As the kids roll in (and maybe start rolling in in earnest), holdovers like Mike Halmo have their roles to play, getting the top-six minutes, and in particular in Halmo’s case, working his way back from missing much of the year.
“I think I’m just finally getting back in game shape,” Halmo said. “A lot is just getting my confidence back.”
He’s got three goals in the past three games — stepped up, just off the bench, in the right circle to bury today’s — and five points in the past five.
And he was involved in the confluence that led to the Carkner-Gagnon fight early; mixing it up with guys in front, in corners, pretty much everywhere. So I had to ask: getting back in the middle of the mayhem a bit, too? Yep. “Maybe get some power plays for us, get in guys’ heads a bit,” Halmo said. He said he enjoys playing that agitator role.
Springfield was the one getting the power plays this morning, from the start, when Evgeny Romasko and Terry Koharski each found a Sound Tiger to take off at 3:08. Bridgeport barely killed the power play (that Sonny Milano shot from the left circle sure looked in, to the naked eye, but both refs went in for a look at the replay) and then had to kill a couple of more power plays in the first.
The Sound Tigers played a good second but didn’t bury the Falcons. Desperation won out.
Eight games to go.
…..
The ins and outs: Shane Frederick in Mankato reported yesterday that Islanders draft pick Stephon Williams is likely to sign. That could come soon, and then we’ll see if he ends up here.
Dyson Stevenson was sent down to Allen (ECHL).
The crowd today, technically, ranks second only to last year’s Spring Fun 402. (There were the two bigger home crowds at Nassau Coliseum in the lockout year.)
Quinnipiac’s Matthew Peca signed with Tampa and is off to Syracuse. Brady Skjei, a late-first-rounder of the Rangers’ in 2012, left Minnesota a year early to sign; he’s joining Hartford.
And RIP, Cynthia Lennon.