WBS liveblog

Getting my “catching up on high schools” done early today, hopefully. But no Wilkes-Barre trip, so livebloggin’ here.

Listen to Paul at AHL Live. Follow him, Tom Venesky, Seth Lasko and Mike O’Brien, among others.

The box should be here (R: Mullen, Mayer; L: Mandroc, Murray, and if your name doesn’t start with an ‘M’, DO NOT APPLY).

Bad news from KC this morning: Jesse Root is out for the season, needing surgery after a Spencer Asuchak slew-foot Wednesday. Obviously a huge player for the Mavericks, and valuable depth for Bridgeport.

RIP, Keith Emerson.

More around warmup time.

–A couple of tweaks, as we’re led to believe: A swap of defense pairs, Colin Markison back in for Ross Johnston, Stephon Williams in goal, and a Sebastian Collberg sighting:

BRIDGEPORT
F: Verhaeghe-Kearns (A)-Halmo
Wright (A)-Quine-Collberg
Vaive-B.Holmstrom (C)-Florek
Gomes-C.Jones-Markison
D: Czuczman-Carkner
Lafranchise-Cullity
Finn-Graham
G: Williams
Gibson

(Edit late Saturday: Originally had Burroughs in there instead of Carkner. Bad cut-and-paste. Apologies.)

WBS via Obie
F: Mouillierat-Jeffrey-Archibald
Plachta-Rowney-Kostopoulos
Loney-Dea-Krause
Burton-Sundqvist-McGrath
D: O’Neill-Goers
Erixon-Oleksy
McNeill-Andersen
G: Jarry
Palazzese

R: Murray, Mayer. L: Mandroc, Murray.

–Bridgeport had a power play 11 seconds in on a boarding penalty; Williams gave it away and almost gave up a short-handed goal early in that.

–Looks like Finn-Lafranchise, Cullity-Graham, at least after that penalty.

–Williams makes three big saves off two Bridgeport turnovers. Midway first.

–A long five-on-three here. Lafranchise for a trip, and Carkner for a cross-check off the draw, four seconds in.

–Williams has made a couple of big saves in the first minute of the PP, and Kostopoulos somehow missed, open in front of the net (not sure if someone got a piece of it). Started with Holmstrom, Czuczman and Cullity for a minute. Kearns and Finn then spelled Holmstrom and Czuczman for about 20 seconds.

–Penalty killed. Puck hopped by Mouillierat at the left point to kill most of the last 20 seconds.

–Williams makes what looks like a glove save on a breakaway for AHL-debuting Krause.

–End of one, no score. The Stephon Williams Show, from all accounts. Bridgeport carries a minute of an O’Neill hook to the second.

–Paul, about five scoreless and sorta disjointed minutes into the second, makes a point (inadvertently, I think) I’d never thought of before. The shootout makes it possible that a game, a regular-season game, will never end. Play 65 minutes, and then the shootout begins. Imagine that every round is a perfect match. You score, I score. You miss, I miss. Obviously it’s unlikely. But it’s possible. Mind-blowing. Thanks. Bettman.

Anyway. Still scoreless in Wilkes-Barre.

–Wright for a cross-check. Third Penguins PP.

–A blocked shot caroms around, away from Mouillierat fanning in front, to Kostopoulos at the left post for a 1-0 Penguins lead.

–Dea soon after for a cross-check. Looks like Wright’s in Verhaeghe’s spot… and now a Bridgeport penalty evens things up after a minute or so.

–Halmo called for playing with a broken stick. Darn it, I miss all the fun.

–On the four-on-four, Markison scores. Jones’ shot was blocked; Markison picked it up and took it into the slot to tie it up.

–So we can add a name to this list:

Playing with broken stick: 6: Evgeny Tunik 4/8/06 vs. HFD; Jeremy Colliton 1/4/08 at NOR; Chris Lee 11/18/08 at SA; Mike Keenan 12/22/13 vs. ALB; Adam Pelech, 3/21/15 vs. PRO; Mike Halmo, 3/12/16 at WBS.

–Halmo was high-sticked on his first shift out of the box; Vaive takes his spot for the ensuing power play, though Paul says Halmo is still at the bench.

–Halmo jumps back in on the second unit, with Holmstrom and Collberg.

–Think they’re working on a record for whistles in a period in this one.

–It’s 1-1 after two. The online box has shots 22-8 Penguins, but it’s 5:39 behind, and the Holmstrom line just had a nice little shift that forced Jarry to make a couple of saves.

–Kinda wacky one puts Bridgeport up at 5:07 of the third. Czuczman blocked a shot and sent Halmo up the left side. As Halmo gained the zone, two Penguins went to him, leaving Kearns and Verhaeghe two-on-one. Kearns’ pass almost looked like it was too far in front of Verhaeghe, but he got it and got under it, putting it over Jarry for a 2-1 lead.

–An eight-game scoring streak for Kearns.

–Vaive and Oleksy going at it pretty good amid a scrum as teams change. There seem to be lot of guys on the ice.

–Mouillierat gets an extra minor. Bridgeport’s fifth power play.

–Halmo tips in Wright’s shot to make it 3-1 Bridgeport on the PP. Finn stepped up on the right side and fed it left to Wright for the initial.

–Williams slow to get up and stretching a bit off a save soon after. Paul mentions they looked for trainer David Stickney, but he was in the room with Vaive, and Zach Yannes is back home with Bridgeport’s assorted wounded. Williams quickly gave the I’m-OK.

–Wright called for holding, pulling down Plachta, with 7:39 to go.

–Double deflection trickled into the crease; Williams spun left to cover it up.

–Otherwise a relatively uneventful penalty kill. Under five to go now.

–3:02 left, and another penalty to kill… and Mouillierat scores right off the draw, which briefly looked like a stalemate, but Rowney jumped around Holmstrom and whacked it left to right to Mouillierat for a one-timer.

–Bridgeport calls time out off an icing with 2:10 left. Rowney had a chance 20 seconds earlier or so that looked like a tap-in in front, but Williams apparently dove left…. oh, yeah, they finally show the replay, and he got it with the left skate blade.

–Quine, Wright, Cullity do a nice job to keep it in the Penguins zone for a while. Kearns does a nice job at the end to get it out. Bridgeport 3, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2, final, a big win after a rough one last night.

-Williams isn’t one of the three stars. Paul’s speechless.

–Looks like there’s an NWHL champion in Boston.

–Tough way to go out for the Quinnipiac women.

–Looks like Portland’s shootout loss tonight moves Bridgeport into fourth place in the Atlantic, both on points accumulated (70-67) and percentage (.574-.568). With St. John’s’s’ win over Hershey, the Sound Tigers’ cushion on a playoff spot is still five points.

–They’ve revised Bridgeport’s shots down by two as they finalize the box: Outshot 32-19, they win.

–“Willy was obviously a huge part of the win,” Brent Thompson said. “He made huge saves early. … We got put down five-on-three, and he made some huge saves in that. He was outstanding in the first. That gave our guys confidence.” Thompson thought they got better as the game went on at eliminating the second shots, tracking better, clearing the front of the net. “It was a character win,” he said. “Everyone on the team contributed in some way, with defensive plays, second efforts, blocking shots. Give that team credit. They’ve got a lot of offensive weapons. We did a good job weathering the storm.”

The back half of that storm blows into town tomorrow afternoon. See you then.

Michael Fornabaio