Shots were something like 17-3 at one point in the first, all Providence. There are times that doesn’t say much about the territorial game, but tonight, yeah, it did. Totally.
The first was the Bruins’, except for Kenny Reiter, who shook off four weeks’ rust after a couple of minutes and was brilliant the rest of the night, holding the fort while his teammates got a handle on the Bruins.
They’re quick, Mike Halmo said, good defensively. They took it to the Sound Tigers early and had a lead.
“We’ve been there before,” Halmo said. “We just had to regroup and find a way.”
In two shifts, they had a lead, and they had a much better rest of the afternoon. And Reiter made sure they kept that lead.
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(Header quote was Ryan Strome’s, for the record.)
Reiter’s other 40-save game this year was in Providence, 42 saves on 45 shots in a shootout loss. Similar start: 19 saves in the first that night. (His only other 40-save AHL game was his second AHL start, last season at Worcester, the night Kirill Kabanov got hurt. Kabanov had a goal in that Nov. 22 game at Providence this year, just 18 seconds after a Halmo goal. Tommy Cross was instrumental in the first goal both nights. The coincidences are almost eerie. I said ‘almost.’)
Strome and Lee said they weren’t thinking about tomorrow, and there was no official or unofficial indication that they’re on their way up. It seems the way to bet.
Joel Broda has a point in three in a row; Matthew Pistilli has a point in four in a row. It’s not about points, Scott Pellerin is always glad to remind you; they’re still getting acclimated to the system, and there’ll be a glitch now and then, but they’ve stepped in and done a good job on that line, seizing an opportunity. “It’s a good system to be able to play in. You’ve got to go out and work hard,” Broda said.
Recent Bridgeport acquisition Adam Brace had three points in Stockton‘s win. (So did former future Sound Tiger Corey Trivino, who has six points in two days.)
And from a press release, there’s a lot of hockey going into the Notre Dame-Fairfield athletic hall of fame on March 1; along with Patricia Stramoski Hajducky and Jeff Bevino, there’s longtime scorer and statistician George Burr, and there’s one Bill Garfield, who’s also an off-ice official here.