Bridgeport has never been swept in nine previous playoff series. Yet since last night’s game got ugly I’ve had the 2002 Eastern Conference semifinals in mind. Bridgeport vs. St. John’s. One series really isn’t anything like the other, but it was a case where you had the league leader — good, but nothing like what Hershey did this year, because no one’s done that in 18 years — and a Leafs team that was decent in a nasty-tough Canadian Division. Game 1 was close; a late power-play goal put it away. Game 2 went to overtime. Game 3 was the double-overtime epic on the Rock. And then Game 4… Game 4 was 7-2.
You couldn’t have seen a sweep there. But Game 4 just got away from the Leafs, and there it was.
Again, one series really not like the other. Too much. But that’s the only other best-of-7 sweep the Sound Tigers have been involved in.
Haley replaces Figren, and Koskinen does indeed get to two playoff games a full week more quickly than he got to two regular-season games. Some changed-up forward lines, too. Hershey loses Patrick McNeill to that shoulder injury he got on the Trevor Smith hit; Grant Lewis appear to step in, though Zach Miskovic dressed for warmup, too.
BRIDGEPORT
F: Reich (A)-Mauldin (A)-Rakhshani
Smith-Radja-Davies
Bentivoglio-Haskins-Joensuu
Martin-Marcinko-Figren
D: Kohn-Flood
MacDonald-Reese
Wotton (C)-Gleed
G: Koskinen
Munroe
HERSHEY
F: Giroux-Aucoin (A)-Gordon
Bouchard-Wilson-Rome
Bourque-Perreault-Beagle
Kane (A)-Joudrey-Pinizzotto
D: Amadio-Lewis
Wellar-Helmer (C)
Alzner-Collins
Miskovic-apparent scratch
G: Holtby
Neuvirth
R: Croft. L: Briggs, Galvin.
A dramatically different music mix for warmup. Definitely working on the mojo. (Probably, anyway.)