First (exh.) game liveblog

This post copies this original. Sorry for its belatedness. I think I have an easier way to do both at the same time, and maybe it'll work better in the near future. Or maybe we'll figure out why the blogs fail in IE. That'd be even easier. As I said on Twitter the other night, the techies who can figure that out get my undying gratitude until at least... well, Saturday, now.

The Sound Tigers get their preseason going without a full unit-plus that'll be big opening-night pieces. The first two-touch game of the year (well, gamenight, anyway) rages behind me. They're already talking about shaky wireless. The excitement pulses.

As long as the wireless lasts, I'll try to toss up liveblog-type thoughts here as the game goes on rather than subject Twitter to it, though some stuff may wind up tweeted, too (especially if the wireless doesn't last.)

The Bridgeport lines and pairs, per Jamie's preview and this morning's appearances, are as they have been through the first week of camp. On the Providence side, we'll see, among others, Tommy Cross of Simsbury, who made his pro debut last year against Bridgeport. Sadly, no Art Bidlevskii, who played last night.

BRIDGEPORT
F: Nino Niederreiter-Brock Nelson-Kirill Kabanov
Mike Halmo-Johan Sundstrom-Sean Backman
Brandon DeFazio-Matt Watkins (A)-Blair Riley
Brett Gallant-Jason Clark-Max MacKay
D: Calvin de Haan-Ty Wishart (A)
Aaron Ness-Jon Landry
Marc Cantin-Nathan McIver (A)
G: Anders Nilsson
Kenny Reiter

PROVIDENCE from Mark Divver
F: Justin Courtnall-Kyle MacKinnon-Tyler Randell
Lane MacDermid (A)-Christian Hanson-Alden Hirshfeld
Justin Florek-Trent Whitfield (C)-Bobby Robins
Matt Pistilli-Max Sauve-Kelsey Wilson
D: Torey Krug-Colby Cohen (A)
Matt Bartkowski-Damon Kipp
Kevan Miller-Tommy Cross
G: Niklas Svedberg
Adam Morrison

Matt Bain is with the team up here. Now the Islanders' trainer, he'll be helping out new trainer David Stickney, as long as that league decides not to play.

"Trouble With the Curve" in the afternoon. Not bad. Had its moments. Eastwood fixes many of the others. And who doesn't love Amy Adams? And beforehand was an ad/interview set for "Les Miserables," followed by trailers for "Lincoln" and "42." Yes now please.

Sound Tigers are wearing what appear to be their regular uniforms, including the blue road sweaters.

--Braintrust in the house: Garth Snow, Jack Capuano, Brent Thompson, Eric Cairns.

--Doug Weight here, too, apparently.

--Referee: Geoff Miller. Linesmen: Bob Bernard, Chris Aughe.

--Nelson wins the draw, and it's on.

--Riley-Robbins off the draw on the second shift. One or two middling shots apiece. On that first shift, Nelson took a lead pass for a partial break and tried a drop pass. Somehow got it back and was stopped.

--Gallant beats Randell pretty decisively on the fourth shift.

--Bruins score first on a long-side wrister on the rush. Bridgeport had it in deep but the Bruins came up the right side. McIver goes with Kelsey Wilson a minute later, both throwing bombs.

--Think we get our first hybrid icing as Halmo comes out of the penalty box (a trip), with a Bruins defender a half-stride ahead of Kabanov at the dots.

--With Hanson (who scored Providence's goal) off for a hook, de Haan makes a nice confident move past Whitfield down the left wall and puts it to the front for Niederreiter. Svedberg holds it out.

--The net isn't held down very well, and that plays a little part as Bridgeport ties it just after a power play expires. Halmo carries in, it goes around to CLark in the right circle, centered to Sundstrom as the net gets knocked off slightly; Sundstrom scores, clearly would've been in with the net in place. (Though apparently it's announced as Clark's; we're upstairs behind glass and can't hear it.) Referee Miller points good all the way. Tie game.

--After Cohen hooks Kabanov and spins him into the boards, Halmo scores on his own rebound on the power play. 2-1 Bridgeport with 29.8 left in the first.

--So ends the first period. Shots 14-14.

--First goal changed to Sundstrom's.

--Bridgeport just had a short-handed three-on-two with both defensemen up in the rush. Cantin stopped up high, Bridgeport regrouped as Providence countered.

--Nilsson with a nice stop on a skate-redirect with the B's on a power play. Providence put Morrison in goal shortly after the midpoint.

--Morrison gives the puck away on that power play, Niederreiter takes it and beats Morrison to make it 3-1 at 13:03.

--It's still 3-1 after two. Shots 22-21 Providence unofficially.

