Under the circumstances, this played out pretty well to form for Bridgeport.
Jump on the tired team. Get it done.
The Checkers, to their credit, found their legs, pushed back, made it a game. And that’s not meant pejoratively: They’re a talented team. But they’re a banged-up talented team that hopes their dog isn’t the only one who recognizes them tomorrow. They didn’t just wait for their boarding call.
If they sneak that changeup past Christopher Gibson to start the second, who knows? If one of those endless shifts in the Bridgeport zone later in the period bore fruit, maybe this all goes differently.
Didn’t, though. Connor Jones got a goal after Gibson stopped that early-second shot. Gibson and some blocks got them through those long shifts.
They did a good job protecting the puck at times, particularly early, like on the second goal, when Scott Eansor took it most of the way around the boards in the Charlotte zone. There were other shifts where it seemed like they weren’t going to let it go.
“It was more puck management,” Brent Thompson said. “It was important, with that very gifted, offensively skilled team — you see how they skated. They’re opportunistic. You have to manage the puck. Even in our own zone, I thought, we didn’t just throw it away. The third got a little sloppy, but I’m happy with the step we took.”
……
So the gamer, naturally, is about Quinnipiac-Yale. Anyway.
Travis St. Denis liked the chemistry of his new line tonight. “I hadn’t really played with Scotty (Eansor). He’s fast. He’s a guy who’s hard-working. And Ross, you know he’s going to get the puck in the corner, and in the D-zone, you know he’s a hard-working player on the wall.”
Thompson said Stephen Gionta is possible for tomorrow; they’ll talk it over, he said, “but there’s a good possibility we get him in, get fresh legs in. Springfield’s a hot team. They’re playing well.” And not for nothing, but they were off tonight, too.
Jones said he felt rusty in the first but felt better as it went on. “Jonesy, obviously, the effort’s there every night,” Thompson said. “I like his energy level. The goal was a huge goal, to get the momentum back on our side . … He’s a guy you can rely on.”
Casey Bailey walking out of the room: “Eight shots, zero goals (Wednesday). One shot, one goal.” (Not to ruin it for him, but he was credited with a second.)
Big win for the Big Club.
More college fun, where Providence inspired Mark Divver to reference The Game.
Linesman Steeve Lemay worked his last AHL game tonight in Utica. (Vinni Lettieri got the Gordie.)
Some stuff accumulated after the day off Friday: Kyle Burroughs and the Holmstroms helped out the Bridgeport Rescue Mission for Thanksgiving on Thursday.
Worcester had tonight off after winning last night behind 29 saves from Eamon McAdam and a Matt Gaudreau short-handed, game-winning goal.
Cam Atkinson’s off the market: seven-year extension with Columbus.
Scary situation for AHL Hall of Famer Rob Murray, coaching Tulsa, last night in Moline. Sounds like good news, at least, but continued good wishes.
Centerplate, which runs the concessions at Webster Bank Arena, was sold this week.
1961: T1 (Harvard). 1996: 2 (Dartmouth). 2017: T2 (behind Yale, tied with Dartmouth). It’s a start.
And RIP, Ferdie Pacheco, Malcolm Young and, too-belatedly notes (alumni magazine came this week), Varick Harrison.