Shooting gallery

The Sound Tigers allowed 46 shots Friday to Hartford. Worcester was credited with 43 Saturday. In three of its past four games, the Sound Tigers have allowed at least 39 shots after not allowing more than 36 in their first 18 games.

But said Jack Capuano: “The only thing that concerns me is the shots we’re not taking. We play a specific system where we’re going to giveup some shots. The other end is a little concern.”

(And then Pat Bingham muttered something about always having 40 shots on the board by the end of the night here. He may have a point.)

“You’ve got to shoot to score. But, you know, we were right there,” Capuano said.

Yeah, they were. Actually, Kurtis McLean hit the crossbar with a nifty deflection early in the third period. If that deflection goes in, and Ryan Vesce’s nifty deflection hits the crossbar instead of going under it, well, maybe it’s an entirely different game, and I’m probably not talking about shots. I’m probably not adding up power-play shots (on Bridgeport’s power plays, 7-3).

Mannino’s still the story, but here’s one that didn’t make the gamer, talking about yesterday: “It’s in the past, just like this game. You can’t dwell on it. There’s a lot of games in every season.” He paused and almost-laughed. “A lot of games.”

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So here’s Sillinger, on the way back to the big club:

” This was the test, back-to-back games. I’m a little sore, but for the most part, as each game went along, it got a little better. I think, if anything, you want to get in game situations, game conditions.”

And he got that in spades, playing a regular shift, power play and penalty kill in all three games. Did he do everything he wanted to do in these three games? “I think so. The main thing was getting in game situations, game conditioning. That’s exactly what I wanted to do. … I played the one game last weekend, practiced a couple of times, got the back-to-back. I can go back with a good report.”

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Fraser supposedly could have gone today if needed; just a bruise.

Got to love seeing Sillinger and Lemieux chatting at the end of the night. That’s a lot of hockey history in one spot.

To get the actual Worcester lines, swap Desjardins (Jason Pitton’s junior teammate) and Larose. If you saw the early version of the pregame post, you saw how Larose popped into the dressing room for a bit right before line rushes; I guess I slotted him back into the wrong spot.

At 9-3-0-1, this was the eighth-best full month, by percentage, in Sound Tigers history. With a win, it would have been third. (No shootout-win comments from the peanut gallery.*)

There is also stunning, mind-boggling, incredible news in Toronto today: Brian Burke is the new boss president of the Leafs. No one could have seen this coming.

Good golly. That team is just incredible. When you’re scoring nine, who needs defensemen?

Had some trouble with the wireless just now. For a minute, thought we were gonna go old-school and post at 2 a.m. after the drive home. Anyway. Team day off tomorrow, so unless something crazy happens, see you Monday.

*-By which I mean “me.”

Michael Fornabaio