Bridgeport has barely been away from home the past little while, so it might be lost a little within these eight-game winning streaks and 13s of 14s and individual 11-gamers that this is now one of the best road runs in team history. Last night was the Sound Tigers’ fourth straight road win, dating to the Providence win that started the eight-game overall winning streak. There are (kind of remarkably) only three longer road winning streaks in team history: an eight-gamer late in 2011-12, a six-game streak late in 2001-02, and a five-game run early in 2008-09. Three pretty good Sound Tigers seasons right there.
But if you go back beyond Providence this year, Bridgeport has a point in seven straight road games: There was the overtime loss in Binghamton; there was the snow-day win in Hartford; and going all the way back, there was the shootout loss in Springfield in Jaroslav Halak’s Sound Tigers debut. There are only two longer such Bridgeport streaks, a 12-game unbeaten streak in 2003-04 (12-0-2, and yes, (a) that spans the entirety of, and actually goes two games beyond, the 20-game overall unbeaten streak, and (2) those are ties. *insert little cartoon hearts*), and a nine-game point streak that includes the above eight-game winning streak with the shootout loss that ended it. That adds another pretty good Sound Tigers season to the mix.
The last regulation-time road loss this year? New Year’s Day in, um, Albany.
Which leads us to: We’ll be listening to Alan at The AHL Live (audio/pay-per-view); believe that’s also your best bet to get Josh Heller. We’ll follow Alan, the team, and the Devils, along with our man Pete Dougherty.
The box should be here (R: D.Banfield, Tarnaris; L: Brady, Lemay). Bridgeport has had Peter Tarnaris for four games. All four of them have gone to overtime. Three have gone to shootouts, including last Saturday against Providence.
Prescout, though maybe don’t hit refresh for a while. (The Bears are again at Providence at 7.)
More closer to gametime.
–McAdam for Bridgeport today, tweets Alan. And Ken Appleby for Albany, tweets Pete.
–Sounds like just one change for Bridgeport, Colin Markison in for Josh Holmstrom.
–Larry Brooks reports that the Rangers will retire Jean Ratelle‘s No. 19. Nice. There’s meanwhile uncertainty about the future of the ECHL in Alaska.
Should probably… do that thing… that we do
BRIDGEPORT
F: Verhaeghe-Kearns (A)-Rowe
Dal Colle – Winquist – Ho-Sang
St. Denis-C.Jones-K.Jones
Johnston-B.Holmstrom (C)-Markison
D: Lafranchise-Pulock
Toews-Burroughs
Landry (A)-Leduc
G: McAdam
Halak
Game on up there.
–Rough guess at ALBANY
F: Gibbons-Coleman-Lappin
Camper (A)-Sexton-Quenneville
Gadzic-Pelley (C)-Thomson
Novak-Rooney-Straka
D: MacDonald-Scarlett
Stollery-Mozik
MacWilliam (A)-Jacobs
G: Appleby
Blackwood
–Landry found Connor Jones all alone at the right side of the net; couldn’t tee it up. Long shift down there, and Ho-Sang sets up Landry, stepping up in the left circle, for a blast to beat Appleby. Dal Colle was in front but didn’t look like he was screening. 1-0 Bridgeport at 8:35.
–Gibbons steals in the Bridgeport zone and cuts from the left wing to the net alone, but McAdam gives him no room and makes the stop as Gibbons gets to the front.
–With Dal Colle off for holding MacWilliam, Camper ties it from the right circle. Lappin gave him a nice feed from the left corner; Camper’s slapper went off McAdam’s blocker, fell into the crease and bounced in before Burroughs could fish it out. So tied up at 16:13, but MacWilliam cross-checks St. Denis 70 seconds later.
–It’s 1-1 after one; shots 8-8. Feels about right.
–DEVIL DAWG! Hope he’s moving to Binghamton, too.
