Bridgeport’s opponent, for the 112th and possibly final time, is Albany. We’ll be listening to Alan at 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: South, Schlenker, L: Brady, Dussureault). Scoreboard watching (EastWatch ’17): Binghamton-Hershey; Lehigh Valley at St. John’s II (Phantoms came back from 4-0 down to win the first in OT last night on T.J. Brennan’s 20th goal).
Christopher Gibson is one step closer. (So to speak. #lowerbody)
Milford’s Colin Sullivan, a former Fairfield Prep defenseman, signed with Atlanta of the ECHL after finishing at Miami of Ohio.
Francis Beauvillier, Anthony’s brother, has a tryout deal with Manitoba after winning Canada’s college championship.
Awful scene in London.
And RIP, Dallas Green, Jerry Krause and Chuck Barris.
More in a bit.
–The team Twitter says they roll as they rolled yesterday:
BRIDGEPORT
F: Verhaeghe-Kearns (A)-Rowe
Dal Colle-Winquist-Fritz
K.Jones-C.Jones-Nowick
Johnston-B.Holmstrom (C)-J.Holmstrom
D: Lafranchise-Pulock
Toews-Burroughs
Landry (A)-Graham
G: Halak
McAdam
Ken Appleby for Albany, says Pete.
–The IceCaps have been all over the Phantoms in the first period up on the Rock. They get a major power play after Cole Bardreau’s sent off for boarding. And the Phantoms score short-handed. 1-0 up there with four minutes left in the first.
–Shots after one in St. John’s are 21-6 IceCaps. Anthony Stolarz has 21 saves. Wild.
–Apparent audio issues as Bridgeport-Albany gets underway.
–Six shifts in, Bridgeport’s got a 6-1 shots edge. No score through five and a half minutes, though.
–Pulock with a slapper that hits the post and, Josh says, almost knocks the net off its moorings 9:20 in.
–Hershey takes a lead on Binghamton late in the first period. The Sound Tigers remain scoreless, with an 11-5 shots edge, with three minutes left in the first in Albany. … And Nowick’s called for holding Gibbons in the offensive zone. First power play goes to the Devils.
–Mozik scores straight off the draw, and it’s 1-0 Albany.
–Verhaeghe blocks a shot and struggles to the bench.
–Devils lead 1-0 after one, though Ross Johnston and Ben Thomson go at it at the buzzer. Johnston’s 10th fight, though only nine count toward the 10 that will get him suspended. Shots 11-8 Bridgeport, which I think means the Devils had the last four.
–On replay, that penalty looks… nicely drawn. All four Sound Tigers went into the circle for the tied-up faceoff, so when Novak pulled it out, the pointmen had time and space to set the shot up.
Meanwhile, St. John’s has tied Lehigh Valley after two.
–Verhaeghe’s on for the second period.
–Verhaeghe is so on that he takes a lead pass from Kearns, gets a step on the defense and scores at 1:02 to tie it.
–Correction: Verhaeghe backhanded it across the top of the crease to Kearns to tie it. Kearns’ pass actually ticked off a defender’s stick, and Verhaeghe took off to get it.
–Bridgeport kills off a Landry hold, and Wolfe goes in for interference. Bridgeport gets its first crack.
–Rooney maybe should’ve had a short-handed goal off a Gibbons takeaway, but Halak gets across before the little wrister can go.
–Winquist had a shot stepping up through the right circle and missed high-glove, so Albany kills it off. Straka gets a step on the defense soon after, but Halak makes the stop. Elsewhere, St. John’s has a 2-1 lead on Lehigh Valley now, and Hershey leads Binghamton 2-0.
–Failed clear, double-team takeaway on Stollery, Gibbons misses a cross-blue line pass to Pulock, Pulock steps up and blasts off the left post and in. Bridgeport leads 2-1 with about eight minutes left in the second.
–Long five-on-three for Bridgeport, Novak high-sticking Connor Jones and Gibbons tripping Pulock.
–Rod Pelley didn’t have a stick for a long time after Loov broke his on a Pulock slapper. Don’t think anything got to Appleby after that before Dal Colle shot from the right side tipped out of play (Dal Colle, Kearns, Fritz with Toews and Pulock). Off the draw, Appleby stops Kearns.
–Albany kills it off, then nearly gives Camper an open net at the left post on a three-on-two; he can’t get the shot on net.
–Bridgeport leads 2-1 after two, and it’ll have a little over a minute on its fourth PP, a Loove slashing minor for knocking out Verhaeghe’s stick.
–An IceCaps penalty evens out a St. John’s power play, and right off the draw on the four-on-four, the Phantoms “(milder F word)in’ well score,” says Brian Rogers, to tie it with 1:16 left. Yann Danis robs Bardreau on a rebound just before the buzzer to keep the Phantoms from getting the second point… yet.
–Bonus round on the Rock…. and the Phantoms win on the fourth round. They’re at 88 points with 11 games to go. That’s five ahead of Hershey at this instant, though the Bears are up 3-0 after to.
–Verhaeghe goes for a trip right after the Bridgeport PP ends. Halak makes a stop on Camper with the glove.
–A little over midway through the third… Fritz, earlier, took a hit from Pelley into the boards near the bench that he didn’t like. Now, Fritz has a line on Kujawinski and finishes the hit, ending up putting him right into the (now-curved) stanchion at the end of the bench. No penalty; Kujawinski’s down a couple of minutes but gets up and, Alan says, gives a wave to the crowd on the way to the room.
–That was a hard enough hit, Alan relates, that they had to do some repairs to the glass.
–Burroughs for a hook on Rooney with 8:17 left. Devils’ fourth power play.
–Harper had an early one-timer that didn’t go. Back to full strength.
–Ben Holmstrom scoops a backhander from the left side over Appleby’s glove and under the crossbar, and the Sound Tigers lead 3-1 with 1:35 to go.
—Bridgeport 3, Albany 1, final, and adieu to the Capital. Bridgeport and Providence both have 81 points, and the Sound Tigers have the tiebreaker in accumulated terms, but the Bruins have a game in hand. Hershey’s up 3-1, getting late.
–Hershey wins 3-1, so the Bears are four points ahead of Bridgeport, which has a game in hand, and Providence, which now has two.
–“I thought the effort was a good 60-minute effort from our team,” Brent Thompson said. “We had a great start, and we continued that effort. Albany pushed back. They’re a good team. They weather any storm and push. We were consistent with our puck decisions through the game.” All in all a good road game as they hit the road for six in a row. “Each line contributed,” he said. “Holmer, our captain, scoring a goal late in the game: The timing was excellent. We’ve still got improvements. We’ve got improvements to make on special teams. Overall, I’m happy.”
On Connor Jones coming back: “I thought he was good. It was a good first game. A little timing, a little execution, but overall he was very good. It was nice to have his pace, his energy.”
They’re skating late tomorrow, an optional at least, so maybe more then.