Old Scottish saying (or was it Russian...)*

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me thrice..."

Seven shots in, it's 3-0 Bridgeport, and you wonder how high it can go, and how many more road wins they can put together before...

You want a dumb-luck explanation for how it started? The first Philly goal was a rim by someone that hit a stanchion, came to the defenseman for a point shot that Tapper swatted home on the rebound.

You want a hockey-cliche explanation? Dreaded three-goal lead.

Simpler explanation? Philly kept going to the well at the back door, and the Sound Tigers didn't cover it. This is troublesome. Dan Marshall's reckoning was about 10 back-door chances, and four went in. I've got three (Philly's second goal is the difference, and I think he's probably right), but the point is made. You can throw in some general loose coverage on the first two Phantoms goals, too.

Good things for Bridgeport include Johan Halvardsson's first point on these shores, Frans Nielsen's first goal since opening night, the returns of Halvardsson and Petteri Nokelainen (whose hit on Niko Dimitrakos appeared to stop time until the Phantoms shrugged and put the puck in the net), a couple of more assists for Eric Boguniecki, and two assists for Sergei Ogorodnikov -- on his first two shifts (out of 11).

But after a 3-0 lead, even after tying it up, there's no bow on this one.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Comeau-Ferraro-Nilsson
Pitton-Colliton (A)-Regier
Tambellini-Nielsen-Boguniecki
Nokelainen/Ogorodnikov
D: Campoli-Berry
Mitchell-Wotton (C)
Halvardsson-Rourke (A)

PHILADELPHIA
F: Voce-Potulny-Dimitrakos
Tapper-Ellison-Reid
(Zingoni-scratch)-Cabana-Davis
Tolpeko-Cullen (A)-Ruzicka
D: Jonsson-Baumgartner (A)
Grenier (A)-Printz
Timonen-Guenin

Yep, no southern-Connecticut reunion. But more on Peter Zingoni for Sunday's paper, since the Sound Tigers aren't skating in the morning...

Been talking to a couple of coaches from high school teams lately. They're interested to see how the New Rules work out there. Some are excited -- mostly the ones with young, smaller, faster kids -- and some are anxious. I'm curious, too.

Since he's sitting next to me, here's the latest from Patrick Williams on SLAM! Check out the metric conversion at the bottom.

*-Ohh, that Scotty. Fiendishly clever, picking out fake distress calls, using chess gambits to pick out the fake captain, not remembering he's not Jack the Ripper... And that Chekhov, looking ready to bust out with "Cheer up, sleepy Jean"** at any moment...
**-It's fun to footnote the footnotes but not explain yourself, isn't it?