Jack Capuano came into the pregame meeting and preached it, Masi Marjamaki said: The starts had been bad. They had to come out hitting, come out with something meaningful.
Well, when Marjamaki nailed Grant Stevenson on his first shift, and Eric Boguniecki kept it deep twice more, that’s kind of the start they were talking about, no?
Sure, Lukas Kaspar pops one in from a bad angle, but Brandon Nolan comes back with a sweet feed up the middle to Blake Comeau, and away he goes.
And then the penalty kill, shaky for three games, comes up huge in the third period: down 4:24 in a row, 1:37 of it two men down. Guys like Rick Berry, Steve Regier, Jeremy Colliton, Allan Rourke came up big.
And then in overtime, well, Koharski had to call something, no? One hook on the rush, a trip on the wall (wasn’t as sure about that one), and Fraser gets the shot through, and Boguniecki bats it home.
Better than the last few, that’s for sure.
LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Marjamaki-Nilsson-Boguniecki
Comeau-Colliton (A)-Nolan
Pitton-Regier-Nokelainen
G. Johnson/J. Johnson
D: Fata-Berry
Wotton (C)-Fraser
Malec-Rourke (A)
WORCESTER
F: Darche-Iggulden-Mink (A)
Cavanagh-Plihal-Stevenson
Kaspar-Prudden-Armstrong
(Rome-scratch)/Leisenring
D: Kurtz-Stafford
Spang (A)-Ferguson (A)
Evans-Traverse
Staubitz
Two callups: Frans Nielsen, and Adam Goodman, who did the PA on the Island tonight. Andrew Ellinghaus filled in.
Colliton came back and played wing a little bit as well as center; had to run back upstairs before he came out of the training area, but he looked reasonably strong. Had a turnaround shot in the slot in the second that looked pretty hard.
Albany lost in a shootout, so Bridgeport moved three points ahead. And speaking of River Rats, Anton Babchuk won’t report to Albany. OK.
I’d like to know what the conversation was like off the opening draw in Philly tonight.
Binghamton will be back for another five years; the lease finally got done, and a press conference announced it tonight.
Bruce Boudreau coached his 1000th pro game tonight, and Hershey beat Portland 5-2.
The Blackhawks put Jeff Hamilton on IR with what’s listed as a sore shoulder.
Just an optional skate tomorrow, apparently.