--Nilsson leads them out for the third.

--It's been a pretty steady third. They had to kill a Wishart high-stick, but two quick Providence penalties gave them a short five-on-three. Not giving up lots of chances.

--Backman has drawn a couple of power plays in the third going to the net. This one with three minutes left.

--Sound Tigers win 3-1. Nilsson makes an unofficial 34 saves. Pretty solid all-around effort.

--Here's your dumb stat of the day: This breaks a nine-game road preseason losing streak. Their last exhibition win on the road was against Providence, Sept. 27, 2006, at URI.

Postgame:

A semicomplete and honestly partly unofficial box (didn't take down the unofficial numbers when they changed goalies, sorry):

Bridgeport 2 1 0--3
Providence 1 0 0--1

First Period -- 1, Providence, Hanson 1 (Florek), 2:44. 2, Bridgeport, Sundstrom 1 (Clark, Halmo), 13:45. 3, Bridgeport, Halmo 1 (DeFazio, Wishart), 19:30 (pp). Penalties -- Riley, Bpt, major (fighting), :24; Robins, Pro, major (fighting), :24; Gallant, Bpt, major (fighting), 1:49; Randell, Pro, major (fighting), 1:49; McIver, Bpt, major (fighting), 3:45; Wilson, Pro, major (fighting), 3:45; Halmo, Bpt (tripping), 4:02; Hanson, Pro (hooking), 7:22; Providence bench, served Robins (too many men), 11:43; Cohen, Pro (hooking), 18:53.

Second Period -- 4, Bridgeport, Niederreiter 1, 13:03 (sh). Penalties -- DeFazio, Bpt (slashing), 4:58; Sundstrom, Bpt (unsportsmanlike conduct-diving), 5:26; Krug, Pro (slashing), 5:26; Watkins, Bpt (hooking), 11:53; Wilson, Pro (tripping), 13:43.

Third Period -- No scoring. Penalties -- Wishart, Bpt (high-sticking), 3:14; Florek, Pro (tripping), 4:03; Bartkowski, Pro (slashing), 5:40; Hanson, Pro (hooking), 17:00; Riley, Bpt (holding), 18:00.

Shots on goal -- Bridgeport 14-7-14--35. Providence 14-8-13--35.

Power play opportunities -- Bridgeport 1 of 7, Providence 0 of 5.


Goaltenders -- Bridgeport, Nilsson 1-0-0 (35 shots-34 saves). Providence, Svedberg 0-1-0, Morrison (10:25 second), saves unavailable.

Attendance -- N/A. Referee -- G. Miller. Linesmen -- Bernard, Aughe.

"I knew coming in, the way training camp went, our compete level down low, one-on-one, I knew it'd be a little adjustment for the guys," Scott Pellerin said. "After the first period, everybody got into it."

And it was really a solid team effort. They got pucks deep and kept them there. Pellerin felt he got a little bit of everything from the different lines. There are some systems things that need tightening, but he seemed pleased.

"We had a good week of practice," Mike Halmo said. "We executed in drills. It took a while for us to settle in today. We gave up a goal early in the game and we got to work."

He got the puck deep, got it to Jason Clark, who got it to Johan Sundstrom, and the game was tied. He got the puck from Brandon DeFazio on the power play and scored on his own rebound. Nino Niederreiter took advantage of a Providence miscue and scored an easy shorty.

And Anders Nilsson was… good-rusty, apparently.

"I felt kind of rusty in the first period, actually," said Nilsson, beaten only on an odd-man rush in his first actual game since the day after St. Patrick's Day. "In the first period, I had to think, what should I do in different situations? As the game went on, I felt better and better. I didn't have to think about things."

It worked out to 34 saves. "He covers the net so much," Pellerin said, pleased with the way Nilsson controlled his rebounds.

I was trying to dredge up the memories, but it seemed as if Nilsson was a little feistier in the crease than I remembered, putting the stick into the midsection of Kyle MacKinnon on the way through (which turned into a brief scuffle between Halmo and MacKinnon), giving a hard shove to a P-Broon backing in on him. He said that wasn't something he was doing consciously. "I had a lot of energy. I hadn't played in a while," he said with a laugh. "Hopefully I can keep that going, being aggressive. Usually when you play aggressive, you play good.

"As long," Nilsson added, "as I don't take any penalties."

Speaking of, three fights in the first four minutes. Always fun. "Gally, Riley, McIver, they set the tone," Halmo said. "We kept it rolling from there."

A lot of different players on special teams. The penalty kill included Sundstrom, Sean Backman, DeFazio, Matt Watkins, Nelson, Niederreiter at times.

More tomorrow.