Double Dip

This was a good game to have on a Sunday, with a Monday off and a Tuesday game. There was enough in there for a couple of stories, and then it's just a matter of which one do you go with first?

Went with Thompson this time and his picking up the shutout, especially once Rick Berry basically handed me the quote. We'll talk penalty kill in the Tuesday advance.

Both teams had played three in three, both had to come from a couple of hours away Saturday night, so there wasn't a whole lot of crackle, but there was enough at the right times, like a PK that punished the Penguins physically and limited them to an insignificant amount of offensive chances.

And that left Thompson, who not only made the regular ones but has started to make the big ones routinely. Yes, if Carcillo elevates the puck, it's probably a goal; yes, if Jacques doesn't shoot back toward him, it's probably a goal, and earlier on that play, if Noah Welch doesn't only get partial wood on the initial shot there on the low three-on-one, that could be a goal, too. The difference: While you could never fault Thompson's effort, he's making those saves. And that's only good for the Sound Tigers.


LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Nilsson-Colliton (A)-Magowan
Pitton-J. Johnson-Nolan
Marjamaki-Regier-Nokelainen
G. Johnson/Ferraro
D: Malec-Berry
Wotton (C)-Fraser
Rourke (A)-Martens

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON
F: Carcillo-Spurgeon-Filewich
Jacques-McLean-Stone
Jensen-Dixon-(James-scratch)
Brookbank-Schremp-Bonvie (A)
D: Lannon-Carkner (A)
Welch-DuPont (A)
Young-Gilbert

No idea why there wasn't a penalty when Wotton got hit touching up an icing, especially when he was cut. A similar play drew a boarding major on Blake Comeau in the game after Christmas.

On the other hand, didn't see the Regier play that turned into the cross-checking major. His disbelief makes me wonder. And the funny part was, after DuPont supposedly suffered an injury on the cross-check, the Penguins tried to start him on the power play.

Official word on Ferraro from Saturday night was an elbow acting up. The talk was that he was a game-time decision today, too.

So the Isles improved their defensive depth without swiping from the Sound Tigers, picking up Marc-Andre Bergeron and a draft pick from Edmonton for the rights to Denis Grebeshkov. In a little more than a month, that's two guys who had basically become unpersons around here for Tomas Malec and MAB. Not bad.

I think of Bergeron, I think of May 20, 2002, and Raffi Torres scoring the third-period goal that was going to put the Sound Tigers into the Calder Cup Final, sneaking away from Bergeron to beat Marc Lamothe. Only itsy-bitsy problem was that Peter Sarno scored 43 seconds later, and Louie DeBrusk -- Louie DeBrusk? -- scored in overtime. (Raffi recovered, though.)

Fraser didn't play the first. It sounds like a minor thing, nothing to worry about.

The line to see Bruno Gervais was pretty darn long.