Well now

I joked that my opening question to whomever tonight should be, simply, "holy" plus some kind of curse word.

Sounds like there was enough of that.

You've got Cote coming off the bench mid-altercation, you've got Kjell Samuelsson apparently melting down (don't know what happened once he got off the ice, but there was a gross misconduct at the end), you've got 105 third-period Phantoms penalty minutes, you've got Rourke getting slashed in the foot on a faceoff and going for X-rays tomorrow, you've got Nokelainen going for X-rays tomorrow on a possible broken finger, you've got general ugliness. Who knows what's all going to come of it.

You've got Jamie Koharski somehow giving Bridgeport 14 -- 14! -- power plays. (But for whatever you can say about that, you can't blame him for Bridgeport's initial comeback.)

And all that goes with what was a pretty solid offensive performance in a pretty big game.

You talk about four-point games, and that right there was a four-point period. When Zingoni pops that puck home, it's 2-0 Philly, and after all those scoring chances Bridgeport had in the first two periods, you wondered if they had had their chances. Heck, if I had been thinking ahead, I'd have saved you the story I had written after two periods.

Well, here's part of it:

Nate Guenin blocked Eric Boguniecki's attempt at an otherwise-gaping net on the second power play, midway through the first period. That came after Frans Nielsen put a backhander into the crease that a defenseman pulled out.

The Sound Tigers totalled five shots on those five power plays (in the first two periods), no more than two on any single advantage. Munroe stopped Nielsen alone in front on the final advantage to keep the game scoreless.

Philadelphia controlled the first 10 minutes, even with a Sound Tigers power play. The Sound Tigers had the better of the play for the next 20 minutes or so.

Bridgeport had chances. Masi Marjamaki stole the puck from Don Morrison in the first period, but the defenseman hooked him off just enough to both disrupt the shot and avoid a penalty from referee Jamie Koharski.

Munroe stopped Steve Regier point-blank soon after that. Zingoni, back on a Bridgeport three-on-two, blocked Allan Rourke's shot. And then Boguniecki just tipped a Regier centering pass wide.

Whew. A game like that goes one of two ways: Team with all the chances caves, or the breaks even out. And if I have to bet, I usually bet on the caving.

Tonight, the breaks evened out for Bridgeport. And then some.

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

PHILADELPHIA
F: Kane (A)-Cullen (A)-Tolpeko
Zingoni-Ellison-Meloche
Grant-Ross-Davis
Cote-(Ruggeri-scratch)-Pisellini
D: Printz-Slaney (C)
Timonen-Guenin
Grenier-Morrison

From Dan Marshall tonight:

The guys pulled together, 19 guys on the ice, together as a team after six losses. They were desperate. Between periods, Bernie (Cassell) went in and relayed the message from the coaching staff: We needed these two points. They went and got them. I was proud of them sticking up for each other. A young guy like Pitts (Pitton fought Gino Pisellini after he slashed Rourke). The camaraderie, between the injuries and the callups and the losing streak, has actually been heightened. ... They haven't been getting on anybody's cases. The guys have stayed positive instead of pointing fingers. I'll say one thing about the team as a whole, I'm very proud they didn't point fingers at all. Guys would come to talk to us about things we could do, and it was "we," "we," never finger-pointing.

Here's the official word on why Ogorodnikov didn't get the call from Pensacola: "Sergei needs some more development in the defensive zone," Howard Saffan said. "That's why he didn't get the call up. ... He needs to be more of a two-way hockey player. Hey, look, Sergei's 20. He's going to be a Sound Tiger for a long time."

The baby Berry is Natalie Lauren; she and Tonya Berry are both fine. Daddy Berry didn't wear the Phantom A tonight.

Here's Chris Simon's statement.

Andy notes the five-point game tonight out of Jeff Hamilton.

More from the Battle of the Ferraros from San Antonio.

Rochester in Crisis, Day 2, in which the mayor promises to appease the hockey folks with the U-Haul or the ECHL or maybe even the NAHL, I guess?

Tip o'cap to the Barlow girls on their state title. They were fun to watch the other night.

Finally: Ah, Czech opera...