Parker Milner’s last AHL start was Jan. 24, 2014, a Sound Tigers shootout win in Lewiston thanks to a Ryan Strome extra-attacker goal late. Since then, his AHL experience with the clock running is a mop-up 11:30 in an Iowa Wild disaster last year at San Antonio, up on a PTO from Quad City and raising his AHL career GAA from 2.95 to 3.16; and last night’s two periods in Springfield, which dropped it back to 2.88.
In front of him, the lineup is jumbled. Joe Whitney and Bracken Kearns, for the first time when they’ve both dressed, aren’t together. The only intact unit from the start of last night is Florek-Ben Holmstrom-Halmo. (Josh Holmstrom appears out for Jesse Root.) The defense pairs are shaken a bit, though reuniting Czuczman-Pulock and keeping together the Finn-Burroughs unit that ended last night; Matt Carkner comes in for Jesse Graham.
The power play carries an 0-for-20 streak into tonight. (The way calls have gone the past few weeks, that’s six full games and a piece of a seventh.) It begins the day last in the league, 14-for-135, 10.37 percent, .03 percent behind Hartford. It started 5-for-30 and 9-for-55; since then, it’s operating at 6.3 percent.
Rochester, with a massive veterans problem as detailed by Kevin Oklobzija, scratches Jason Akeson and Matt Ellis along with three others. Here for the first time in a mere 5,111 days, the Amerks, in their 60th-anniversary season, also have some dude from Oklahoma on their blue line.
BRIDGEPORT
F: Whitney-Wright-Collberg
Root-Kearns-Beck
Florek-B.Holmstrom (C)-Halmo (A)
Vaive-C.Jones-Gomes
(J.Holmstrom-scratch)
D: Carkner (A)-Mayfield
Czuczman-Pulock
Finn-Burroughs
G: Milner
Williams
ROCHESTER
F: Carrier-O’Reilly (C)-Bailey
Catenacci-Varone (A)-Baptiste
D’Amigo (A)-Schaller-Kaleta
Nevins-Dupuy-Garbowsky
D: Austin-Ruhwedel
Donovan-Leduc
Robak-Sanguinetti
G: Lieuwen
Makarov
R: McIsaac. L: K.Briganti, Galvin.
(Jon McIsaac’s first Bridgeport game was the game when boarding majors to Micheal Haley and Matt Donovan became Rule-48 match penalties after the fact, the first of four match penalties in Sound Tigers games that McIsaac has worked. Dumb coincidences.)
Bridgeport scratches (believed healthy unless noted): Johnston (lower body), Quine (lower body), Graham, apparently J.Holmstrom.
Meanwhile, Springfield, Rochester, Hershey: It’s a “legendary cities of the AHL” weekend!