Bridgeport has won six in a row; Hershey has won five in a row and is 9-0-2-1 in the past 12. With #pointsforall, no streak has to end tonight.
But one could.
We’ll be listening to Paul (audio/pay-per-view at AHL Live) and catching the 6:20 pregame show from Scott Stuccio (Audio / Pay-per-view).
The transactions late this afternoon reported that Stephon Williams is coming up from Missouri. Not sure at the moment specifically why, whether it’s just that he’s done his time down there (2-3-2, 2.91 GAA, .892 save percentage and 15 memorable penalty minutes in seven games; all but the PIMs below his Bridgeport numbers) or if there’s something else up. No word from out there yet. We’ll see. Edit: Told that Williams is not there tonight. We’ll ask after the game.
Unless something weird has happened, was expecting the lineup to look pretty familiar.
The box should be here (R: Lemelin, Kaval; L: Jondo (think this is his first Bridgeport game; don’t remember that name), George).
Dylan Reese is on waivers, which means he’s at the very least healthy enough to be sent down. Suffered a preseason torn Achilles tendon. He was in town when the Falcons were a couple of weeks ago and said he was getting closer. Good to see.
Congrats to Scott Boggs, the Islanders’ head equipment manager, who’s going to the World Cup.
Anders Nilsson got sent to Bakersfield today.
And RIP, Tom Singer and Jim Pickard.
More in a bit.
–Victor Bartley’s got his first goal as an IceCap.
–Gibson vs. Peters.
BRIDGEPORT
F: Verhaeghe-Kearns (A)-Beck
Wright (A)-Quine-Halmo
Vaive-Holmstrom (C)-Florek
Rowe-Gomes-Markison
D: Czuczman-Mayfield
Cullity-Pulock
Lafranchise-Burroughs
G: Gibson
Milner
HERSHEY if I heard Scott right and best we can figure
F: Vrana-Gomez-Barber
Bourque-Stephenson-Boyd
Walker-Sill-Mitchell
Carey-Camper-Collins
D: Ness-Burgdoerfer
Djoos-Carrick
Stanton-Bowey
G: Peters
Ellis
R: Lemelin, Kaval. L: Jondo, George.
Changes for the Bears today, Scott said, after Liam O’Brien got sick. Carter Camper in, and because of veterans, Mike Moore out.
–Interesting: Hometown Heroes night, police, fire: And they’ve invited the starting sixes of both sides to join them around a big flag for the Anthem. Cool.
–Thanks to the reader who pointed out that like most of the first period got chopped out of the liveblog. For crying out (bleeping) loud. Let’s summarize. Bridgeport had a great first shift followed by several rough ones. Carrick scored from the top of the right circle at 2:33. Bridgeport tied it on a Czuczman shot that tipped off Bowey’s stick and over Peters’ blocker from the left side, and they took a lead when Colin Markison was awarded a questionable penalty shot on a Stanton hook. Bridgeport’s last penalty shot was Ryan Strome’s, five days shy of two years ago. And then… And then…
–The Bears tie it on a power play. Boyd’s shot may’ve been blocked, may’ve reached Gibson, but either way it caroms to Vrana on the right for an easy one. Scott Gomez gets the second assist with 2:52 left in the first.
–That’s 15 points in 11 games for Gomez. Scott says hopefully nobody’s watching in the NHL and they’ll leave him there.
–So it’s 2-2 after two. Wild one.
–Fun (maybe) (your fun may vary) (perhaps depending on tonight’s result, depending on your rooting interest) fact: Strome’s penalty shot came in the second game of what became Bridgeport’s last seven-game winning streak.
–Friday will be two years without a home penalty shot for Bridgeport (Scott Howes, stopped by Chad Johnson). Saturday will be five years since they scored on one at home (Jean Bourbeau on Jhonas Enroth), though they could do something about it that night….
–And while I’m typing, Bracken Kearns scores 10 seconds into the second period to give Bridgeport a 3-2 lead. Cuts off the right-wing boards through the right circle to score it.
–Colton Gillies scored one eight seconds into a second period last season. Ben Walter had the second-period record before that, 11 seconds.
