Well that was somethin‘.
There were a few things that set tonight apart from the past few, to Brent Thompson. One was the penalties. Three came after the game was decided, but (a) nine is too many by any stretch, and (2) he has harped on three as a goal, and they were there by the 6:34 mark and already down 2-0.
Two was putting the puck away. “We had some offensive chances, but obviously we need to execute some of those better,” Thompson said.
They did score three, though. And No. 3 was defensively. It wasn’t Christopher Gibson’s night (he declined to talk about it), but they didn’t give him a lot of help. On the five-on-three second goal, Laval’s Daniel Audette and Nikita Scherbak could’ve passed the puck across the top of the crease five or six more times if they wanted to. Opponents the past couple of nights have turned seemingly innocent rushes into odd-man chances and goals.
Loved the quote that Thompson gave — it leads the gamer — but it comes down to gaps, to getting sticks on sticks, getting together.
“I definitely think it’s little things,” Kane Lafranchise said. “There are times you can maybe pinpoint one or two guys, but it’s the group. We need to be better. There’s going to be a learning curve with new faces. We’re doing it in practice.”
There are 71 games left, so there’s time. At the same time, in this crazy division, they’re already six points out of a playoff spot.
….
Thompson said he’s hopeful Sebastian Aho can return tomorrow but didn’t expect to have John Stevens.
Devon Toews slid to Aho’s spot on the power play, with Michael Dal Colle into Toews’ spot opposite Casey Bailey with Travis St. Denis in the middle and Steve Bernier in front. Interestingly, Bailey was on his own side, the right side, when he set up St. Denis’ power-play goal with Bridgeport halfway through a change after the five-on-three.
Prescout. Grabbed an early lead; handed it back. Before the game, the Rangers traded Matt Puempel to Detroit for defenseman Ryan Sproul.
Pregame moment of silence for Sarah-Ellen DeVorak and Byron Campbell.
Worcester is 2-0. Shutout for Mitch Gillam; game-winner for Mike Cornell.
There were some serious Sound Tigers (and at least one New Haven) blasts from the past at Islanders alumni weekend. Petr Mika! Derek Bekar!
And this is some crazy universe. (Week 7 is the week it all went to hell two years in a row in my undergrad tenure. Princeton, both times. Junior year, they picked off Columbia’s quarterback like five times, then broke his leg. Senior year, can’t even talk about. See if this year’s group can keep it rolling next weekend at Yale.)