Just got my electric bill. Can I borrow a defibrillator?
Bridgeport starts a home-and-home in Portland tonight. After Wednesday’s bleh performance and the expected return of a couple of regulars, I’m not really sure what the lineup will look like. I mean, I could make a reasonable guess, I think, but the fine details, we’ll see.
We’ll be listening to Jeff Mannix (audio / video) and following Chris Roy, Paul, Jeff and the Pirates.
This should be the box at gametime. First Bridgeport game tonight for referee Cameron Voss, though he’s been in Bridgeport a couple of times to work college games the past month or so, including Sunday for UConn-Notre Dame.
Kenny Reiter’s back at it: He signed with Reading (ECHL) today.
Beautiful story from Craig Custance on Nick Foligno and his wife, their baby daughter’s illness and the doctor who saved her.
More closer to gametime.
–Poulin vs. Louis Domingue.
BRIDGEPORT from Paul:
F: Collberg-Mouillierat-McDonald (A)
Persson-Quine-Zolnierczyk (A)
Gillies-Sundstrom-Vaughan
Gallant-Lamoureux-Courtnall
D: Ness (C)-Czuczman
Pelech-Mayfield
Reinhart-Graham
G: Poulin
Leggio
PORTLAND lines from Chris:
F: Martinook-Bolduc-H.Samuelsson
Shinnimin-Hodgman-Szwarz
Lessio-Gaudet-Miller
Selleck-Trivino-Wathier
D: Gormley-P. Samuelsson
Hache-Reese
Hanley-Campbell
G: Domingue
(I think it’s Lee)
R: Voss, Mayer. L: Lovett, Ross.
Appparently the same thing on Conacher that kept him out a night last weekend. Langkow and Stretch also come out with Sundstrom, Vaughan and Gallant going back in.
–Persson comes up the left side, led by Quine, and scores short-side on Domingue at 8:51. Not a whole lot of shots; Paul earlier called it a feeling-out process.
–Collberg needing help off the ice midway through the first period. Chris says he’s favoring a shoulder.
–Pirates kill a penalty for a hit on Courtnall; first unit on was Quine’s line with Reinhart and Graham, second included Johan Sundstrom and Scooter Vaughan with the usual McDonald, Mouillierat and Ness. After that expires, the Pirates rush and Shinnimin tucks in a second or third rebound to tie it.
–Lessio pushes ahead, with Pelech changing and Czuczman not yet in the play; Lessio gets by Mayfield to the net to put it over Poulin for a 2-1 lead 41 51 seconds later. But it looks like Bridgeport goes on the power play again in a moment.
–Looks like they swapped Sundstrom and Quine for that one, without scoring. Zolnierczyk goes for interference soon after.
–Pirates lead 2-1 after one and carry about a minute of a Griffin Reinhart boarding minor to the second.
–Looks like Reese was knocking the puck away from Collberg, their skates came together, and Collberg wiped out and went hard into the boards.
–They just turned down whoever was doing the intermission when he called the New York Knicks “god-awful.” Hope it wasn’t a direct result, because he’s got truth on his side. (Though they are on a winning streak.)
–Zolnierczyk has been with Mouillierat and McDonald on his first two shifts, one of them at even strength after the penalty kill, the other now on the power play. Sundstrom with Quine and Persson on the second unit.
–Poulin stops both ends of a short-handed two-on-none, Selleck and Gaudet. Crazy.
–Mario Lamoureux gets his first AHL goal midway through the period. Gillies carried in on the left side (the lines aren’t quite in a blender, but they’re close) and put it into the slot to Lamoureux for a one-timer that looked to be glove side. 2-2.
–Tough one: Looked like Zolnierczyk was a step ahead of his man going for an icing negation, but it was blown dead. Naturally, off the draw, Portland scores: Gormley takes a handoff from Bolduc on the left-wing boards, takes it to the net and puts it up high to make it 3-2 Portland.
–The Pirates lead 3-2 after two.
–On second look, it looked like they were about even at the dots and Zolnierczyk’s last burst got him to the puck first on that icing. So that’s probably the right call.
–They’ve given the second assist on the Lamoureux goal to Brett Gallant. Four points, an AHL career high, on the season.
–It looks as if a Persson-Quine-Vaughan line has stuck together. Most of the rest was mix-and-match.
–Bridgeport had a couple of chances after a PP expired, then Mayfield, triple teamed, was knocked down; Portland went out three-on-two, broke it to a two-on-one, and Poulin was shaken up stopping Eric Selleck’s shot. Might have hit him up high.
–He stayed in the game, I probably should have mentioned.
–Zolnierczyk called for goalie interference late in a Ness holding penalty; 14 seconds of Pirates five-on-three with about 7 and a half left.
–Selleck, who it feels like has been everywhere tonight, scores on a three-on-two after the penalties have expired, with 4:38 to go. 4-2 Pirates.
–And now Gillies gets the stick up and draws blood on Philip Samuelsson. The double minor can take the Pirates through regulation.
–Poulin out with 2:20 to go and a draw in the Portland zone.
–Ness called for holding coming back with Leggio. On the five-on-three, Mayfield called for boarding on a hit on Shinnimin. Five-on-three forever. Poulin makes a couple of good saves, then Mouillierat and Shinnimin go at it after Shinnimin whacks at the puck under Poulin’s glove.
—Portland 4, Bridgeport 2, final. A few missed chances, and too many chances against.
–From Thompson on Collberg, only that it’s upper-body, will be reevaluated, out tomorrow.
–“If you look at the game, we competed very hard,” Thompson said. “I thought we worked very hard, competed very hard, engaged physically. The bounced didn’t go our way, on the power play, at five-on-five. We didn’t bury them, and they definitely took advantage of their chances.”
Line changes needed to be crisper at times; turnovers were costly.
On Lamoureux: “I thought he played a simple game,” Thompson said. “The pace, he’s got to get used to. He got better as the game went on. He got rewarded with a goal, got us back 2-2. The guys responded.”
One more tomorrow before the break.
–Oh, man, one more devastating thing. RIP, Ernie Banks.