You really need both sides to have a bloodbath. Mike Sgroi comes in, and Pat Bingham said some of the Hartford players were “less brave” tonight.
Granted, some of the biggest targets were up in the stands somewhere with us, but still.
“I thought the refs did a good job taking control of the game,” Nathan Lawson said.
Left to play the game, albeit with eight power plays a side, Bridgeport did a solid job for the most part. Took advantage of the breaks early — McNeely off of Bickel’s skate, Day and Pereira pulling it out to Hisey after a couple of Whale players collide, Colliton with a rebound off the crossbar while Nightingale was more concerned with blowing McNeely away. Pereira scores while Day drives the center lane, and it’s the only shot of the third period for Bridgeport, and it goes in.
“Everybody played with a lot of passion, a lot of purpose,” Bingham said. “They wanted to win. We came into a tough place to play and won the hockey game. We’ve been winning a lot of hockey games lately, but this one was pretty special. It wasn’t easy.”
One to go. And it turns out there’s the slightest bit of standings obscurity on the line.
….
Mike Sgroi didn’t play much, eight or nine shifts with five of them in the first, but he threw a nice hit on Evgeny Grachev in the first and blocked a shot.
We all know Justin DiBenedetto is no angel. He’s a pest around the net, on the boards, everything. (Even in the dressing room when others are being interviewed — does Jamie put those up, or not?) Agitators sometimes don’t get the benefit of the doubt. That said, I’ve no idea how Kris Newbury gets out of what he did to DiBenedetto with one extra minor.
Bingham said David Ullstrom was day-to-day, banged up. I said I assumed Rakhshani was out for tomorrow. Bingham said not to assume that. “If he’s ready, if he wants to play, he’ll be an asset,” Bingham said.
The Islanders’ daily ATO on defense in their final game was draft pick Shane Sims. Wonder, as long as he’s in the area, if he might pop up here tomorrow and be No. 63.
Portland clinched the division just by getting to overtime, but the Pirates won the shootout anyway against (prescout) Albany. If Bridgeport wins in regulation tomorrow, it won’t finish last overall. (Anything else? It will.) Portland will play the Whale in the playoffs, beginning Thursday. Second-place Manchester will play the crossover team. That’s Norfolk if the Admirals lose Sunday at Hartford; it’s Binghamton if the Admirals win. Wilkes-Barre plays Binghamton or Norfolk, and it’s Hershey-Charlotte in a virtual rematch of last year’s division final (when the Checkers were in Albany).
Kalamazoo moves on.
Matt Koalska gets air time at the NCAA final? Awesome. Wonder how the Gopher feels about UMD winning the title.
And RIP, Sidney Lumet.
We’ll have the Fake Team Awards tomorrow afternoon, and then the Real Standings and probably some other statistical junk tomorrow night. And then it’s summer. Yikes.
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