Tuck Finn**: Hartford postgame

So that was the right call-up, I guess.

“The first time I saw him, I knew he had good offensive vision, offensive instincts,” 100-win coach Brent Thompson said. “The big thing where he needs to get better is getting his defensive game to be consisdent. You saw some of the puck plays he made. He distributes the puck. He walks the line. It’s something we need on the power play.”

Finn said he almost lost the puck on the power play giving it to Carter Verhaeghe, and he drew back into the neutral zone to cover in case the Wolf Pack intercepted. But Verhaeghe got it low to Alan Quine, and Finn circled in to take a pass from Bracken Kearns and beat Jeff Malcolm.

Then he got one coming out of the penalty box with five and a half minutes left, and Hartford is eight points behind now

Hartford, after a sequence of wait-what tripping penalties, scored to tie it on a four-on-three. Finn’s goal came as that sequence completely expired. Narratives are narratives, and that’s semi-fluky, but still, two games in a row with big moments late in games.

“They responded,” Thompson said. “The guys bounced back after the goal, giving that goal up. They responded.”

And now they’ve got an eight-point lead over the Wolf Pack, who have 18 to play to Bridgeport’s 17.

…..

Thompson said they’ll evaluate Kyle Burroughs tomorrow. I’m not positive how that happened; was typing, looked up, saw him go into the boards and then not get up*. He needed help to the room, unable to stand on his right leg, which would make four Sound Tigers (Joe Whitney, Andrew Rowe, Loic Leduc) with similar problems, at least temporarily in Leduc’s case.

Team’s off tomorrow, by the way, but the AHL trade deadline hits in the afternoon.

Burroughs’ departure left five defensemen for an extended period for the second game in a row. “You’re involved in the game throughout,” Kevin Czuczman said. “You just keep playing. It’s like peewee when you’re a kid. You just play hockey. Everyone’s in shape at this time of the year.

“If you’re playing a lot on the (penalty kill) or you’re in your end a lot, that’s when it gets tough,” Czuczman said, “but the forwards helped, and Gibby played great. Playing with the lead helps a lot.”

Speaking of getting a lead:

*-Through Mar 6

Finn had his first two-point game as a pro on Feb. 24 for the Mavericks. (He’d had only five points in 36 games in his rookie year.) He had big games in junior, including at least one four-point game his last year, but this looks like his last two-goal game.

Thompson swapped Mike Halmo and Ross Johnston late in the second, and that stuck into the third. “Just wanted to create some energy, to have a change,” Thompson said. “We felt we hit a lull, wanted to get a bit of energy. Putting Halms with two speedy guys upped Halmo’s game, and putting Ross with Verhaeghe and Kearns jumpstarted Ross’ play, a little stronger puck plays. It gave the team life, too.”

Prescout. Just like the end of November, Bridgeport goes directly from Adam Tambellini to Jeff Tambellini.

(The game URLs make it clear this Bridgeport-Hartford game was originally supposed to be Saturday, for what it’s worth. Perhaps someone realized UConn might need the building.)

Missed this yesterday, but fortunately the league website linked to this Bill Ballou story on Andrew Desjardins.

Edit: Big milestone for Tom Kostopoulos today.

And RIP, Nancy Reagan.

*-It happened, unfortunately, while there were problems with the video feed. The monitor next to Paul and me upstairs looked scrambled like an old-time cable movie channel, and AHL Live was the same before they slapped the technical-difficulties panel on it. Now, postgame, the video archive just jumps from 17 minutes to 13 minutes, and Burroughs left with 13:30 left in the second.
**-(Said pass was Holmstrom’s)

@fornabaioctp Tuck Finn?

— Jason Chaimovitch (@JChaimo) March 6, 2016