Not-live from the site of the 2017 AHL All-Star Game (should be a nice spot)… It’s the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (minus their top two centermen, with Bracken Kearns and Alan Quine called up) and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (with a bunch of ATOs and its regular goalie back after sending the guy with two consecutive shutouts down to Reading). The call-ups and sending Verhaeghe down tear apart last night’s top two lines. See how they rearrange things.
We’ll be listening to Paul (audio/pay-per-view). We’ll be following Paul, Stephen Gross (if he’s not on the Phillies), Tony Androckitis, Bob Rotruck among others.
The box should be here (R: Kaval. L: Knapp, Murray). Scoreboard watching: Providence-Portland for the last time; Hartford-Springfield again; Hershey-WBS; Utica-St. John’s (1/2); Syracuse-Toronto.
The news seems good on Brett Gallant. Lake Erie said this afternoon that he returned to Cleveland on Saturday. Hopefully all turns out well.
Belated RIP, Erik Bauersfeld.
More closer to gametime.
–Having a little for-the-heck-of-it fun trying to put lines together. You can keep it simple and just plug Wright in at center with Halmo and Fritz, and dress three new guys as a fourth line; you can gut the thing, and that’s a little trickier. Part of it is whether you keep that Florek-(B)Holmstrom-Cliche line together, or you use Cliche in the middle. Hey, something to do while hoping the washing machine doesn’t die. Either way, this could be one of those nights where the lines could change shift-to-shift.
Also, last night was crazy trying to keep up with the out-of-town scoreboard even with two computers up, and tonight on television I think I get the Islanders, plus there’s Quinnipiac, and the Mets may yet not get rained out. Distractions!
–Tyler Barnes’ regular number is going to be 32, but he’ll wear 52 tonight.
–Flyers win. The Bruins is dead. Providence reloads.
–Nothing really new in here, but Lake Erie posted this audio of Jared Bednar, beginning with a Brett Gallant update.
–Williams vs. Stolarz, as we’re told on the first part and as Tony tweets on the second. Sounds like Eamon McAdam dresses, down the block from his hometown.
—Special jerseys for the Phantoms after the all-star announcement.
–A bit of retooling, and Cliche to the middle, with Tyler Barnes making his Bridgeport debut and Kyle Schempp making his pro debut:
BRIDGEPORT as we’re led to believe
F: Wright (A)-Cliche (A)-Barnes
Halmo-C.Jones-Fritz
Johnston-B.Holmstrom (C)-Florek
Gomes-Schempp-Markison
D: Czuczman-Carkner
Lafranchise-Burroughs
Wotherspoon-Cullity
G: Williams
McAdam
LEHIGH VALLEY from Tony:
F: Conner-Brent-Lindblom
Leier-Bardreau-McDonald
Straka – Swavely – Aube-Kubel
Smith-Padakin-Martel
D: Morin-Alt
Drewiske-Willcox
Comrie-Hagg
G: Stolarz
Knapp
–Finn out is also interesting. See what the power play looks like.
–Kearns and Quine rushed as linemates in warmup in Brooklyn.
–Halmo and Bardreau at the end of the first shift. Long one.
–Halmo needs repairs. Meanwhile Hartford’s up 1-0 already, picking up where it left off last night.
–Barnes scores in his debut: puck kept in, Barnes did a little give-and-go with Wright in the left corner, and Barnes benefited from Cliche going to the net to beat Stolarz at 3:54. 1-0 Bridgeport.
–If the Phantoms only show that adorable little baby when they cut away to the crowd, I will be a lot less angry. Awwwwwwwwww. Springfield has meanwhile tied up Hartford on Craig Cunningham’s 20th goal.
–Quick look around: Providence has an early lead, the Penguins have a 2-1 lead — actually, now 3-1 — and St. John’s at home has a lead on Utica.
–Paul says Bardreau is back wearing Aaron Palushaj’s No. 16 without a nameplate, figuring his special-jersey ripped in the Halmo fight. Does that increase or decrease the value at auction?
–Distracted by Alan Quine’s first shift in the NHL — carried the puck up-ice, started a pretty good shift — and so wasn’t watching Jared Gomes’ goal, coming up the left wing and just beating Stolarz. It’s 2-0 Bridgeport late in the first.
–It’s actually only 12:08 into the first. Long pregame ceremony, TV game, cleanup after the fight: Insert mumble about this thing taking forever.
–Schempp draws an interference penalty, so the first power play to Bridgeport, and it’s got Cliche, Jones, Barnes, Wright and Wotherspoon. The other unit has Halmo, Schempp, Fritz, Lafranchise and Burroughs.
–Hartford grabs a lead on the first shift of the second period. Phamtoms kill the penalty.
–Bridgeport leads 2-0 after one. Shots 12-12. Syracuse up 2-1 on Toronto. Others still where they were.
–Meanwhile, Alan Quine killing a penalty on the Island. (Brooklyn is on the Island; leave me alone.) Haven’t seen a lot of that. (Kearns, Pelech-Mayfield? Plenty of that.) Quine’s been involved in some scoring chances and is getting props from the writers. (Also, watching that PK unit involves the subtle feeling in the back of the head: “Mayfield is on the ice. No. 10 is on the ice. That is not redundant.” Kearns is wearing 38.)
–Hartford is running away from Springfield. Three goals in a minute and a half made it 5-1 Hartford late in the second.
–Phantoms keep, a quick pass off the boards to Bardreau in the right circle, and Bardreau puts it five-hole on Williams to cut Bridgeport’s lead to 2-1 at 56 seconds of the second period.
