Soundin' Off

The math has been working against them since… well, since very early in the season. Even at 18-14-1-2, a set of numbers that may be ingrained in my head for a long time, they were only on an 89-point pace, which might not be enough.

But the moment the clock hit zero tonight in the third period, even the pipe dreams were gone. This thing was in overtime. Unless the entire Binghamton team spaced out and decided it was too stifling to play with a goaltender, the Sens were guaranteed one point.

Binghamton had 78 with 35 wins. Bridgeport could do no better than 78 with 33.

The two-year streak of playoff qualification was over.

That, we point out as always, is just math. We didn’t know the day when this moment would come, but we’ve known for a long time that it would.

But hey, this group has gone through a lot. They keep pressing on. They hurt themselves with penalties — actually, they have throughout this little five-game point streak — and they keep coming back.

This is no year to remember, but they keep giving us these little unforgettable instants.

….

First time in team history they play four overtime games in a row.

Nice job by Cliff and company on the changeover. I was worried. Never should’ve doubted.

Motherwell took Olson’s place down the stretch. With some of the injuries, the power plays, etc., he played a bit on defense, but I think only four shifts up front.

Romano and Hisey swapped places for their last shift of the second and for the rest of the night. “Tony finished the game strong (Saturday) night,” Pat Bingham said. “It looked like he had a lot of gas in the tank. He was raring to go, had a lot of jump. I thought to elevate him on a line I knew was going to play a lot down the stretch would be a good move.”

Rakhshani’s two points give him 51 points and now 34 assists, tied with Chris Campoli’s rookie assist record.

Feel like I’m forgetting something, but anyway. Day off tomorrow. Practice Tuesday, and we’ll do the live chat at 1:30 then.

It might have been different, Jesse Joensuu said, if Bridgeport’s coach had been the one fired Monday morning. If that had happened, “we would have had to deal with that,” he said. Clarity edit: deal with the responsibility for that.

But that’s not how it happened. Jack Capuano got the promotion to try to stitch up the gusher in Uniondale. And Pat Bingham, as he said, slid down the bench.

“A lot of us have been playing for Cappy for a long time,” Joensuu said. “We’ve been playing as long for Pat.”

Continuity helps. And in a different kind of continuity, they lost again on the road tonight. But hey, they didn’t give up six.

A good start — a really good start — fell victim to penalties, to lack of flow, to the long change, and to an unknown affliction to captain Mark Wotton.

“In a lot of ways,” Bingham said, “they played hard under the circumstances.”

A few mistakes cost them, a few guys left open at the wrong times, a turnover or two. And then only about four of the last 14 minutes of the second were played at five-on-five.

“One penalty led to another, led to another,” Bingham said. “Not that it’s an excuse, but we had a short bench. That forced us to kill with guys who don’t normally kill.”

So the debut wasn’t a win. The rhythms of the AHL season go on. Three-in-three this weekend, four-in-five next. The players know them by know; Bingham certainly knows them. And at least they know each other.

“You control what you can control and make a positive of everything,” Micheal Haley said. “Good, bad, it doesn’t matter, whatever happens.”

If nothing else, it was the first time Bingham stood at that end of an AHL bench. “A little rusty,” he said. I wondered if standing over the forwards meant anything to him.

“It all means something,” Bingham said. “I don’t care what league you’re coaching. You’re competing. You’re doing your best.”

….

Bridgeport head coaches are 3-2-1 in their first games in charge. Stirling won the first game at Rochester, Cronin tied at Hartford, Baseggio lost the 8-1 debacle at Wilkes-Barre, Marshall won at Binghamton behind Comeau’s four-assist game, Capuano won at Hartford.

Among those in attendance were Eric Cairns and Kerry Gwydir.

Ben Guite with the three-point game.

“We had good poise with the puck” on those first-period power plays, Robin Figren said. “Maybe we got lucky. We got a couple in there. At the same time, I think we deserved it.” Motherwell’s rattled around, off at least one post. The light went on, my first thought was “in,” and though in hindsight I’m not sure I can say how, whichever referee was down there agreed, although the Falcons complained a bit.

At even strength, Springfield wasn’t happy with Romano’s goal. It looked as if referee Mark Lemelin said Romano was pushed into David LeNeveu as Anton Klementyev’s shot came through. That was while the video board was messed up on our side.

Springfield’s Grant Clitsome was taken to the hospital as a precaution after Jeremy Colliton landed on him in the second period, reported Dan Hickling, who was covering for the Springfield Republican. That interference penalty led to Kubalik’s first goal.

Brett Motherwell’s first goal in the AHL since March 22, 2008, Jason Chaimovitch reported from two seats away.

