Taking advantage: WBS postgame

You play them as they come, traffic and weather and mechanics permitting, and sometimes you catch a team when they’re suffering. Goodness knows the shoe has been on the other foot before.

A solid, effective game, from all accounts — listened to a bit when possible, but don’t know much at the moment beyond tweets and box score — that winds up David Leggio’s 12th AHL shutout. It’s Bridgeport’s first back-to-back shutouts since Kevin Poulin, otherwise occupied tonight, recorded his three in a row to start 2012.

This is only the second time in 34 trips that Bridgeport has scored more than four goals in Wilkes-Barre. It’s also the second time in 34 trips that Bridgeport has shut out the Penguins. Coincidentally*…

It’s the fourth Bridgeport shutout of the Penguins, and the goalies are an interesting group:

–Frederic Cloutier, 27 svs, 1/21/06 (7-0 on the road)
–Billy Thompson, 25, 2/18/07 (1-0, Mark Wotton)
–Mike Morrison, 40, 2/16/08 (4-0)
–And now David Leggio, 19, 12/27/14 (5-0 on the road)

Bridgeport went with the same lineup as Friday — at least, it appears, as they ended Friday, with Collberg (another goal and an assist) joining Mouillierat (goal) and McDonald (three points) — except for the goaltending swap. Good game last night and all; why change things. But when I got back upstairs from the UConn press scrum to hear that Johan Sundstrom was fighting** in the last minute of the second period of a 4-0 game, I kind of wondered where Brett Gallant was. The third seemed pretty tame, though. (Here’s Jonathan Bombulie on Patrick McGrath’s hometown debut.)

Elsewhere, natural hat trick for Brandon DeFazio as Utica jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Lake Erie, speaking (not really) of Bruno Gervais. One of those nights for Iowa in Grand Rapids. And Binghamton signed Peter Mannino to an AHL contract.

Team is reportedly off tomorrow, so more Monday unless warranted. More college hockey tomorrow if you want, though.

*-Aaaaaaah look what happened here that night. Don’t think I’ve ever had any others stick, have I?
**-Sundstrom gets four for roughing; Boak, two for roughing. Blades of Steel rules?

Michael Fornabaio