Two Minutes=One Point

There are good penalties, and then there are fantastic penalties.

And looking at it now, why isn't Jeff Tambellini my "unsung hero" in the paper in the morning?

(Aw, heck, I led with him for both editions.)

If Tambellini doesn't do what he did to keep Aaron Voros away from the open net, "it's game-over," said Wade Dubielewicz, scoring machine. Bridgeport's going to ManchVegas with one point, not two.

And then Jeremy Colliton, scoring machine, chips a puck past the point man, off to the races, neat move, scores his second overtime goal here in two seasons, and it's off to New Hampshire.

The power play continues to impress. They're getting bodies to the net, and they're getting shots to the net, and the combination is textbook. (Original lead for a 2-1 game was pulled from the Canonical List of "Good Things Happen When." (So maybe you should be happy about the way it ended.)) Bridgeport has scored on five of its past nine five-on-threes after failing nine times in a row.

Tambellini, by the way, now has an eight-game scoring streak (6-7-13), and only five streaks (four regular-season streaks) in team history are longer, including Jeff Hamilton's record 12-game run last season.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Comeau-Colliton (A)-Regier
Tambellini-Nielsen-Nilsson
Nolan-Nokelainen-Ferraro
Marjamaki-(Ogorodnikov-scratch)-Pitton
D: Fata-Berry
Mitchell-Wotton (C)
Campoli-Rourke (A)

LOWELL
F: (Minard-scratch)-Papineau-Tallackson
LaCouture-Vrana (A)-Bergfors
Murphy (A)-Pihlman-Marshall
Voros-Davis-Clarkson
D: Greene-McGillis (C)
Malmivaara-Fraser
Harant-Fahey

Speaking of a certain record-holder, look who's got a hat trick.

Albany Lowell didn't come out for warmup until about 17 minutes were on the clock. Curious.

OK: Where am I?

Looking at the sweaters and reading the names, the urge to say "Albany" is just too strong. I actually typed "Albany" in the box score, Vrana's goal. (Fixed it in time.) Last week's River Rats appearance almost led me to write "Lowell" every time. Why couldn't they not have simply traded affiliations? I'll probably say "Albany Lock Monsters" at some point this season, too.

Of course, the Lock Monsters' banners are down from the Tsongas Arena rafters.

The new mascot here appears to be named "Devil Dawg." Solid.

Dubielewicz might have deserved an assist on Colliton's goal, too. He put it to the corner, Wotton chipped it up, and Colliton chipped it past. That would be three assists in two games, which would be scary.

Needed an initial on both linesmen tonight: S. Whittemore (Scott, not Todd) and H. Baker (Hans, not Michael). Ref Frederic L'Ecuyer worked only his second Sound Tigers game; he had opening night at Bingo.

Pittsburgh assigned vet John LeClair to WBS, but from all reports (like, for instance, Karen Price's in the Tribune-Review), it's to put him on re-entry waivers...

(Edit: Jonathan's Penguins Insider has moved here.)

Didn't catch this until seeing the note in The Hockey News, but brief Sound Tigers backup goalie Sebastien Laplante went through a scary injury last month: a puck got through his mask and hit him in the eye. He's back in action, thankfully... (Laplante backed up in Norfolk in late March 2004. Dubielewicz was called up in Philly and stayed up when Garth Snow got hurt, and Scott Stirling wasn't available to get down there.)

Chris Campoli gets namechecked as a 2005-06 league leader in this study, which I didn't delve too deeply into but looks interesting...

Making that sweeping turn from I-290 onto I-495 today, I flashed back to that road trip I took with the team two seasons ago. Inevitably, thinking about that trip brings to mind three things: one, Sean Bergenheim spraining his ankle kicking the soccer ball around in Portland; two, that adventure in Burger King on the way home; and three, this quote from Leonard Koppett's The Rise and Fall of the Press Box:

"It boils down to this: On the road, you are spending all your time with people you did not choose to be with, separated from those you care about the most--family, old friends, neighbors, even fellow workers from your own paper--in places and situations not of your choosing. Your companions are forced upon you by circumstance, whether or not you enjoy or dislike any of them, and their mix constantly changes (through change of assignment and player trades). And the schedule, in itself, becomes a tyranny that virtually eliminates voluntary activities, even when you're home for only 10 days or two weeks at a time."

The best part about this paragraph? I read it on the bus early on the morning of Dec. 18, 2004, rumbling through Blandford, Mass., exactly halfway between Binghamton and Portland.