Lost in transition: Hartford postgame

Random coincidence fascinates me as a sportswriter (cough #narrative), so figured I’d wonder about those first three Hartford goals, all in some semblance of transition.

On the first, after three icings in a row, Bridgeport carries up, has a shot blocked, then has what looks like a three-on-three coming back at them after a blocked shot, and as the other two forwards change, it turns into a three-on-two. “When you have an opportunity to track, you have to track as hard as you can,” Brent Thompson said. “You allow the D to step up.” (He didn’t name names. Michael Dal Colle was the other forward still out there.)

On the second, after an icing, Bridgeport’s going for a change but winds up chasing Robin Kovacs up the right wing. Eamon McAdam makes the first save; Nicklas Jensen cleans up the rebound. Last minute of a period. “A bad change,” Thompson said. “All of a sudden it’s even up at the end of the period.”

Then it looked like Bridgeport got caught at the blue line on a Ryan Graves chip that sent the Pack on an odd-man rush. With the forwards coming back, Tambellini sends in Jensen against Patrick Cullity, who’d been having a nice game as it looked from up here. Jensen backed him in, got a shot off and beat McAdam. It was 3-2. Turnovers didn’t help. They could only beat Magnus Hellberg twice, once on a five-on-three, and the other on, well, not the prettiest goal, but still, one of only two out of 37 that got to the back of the net.

“I don’t think (the break) had anything to do with it,” Scott Mayfield said.

“If anything, the break came at a good time. we needed to dig ourselves out of it. … The losing streak’s at five now.”

…….

As mentioned pregame, Thompson was complimentary of Josh Ho-Sang’s morning skate, and if he was really in the doghouse I doubt he’d have dressed for warmup. Asked the coach to expound a little. “The effort level was there” this morning, Thompson said. “He has to have that, the effort on and off the ice. It’s every day. Even in the weight room, taking the opportunity to get stronger. There’s a lot that goes into these kids’ developing to where we project them to be.”

He mentioned, as he has several times, about details in Ho-Sang’s game, and gave him credit for working on things. “Beginning of the year to now, he’s taken huge steps in the right direction.”

A fan in Section 113, right on the glass, apparently got hit by a puck with a little over a minute left in regulation. The Wolf Pack noticed and got her attention; the referees tossed a towel and an ice pack from the bench over to her. Dave said Mayfield gave his stick to her, and after he was announced as first star, Jensen went over to toss his stick over the glass, too.

Elsewhere, Milford’s Mark Naclerio to Atlanta, the Bruins’ ECHL affiliate, notes Mark Divver; Naclerio’s coming back from a concussion.

Good wishes to the Danis family.

Big first win for the Americans at the World Juniors, 6-1 over Latvia; two second-period assists for Tage Thompson, and New Canaan’s Patrick Harper scored in the first period. Wins also for Sweden, the Czech Republic and Canada (1-2-3 for Mathew Barzal).

The annual Spengler Cup is on in Switzerland, and Team Canada includes three former Sound Tigers, Mark Katic, Dustin Jeffrey and Mark Flood. Jake Newton is there with Mountfield HK.

And RIP, George Michael and Vera Rubin.

Michael Fornabaio