–And like that, it’s 3-3 at 1:24 of the second, 14 seconds into a Cullity holding minor, a Boyd left-circle one-timer.
–Sill scores at 3:58 to give Hershey a 4-3 lead. Puck bounced around after Bridgeport cleared it to the neutral zone, and Sill chipped it past a defenseman to give himself a breakaway… and now it’s 5-3 Hershey off a goal-mouth scramble at 5:10. Parker Milner coming in for Gibson (18 shots-13 saves, says Paul).
–Chaos. With Holmstrom off for delay of game, Kearns scores on a short-handed breakaway. Think it was Gomes who knocked it away from a Bear at the blue line.
–Cullity, in foul trouble, for a hold at 12:16.
–After Cullity returns, the Bears get a too-many-men call that took some discussion among the four officials. Bridgeport’s third PP.
–A couple of good keeps for Pulock, and the puck stays in the zone for the full two minutes. At the very end of it, Peters robs Quine, throwing up the glove. Quine can’t believe it.
–They’ve gone 13 minutes without a goal here. Hershey leads 5-4 after two.
–Vrana makes it 6-4 Bears 1:54 into the third. Good shift for that line; Gomez found Vrana in front off the right-wing boards, and he had quick hands, taking it on his backhand and quickly turning and getting the shot off. Four assists for Gomez.
–Looked like the Bears put one in on a Milner tripping minor. Play still ongoing, at least on the feed.
–And then the play stops with Mayfield putting one in from behind the goal line at 6:20. They’ll take a look at the Hershey play, I’m sure. Might’ve gone off Burgdoerfer in front.
–They looked really quickly, and the Bridgeport goal stands. So it’s 6-5 with 13:40 to go. Holy cro.
–Carey, on second look, may’ve somehow hit the right post from the left side.
–By the way: It’s Parker Milner’s game now.
–Paul indirectly points out that this is the first time they’ve given up six this season. Several fives.
–The third has moved along, it feels, pretty quickly. Under five minutes left. Still 6-5 Hershey.
–Quine’ six-game scoring streak also on the line.
–Holy cro. A long delayed-penalty six-on-five for Bridgeport, and Rowe bangs in a rebound at the right side of the net with 1:37 to go. It’s 6-6.
–Quine gets the second assist. Joins Joe Whitney with seven-game scoring streaks this year.
–Overtime. Got to update like four different miscellaneous files tonight. Goalie penalty, goalie change, penalty shot… Won’t get to 14 combined goals unless something really crazy happens in overtime…
–Beck stopped on a two-on-none with Kearns early on.
–Halmo and Barber are both going to the box at 1:28. Barber trying to keep Halmo from taking the puck into the Hershey zone. Halmo called for a hold. Both holds, actually.
–Mayfield stopped on a partial break. Bowey hits the post the other way. Then Peters flips one over the glass with 1:42 left in OT. A Bridgeport PP coming. Unreal. “This is pure fantasy right now,” says Paul.
–Bears had the best chances of the PP after Sill blocked Pulock and took it the other way; Milner stopped Mitchell and Sill in sequence. On to the bonus round.
–Rowe scores on a filthy little toe drag to his backhand. Milner stops two and sees one go wide, and Bridgeport 7, Hershey 6, final (SO). Unreal. Paul’s in disbelief on the air.
–Got Scott’s postgame up on the air… He says Rowe knocked that tying goal out of midair. Didn’t catch that.
–Bridgeport has lost two 8-6 games in its history, and it has lost three 7-5 games, but it’d never won a game where the two teams combined for 12 or more goals. Wacky.
–Hey, with #pointsforall, neither streak ended tonight.
–Things are just about as wacky in Winnipeg-Texas tonight.
–“Obviously a bit of a crazy game,” Brent Thompson said. “It felt like a ‘last one to shoot wins the game’ type of thing. Give our guys credit. We were down a couple of different times throughout the game. We got better as the game went on. It was definitely a sloppy game.” He thought everybody wound up doing something to bring them back.
On Williams coming back up: “He’s a prospect, a draft pick. We need to see how he’s developing, how he’s coming along.” If something else is coming, he wasn’t saying.
More, probably, tomorrow. (At some point.)