Winter in the Carolinas. So tonight’s attendance will be zero, knocking Oct. 24, 2007, in Lowell against Game 1 of the World Series, out of Bridgeport’s record book.
On the line tonight, sorta remarkably: Yet another penalty-kill streak. Bridgeport has shut down the past 23 opposition power plays. That comes after it’d gone 33 in a row until the end of regulation in the game at Wilkes-Barre. Bridgeport is 57-for-the-past-59. Coincidentally, the power play is in an 0-for-10, 1-for-29 dip.
We’ll keep up through Alan (Mixlr audio / AHL Live audio/pay-per-view). Follow Alan, the team and the Checkers, as well as any fans we may find in our searches.
The box should be here (R: MacDougall, Sewell; L: Townsend, O’Connor), same referees, different linesmen.
Alan reports that the Philip Samuelsson shot Mitch Vande Sompel took last night broke his visor.
Went back to 2012, and 84 points with 32 ROW is better than eight playoff teams in those six seasons. For what it’s worth. Two of those sub-84(32)s were last year in the North Division, which isn’t so weak this year, or at the very least is top-heavier.
RIP, Luis Angel Rosa Jr. and Jim Murray.
More in a bit.
–Whoa: The Bruins announced Rene Rancourt’s retirement.
–The line-juggling from last night yields a mixed-up lineup tonight, including Jeff Kubiak’s AHL debut, in for Kellen Jones:
BRIDGEPORT
F: Eansor – St. Denis – Ho-Sang
Bourque-C.Jones-Bailey
Johnston-Stevens-B.Holmstrom (C)
Schempp-Kubiak-J.Holmstrom
D: Wotherspoon-Burroughs (A)
Lafranchise-Cullity
Helgeson (A)-Vande Sompel
G: Gudlevskis
Gibson
Only one change for the Checkers, on D, Dennis Robertson for Josiah Didier, with a pairing swap:
CHARLOTTE
F: Zykov-Wallmark-Miller
Saarela-Brown (C)-Kuokkanen
Foegele-Bishop-Poturalski
Heard-Roy-Gauther
D: Carrick (A)-Chelios (A)
Samuelsson-McKeown
Robertson-Kichton
G: Nedeljkovic
Smith
–Alan says Kellen Jones is officially lower-body after blocking a shot last night.
–The Checkers are tweeting who from the front office is doing what tonight. Game on in Charlotte.
–Whoever’s doing the center-ice camera is gloriously unpolished. It’s actually like watching hockey, even if it’s too broad to pick up some details.
–Kane Lafranchise’s left-point shot was floating high-glove; Eansor tipped it down past Nedeljkovic at 4:45. Traffic, shots: Brent Thompson will surely be pleased. 1-0 Bridgeport after a shutout last night.
–But Saarela answers 70 seconds later to make it 1-1. The goal horn goes off. Fortunately for my neighbors, not for as long as usual.
–AHL Live is not doing replays. What the heck, is no one there to produce this thohhhhh, never mind. We’ll go back and look later. Also see if they take the promo time-out breaks with no one there.
–They do! (Actually media time out, right? Checkers are on the radio? Should check that. Hey, the mascot’s there!)
–There are a very small handful of fans who showed up and were let in.
–Quick regroup on that Checkers goal; Bridgeport changing, which let Charlotte back in quickly and got a man open in the right circle. Wotherspoon blocked his first try to the net but the second got there. Wallmark for a slash 8:20 in. Johnston, Ben Holmstrom, Bourque, Wotherspoon and Burroughs: This is the most conventional setup we’ve seen from Bridgeport all year on a power play.
–More-usual look from the other unit, Bailey, Ho-Sang, Eansor, St. Denis and Wotherspoon. Unsuccessful, though.
–Connor Jones draws another penalty with 5:30 left in the first.
–Ho-Sang got the shoot-the-puck memo. Three or four tries on that shift.
–ECHL transactions say Worcester traded for a goalie, though not for what. See what’s up there.
–It’s 1-1 after one. Shots are semiofficial. They’re actually 14-4 Bridgeport. Pretty spread out, though Burroughs has three.
–On yet another look: That Checkers goal, I think, it was Saarela in the right circle who put it off Wotherspoon; perhaps the second try went off Gudlevskis’ back? Further back, looked like Ho-Sang pressured a Checkers defenseman to force the play on the Bridgeport goal.
–Miller sets up Wallmark in the right circle with all day, 3:30 into the second period. He shoots it wide. Later in the shift, Gudlevskis gets across to stop Wallmark in front.
–Alan points out that Nick Schilkey is in for Nicolas Roy for the Checkers.
–Oh, no, the production guy made it. “More Cowbell” on AHL Live instead of game footage.
–And we actually missed the scrum that led to Connor Jones being called for roughing at 7:36.
–Too many Checkers evens out the last 39 seconds of that.
–Jones is out, so the PK streak is 24, tied for 10th in team history.
–Bridgeport keeps it down in the Charlotte end awhile. After they dump it back in, a Ben Holmstrom forecheck leads to a Johnston goal at 11:53 of the second, giving Bridgeport a 2-1 lead.