The coaching changes left Matt Bertani changing the defense, and sure enough, Wotton goes down. “Nothing like throwing you a curveball on the first day,” Bertani said. The workload will be different. Bertani, for his part, said he was very excited for Capuano, but he was sorry for and had all the best wishes for Scott Gordon; he said they had a good working relationship.

Head coach Pat Bingham gave them tomorrow off. If we hear any updates on anything of import, we’ll pass it on. Otherwise, see you Thursday.

The only apparent late addition to the Sound Tigers’ training-camp roster is one of the only two familiar faces: Brett Motherwell. Awaiting firm word on whether it’s an AHL deal or a tryout. Bridgeport announced Monday morning that it’s an AHL contract.

Also of note: The split-squad preseason games have a trickle-down effect not only on the Sound Tigers’ playing roster, but on the coaching staff, too. Jack Capuano will remain with the Big Club for the time being, and Matt Bertani will be joining him. Pat Bingham will be running camp. Kalamazoo coach Nick Bootland* and Odessa coach Paul Gillis are in town and will be helping out.

*-Darryl’s doing well and will be playing in, of all places, Odessa this year.

The Islanders sent six players away from big-club camp today, including AHL-contract guys Corey Syvret and Justin Taylor, along with tryouts Steven Tarasuk (listed on the release as a forward) and Alex O’Neil. Draft picks Corey Cizikas and Tony DeHart were sent back to junior (so much for any thought about him as a pro this year). The release says O’Neil is also going back to junior (which makes sense, at his age), but we were also told today that he’d be coming to Bridgeport for camp, so we’ll see which way that one falls. Tarasuk is coming to the Sound Tigers’ camp, which is a little over a week away.

Katie Strang says a first-period blocked shot Thursday has Robin Figren on crutches, X-rays pending. Edit2: Big Club terms Figren day to day.

Edit: The Isles’ training camp roster is out, with no surprises.

Interesting note, passed along by Lindsay Kramer (on his new Twitter feed): The NHL affirmed this week it’ll let teams send American kids to the AHL after they’ve played in Canadian junior, so long as they were drafted before they played in the CHL. It’s one more layer of potential confusion on that rule, but at least it belies the “age limit” myth.

Lindsay’s also got Brett Motherwell going to camp with Springfield.

And unfortunate news from John Walton in Hershey: Patrick McNeill isn’t fully recovered from that hit he took from Trevor Smith in Game 3 and won’t be back until the middle of October.

Brett Motherwell and the Cincinnati Cyclones won the Kelly Cup tonight with a 2-1 win over Idaho in Game 5. Motherwell had an assist and was plus-2 in the deciding game. Again, nice to see him and Dustin Friesen play on to the finish after all they did to help Bridgeport get into the playoffs.

Pretty much every other hockey game went to overtime. In Texas, Jamie Benn scored both goals for the Stars in a 2-1 win over Hamilton. The series is 2-2, with Game 5 on Saturday in Cedar Park (Hershey and Manchester start Game 6 an hour earlier) before they head back to Steeltown for Monday and maybe Wednesday.

Travis Hamonic had a goal and two assists, including one on Jay Fehr’s goal early in overtime, to send host Brandon to the Memorial Cup final. The Wheat Kings will play Windsor (9-3 winners in the round robin) Sunday. Let’s just see what tomorrow brings.

Mark Holick is indeed Anaheim’s new Syracuse coach.

*-Syracuse’s new coach was hired by Anaheim. Springfield’s affiliation shifts from Edmonton to Columbus. Oklahoma City takes over Edmonton’s affiliation. The latter few will be added to the list when they take effect. Other changes are still to come.

On the day Jon Gleed goes to Europe, Justin Bourne coincidentally talks shot-blocking.

The end of Lost will hurt. At least we’ve got stuff like this to keep the memories alive.

That scary-looking Robin Hood movie* apparently sprang from what sounds like a potentially awesome screenplay. (Hat tip: Alex Epstein.) That’s a shame. (He says without having seen it nor read the screenplay. But if they’re going to do Robin Hood all over again, they should remake the Disney cartoon, live-action, shot-for-shot. “A pox on the phony king of England.”**)

(Shoulda headed this thing “Contemplatin’ nothin’ but escape and finally makin’ it.”)

And a good idea from Stephan Pastis.

*-”AN OUTLAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW!!!!!” Seriously, does every movie commercial now have to have some maniac screaming a line?

**-”A POX! ON! THE PHONY! KING! OF ENGLAAAAAAND!”

So who should be more embarrassed now: The Penguins, the Bruins or Team USA? The Americans at least lost all three of their games by one goal after today’s 3-2 loss to Finland. They’re off to the relegation round, where they’ll need to stop losing in order to stay in the top division.

Germany punched its second-round ticket with a 3-1 win over Denmark. Frans Nielsen took a hooking penalty. Does he have more minors in international play than he does in a full pro season? Feels like it.

