It's over (the 8-in-10 part)

There's at least one player who played today who would have sat and rested an injury under better circumstances. Jeff Tambellini wasn't here for most of this, but he even called 8-in-10 "ridiculous." And after all of this, they had to go with five defensemen. So I'm not the only one happy to see this stretch end.

Still... Nothing got done in the first; Brad Isbister outshot them. The Islanders dropped a couple of pointmen in their laps, but they still only scored once on a seven-minute power play, needing a five-on-three to do that. They hit three posts in the third period, but that still wouldn't have been enough.

From the infirmary, where even John Sullo's sick: Brandon Nolan has a broken rib and will miss anywhere from two to six weeks. Jamie Fraser has an appointment tomorrow to get X-rays on his thumb. (Drew Fata has a different kind of appointment tomorrow.) Jeremy Colliton's shoulder just couldn't take eight in 10. Blake Comeau may skate toward the end of the week.

The lead's down to five, and Albany has three games in hand. Yep, this is a darn good time to reset.

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So a couple of things we think we know coming up to the magic deadlines, Tuesday up top (Keith Tkachuk's a Thrasher) and Thursday down here:

Greg Logan says Robert Nilsson would be called up if Jason Blake gets traded, so it's nice to hear that people down there are listening to the people down here. Obviously a move like that could affect the Clear Day list in other ways.

Sergei Ogorodnikov, who's on a point-a-game pace in the Coast, will be back by the end of the year, possibly even in the Clear Day mix; Mike Mole will be back, too.

Whether they go right back up or not, Tambellini and Frans Nielsen are just about Clear Day list locks. It looks very unlikely that Chris Campoli or Bruno Gervais would get shipped down.

Defensemen Dustin Kohn and Andrew MacDonald are the most likely draft picks to land in BST sweaters when their junior seasons end. Ryan O'Marra is possible, too. I threw out the Kyle Okposo pipe dream -- c'mon, kid, who needs an education? -- but was told that wouldn't happen.

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Now back to your regularly scheduled Sunday.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Tambellini-Nielsen-Nilsson
Regier-G. Johnson-Boguniecki
Marjamaki-J. Johnson-Nokelainen
Pitton/Magowan
D: Malec-Berry ('A')
Martens-Wotton (C)
Rourke (A)

HARTFORD
F: Dawes-Helminen-Moore
Byers-Dubinsky-Callahan
Korpikoski-Immonen-Jessiman
(Bahensky-scratch)-Isbister (A)-Lessard
D: Liffiton (A)-Potter
Purinton (A)-Taylor
Baranka-Richter

Hey, how about this unit: Comeau-Colliton-Nolan, Fraser-Fata? That's what was in the suites today. Wanna toss Cullen or Ferraro in there instead? Go ahead, though you'll have to scratch a veteran with the latter.

Berry had a phantom A.

Maybe I'm getting old and prudish, but what's with the "Everybody, Wolf Pack s......" thing they broke out today? (I've got no problem with fans chanting it, but it's another thing for the team to encourage it, if you get my meaning...)

Fire Department defeated the Police Department 10-4.

Best wishes to Fredrik Olausson, who needs a liver transplant, the AP reports.

When the Rangers game faded out on me Saturday night on the way down the Wilbur Cross (y'know, 1050, you can't get it if you get too close to NYC), I flipped over to FM... and found Psychotic Reaction and Double Shot (of My Baby's Love back to back. It's not only an accidental meta-reference, but it was like radio as programmed from above by Andrew Rogers. (But then it went to "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell, not by Gloria Jones, and the seek button didn't find me "Louie Louie." Oh well.)

Had the Rangers kept playing the way they had been playing before the game faded out on me, incidentally, they'd have won 15-0.

Dumb thought that passed through the head on the way home, passing the shut-down Showcase Cinemas in Milford: Wouldn't it be funny if somebody put a drive-in there?

BTW, one great misspeak: The Lowell PA announcer accidentally called Bridgeport's captain "Mark Whiten" before quickly correcting himself. We always knew he was hard-hittin', but...