–Early second, Bridgeport regains the lead on a Ho-Sang goal. He’d nearly had a breakaway off an Albany turnover and quick lead pass, but the puck hit a glove that was sitting inside the Albany blue line. Ho-Sang fired the glove down the ice as the play went the other way, but a Devils shot was blocked, Dal Colle sent Ho-Sang up the left wing two-on-one with Winquist; Ho-Sang got almost to the net with it, pulled up, changed the angle and scored. It’s 2-1 at 2:31.
–Soon after, it’s 3-1, mid-change. Winquist, just off the bench, put one to the net and hit the outside of the net. Ho-Sang recovered in the left corner, fed back to Winquist, and Winquist found Verhaeghe at the front to knock it in. He’s got a goal in all four games since he came back, and he’s due one more. Ho-Sang’s got three points.
–Quenneville misses wide left on a breakaway a minute and a half after the Verhaeghe goal, which came at 4:36.
–Attention divided a few different ways over the course of this period, looking up what happens when players swat gloves and whatnot, but congratulations to the Burkes.
–It’s 3-1 after two. Busier shots period, 16-14 Albany for a 24-22 edge overall, but no penalties.
–Looking back to the Ho-Sang goal, the loose glove was Andrew MacWilliam’; he’d lost it shrugging off Winquist. Albany moved up, Bridgeport sent Ho-Sang ahead, the glove disrupted him as MacWilliam came back on him. Ho-Sang lingered at the glove; MacWilliam went to the slot to defend; Ho-Sang swatted the glove up-ice. MacWilliam then gave a wave, I assume to the ref, as the camera panned away. MacWilliam then changed. The rule says it’s an interference minor if a player prevents an opponent from retrieving a stick or another lost piece of equipment. Not sure that rises to that standard; MacWilliam clearly wasn’t going to get it. Anyway.
–Rowe gets a stick up into Quenneville’s face. Albany gets its second power play 21 seconds into the third period.
–Camper returns the favor to Lappin, who tips in Camper’s right-circle feed to the front 1:13 into the second period. Bridgeport leads 3-2.
–Stollery nabbed for an elbow by Stollery cutting in from the point on him. Bridgeport’s second power play at 2:00.
—Devils dealing as that power play expires: Sergey Kalinin, who just cleared waivers not quite three hours ago, goes to Toronto; Viktor Loov comes to Jersey, and then on to Albany.
–A Landry-to-Rowe pass fails, Pelley feeds Gazdic on the left side, and McAdam gets across to make a blocker save with about 14:20 to go.
–Ho-Sang draws his second penalty of the third period: Scarlett called for interference with 5:03 to go.
–Time out, Albany, 1:45 to go off a Bridgeport icing.
–And Appleby’s off for the faceoff. Six attackers for Albany.
—Bridgeport 3, Albany 2, final. Six wins in a row for Bridgeport; fifth in a row on the road.
–Verhaeghe missed his quota. Slacker.
–Dal Colle has a five-game point streak.
–Oof, Matt Mangene with a six-game league suspension.
Brent Thompson was happy, not surprisingly, with the work ethic. Asked — got the win, no excuses, etc. — how tough the turnaround was from a bus ride to a 1 p.m. start. “It was a tough turnaround, 100 percent, but give credit to the leaders, the character in the locker room,” Thompson said. “The guys are going to work hard, compete and buy into what we do as a team. … It’s strictly character.”
There are things he’d still like to see from Ho-Sang, but taking steps, and that’s why the points have followed, Thompson said. He likes the engagement, and he likes how vocal Ho-Sang has been at the bench.
McAdam: “A little bit of confidence goes a long way.”
Math-wise, Bridgeport is at this instant the real-wins tiebreaker behind Lehigh Valley for second (by winning percentage) or third (by points; Providence has 67). Hershey is five points back. If both the Phantoms and Bruins lose tonight, the Sound Tigers would wake up tomorrow in second place by percentage. They’ll be fourth in points-accumulated, obviously, one way or the other, but with games in hand.
Of course, it’s February 18.
More tomorrow.