost weekend after an outstanding start. They’ll get another three-in-three next weekend to see where they’re going to go from here.

Michael Fornabaio