(Please tick. It’s too early for this.)
A regulation loss today not only clinches a playoff spot for Providence, but it means Bridgeport could be eliminated before the next time it plays. To try to avoid that fate, the Sound Tigers roll out almost the same crew that won Saturday in Hartford. Was so focused on getting Providence that it took a while to notice Ryan MacKinnon rushed and Andre Benoit didn’t appear to be out there. Would be MacKinnon’s AHL debut. Edit, postgame: Benoit was sick, said Brent Thompson.
Providence is without a handful of players for assorted reasons. It had eight defensemen on for warmup (nine, if you count Sena Acolatse, who has been playing up front); two of them (including Greenwich native Wiley Sherman) swapped off at fourth-line center on the rushes. Edit: Sherman’s scratched. Dan Vladar gets his second start against the Sound Tigers.
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
Lafranchise-MacKinnon
G: McAdam
Gudlevskis
PROVIDENCE
F: Fitzgerald-Szwarz (A)-Czarnik (A)
Hargrove-Frederic-Payerl
Blidh-Koppanen-Senyshyn
Hughes-(Sherman-scratch)/Zboril-Acolatse
D: Cross (C)-Clifton
Breen-Johansson
Lauzon-Postma
G: Vladar
McIntyre
R: T.Koharski, Romasko. L: Pincus, K.Briganti.
Bridgeport scratches (believed healthy unless noted): Benoit (ill), Mueller, Toews (shoulder), Wotherspoon (lower), Dal Colle (upper), Eansor (upper), Gionta (upper), Turcotte.
Tuesday night’s Scoreboard Watching: Lehigh Valley at Charlotte; Hershey at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
I’ll join Alan (Mixlr audio / AHL Live audio/pay-per-view) for the second intermission.