No personnel changes today in practice, though the lines were rejuggled, most notably with Greg Mauldin moving between Smith and Martin, and Moore between Bentivoglio and Haley.
Lots of systems work, lots of one-on-one battle drills (there’s nothing like watching Moore and Mauldin go head-to-head; it’s like irresistible force and immovable object out there). All went with one big admonition: keep the stick down.
I’ve got Bridgeport facing 94 power plays so far (the league has 93, but I’m not ready to sift through and find where we differ). Through 17 games last year, Bridgeport had faced 76 power plays. (That’s where they were through 14 this year.)
Now, that’s not an incredible number; the two seasons before last, they had already reached 105 PKs by now. But they had faced only 47 through 10 games this year, and they’ve matched that in only the past seven games. They had given up only five power-play goals in those first 10 games; in the past seven, they’ve surrendered 10.
Keep going at it in the comments, but to answer two things: Joensuu seems to be his own worst enemy since training camp, beating himself up, which almost makes whatever funk he’s in a self-fulfilling prophesy. And Reich does have the cast off, but Capuano today said he’s not all that close to returning; he said there’s no timetable yet.
Elsewhere: Interesting stuff on onetime future Rangers captain Jed Ortmeyer, with bonuses from the blog. And a Steve Yzerman story on Justin Bourne’s Twitter account.
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