Riding the clutch

Eric Boguniecki has four goals and four assists in four periods. And with Albany breathing down Bridgeport's neck, if the Sound Tigers make it to April 16, we'll do well to remember these four periods.

There have been 21 four-point games by 15 different players in the Sound Tigers' six seasons. Boguniecki is the second to score four in back-to-back games, following Blake Comeau's nine points in the first two games of this season. Juraj Kolnik did it twice in three games late in 2001-02.

But has anyone done it at bigger times, with this much on the line? Steve Regier couldn't remember any in three years; Wade Dubielewicz only compared Boguniecki's to some of Hamilton's clutch performances over the past four years.

"It's like I've said, I always want to score, want to do anything I can to help the team win," Boguniecki said. "I want to do anything I can to help this team get into the playoffs, help this team go far. If you want to take that as a challenge to myself, you can use that term."

Boguniecki has a six-game scoring streak now, with four goals and nine assists in that span. He has been in on all six of the Sound Tigers' power-play goals the past two nights (6-for-20). He just notched the 13th Sound Tigers hat trick.

Can you think of more clutch four periods for a Sound Tiger? Not sure I can.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Tambellini (A)-Nielsen-Boguniecki
Magowan-G. Johnson-Regier
Marjamaki-J. Johnson-Rankin
Pitton/Martens
D: Fata-Berry ('A')
Wotton (C)-VanBallegooie
Malec-Wood

HERSHEY
F: Giroux (C)-Wilson-Klepis
Reid-Tenute-Bourque
Laing (A)-Steckel-Robitaille
Brennan-Werner-(Grover-scratch)
D: Arsene (A)-Milam
Wedderburn-Hedlund
Sloan-Engelland

Martens played defense; he and Wood didn't quite alternate shifts, but they were both in that slot.

Report is that Petteri Nokelainen does have a broken finger and will miss four to six weeks. Allan Rourke was walking around afterward and said he's hopeful of playing Wednesday ("day to day," he pronounced himself). That foot has been giving him problems for some time.

Looks like Boguniecki's eighth pro hat trick, and his fourth in the AHL, if I dug up the right numbers. He had two others in the IHL for Fort Wayne (including a four-goal game against Grand Rapids), and two in the ECHL for Dayton (including a four-goal game against Wheeling).

Giroux scored his second goal on the five-on-three, but Bridgeport killed two others at key moments. Regier said they wanted to pressure more than they have in the past, and it worked OK.

For Marjamaki, his assist on the short-hander was his first point in 20 games.

Billy Thompson allowed a Dean Arsene goal from the red line 2:08 into the third period; two players crossed in front just as Arsene shot, Thompson said, and he couldn't pick up the puck; he looked on the glass, expecting a rim, "and I see it whiz by my shoulder," Thompson said. "It's a thing you laugh about after, as long as you win."

Noted late last night that Saturday's was the 20th win over Philadelphia, the third team to which Bridgeport has done that. Hartford and Albany are the other two. (Lowell would also qualify, if you combine the Devils' and the Lock Monsters' histories. But the league doesn't.)

Albany came from two goals down and won despite Ryan Caldwell's coming an assist short of the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Philadelphia came back and won in a shootout.

Nigel Dawes was at the Garden this morning in case Jaromir Jagr couldn't play. When Jagr was good to go, he apparently raced up to Hartford and scored for the Pack.