Went to the morning skate, to be frank, just to make sure Christopher Gibson was still here after Robin Lehner left the Islanders game a few minutes early last night. Gibson was there, in his usual net, and was first off the ice.
And then the last two defensemen remaining on the ice, tonight’s scratches, were Mitch Vande Sompel and Kyle Burroughs.
“I didn’t think they were on top of their game,” Thompson said. “We’ve got to all be accountable. I think our guys know they can all be better. Right now we’ve got eight quality defensemen. We want to make sure these young guys get an opportunity. It’s a good time, coming off that week. We’ll see how they respond and go from there.”
In a three-in-three, he said yesterday, they’ll try to use their depth to their advantage. So they’re presumably back in sooner than later (as, presumably, Ryan Hitchcock, who appears to be out tonight as well).
Still, that’s their co-captain and their all-star representative from last season who are sitting out.
“Obviously you want to play every game,” Burroughs said. “Tommer knows how to make those decisions. I think it’s going to make me work harder. Those guys get in, get touches — the young guys need to play, too. I understand. It’s nothing personal. I want to be on that ice with the guys, but the guys in my spot are going to go out there and do the job as well, so I’ve got no hard feelings about that.”
Said Vande Sompel, “You want to play in every game. It’s unfortunate to get put out, but you look at the positiives of everything. I get to watch a game up top, and we’ll go from there.”
Yannick Rathgeb gets in to make his North American pro debut, and Parker Wotherspoon returns after sitting the past two games. Scott Eansor in with Hitchcock apparently out. Chris Casto plays for the first time against his old Providence team, which has a North American pro debut of its own, veteran Slovak winger Martin Bakos, who was injured in Boston’s training camp. The B’s also have an interesting healthy scratch of their own. Mirror images, etc., including the slow start.
Meanwhile Bridgeport, which once went 10 months without having two veterans in the lineup at the same time, tonight scratches two veterans, Ben Holmstrom and Stephen Gionta. O brave new world, etc.
BRIDGEPORT
F: C.Bourque-St. Denis-Bernier (A)
Bellows-Fritz-Sislo
Dal Colle – Jones – Ho-Sang
Koivula-Eansor-R.Bourque (A)
(Hitchcock-scratch)
D: Toews-Aho
Helgeson (A)-Rathgeb
Wotherspoon-Casto
G: Gibson
Smith
PROVIDENCE
F: Fitzgerald-Szwarz (C)-Bakos
Blidh (A)-Cave-Kuhlman
Hughes – Forsbacka Karlsson – McNeill
Fyten-Frederic-Senyshyn
(Pond-scratch)
D: Zboril-Lauton
Sherman-Clifton
Vaakanainen-Goloubef
G: Vladar
McIntyre
R: Halkidis, Tarnaris. L: Galvin, Hejna.
Bridgeport scratches (believed healthy unless noted): Burroughs, Vande Sompel, Gaudreau (lower), Gionta (veteran), apparently Hitchcock, Holmstrom (veteran).
Same two referees are expected tomorrow in Providence.