The home winless streak is five to start the season. There are only three longer home winless streaks in team history, a nine-game streak in 2010-11 (as things went south), an eight-game streak in 2014-15 (surrounding the trade deadline, when things went from south to Deep south) and another eight-game streak that wrapped around between the everybody’s-gone end of 2013-14 and the home opener of 2014-15. This is Game 12, but this is already the worst 13-game start in history. It has been one of those months.
They will try to change that up with Otto Koivula back after a brief NHL call (without an NHL debut). He, Mason Jobst and Arnaud Durandeau draw back in. Nick Schilkey, Ben Thomson and John Stevens come out. Jakub Skarek makes his home debut. Andrew Ladd remains in.
Matthew Strome is among those out for the Phantoms. And the Wotherspoon Family Reunion remains in effect.
BRIDGEPORT
F: Ladd-Lorito-S.Holmstrom
St.Denis-Koivula-Pierog
Bellows-Kubiak-Durandeau
R.Bourque-Jobst-McDonald (A)
D: Aho-Burroughs (C)
Helgeson (A)-Quenneville
P.Wotherspoon-Cornell
(MacKinnon-apparent scratch)
G: Skarek
Gibson
LEHIGH VALLEY
F: Carey – Fitzgerald- Aube-Kubel
Ratcliffe-Vorobyev-Gabriel
Andreoff (A)-Frost-Kase
Sushko-O’Reilly (C)-Criscuolo
D: Morin-Welinski
T.Wotherspoon-Willcox
Friedman-Prosser (A)
G: Lyon
Berube
R: Hennessey, South. L: K.Briganti, Hejna.
Bridgeport scratches (presumed healthy unless noted): Coreau, Hickey (lower), Hutton (lower), Wilde (ankle), Bernier (upper?), Brown (lower), Fritz (lower), Ho-Sang, Schilkey, Stevens, Thomson, apparently MacKinnon
First Bridgeport game for referee Rob Hennessey. There are a few former-player possibilities for who he is. I haven’t tracked it down yet.