–They haven’t posted the scoring yet, but that was Stevens who swept that puck to Johnston after Holmstrom forced the turnover. Should be his first point since Nov. 25, breaking a 20-game scoreless streak.
–It is. And then Ho-Sang draws a hooking penalty. Fourth Bridgeport power play.
–Johnston tips in Burroughs’ left-point shot late in the power play to make it 3-1 Bridgeport with 4:04 left in the second. Ends the power play’s 0-for-13.
–Credit Burroughs on that one instead. Not positive what that hits on replay. Johnston didn’t look overly excited, so perhaps not him. Bourque one assist for sure; Ben Holmstrom has the second as it stands.
–It’s 3-1 Sound Tigers after two. Shots 23-12 for them on the sheet.
–This is Kyle Burroughs’ 149th AHL game, and he came into the day with no power-play, short-handed or game-winning goals among his eight goals overall. If that stands as his ninth, it definitely changes one of those columns and could change another if Charlotte scores a second. (His one goal in 18 ECHL goals also didn’t ring any of those bells. And yeah, I know, you are stunned, but it’s a fun little bit.)
–Most Bridgeport GP without a PPG, SHG or GWG: Tomi Pettinen, 175. BUT: Pettinen had a game-tying goal, back when that was (blessedly) Still A Thing. Burroughs had the most games without any of them for a non-goalie (yes, amazingly, Wade Dubielewicz and Kevin Poulin both played over 150 Bridgeport games without scoring a power-play goal). If that stands, the guy with the most Bridgeport games without a PPG/SHG/GWG/GTG falls to Ray Schultz, 120. Hey, the third period is on, distracting me from weird stuff.
–Wallmark cross-checks Vande Sompel eight seconds into the third. Fifth power play.
–After 24 seconds and a clear, St. Denis slashes holds Foegele.
–That abbreviated penalty kill for Bridgeport is successful, 2-for-2 tonight, 25-for-25 streak, 44:15 in elapsed time.
–Cullity and Mitchell Heard go in front of the Charlotte bench. Alan thought Cullity was getting an extra minor to begin with, and looks like it: third Charlotte power play.
–Carrick slap shot goes off a post and in at 3:32 to make it 3-2 Bridgeport. Penalty-kill streak ends at 25, ninthtenth-longest in team history.
–Evidently they called minors on Cullity and Heard, based on when they’re both freed from the box.
–Wallmark ties it on a rebound with 9:37 to go. May’ve tipped the first shot, then pops in the second. 3-3.
–It’s possible they’re behind, but Bridgeport’s got one shot on goal credited in the third period through, roughly, the tying goal.
–Charlotte back to the power play with 5:40 to go on a Cullity high-stick.
–And now Connor Jones to the box 19 seconds into that minor, an interference minor. Jones runs pretty hard into a linesman trying to get toward the referee who called it. Could hear Eric Boguniecki yelling from the bench. A long five-on-three.
–Wallmark one-timer puts the Checkers ahead for the first time, 4-3, with 4:31 left. Still 70 seconds left on Jones’ minor.
–They’re back even, but Bridgeport is chasing for the first time.
–Robertson gives Jones a pop after an offside whistle. Bridgeport’s sixth power play with 2:51 left.
–Ben Holmstrom stopped off a Bourque feed into the left circle with 1:26 left. Bridgeport calls time out with a draw to Nedeljkovic’s right.
–Gudlevskis was headed to the bench off the faceoff win, but then the draw comes to… the center dot? Missed what happened there. Bridgeport gets it deep, and Gudlevskis departs with a little over a minute left.
–Foegele called for icing trying for the empty net with 42.1 after a miscommunication between St. Denis and Vande Sompel.
–Bishop denies Ho-Sang’s shot try in the left circle. Bridgeport lucky to keep it; Vande Sompel stopped with 7.6 left. Off the draw, goes to the corner, and that’s it. Charlotte 4, Bridgeport 3, final.
–Boy, that interference call on Jones is… That was apparently Jones yelling, not Boguniecki, but “(bleeping) unbelievable; it’s a (bleeping) hockey (bleeping) play.”
–“End of the day, we have to learn how to play with a lead,” Brent Thompson said. “We have to learn how to stay up on an opponent and not get away from what made us successful. We got a little away from puck management, getting it behind them. staying on our toes, physical.” Even back to the first goal, they needed to defend better as a unit, he said. “When teams push,” he said, “we’ve got to be ready.”
He wasn’t thrilled with the call on Patrick Cullity that led to the second Checkers goal, either, it sounded like, and he felt Bridgeport was on its heels after that.
“I thought the guys worked hard,” he said. “It was a disappointing final 20, but I liked the way we started. I do like the effort the guys put forth. There are a lot of positives we can build on.”
He said Kellen Jones is day-to-day. He had no reaction to Worcester’s trade for a goalie, didn’t say anything about whether Christopher Gibson might be banged up. We’ll see what’s up there.
They’re supposed to travel tomorrow and practice here Friday, so more as it comes.