–Providence has gone up 2-0 on Portland. Seth Griffith’s 23rd. Portland came right back as I was trying to post; 2-1.
–Cliche called for a trip 7:27 into the second; second PP of the game, first for the Phantoms.
–One of the Phantoms’ kids threw a big hit on Carkner behind the Bridgeport net late on that minor. Pretty sure Carkner took the number. Martel hit a post just before Cliche returned; Markison stopped at the other end on a partial break soon after. Should be about halfway, 2-1 Bridgeport. Providence just went up 2-1 as Brandon DeFazio tied last year’s career high with 21 goals.
–Halmo makes it 3-1 at 10:50. Phantoms turned it over to Halmo (think to Halmo) in the neutral zone, and Fritz sent it left circle to Halmo with Jones going to the net. Halmo’s 111th point with 56 goals; he’s a tiebreaker ahead of Jesse Joensuu for 14th place on the all-time list.
–Goal credited to Jones on a deflection. The Halmo 14th-place stuff stands, though with 55 goals. Bridgeport to the power play for a high stick up on Wright.
–Meanwhile on the Island, Scotty Mayfield with his first NHL goal. (Also his first point.)
–Bridgeport goes back to the power play on a Swavely hook. Meanwhile it’s Providence 3-1 after two. Utica lost in overtime but clinched a playoff spot.
–It’s 3-1 Bridgeport after two. The Phantoms had a good push early in the second after that goal; Bridgeport kept them from getting much to the net and then got another goal itself, outshooting Lehigh Valley 10-4 in the period.
–Meanwhile this game is taking so long that my coffee pot turned itself off. Quinnipiac, elsewhere, trails the Fighting Whatever They Are Now 2-1 after one.
–Alexander Khokhlachev makes it 4-1 Portland. Springfield’s comeback is underway: It’s 6-2 Hartford in the third. Still 2-1 Syracuse, but a Bridgeport point and that won’t matter anymore.
–As the third starts, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s lead over Hershey is all the way down to 4-3; Mark Arcobello has scored to tie Syracuse. And Providence is running away from Portland: It’s 6-1 late.
–Hartford game is mercifully over, 6-2 final over Springfield. The Pack visit Portland tomorrow.
–The third Bridgeport goal appears to have been changed to Halmo’s. Meanwhile, Cullity takes a high-stick, and Lafranchise scores from the top of the left circle, sort of a harmless little flip through traffic. Looked like Schempp should get the second assist, working it around via Burroughs. It’s 4-1.
–Good shift for the Phantoms, lots of pressure, very scrambly, and then Conner to Lindblom to make it 4-2 with 12:28 to go. Wilkes-Barre has finished off Hershey: Bridgeport’s very slim chance of first-round home ice is slimmer.
–Cliche puts one over Stolarz’s glove from the left circle to make it 5-2. Tipped up off the arm of a defender.
–Alan Quine’s got his first NHL goal, and it’s a short-handed goal. Puck got away from Ullmark, Kearns took it, put it to the front and it went in off Quine’s leg. Pretty neat.
–Lindblom gets his second with 4:05 left; a Hagg shot caroms off his skate to cut it to 5-3.
–Hang on. Colin McDonald scores with an extra attacker on to cut it to 5-4 with a little over three minutes left. Three points for Lindblom.
–Crazy last minute as the Phantoms push hard, keep the puck in and push some more. Holmstrom called for a cross-check with 16.1 seconds left.
–Wright carries to the empty net and puts it in with 2.6 seconds left. Bridgeport 6, Lehigh Valley 4, final. Closer than they wanted, but it gives them two points; Syracuse can’t catch them, so it’s only Hartford in their way. Because of the tiebreakers, Bridgeport’s magic number looks like it’s four.
–The win clinches at worst tie in Real Wins with Hartford, and the Sound Tigers won the season series with the Wolf Pack, so Bridgeport clinches a tiebreaker: its magic number is four.
–Quinnipiac’s down 5-1 in the third. Devon Toews, call your agen family advisor.
Brent Thompson said they were looking for some secondary scoring. Barnes steps in. Gomes steps up. There you go. “Cliche hadn’t played. Obviously we distributed the scoring,” Thompson said. “Halmo’s been hot. … Everyone chipped in, working hard to get that final result.”
Kyle Schempp’s debut was pretty much as advertised, Thompson said: “I thought Schempp was excellent. He’s a very smart hockey player. He competed hard. He was very good on faceoffs. I like what he brought to the table. He kept it simple. He was reliable defensively.”
Verhaeghe goes down: “We want to get his pace up, his strength, his play away from the puck. Plus, the playoffs will be a good opportunity for our guys.” (Missouri’s got Quad City. In the ECHL’s Eastern Conference playoffs, it’ll be Manchester-Adirondack, Richard Seeley against Cail MacLean.)
Finn was a coach’s decision, Thompson said. “We need to keep Carks sharp, get him in a game,” Thompson said. “We got him in a game. We’ll see where it goes from there.”
So to regroup the standings: Bridgeport remains fifth, two points behind Providence but is now tied in points and a tiebreaker behind Portland. It’s four points behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but can’t win a tiebreaker. It’s four points ahead of Hartford and clinched the tiebreaker with the Pack. The magic number is four. That could happen Sunday with a win (any kind) over the Phantoms and a Hartford regulation loss at Portland. Otherwise it’ll come down to the last week of the season. Hershey and Wilkes-Barre play again Sunday, and Providence visits Springfield.
More tomorrow.