It looked like a bump in which both players lost their balance and went into the boards together, leaving both shaken up, one more than the other. The league didn’t see it that way: Stephen Gionta gets a three-game suspension for his hit on Thomas Di Pauli in the second period on Sunday.
So Gionta misses the entire week, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton tomorrow and Charlotte on Friday and Saturday. Bridgeport already appeared to have Gionta skating as an extra on Tuesday. The lines were quite shaken up from where they’d been, with the exception of Bellows-Jones-Ryan Bourque, which remained intact. As noted earlier, Tanner Fritz skated on his own, and Brent Thompson said he’ll make the trip with them.
The Flyers made the change Monday, promoting Scott Gordon to interim coach in Philadelphia and Kerry Huffman to interim coach of the Phantoms. Not a bad first week for our buddy Mike Ianniello.
And RIP, Dave Newell and Bronx native Penny Marshall.