Wasn’t kidding with my blog header from last night, as it turned out. Bridgeport was 1-1 this year when I had a bag packed, though I went home after the win, too….)
Changed plans after last night: We’ll watch the finale from home. (Who’d want to drive home from Wilkes-Barre in April, anyway?) We’ll have Alan up on The AHL Live. We’ll follow him, the team, Seth, Tom and Obie, among others.
The box will be here if it doesn’t blow up like last night’s in the first period. (R: Brenk, Chmielewski. L: Daisy, Waleski. I will not joke about how “I went to grammar school with Daisy Waleski.”)
Bridgeport has played 41 players this season (not counting Josh Robinson or Alex Vazzano, who backed up), which would be its lowest since 41 in 2009-10. That’s assuming they stick with what Brent Thompson said last night. Jeff Kubiak was on the trip, but don’t think Taylor Cammarata or Matt Gaudreau were. After years with 60-plus, it’s sort of remarkable. (Well, not overly remarkable: They used 46 each of the past two years, counting playoff-only Anthony Greco last year, and gee, whatever happened to that guy?) Also sort of remarkable: They’ve used 41, and the current roster is 37. Those three ATOs are the only ones who haven’t played. Tossed it out as a Twitter trivia question this afternoon, but the seven who played here this year but aren’t on the final roster: Jaroslav Halak, Scott Mayfield, Stephen Gionta, Matt Finn, Justin Danforth, Rocco Carzo and Brant Harris.
Here’s the annual playoff explainer as The Drought turns 14. So there’s no real scoreboard watching from a Bridgeport standpoint tonight, but the Providence-Hershey winner finishes third and gets the Phantoms in Round 1; the loser gets Wilkes-Barre.
Second-place Lehigh Valley visits Binghamton for the last B-Sens game before the ‘B’ stands for Belleville. It’s also the last regular-season game for the IceCaps, who can make the playoffs with a win or if they at least match what Utica does tonight. We’ll be singing along with the Ode here.
Tossed up a Twitter poll very late last night that runs until about puck-drop. Meanwhile, I am shocked, SHOCKED that one Michael Halmo is in the middle of this.
Again, they’re going to take Easter off and wrap things up Monday. We’ll check in there and do the whole usual season-ending stuff over the following day or two, including contract status as best we have them.
More closer to gametime.
-Pretty close to the usual. Verhaeghe, Winquist, Wotherspoon in; Nowick, Kellen Jones and Bischoff out.
BRIDGEPORT from the team
F: Verhaeghe-Kearns (A)-Rowe
Dal Colle – Winquist – Ho-Sang
C.Jones-Stevens-St. Denis
Johnston-B.Holmstrom (C)-J.Holmstrom
D: Lafranchise-Pulock (A)
Toews-Burroughs
Pelech-Wotherspoon
G: McAdam
Williams
–When they play their first shifts, Ben Holmstrom and Devon Toews will have played all 76, Holmstrom up to 152 in a row. Toews will be the eighth Sound Tiger to play every game: Trent Hunter, Justin Mapletoft and Chris Armstrong in 2001-02, Sean Bentivoglio in 2009-10, Aaron Ness in 2012-13 (the first with 76), and Holmstrom and Justin Florek last year. Jason Chaimovitch noted that Sean Backman got a day off the other night, leaving Travis Boyd with the longest active streak in the league and Holmstrom (and Ville Pokka) one behind him.
—Sean Maguire gets the start for the Pens, his second AHL game.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON from Obie
F: Simon-Blueger-Dea
Wilson-Sundqvist-Haggerty
Sorkin-Burton-Krause
Wydo-Josephs-McGrath
D: Taylor-Corrado
Stern-Schulze
Zink-Prow
G: Maguire
DeSmith
This is not what you’d call the A lineup for the Pens. They’ve got something to rest up for.
–“We laid an egg last night,” Brent Thompson tells Alan. “No other explanation for it.” Consolation prize to have 92 points or more? “Not really. … Very few times in a career do you have a group that’s capable of (winning a chammpionship).” They knew someone was going to miss the playoffs with a good record; unfortunate they’re the one.
–Last night’s game won the TwitPoll for more stunning result in an elimination game, 16-4 over the seven shots on goal in Game 5 at Hershey.
–After the Pens’ award ceremony, Game 76 is on.
–Albany wins and secures third place in the North, or “Bridgeport’s playoff spot in the alternate crossover universe.”
–No score through 10. Maybe one or two chances each way.
–Kearns draws a holding penalty. Not sure if this is just because of who was out there when, but the Pelech-Lafranchise point pair are with Ho-Sang, Winquist and Dal Colle. Maguire stops a Ho-Sang one-timer. … And on the second shift, Ryan Pulock scores his 15th on a one-timer with Ross Johnston in front. (If he can get a hat trick, it’ll be historic in a couple of ways, but he’d tiie his team record of 17 two years ago.) 1-0 at 13:08.
