Soundin' Off

A doldrum-y, fluky-bounce kind of night turned into yet another Bridgeport win Saturday, and if I’ve got to try to come up with one reason, it’s the end of the Phantoms’ second power play.

Bridgeport had completed a solid penalty kill, much improved, Brent Thompson thought, from the first-period kill that degenerated at the end and left Shane Harper alone in front. The puck came out of the Bridgeport zone and got loose in the neutral zone. Tomas Marcinko took it, skated it, got it deep, and started a cycle that seemed to last about four minutes, interrupted only by the pesky technicality of Casey Cizikas’ goal.

Shots at the end of that penalty kill were 12-8 Adirondack. By the end of the second period, they were 26-19 Bridgeport.

“I think the big thing was puck decisions,” Thompson said. “The first period, one, we weren’t taking shots, and two, we weren’t protecting the puck in the offensive zone.”

They did a lot more of that, and the power play came through, with David Ullstrom’s pair of goals off one-timers, one from Matt Donovan, one (well, both, one primarily and one secondarily) from Jon Landry.

Another win.

“The battle level on our team is huge,” Ullstrom said. “It shows what kind of team we have.”

…..

Jamie noticed the streak: Anders Nilsson has won seven decisions in a row, which at least by my records ties the team mark for consecutive victories. (Ties Nathan Lawson, who started his AHL career 7-0, though the first was in relief.)

Landry has two assists in each of the past three games.

So ends the Adirondack Phantoms season series. Bridgeport wins it 4-2, in case it matters. Season series against Hershey ends Sunday. In case that matters, Bridgeport needs a regulation win to tie the series and send it to goal differential.

In the Coast: Tony Romano was on the ice for two power-play goals tonight but finished with the same line as last night, no points, five shots. A night after Alaska couldn’t score on 50 shots, the Aces bury five in the first as of this writing; Chris Langkow has an assist.

The angle from the press box made it look as if Cizikas buried that puck into the empty net. Apparently hit the post and caromed out at a funny angle.

Jon Kalinski was scratched for a reason tonight.

Prescout. Two nights in a row that Bridgeport’s next opponent faces Manchester. (Spoiler: The streak ends here.) Another spoiler: The power play’s still good without Keith Aucoin.

OK, back in like an hour and a half.