The penalty galled the Sound Tigers. It looks worse on video, I think, than it was described by Bridgeport, but then again the camera’s about as far away from it as Terry Koharski was. It made the difference in a key loss to Hershey.
“I thought we outplayed them in a really hard-fought game,” Thompson said. “We definitely deserved a better result.”
But Thompson pointed out something that’s been trickling in the wrong direction for a long time.
The Sound Tigers have allowed at least one power-play goal in 18 of the past 29 games. In all, they’ve given up 24 power-play goals in those 29 games.
They were operating at 84.2 percent on the penalty kill after 35 games. That’s down to 79.7, with just a 68.4-percent success rate in these 29 games.
“There are points in the game on the PK we could be a little harder to pucks, but we’ve had bad bounces, too,” Lafranchise said. “I think the effort’s there.”
The first one today is a heck of a midair redirect by Paul Carey (six goals in three games this weekend, eight in the past six) after a shot pops up off Ryan Pulock’s stick. The second is Travis Boyd stepping up, maybe using a screen, putting a shot inside the right post.
“Block a shot. Get a stick in lanes,” Thompson said of what could’ve been better on that kill.
“We’ll look at the way we’re killing. We’re giving up a ton of penalty-kill goals, for sure.”
…….
And the five-on-three, too, hey if they score a goal, it’s helpful.
They tried to get a Holmstrom-line-plus-Lafranchise-Pulock matchup against Chris Bourque’s line whenever they could. “I like them, their reliability, defensively and physically. We want to have that physical presence,” Thompson said.
Losing Kyle Schempp early on — he took a hit from Madison Bowey about 10 minutes in — at the end of a three-in-three made managing that a little more difficult. Schempp, upper-body, will be evalated tomorrow, Thompson said. (Which is a day off.) (For them.)
The Sound Tigers let go Justin Danforth after the game. Don’t know if that’s sheer numbers — Connor Jones should be ready to go Wednesday, though Schempp’s now questionable — or what. He got his game in, at least. Not sure if he goes back to Reading or perhaps latches on elsewhere in the AHL.
After the Sound Tigers beat them last night, the Comets helped them out with a big start in Providence. The Bruins are still two points up; the Bears are four ahead. (Lehigh Valley’s five, now with a game in hand on Bridgeport and Providence and two on the Bears.)
Prescout. Last time to Albany. (Two goals for Anthony Greco.)
Tip of cap to Buffalo, NWHL Isobel Cup champions.
More Tuesday unless warranted.