–Remember how Devon Toews scored early last Friday at Providence, and they didn’t score again until those three goals in 2:01 against Hartford, and then they got shut out last night… Basically, they had those three goals, surrounded by over 243 minutes of scoreless hockey, 144 minutes in one direction and about 99 in the other before Pulock’s PPG. Amazing.
Anyway, Johnston got called for cross-checking Patrick McGrath, and Teddy Blueger has tied it through a Garrett Wilson screen on the power play. It’s 1-1 lateish first.
–Dea trips Wotherspoon, and Verhaeghe steps across the left circle to snap one past Maguire and make it 2-1, all on power-play goals. Toews has assists on both, which ties Ray Giroux’s 2001-02 team record for assists by a defenseman, 40.
–That goal came later than I thought. Tough without the time on the screen. #firstworldproblems It’s 2-1 Bridgeport after one.
–Ho-Sang draws a Sundqvist hooking penalty 5:20 into the second. Third power play, 2-for-2.
–PP expires. McAdam has to put a shot on goal tonight, right?
–Couple of Penguins turnovers, Pelech steps up on the right side and sends it to St. Denis coming from the left to tap it into the open net. 3-1 Bridgeport midway second.
–Stern hooks Ho-Sang on a breakaway, getting Ho-Sang a penalty shot. He kind of lost it coming in, went backhand high blocker and was stopped. Still 3-1 Bridgeport, 4:19 left second.
–HEAVE AWAY: St. John’s plays on, clinching fourth place in the North. Meanwhile, that’s Bridgeport’s first penalty shot in a little over a year. The Sound Tigers haven’t scored on one since Bracken Kearns’ in overtime at Providence last March 4 in the “na na hey hey goodbye” game.
–With Burroughs off for a cross-check, Dea goes high-blocker to make it 3-2 Bridgeport with 37.something left in the second.
–So ends the second.
–St. John’s clinching eliminates Utica. Don’t hold me to this, but believe that makes five organizations without a playoff team at the NHL, AHL or ECHL level: The Islanders, Buffalo, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Arizona. (Florida and Springfield are both out; don’t think they have an ECHL affiliate, officially, but they’ve used Manchester quite a bit and Florida once or twice, and both of them are in the ECHL playoffs.)
–My final tally, with Alan noting that Colin Markison is in fact out due to injury: 246 man-games lost to injury, sixth-most in 16 seasons. Add in four games lost to illness, and it’d eke ahead of 2006-07 into fifth.
–Carter Verhaeghe again. Bangs in a rebound off a scramble to make it 4-2. That’s three points for Verhaeghe in the finale. Amazing. Toews gets his third assist of the night, so with 41, both the rookie and defenseman records are his. Down to about 13 minutes left now.
–Alan notes that there hasn’t been a Bridgeport hat trick this season, after last year’s seven (the last was Alan Quine at Wilkes-Barre). But the empty net is McAdam’s, right?
–Watching that again, and I’m not sure that’s Toews’ assist, assuming Kearns did get a piece. Burroughs took the shot from the right point to start the scramble, and he’s not in the scoring mix. While I’m looking at that, the Pens get one back to make it 4-3 with 11:49 left. … And now a tie game. Krause comes off the left side, turns Toews around and goes around McAdam’s left skate. 4-4, mid third.
–Those three goals came in under three minutes, 6:40 for Verhaeghe, 8:11 for Burton, 9:27 for Krause.
–Harry Zolniercyk’s got a goal for Nashville tonight, apparently.
–Hershey wins 3-0, so it’s officially Bears-Lehigh Valley and Providence-WBS.
–And yes, the 0-2-1 Providence finish that Bridgeport needed… well.
–With McGrath off for a hold, Krause gets a breakaway off an errant drop pass, and the Penguins take their first lead with 3:25 to go. It’s 5-4 Penguins. Stamford’s own Ryan Haggerty gets an assist on that one. And Dal Colle heads off for a penalty soon after to even out the rest of the power play.
–Pens get a few looks at the empty net, but to no avail. Bridgeport gets it in for the last 25 seconds or so, and Toews gets one to the net in the final seconds, but it stays out as Ho-Sang can’t get the rebound to go. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 5, Bridgeport 4, final.
–Looks like Syracuse is going to win the North.
–The fun of three-stars awards: The Penguins go with three home players after the home-finale win, so no Verhaeghe in the three stars, so Bracken Kearns holds on to win our fake three-stars award for the second year in a row.
–Should probably have remembered that Ho-Sang had the awarded goal on Feb. 19, which would’ve been a penalty shot if not for the missing goalie. Anyway.
Our annual anti-shootouts post will come a little later on. We’ll bug them all one last time on Monday. And then it’ll be lacrosse season. Playoff schedules elsewhere are coming out as they’re set, and the league’ll have its full list later on tonight, I’d imagine.
More as it comes. More formal thanks on Monday, but… thanks.