There are games over the course of a season, as Brent Thompson said tonight, where you look back at a point or two lost. This one‘ll stand out for the moment in part because of how in-hand it seemed to be, and in part because it’s three weeks to Easter, when it’ll either all be starting or all be over.
And this one moved them just a smidgen toward the latter. Hershey won. Providence won. Lehigh obviously won. Wilkes-Barre won.
Bridgeport slips to five points back.
We may yet find some other turning point, but the pre-Jaro/post-Jaro thing has been a thing for a while. It might as well be pre-Ho-Sang and post-Ho-Sang: There are other factors (Connor Jones’ injury at about the same time, Travis St. Denis following), but Ho-Sang’s last game was the night Josh Winquist got on ESPN, and since then, they’re 5-6-2. Go back to the start of that weekend, and it’s 6-8-2. Wheels spinning.
All the more aggravating because they needed two last night and more or less had two in the bag tonight. The post-Jaro era continued with Stephon Williams’ first start since the night he got hurt against Providence. Taylor Leier tried to bank one in off him in overtime; it sat on the line, Williams reached behind him to swat it off the line and put it onto Andy Miele’s stick. Game.
(It’s not as if the Sound Tigers haven’t had their share of overtime success; their 13 wins past regulation lead the league. But they’re now 13-4.)
As for the rest of Williams’ game, mixed reports from downstairs.
“I felt good. I thought I played well,” Williams said. “I think it was a good first step. I’m ready to do my part.
“We’re chasing the playoffs, and I want to be the guy who gets us there.”
Meanwhile… “I’m sure he’d like to have a couple of the goals back,” Brent Thompson said. “At the end of the day, there are key saves, in key situations, that need to be made. I don’t think he made those for us.”
Nine games remain.
……
Doing this from an ex-urban parking lot because I parked in a different garage and feared it might close on me. Perhaps a misguided fear, but whatever. Pardon the quickness; wifi’s rough. There’s Ben Holmstrom and more Thompson stuff in the gamer, which may be up by now.
Great response, with Tim Wallace tipping in a Pulock shot, 30 seconds after the Phantoms got on the board. A great couple of minutes in the second period: Beautiful give-and-go between Ryan Pulock (the box says Burroughs, but I’m just about sure) and Carter Verhaeghe gives the latter the space to set up Andrew Rowe at the front. Jon Landry keeps a puck in a minute later, and with Wallace in front, Holmstrom to Ross Johnston.
And then. Great pass from Max Lamarche to Mark Zengerle to start the comeback. The Sound Tigers were clinging from there. Holmstrom/Cole Bardreau was an interesting little feud; see if it carries over to Friday. Holmstrom got called for a board. They score coming back into the zone. (There were enough penalties.)
No word of or on any other transactions for Bridgeport. Team’s off Monday.
From the AHL transactions, Winnipeg sent Brenden Kichton back to the Moose.