With the New York Islanders having rocky first quarter, we haven't spent much time here checking in on their AHL affiliate Bridgeport Sound Tigers. What's happening on the farm?
Schedule: Bridgeport has a two-game weekend with games Friday night in Springfield and Saturday night at home to Hartford.
Standings: Entering the weekend at 4-6-1-1, they were last place in the Northeast Division with a couple of games in hand on everyone except for first-place Springfield. However, after a horrible start that included lots of special teams disasters, the baby Isles had won three of their last five coming into the weekend.
Injuries: Calvin de Haan, Andrey Pedan and Brett Gallant have been banged up, among other long-term wounded like John Persson and captain Chris Bruton. The oddest injury of all is Joe Finley, who needed several checks before getting a plan for action that included surgery to fix a "blood-flow issue" in his hand.
Meanwhile, Aaron Ness was recalled to the Isles, which means...
..Shuffling: The latest swaps with ECHL Stockton involved Greg Miller and Jason Clark going to Stockton (the second ECHL trip in as many seasons for Clark), while Kirill Kabanov and Sean Escobedo came the other way and were joined by Sean Wiles, Chris Langkow and Mike Cornell on PTOs.
On Clark and Miller: "They have an opportunity to develop their bottom-six role," Scott Pellerin said, to be readier to play up here, whether it’s a few minutes on the fourth line or 12-14 on the third. "You have to have that in your skill set.
On Kabanov, he said he enjoyed his time in Stockton (0_o), while Pellerin says they're looking for him to be a pro on and off the ice.
Monkeys: In attempt #11, Kenny Reiter finally won his first AHL game. Reiter was 0-8-2 in the AHL with a lot of tough luck and a .907 save percentage before that. "It was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders. Finally, exclamation point," Reiter said in the Connecticut Post.
Goalies: However, both Reiter and Anders Nilsson have sub-.890 save percentages.
Scorers: Your leaderboard...
# | Player | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SHG | SOG | SH% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
18 | Ryan Strome | 12 | 4 | 12 | 16 | -1 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 10.0 |
26 | Mike Halmo | 11 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 22.2 |
9 | Anders Lee | 12 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 8.3 |
28 | Johan Sundstrom | 12 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -6 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 18.8 |
3 | Andrey Pedan | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14.3 |
23 | John Persson | 9 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -5 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 11.5 |
39 | Joe Diamond | 12 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -1 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 18.8 |
Video: For recent highlights, check out the Sound Tigers channel on YouTube.
Your turn: Any notes, thoughts, observations on the kids? (Besides the usual CALL UP STORME NOW!!1)