So the magic numbers are in single digits for another spring without playoff hockey in Connecticut. Tough times. But one or the other will get two points tonight in the capital.
Bridgeport, tragic number 8, swaps Jeff Kubiak in for Yanick Turcotte; Eamon McAdam gets the start in net. After that right-wing rotation in the third last night, take away a third of it; essentially switch Bernier and Bailey.
Hartford, a point away from elimination, has their Make-A-Wish night tonight, which is cool. Pro debut for Drew Melanson. If you were wondering, after Anthony Peluso on Wednesday and Bobby Farnham last night, which Wolf Pack veteran might get his first three-point game tonight… no luck. The ones who’re in tonight have had them. Closest you get among non-rookies are Chris Bigras, playing pro game No. 168 on defense, and Steven Fogarty, in Game 129.
Unless Marek Mazanec (Game 277, with 12 pro assists) pulls one out…
BRIDGEPORT
F: Hitchcock-St. Denis-Bailey
Bourque-Stevens-Bernier (A)
K.Jones – C.Jones – Ho-Sang
Schempp-Kubiak-B.Holmstrom (C)
D: Helgeson (A)-Vande Sompel
Aho-Burroughs
Benoit-Lafranchise
(MacKinnon-scratch)
G: McAdam
Gudlevskis
HARTFORD
F: Tambellini-Nieves-Kosmachuk (A)
Schneider (A)-Fontaine-Lettieri
Gropp-Fogarty (A)-Beleskey
Leedahl-Albert-Melanson
D: Crawley-Bigras
Lindgren-Labrie
Pedrie-Kotyk
(Denis-scratch)
G: Mazanec
Georgiev
R: Schrader, Wilk. L: M.Baker, N.Briganti.
Bridgeport scratches (believed healthy unless noted): apparently MacKinnon, Mueller, Toews (shoulder), Wotherspoon (lower), Dal Colle (upper), Eansor (upper), Gionta (upper), Turcotte.
Saturday Scoreboard Watching: Charlotte at Syracuse; Providence at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton; Belleville at Lehigh Valley; Utica at Springfield; Laval at Hershey
Charlotte apparently has Bobby Goepfert backing up tonight. Longtime pro goalie is, IIRC, the cousin of former Sound Tigers broadcaster Carmine Vetrano, and now lives in the Syracuse area.