No Utica for us. For now, anyway. We’ll see about the All-Star Game. (Not particularly betting on it, but stranger things have happened. Particularly when local stuff is involved.)
Again, we’ll be keeping up through Alan (Mixlr audio / AHL Live audio/pay-per-view) somehow. We’ll follow Alan, the team, U!Ti!Ca!, Ben Birnell (who points out that Jaime Sifers is week-to-week (wrist)) and the OD’s Comets Twitter.
The box should be here (R: Garon, Gour / L: Brady, Emanatian).
Even More Quinnipiac: Michael Garteig was summoned to the Comets.
Wilton’s Matt Gosiewski announced he’s committed to Colorado College. He’d earlier been a Harvard commit.
And RIP, Florence Herrmann, mom to Newsday’s Mark and grandma to former Bridgeport Bluefish GM Paul.
More in a bit.
–Team tweet says they look like they did in practice this week:
BRIDGEPORT
F: Bourque-Fritz-Bernier (A)
Eansor-St. Denis-Bailey
Dal Colle-Stevens-Gionta
Johnston-C.Jones-B.Holmstrom (C)
D: Lafranchise-Aho
Toews-Burroughs
Helgeson (A)-Vande Sompel
G: Gibson
Gudlevskis
–Thatcher Demko, logically, for Utica, says Ben.
–Pat Cullity doing color with Alan again.
–Alan’s audio is like 25 seconds ahead of video… and Utica scores 44 seconds into the game. A rolling puck on Subban’s right-point shot, Cullity points out, which made it tough for Gibson to do much with it but kick it away where Reid Boucher pounced.
–Bridgeport kills a Connor Jones trip. Alan has been 25 seconds ahead, about three seconds behind, right on and now about three seconds behind again. Fun. The Eansor-St. Denis-Bailey line has probably had the two best shifts of the first eight minutes.
–Lafranchise picks off a Utica dump, carries up with Bernier, goes behind the net. Fritz gets it there and centers to Bernier to tie it at 11:37… and soon after, Subban and Gionta go at it. Subban had the better of it. Cullity figures that stemmed from a Gionta hit on Subban early.
–Burroughs takes an awkward hit on a missed-connection centering pass. Called interference. Not sure there was malicious intent there from Cam Darcy, but Bridgeport’s first power play nevertheless.
–Eansor finishes the rebound of an Aho shot with Bernier in front and in the middle of it all as usual. 2-1 Bridgeport.
–Fritz gets the second assist setting up the Aho one-timer; thought Bernier got a piece of it in the scramble in front, but either way.
–Stronger last 12 minutes of the first for Bridgeport than the first eight, and it leads Utica 2-1 after 20. Shots about even.
–Bernier now has that assist on the Eansor goal instead of Fritz. Second period moments from beginning.
—Hockeyfights.com says that’s Stephen Gionta’s first regular-season fight since Dec. 10, 2010. Had one in the 2013 preseason against the Islanders and former Sound Tiger Joey Diamond. How about that.
Anyway. Connor Jones grabs Subban by the shoulder and pulls him down trying to get by him, and Boucher’s right-circle one-timer gets the Comets even early in the second. 2-2.
–Burroughs falls in the neutral zone to let the Comets in two-on-one. LaBate takes it himself in the left circle, and it goes off Gibson’s glove and in. 3-2 Comets lead.
–And Bridgeport ties it at 5:01 off a center-ice draw. Lafranchise sends Fritz over the blue line, and Fritz fires it high-glove. It’s 3-3. … and stays that way, though Gibson has to make a couple of stops in tight seconds later.
–Whoa, Burroughs turnover right in front of Gibson, who stops MacEwen to preserve the tie. Wild ‘n’ crazy night out there. Utica is outshooting Bridgeport 12-2 through the first 6:10 of the second. Holm took a hit from Burroughs a few minutes ago and is off to the room, Alan reports.
–Bernier called for interference, and quickly off the draw, Boucher cross-ice right to left to Chaput to make it 4-3 Comets, near the midpoint of the game. They’re reviewing it, apparently, and I’m not sure for what.
–Or perhaps not a review but a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. Comets right back to the power play.
–Penalty killed.
–Late in a power play Fritz drew, Bailey scores from the top of the left circle through Johnston’s screen to tie it at 4. Dal Colle kept it in and started the play.
–And Bridgeport goes right back to the power play on a LaBate elbow.
–Good stops on Bernier and Aho on that penalty, but Demko and the Comets kill it off. Big Club’s playing one of these, too, leading Ottawa 5-4 midway.
–Tied at 4 after two. Crazy. Shots evened up again, too.
–The Railers are not in the 1980s spirit despite playing in a good 1980s-spirit arena in Glens Falls tonight.
–Toews trips Boucher coming out of the left corner, sending Utica to its fifth power play 76 seconds into the third period.
–Penalty killed as I distract myself looking something up. A few minutes later, Gibson makes a couple of stops off a Comets rush.
–Utica grabs a 5-4 lead. The Comets got a bit of an old-school cycle going off a dump-in. MacEwen’s pass went off a stick or two right to Chaput in front for a quick shot with about 13 minutes left. And no sooner does Ala say that it’s Bridgeport’s turn to answer than Bridgeport answers. Fritz nice play on the wall to Helgeson for a shot that deflects at least once and probably twice to tie it yet again just 29 seconds later. The sheet says Helgeson, but it sure looked like Bernier got the last touch, and someone may’ve deflected it up high, too.
–Boucher had the second assist on Chaput’s second goal: Four points for him.
–I’ve fallen behind live, but Demko stops Jones on a beauty, but Jones draws a hooking penalty, and Toews’ shot deflects up high and goes through Bernier’s screen to make it 6-5 Bridgeport with 7:30 to go. Third power-play goal for the Sound Tigers.
–Ben says the Comets have been missing Subban as well as Holm for some time, stuck with four defensemen.
–And now it’s 6-6. Veteran defenseman Pat Wiercioch steps up from the top of the right circle as a couple of Sound Tigers defensemen go down, and he snaps it past Gibson to tie it yet again with 3:08 left.
–Overtime. #pointsforall
–Bridgeport had the puck most of the first three minutes of overtime; Sautner pulled a puck out of the crease. Utica’s first real possession came as Fritz was double-teamed, and then Boucher hit the post to the blocker side of Gibson.
–Fritz draws a Darcy tripping penalty with 1:35 to go in overtime.
–The Comets called their time out after the Boucher post, before the penalty, with 1:52 left. Bridgeport calls its time out now with 62 seconds left after Demko held on for a draw.
–Holy cro: Fritz banks one in from below the goal line to win it with 7.1 seconds left. Good gravy. Bridgeport 7, Utica 6, final (OT). Bernier got in there to disrupt a defenseman’s attempt at it. That game, though.
–They’ve given Fritz a secondary assist on Toews’ goal, giving him five points. He’s the fifth Sound Tiger to score five in a game (Comeau, Tambellini, Mauldin, Strome).
–Ben says Holm and Subban are questionable for tomorrow, upper-body.
That fifth Bridgeport goal is still Helgeson’s. If only Bernier tipped it, the same three guys get a point at least. If Ryan Bourque also tipped it, that’d cost Fritz the assist. If only Bourque tipped it, Bernier loses the point. But all of that’s assuming (a) that they did tip it and (2) they ask for changes, both of which are not clear assumptions.
First time in almost three years with three consecutive overtime games for Bridgeport. Looks like they’ve only been to OT four times in a row once, March 16-20, 2011 (remember four-in-fives?), which coincidentally led to their mathematical elimination.
Wacky night. More tomorrow.