Stephon Williams had been busting chops the past few days about how I never talked to him anymore. I never thought that was a disappointment to anyone. But had to today, obviously, because how big was that for him?
“Big,” said Williams, who said (a) that video-reviewed goal went off the tip of his glove, and it was Jon Landry who knocked it off the goal line… or apparently just behind. “I’ve just been working as hard as I possibly can, in practice, off the ice, every game. Sometimes you go through these sequences — players would say they’re gripping the stick too tight? It can happen for a goalie. You want to win so bad.”
He did today, in wacky fashion.
You’ll see those every so often, a no-goal called that’s overturned on video minutes later. This one, after the period was apparently over, felt odd. Bridgeport said it thought, from the replay shown on the video board, that it didn’t look overturnable. This tweet shows… that the camera isn’t right over the crossbar. Sure is a lot of white, though.
But given back 78 seconds of power-play time, they got one for Williams. He was huge in the third period, finishing with 32 saves. It was a win he and they needed, and against a team that had won approximately 42 of its previous 25 games.
Brent Thompson said it shows how they have to compete and get to the net. And wasn’t he just talking the other night about secondary scoring? “Exactly,” Thompson said. “You get a goal from all four lines, you should be successful. You should win the game.”
…..
Josh Ho-Sang said he left his house yesterday at 4:30 and expected to be at Webster Bank Arena by 4:55, but the snow led to delays on the highway. “I texted (Thompson) at 4:40 to say I may be late,” Ho-Sang said. “Yesterday was just a (bad) situation. I guess I can’t let it happen because of my history. Nobody really cares why, the reasoning for it. It’s the way it goes sometimes. I was only about eight minutes late. … It’s a negative, but I’m just looking past it, just keep playing. There’s nothing I can do, no point dwelling.”
Ben Holmstrom and Jordan Szwarz were going at it on the faceoff after Bridgeport scored its fourth goal, and then they actually went off the icing faceoff a few seconds later. They hadn’t announced the game misconducts for those two guys when Alan and I talked on the air in the second intermission about why they were supposed to have been tossed, but neither one appeared for the third period. By Rule 46.10, the new one this year, that’s how it’s called. (Your feelings on said rule may vary.)
Twelve Sound Tigers with points; 21 including Providence. No one with two until Tanner Fritz hit a don’t-call-it-empty-net in the final seconds (Anton Khudobin hadn’t made it to the bench when Connor Jones forced a turnover that Fritz pounced on at the red line.) Ryan Pulock did not have one, ending his scoring streak at six games. Ross Johnston has eight points on the year, three of them in three games against the Bruins. His only AHL goal last season came here.
Blast from the past: Olivier Labelle goes up to Syracuse. Since his last Bridgeport stint in 2010-11, his only AHL time was a brief stint with Providence the next season (he played one of his two games against Bridgeport). Spent some time overseas in the meantime.
Team’s off tomorrow. Another three-in-three next weekend. More Tuesday.