Well that was rough. Bridgeport got hit with a penalty 33 seconds in, was behind 14 seconds after that and didn’t get much going until the third period.
Much of what we talked about wound up in the gamer, but generally, Steve Bernier had an interesting take: They knew Tristan Jarry could play the puck, knew he was a third defenseman back there, but they let him play it too often. It kept them from getting the forecheck going.
And, he noted umprompted, “obviously we need to be better on the power play,” Bernier said; it’s 3-for-the-past-49. “You can create momentum with the power play. Not all the time, you can score goals, but you can create chances, spend time in the offensive zone, shoot pucks, retrieve.
“We have what we need in the room to be successful. It’s just a matter of getting back to the basics. I think that’s the most important part.”
Shoot pucks and get traffic, for instance, like Grant Hutton and Jeff Kubiak did after Hutton picked off a clearing attempt. First pro point for Hutton.
But that was it. On to a home-and-home with Providence.
……
Brent Thompson on Oliver Wahlstrom’s pro debut: “Wahlstrom did some really good things out there. You can see the offensive instincts. You can see the poise with the puck, the creativity. He’s obviously a guy who can shoot; I think he had four or five attempted shots, and one registered on net. For me he was one of the positives of the game, came in, competed hard, won some wall battles and was pretty reliable, pretty strong on the puck. That’s a positive. We’ll build from there.”
From Wahlstrom: “Pucks didn’t bounce for us today, but it was a good first experience,” he said. “It’s a different pace from college, a little higher tempo. It’s a playoff push for all the teams, but I thought it was a good tempo out there.”
Sounds like those out today are short-term. Heard the word “maintenance” frequently.
The Islanders announced they’ve signed Mason Jobst to a two-year contract out of Ohio State. That deal starts next season, so likely an ATO coming here. Unofficial yet.
Benefit of a morning game is a few minutes to catch up with Kevin Czuczman.
And a sad report that Andrew Carroll suffered from CTE before his suicide last year at 32.
Day off for them tomorrow; more Thursday unless warranted.