Latvia beat Italy 5-2, scoring two goals late, to knock Italy into the relegation pool. Two assists for Herbie Vasiljevs against one for Mike Souza. Tobias Stephan, briefly a Sound Tiger, made 31 saves to help Switzerland beat Canada 4-1.

So in the next round, Finland, Germany and Denmark will all be 1-1, three points apiece. Switzerland’s 2-0 (six), Canada’s 1-1 (three), and Latvia’s 0-2 (none).

Back in the American League, ho-hum, Hershey won again after a month and a half off. The Bears led after 16 seconds, had a 2-0 lead at 10:02 and never led by fewer than two again. Steve Pinizzotto, with a goal and a fight, was named No. 1 star. Both Jonathan Bernier and Michal Neuvirth made 24 saves.

John Walton noted this on Twitter: Cincinnati beat Reading 1-0 tonight, becoming the first ECHL team to rally from 3-0 down and win a series. The final begins Friday in Idaho. Brett Motherwell and Dustin Friesen were two of the defensemen who filled in so admirably for the Sound Tigers this spring, helping Bridgeport get into the playoffs. One of them will win a Kelly Cup.

Friesen leads the ECHL at plus-16 in 10 playoff games.

Justin Bourne talks concussion with a guest columnist.

–Mark Wotton, caught as he was leaving the barn early this afternoon, said what he has said all along, that he’s still a player. He wouldn’t comment on any conversations he may or may not have had with the Sound Tigers about returning. He also produced all kinds of good stuff that I think will lead the wrap story.

–The Islanders’ organization is done: Utah was swept after Idaho’s 4-1 win Friday. Dustin Friesen had an assist and was plus-3. His erstwhile D-partner, Jake Gannon, got himself even on Tom May’s goal. Friesen was 0-5-5 and plus-9 in the series, in which Idaho outscored the Grizzlies 21-7.

So, then, the only other of the Reinforcements still playing is Brett Motherwell, whose Cyclones are tied with Charlotte, 2-2, after tonight’s 4-1 loss.

–Game 7 alert: Milwaukee, which has trailed Chicago 2-0 and 3-1 in the series, forced it tonight on a Ryan Maki overtime goal. Ben Guite scored the first goal, early. Peter Mannino started but didn’t finish. Game 7 is Monday in Rosemont.

–I should totally be writing the wrap story. (Really, I should be finishing the wrap story.)

High spirits before, during and after practice, it seemed. If there’s any hangover, it wasn’t apparent. The whole travel group skated, except for Brett Motherwell, who went back to Cincinnati this morning. The Sound Tigers expect to have Jake Gannon back up from Utah by tomorrow night.

Neither coach was committed to a Game 2 starter. The Bears brought a few players up from eliminated South Carolina to join the black aces.

Here’s our gamer and notebook off of Game 1, and here’s Tim Leone’s gamer.

Edit: Utah just sent out a release that Mikko Koskinen was called up as well as Gannon. Koskinen is reportedly in Bridgeport right now and will join the team when they get back.

Edit2: Katie Strang reports a one-year extension for Trevor Gillies.

Six and a half hours to gametime, Jack Capuano still wasn’t biting that Scott Munroe would start tonight.

“I’m leaning that way,” he said. But he wouldn’t say it for sure.

The goalies stretched together after the skate. Munroe left a few seconds earlier. This assumption is mostly based on the fact that Munroe was in Bridgeport’s regular-for-two-periods net.

Micheal Haley skated and appeared ready to go. Capuano said he’s expecting Haley to play but told Pascal Morency and Michael Davies to be ready, too.

Undecided was whether or not Jake Gannon would be back from Utah, and whether Brett Motherwell might rejoin Cincinnati.

Elsewhere, as Hank noted, John Anderson and staff got whacked in Atlanta, and GM Don Waddell got kicked upstairs in favor of Rick Dudley.

Think of it like a little bit of rope-a-dope. After they had to kill seven penalties against Springfield, they didn’t want to do it again. They had seen the Crunch get frustrated. They wanted to let them do it again.

Mission accomplished.

“Fortunately for us, we were able to capitalize on some opportunities on the power play,” Brett Motherwell said.

Twice in the last six minutes of the first period, actually. Away they went.

(And besides, really, would you fight Jon Mirasty? Really?)

—

Two other crucial things for Bridgeport: beat Lowell and Wilkes-Barre beat Norfolk, and neither one needed overtime to do it. The Sound Tigers are one point behind third-place Manchester and in a dead-even tie with Lowell, so on the lead in the season series, Lowell’s in fourth, and Bridgeport’s in fifth. Not to worry: The Sound Tigers are a point ahead of WBS and two ahead of Norfolk, so Bridgeport’s in third in the East Division.

