Brent Thompson wasn’t thrilled at the end of yesterday’s practice, so I wondered if he liked what he saw tonight in a 4-0 win.
“I asked the guys to compete, to be better with their puck decisions,” Thompson said. “I thought we were a little sloppy in the second, but we cleaned it up in the third a lot. They rose to the challenge.
“There are a lot of positives to build from.”
Now come their last decisions. The team’s off tomorrow, so it seems logical that the discussions will come in the next 24 hours or so. We’ll see what they look like come Monday.
Providence 0 0 0—0
Bridgeport 1 0 3—4
First Period — 1, Bridgeport, Kearns 1 (Landry), 8:00 (pp). Penalties — Arnesson, Pro (hooking), 3:58; Casto, Pro (cross-checking), 6:23; Szwarz, Pro (roughing), 16:00; Morris, Bpt (roughing), 16:00.
Second Period — No scoring. Penalties — Szwarz, Pro (goaltender interference), 2:55.
Third Period — 2, Bridgeport, Berisha 1 (St. Denis), 1:02. 3, Bridgeport, St. Denis 2 (Verhaeghe, Berisha), 7:27. 4, Bridgeport, Nowick 1 (J.Holmstrom, Leduc), 16:21. Penalties — Burroughs, Bpt (cross-checking), 7:22.
Shots on goal — Providence 9-7-7—23. Bridgeport 13-5-8—26.
Power play opportunities — Providence 0 of 1, Bridgeport 1 of 3.
Goaltenders — Providence, McIntyre 0-1-0 (26 shots-22 saves). Bridgeport, Gibson 1-0-0 (16-16), Williams (start third, 7-7).
Attendance — N/A. Referees — Garon, Kimmerly. Linesmen — Colby, E.Ernst.
Bracken Kearns and Jon Landry wore the A’s under captain Ben Holmstrom. Kearns didn’t play the third period; lower body, precautionary, Thompson said. I didn’t see the second goal because I was double-checking that I only had 12 on the bench. Faceoff win by Travis St. Denis, Aaron Berisha said, moved back and forth between them, and then Berisha buried it.
Kearns cleaned up a rebound for the first goal. St. Denis was at the front of the net to clean up a deflection that floated across the low slot. Darren Nowick was at the front for a Loic Leduc rebound. Good things happen when you etc. etc.
Wacky (thankfully, that’s all) moment late: On a Providence offside, Ryan Obuchowski settled the puck and went to flip it up…. and hit the Bruins’ Shane Bakker square in the visor. No harm, apparently, thankfully, and he was immediately apologetic, but you probably couldn’t do that if you tried.
So. More tomorrow if warranted, otherwise more Monday from Harbor Yard.