Soundin' Off

That third period had to have you shaking your head.

Maybe you’re not playing the perfect game, maybe you’ve missed out on a few too many chances against that J.P. Levasseur again, maybe you know Nygel Pelletier is the referee and you’re one half-hearted pick away from killing an interference penalty that could get Springfield even.

But a first five minutes to the third period like that?

“I don’t know if we got a little too confident, that they were packing it in,” Greg Mauldin said.

“I thought it was the right move to call time out. … Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off. We gave up a goal right after that.”

Things settled down, though.

“I thought we showed some character battling back for two points. We needed to win,” Mauldin said. “That was a four-point swing yesterday.”

Jack Capuano said Mauldin and several others were vocal on the bench, leading the way back from that opening mess. It turned into a five-point weekend.

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Smith was declared as upper-body, doubtful for Wednesday and “it could be a while” by Capuano, without other specifics. The hit was on the near boards for us, so it’s tough to say for sure, but the hit looked high. Understandable that his teammates would keep Young honest. I think Smith finished the power play — got that assist — and then departed, but I didn’t see him go (or trainer Mike Schroeder, who was at the bench when I figured out Smith was missing). Perhaps we’ll get an update Tuesday.

So right now there are five teams within three points of each other for four spots. Actually, now that the River Rats have lost three in a row, they’re only six points ahead of Bridgeport, which has two games in hand. Lowell has 80 points with nine games left. Manchester has 79 with 10. Norfolk and Bridgeport have 78, though Norfolk has the tiebreaker, with nine to go. Projected cut. WBS has 77 with 10. Providence, 71 with eight. Binghamton, 70 with nine.

Gonna be a fun few weeks.

Neat touch by Cornell alum Adam Goodman to toss their ECAC championship win into Jon Gleed’s introduction as a starter.

Trent Klatt was behind the bench with Capuano and Bingham. He, like Eric Cairns, is in player development with the Islanders.

Mikko Koskinen is playing for Utah tonight in Stockton. Edit: Another win, 37 saves on 39 shots.

Adirondack came all the way back to lead Hershey, then Hershey tied it, and then Hershey didn’t like a holding call on Bryan Helmer (in part, apparently, ’cause they thought Jon Matsumoto had earned a hooking penalty), and then Mika Pyorala scores on the power play. And then Keith Aucoin gets an elbowing major with 1:27 to go. And then despite a couple of late Phantoms minors, former UMass-Lowell goalie Carter Hutton made 35 saves to end the Bears’ 24-game home winning streak.

Scary moment in Minnesota, where Daymond Langkow took a puck in the back of the neck.

Yale gets North Dakota.