Team won’t be skating tomorrow, so if something comes down about a call-up for Dustin Kohn, it’d more likely come from Katie Strang or Chris Botta at a morning skate. But we’ll see what we can get. No word on Justin DiBenedetto, who didn’t play the third but was dressed and on his way out when we got through with Jack Capuano. And Tyler Haskins said he was OK and was more concerned about getting a whistle there than anything when he stayed down.

Munroe’s assist was the first for a Bridgeport goalie in almost a year (Lawson, April 10 vs. Springfield).

Edit: Mikko Koskinen won again, with 31 saves on 35 shots.

The Zambonis will be playing on the ice here April 11, and they’re helping sell tickets for a good cause.

Jeremy Yablonski somehow had three sports hernias.

Could be a milestone weekend around here. Mark Wotton’s next game will tie him with Steve Regier, 290 games played in a Bridgeport uniform. And Sunday brings an anniversary… the oldest anniversary in Bridgeport Sound Tigers history. It’ll be 10 years since the AHL announced that Roy Boe was bringing a team here.

And RIP, Robert Culp.

Jon Gleed had four goals in the ECHL. He had 18 assists in the AHL. Now he has his first AHL goal, and it’s a heck of a spot for it.

All around, a fine weekend for the defense. You look at who was elsewhere and who was sitting on the bench, and this could have turned in an entirely different direction.

Instead you get goals today from Jake Gannon and Gleed, and you’ve got your first three-game winning streak since before Thanksgiving.

“We saw what Gannon could do in training camp, Gannon, (Victor) Bartley, (Dustin) Friesen,” Jack Capuano said. “Timing is everything in life, and they’re getting a chance. It’s no different from Dylan Reese. He gets traded to our team, and he’s in the NHL.”

Gleed and Gannon both credited Brett Motherwell with stepping in effectively, too.

“Everyone’s been picking up the slack,” Gannon said.

The Monarchs looked like a team on the rise at the end of the first, but the Sound Tigers answered that in the second. They tightened up, and Gannon counterattacked at the end.

And the Gleed was there at the very end.

—-

Gleed dodges a little record this way: He played his first 77 Bridgeport games without a goal. The record is Ray Schultz’s, 84, although he had a playoff goal in between. I honestly remembered Gleed scoring last year. Must have been the training-camp goals. Odd.

Kind of hard to believe this is the first three-game winning streak since mid-November (the crazy Nov. 15 game against Portland that Wotton won with 1.7 seconds left, and then the two games in Abbotsford). They had won two in a row five times since then. In fact, the only other time they had so much as a point in three in a row? It links two of the two-game winning streaks, a five-game span Dec. 5-18 (the two Ricky/Springfield games, the Valiquette OTL at Hartford, the win at home against Portland when Katic went end-to-end, and the win at Providence when Reich scored).

Still no Bridgeport games without a penalty. There’s still one with no power plays, Dec. 19, 2003, at Worcester. Jeff Smith.

Lowell beat Providence in a shootout, so Bridgeport is three ahead of the Bruins while giving up one game in hand. The Penguins were off, so they’re four back but have three games in hand on Bridgeport. Lowell stays five points ahead. Hartford lost in overtime and is six points behind with two games in hand. Bridgeport is three points behind Norfolk, the third-place team in the East. Other games matter, too (this one, wherein Greg Moore has a goal, and this one, for instance), but I think I’m holding up the cleaning folks. May update later.

Kevin Dineen is suspended. Lindsay Kramer’s blog has more on the no-goal call last night at Syracuse that would have tied the game.

And finally… sorry that it’s their loss song, but you’ve got to love the Monarchs playing you out of here after the game with the Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

The Sound Tigers are in blue tonight, with Portland in white. Not sure why. Just know it’s nice.

Motherwell makes his Bridgeport debut, and Reich gets in on the alternates’ rotation again.

BRIDGEPORT
F: Reich (A)-Mauldin-Joensuu
Smith-Radja-Bentivoglio
Haley-Haskins-Martin
DiBenedetto-Marcinko-Figren
D: Witt (A)-Gleed
Wotton (C)-Klementyev
Motherwell-Gannon
G: Lawson
Munroe

PORTLAND
F: Gogulla-Whitmore-Mancari
Persson-Schultz-Wanvig
Gerbe-Byron-McCormick
Cowan (A)-Caruana-Rank
D: Gragnani-Kostka
Weber (A)-Schiestel
Brennan-DiPenta (A)
G: Lamoureux
Enroth

R: Charron. L: Pancich, Wahl.

Edit: of dumb interest, this is the eighth Sound Tigers game Charron has worked, and five have been against Portland. He called two penalty shots in one of those games and called one in another.