The roadie starts in Rochester before it heads to Canada. We’ll keep up through Alan (Mixlr audio / AHL Live audio/pay-per-view). Follow Alan, the team and the Amerks.
The box should be here (R: O’Donnell, South; L: Plouffe, Sylvester). First Bridgeport game for referee Conor O’Donnell, who was in the Coast last year… playing.
Elsewhere, Jake Chelios, who missed Charlotte’s two games here over the weekend, will need surgery, say the Checkers. Alex Case, an old buddy of many around here, makes an appearance in Ryan McDonagh’s adieu to New York in the Players’ Tribune.
More in a bit.
–Same lineup for Bridgeport:
BRIDGEPORT
F: K.Jones – C.Jones – Ho-Sang
Bourque-St .Denis-Bernier (A)
Dal Colle-Stevens-Gionta
Eansor-B.Holmstrom (C)-Bailey
D: Benoit-Lafranchise
Wotherspoon-Burroughs
Helgeson (A)-Cullity
G: Gudlevskis
McAdam
ROCHESTER from the Amerks
F: Gill-Porter-O’Regan
Bailey-Criscuolo-Blackwell
Nylander-Malone-Fasching
Smith-Danforth-Krause
D: Guhle-Tennyson
Percy-Redmond
MacWilliam-Fedun
G: Ullmark
Wilcox
–Four-man rush early in the game for Rochester; Gill moved to his backhand and dinged the right post, it looked like.
–Gudlevskis may’ve got a piece of that.
–Some pressure for the Sound Tigers after Ho-Sang negates an icing and stays on with Eansor and Ben Holmstrom.
–After a Gudlevskis save, Gionta carries up the right wing for a shot Ullmark stops, but Dal Colle’s at the front to backhand the rebound into the open side. 1-0 Bridgeport at 13:49.
–Stevens actually carries that one from the front of Bridgeport’s net to the Rochester blue line, when he sends it right to Gionta.
–St. Denis denied, Helgeson shot wide, St. Denis double-teamed to get the puck out. Nylander carries in, Gudlevskis stops the initial but Sean Malone pokes in the rebound before Gudlevskis can fall on top of it with 38.7 seconds left in the first. Bit of a killer; Nylander came out one-on-three, more or less two-on-four, but Nylander loses two guys and Malone wins the battle at the net.
–Rochester outshot Bridgeport 16-8 in that first period. Malone had three of them.
–Bridgeport, riding an 0-for-24, gets the game’s first power play 6:17 into the second.
–Couple/three shots, but 0-for-25.
–The Americans, like Charlotte the other day, have had a few chances that have missed the net. Now Kellen Jones goes with 9:02 left in the second for a trip, giving Rochester its first power play.
–KIlled that off.
–No penalties in 26 minutes; now three in eight. This one to Fasching. Bridgeport’s second PP, 0-for-25.
–A Ho-Sang hook a minute in evens that out.
–Fasching out, so officially 0-for-26 now, tied for 10th in team history.
–Back even, then good chances at both ends. Bridgeport’s by Parker Wotherspoon in tight; he has three shots this period.
–Still 1-1 after two.
–Great first shift of the third for the Amerks, but after Wotherspoon knocks down Justin Bailey before the Americans forward can get to the puck, Bailey, from the ice, spins and gives Wotherspoon’s skates a whack, maybe going for the puck. Tripping. Bridgeport’s third power play.
–0-for-27. Tied for eighth.
–But a good shift follows, and onetime Tiger and ex-Pioneer Justin Danforth called for interference.
–Bailey nearly gives Bernier a tap-in at the right post quickly in that advantage. Then Bailey couldn’t one-time a Ho-Sang cross-ice pass on the next entry.
–28, tied for seventh.
–Little scramble about nine minutes into the third, and Malone calmly reaches in and backhands the loose puck just wide. Still 1-1.
–Danforth called for holding Gionta behind the Bridgeport net. Fifth power play.
–29. Tied for sixth.
–Gudlevskis stopped Gill in the slot in the last 20 seconds, but it’s on to overtime.
—Bridgeport 2, Rochester 1, final. St. Denis wins it.
–Porter was taking it toward the Bridgeport net and went down with a shove from Wotherspoon. (Little high stick to the back of the head, too, it looked.) Ho-Sang had a breakaway the other way, and Fedun got enough of him to slow him down keeping it legal. Puck went to the left corner, and Fedun denied Ho-Sang’s first try to get it out of the corner, but O’Regan went in there with them, and Ho-Sang’s second effort found St. Denis all alone in the slot 83 seconds into OT.
The Sound Tigers are five points behind Charlotte with a game in hand and 20 games to go.
–Haven’t heard anything from up there, so likely more Friday, when they’re in Laval.