February 23, 2006

Providence 3, Portland 6

The game last night was not as unbalanced as the score suggests; nor was it anywhere near even. Odd, I know. Let me explain.

Portland scored two goals in the first period and two more less then halfway through the second. They had only 14 shots by then; we had somewhere around 9, and had yet to score. Gordon pulled Jordan for Brian Eklund. I immediately had visions of a score of 20-0. I know; it's bad that I think like that. But I'll be quite honest- 1. I think that Springfield made out in the deal for Eklund, and 2. I was surprised by how well Brian played last night. I am still not so keen on him, but give me time to see him play some more. His numbers make me wary, and I am protected of my boys and their record.

A little before Providence switched goalies, Portland was forced to put Nathan Marsters in when starting goalie Dieter Kochan left the game with an injury. I know that somehow, Eric Nickulas got called for a penalty for it - Portland wound up on a power play, which is how they got the fourth goal - but he was knocked into the goalie by a Portland player. The penalty was crap.

Eklund came up with big saves for us for the period and a half he played, allowing us to cut Portland's deficit in half (David Lundbohm and Eric Healey), right up until the end of the game, when he allowed two more goals. The first one... it was bad. He had his pad against the right post,and the puck stopped right there. He thought it'd been forced around the back, and he was looking to his left. Portland got to it before we could, and... goal number 5. I don't remember the details of the second goal he allowed. Pascal Pelletier scored a goal right after, cutting the Portland lead in half, but with only thirty-seven seconds to go, it'd take a miracle to bring it to overtime. I've seen Mike Knuble score twice in thirty seconds, so it wasn't impossible, but we weren't playing for it. A ridiculous amount of pictures here, but it's Jordan's face in this one that makes me giggle the most:

According to the ProJo notebook, Chris Dyment is back practicing with the team. This is fantastic news, particularly since two months ago, doctors thought he'd never play again because of the injuries and surgery he needed to his eye from an off-ice incident on New Year's Eve.

I know I was supposed to tell you all about Manchester and Lowell, but I'm exhausted and am going to bed instead, and tomorrow I am going to Providence. Hope you understand. This weekend, I promise.

EDIT: I over-thought a lot of things in the post below where Mike Schutte and Jon Sigalet were concerned (I should have never stopped the coffee cold turkey). Mike served his one-game suspension last night, and should be playing tomorrow (he and I are in a fight, for those of you playing along at home). Ben Walter might need to have surgery on his knee (inj. Feb 11 @ Manchester), and I'm not sure about Jon's probability for Friday. I'd like to pretend it's high, because I like having double the Sigalet fun on the ice. Plus, y'know, he and I aren't in a fight (that I know of), and I would like to have more friends then foes on the ice tomorrow night.

Heather | 07:57 PM | 8
filed under: game-related || p. bruins