So is that second Bridgeport goal tonight a monkey off Michael Dal Colle’s back? “Yeah, you want to score,” he said. “Obviously was a little bit since my last goal. I’m not gonna lie: It was nice to get that one.
“I think I’ve been working hard the last five or six games.”
It was 10 games and 34 days since his last goal, if we’re counting, with six assists (one in the same game as the goal), a healthy scratch and a lot of line juggling in between.
“I really think he’s working a little harder,” Brent Thompson said of Dal Colle. “That’s the biggest thing to me. He’s working hard. There’s more intensity in his game. He’s moving his feet. He’s got to move his feet and engage physically. There’s still a long ways to go, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
He could’ve had a couple of points late in Friday’s game. His initial shot started the flurry that Casey Bailey finished off for the seventh goal against Hartford. He missed an open net on a rebound a shift or two later. So maybe we’re talking about a three-point game then, and now talking about a scoring streak. We’re not. But still.
“I don’t think I started out the way I wanted with my all-around game,” Dal Colle said, as he’s said before. “I think I’m improving all aspects of the game. If I keep playing the right way, the offense will take care of itself.”
Dal Colle knocked down Sebastian Aho’s shot and had the open side on his backhand to make it 2-1. Things went back and forth from there.
……
Way back and forth. Second time in a row they blew a lead to Lehigh Valley despite outshooting the Phantoms solidly.
“If you look at the game, I don’t think we gave up a lot,” Thompson said. “We were sloppy in moments in the second, poor puck management. We didn’t win wall battles. They’re opportunistic. You can’t give a team like that those kind of chances.”
These games never end in regulation when you need to get home and go to sleep, do they?
Casey Bailey had six shots after one period, eight after two, and 10 in the end, one shy of the team record, which we talked a little about last week, coincidentally.
All the assorted banged-up defensemen professed to be OK. Kane Lafranchise returned from his blocked shot after walking it off, literally, up and down the bench. Seth Helgeson, tossed into the end boards by Colin McDonald late in regulation, did not return, though in the last couple of minutes of a game like that he might not see much ice time anyway. He and Thompson said he was fine.
Casey Cizikas left tonight’s Islanders game in the second period. They had 13 forwards, but we’ll see if there are ramifications.
I had two spots in tonight’s copy where I needed a first name for Lehigh Valley defenseman Will O’Neill, and in both spots, I typed “Wes.” If I didn’t tweet “Wes,” as I almost did once, I’ll be thrilled.
Linesman Matt McNulty left the game in the second period. Lower body, as we understand.
Prescout. Hershey’s been up and down but took care of business in Hartford. No points in two in a row for Chris Bourque. Maybe the pregame blog should be about the Better Bourque Right Now? (Bridgeport’s on its way to Hershey — heck, may be there by now — so will beat the Bears in handily if nothing weird happens.)
Charlotte handled Providence reasonably soundly. (8-2? Wow.)
Worcester won in Wheeling with 34 saves from Eamon McAdam. The Ashton Rome-Dan Milan end-of-game tilt, with the glorious game misconducts for “fighting other than during periods of the game,” is fun.
And RIP, Rance Howard.
Liveblog tomorrow.