This was one of those weird games that could’ve been both better and worse for both teams. Bridgeport wins it in overtime, Josh Ho-Sang carrying the mail up the left side and finding Kane Lafranchise alone on an island in the right circle 46 seconds into overtime.
“Great play all-around,” Brent Thompson said. He and Lafranchise both talked about Ho-Sang on that play; Binghamton got itself discombobulated (I would guess Phil Varone switched with Fredrik Claesson to get the defenseman on Ho-Sang’s side, but then Varone kind of got lost), and Ho-Sang pulled up and found the seam.
“Three-on-three hockey is fun for the fans,” Thompson said. “At the end of the day, it’s possession. … If you can control the puck, hopefully there’ll be a breakdown someplace.”
Heck, there were enough of those at five-on-five. Bridgeport turned pucks over and got away with it all but once. Binghamton kept giving up breakaways and got away with it every time, if just barely.
We often see three-in-three games where nobody’s got anything going. This was the exceptional one where they seemed to have just enough to be dangers to themselves, conditioned enough to go but tired enough to make bad decisions or execute just faultily enough as they went.
“We’ve got to get used to it,” Lafranchise said. “We’ve got enough three-in-threes.”
(Heard Grady on the air saying the Sens got in at 4:45 because of bus issues and weather. Yipes. Probably explains why Bridgeport had a 33-20 edge in unblocked five-on-five shot attempts through two periods… and maybe why the Sens had a 21-9 edge in the third, once they got their legs.)
But Bridgeport got the job done. It could’ve had a huge lead. It didn’t. It could’ve finally blown it. It didn’t.
…..
Miscommunication, so didn’t get to Michael Dal Colle today. We’ll bug him during the week at some point — team’s off tomorrow — but in the meantime, enjoy this.
Stephen Gionta and Colin Markison are supposedly getting close. Doesn’t sound like Christopher Gibson or Kellen Jones are returning imminently, though.
This is the fourth time in five years that Bridgeport has at least 10 wins in the first 15 games. (It made the playoffs only the time it had 11.) Not to cold-water this thing too hard, but 10-5 is helped by four wins beyond regulation, two at three-on-three, two in the bonus round. Turn them all to losses and Bridgeport is 6-5-2-2, and the Sound Tigers sit fifth instead of third in the division on points percentage, behind Hershey and Springfield. Of the four teams in the division behind them as it actually stands, only Hartford has a winning record past 60 minutes, including today’s shootout win over Providence. (And that’s including the Adam Pelech winner in OT for Bridgeport at the Civic Center.)
That said, in terms of regulation-time goal differential, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Lehigh Valley and Hershey are all solidly in the positive; Bridgeport is plus-1, Springfield is even, Providence is minus-2. In broad strokes, the division looks about how we figured, the Pennsylvania teams perhaps a cut above and the rest fighting for their place. But it’s early, one way or the other.
That Hartford box is the prescout, too, by the way: Back to the Mall on Wednesday. (They should be going to the Mall on Friday, no? But we digress.)
Larry Brooks on NHL labor and the Olympics.
And RIP, Joe Resnick.