Soundin' Off

You remember December? If I told you on Dec. 31 that this team would spend the next two weeks building its longest unbeaten streak since 2004, getting its seventh in a row, what kind of odds would you have given me?

The power play is an odd case; you get three penalties in a row against a good power play, and there’s a fair chance to see at least one goal. What Brent Thompson liked was the response. “Even though (Binghamton) scored, the effort was there,” Thompson said. “They got in shot lanes. … After that goal, they didn’t hang their heads.”

They held on for their seventh win in a row. The shootout win against Providence makes it difficult to compare this to streaks from before 2003-04, but accepting the rules change, this is the fourth-longest winning streak in team history (tied, if you count a seven-game winning streak in the 2002 playoffs, including the St. John’s sweep.) There’s an eight-game streak early in the team’s history, and two nine-game streaks, one after the Springfield Massacre in February 2002, one within the 20-game unbeaten streak.

But this would be an unbeaten streak in any era, and this one is tied for sixth in team history. The last time they had one last this long, the seventh game was the scoreless tie against Philadelphia on the second-to-last day of the 2003-04 season. They tied the next day, Easter Sunday, at Wilkes-Barre to make it eight, and then came the seven-game 2004 playoff series that’s seared in the brains of everyone who was around here then.

Impressive, considering where they’ve been, considering who’s around to make it happen, considering everything going on. “We haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Thompson keeps insisting. “It’s nothing if we’re not moving forward. … I’m proud of the guys, to be a part of something like that, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t keep taking the right steps.”

….

Brandon Gentile, who made his AHL debut Friday, found himself on the ice for the five-on-three penalty kill soon after, with both Donovan and Ness in the box. Happy to help, and happy to chip in a goal. He mentioned something I hadn’t realized: Alaska plays on Olympic-size ice, 15 feet wider than NHL dimensions. After three weeks of home games, getting back on the smaller ice was a momentary adjustment at first. He (like Landry) seems to have adjusted fine.

Adirondack, Bridgeport’s next opponent, was off today but will play twice before the Sound Tigers play at Glens Falls.

Story from Boston.com on the Ginand brothers.

If you think three penalties in a row is a lot, Tim Mayer called four in 1:56 against Wilkes-Barre in the third today in St. John’s. The Pens killed them all, and though the IceCaps scored two later to tie it, WBS won in overtime.

Manchester’s Robbie Czarnik was injured against Portland. Dean Arsene received a match penalty for the hit.

Beautiful stuff in Rochester, a story that starts with a recorded message on the scoreboard…

And a nice Chris Elsberry piece on Amity’s Nyjahwahn Walker.

Chat Tuesday. See you then if not before.