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Albany
We don’t know for sure, but perhaps the Bridgeport Sound Tigers spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express.
Despite a quick turnaround and a 3½-hour bus trip, the Sound Tigers seemed to have the fresher legs for their Saturday matinee against the Albany Devils at Times Union Center.
Bridgeport, coming off a 5-2 victory Friday night in Rochester, scored twice early in the second period Saturday and held on to beat the Devils, 3-2.
Albany also had less than 16 hours between the end of its Friday game and the 1 p.m. start against Bridgeport, but the Devils didn’t have to travel.
“You would think they would be a little more tired than we were,” Devils coach Rick Kowalsky said. “Maybe it showed up more in the third period. I give them credit. They had a lot of jump, as advertised.”
Bridgeport won for the 14th time in its past 15 games. The Devils had their two-game winning streak snapped.
“It’s a credit to our leadership and the character in our locker room,” Sound Tigers coach Brent Thompson said. “We have guys that compete on an everyday situation. They practice hard, they play hard.”
SOUND TIGERS 3, DEVILS 2
Bridgeport 1 2 0 — 3
Albany 1 0 1 — 2
First period—1, Bridgeport, Landry 3 (Ho-Sang, Jones), 8:35. 2, Albany, Camper 4 (Lappin, Quenneville), 16:13 (pp). Penalties—Dal Colle, Bri (holding), 15:40; MacWilliam, Alb (cross-checking), 17:23.
Second period—3, Bridgeport, Ho-Sang 8 (Dal Colle), 2:31. 4, Bridgeport, Verhaeghe 9 (Winquist, Ho-Sang), 4:36. Penalties—None.
Third period—5, Albany, Lappin 7 (Camper, MacDonald), 1:13 (pp). Penalties—Rowe, Bri (high-sticking), :21; Stollery, Alb (elbowing), 2:00; Scarlett, Alb (interference), 14:07.
Shots on goal—Bridgeport 8-14-6—28. Albany 8-16-9—33.
Power-play opportunities—Bridgeport 0 of 3; Albany 2 of 2.
Goalies—Bridgeport, McAdam 8-2-0 (33 shots-31 saves). Albany, Appleby 14-11-0 (28-25).
T—2:14. A—3,616.
Josh Ho-Sang, a 2014 first-round draft pick of the New York Islanders, scored Bridgeport’s second goal and assisted on what proved to be the game winner.
Ho-Sang converted a two-on-one break at 2:31 of the second to make it 2-1. Carter Verhaeghe extended the lead 2:05 later.
“You know what you get with that team,” Kowalsky said, “not always flashy, although with Ho-Sang they’ve got some skill there, but they work and compete and they’re around the puck.
“It took us a while to adjust to it, but we did. They slip in behind us, we misread and give them the two-on-one. To me, the third goal was the one that really stung. Other than that, it was a pretty good game.”
The third goal carried a little extra weight because of what happened seconds beforehand.
Devils defenseman Andrew MacWilliam lost a glove and was trying to retrieve it. Before he did, Verhaeghe used his stick to fling the glove 60 feet down ice.
No penalty was called.
“I thought it’s standard,” Kowalsky said. “When a stick is pushed out of the way or a glove, especially when the guy is in the vicinity to get it back, it’s automatic.”
Apparently it isn’t. It is at the referee’s discretion, but an opponent clearing a glove isn’t necessarily a delay-of-game penalty as it is with a stick or a helmet.
“They said if it would have been a stick or helmet, it would have been worth something,” MacWilliam said. “I don’t know the actual rule, apparently it’s not the rule, but it’s one of those things that happens in a game. The guy who hit it ended up scoring, but you can’t let those kinds of things affect you.”
The Devils got their second power-play goal of the game early in the third to make it a one-goal game, but they couldn’t get the equalizer despite an abundance of chances.
“Down two, every team’s going to have their push,” said center Carter Camper, who scored the first Albany goal and set up the second. “We had our push. Even throughout the game, we had our chances.”
The Devils will finish a homestand with another 1 p.m. start Monday. That will be their last game at Times Union Center until March 17.
At least the Devils will have a little more rest before that one.
“That’s the American League,” MacWilliam said. “There are always games like that, whether it’s a school-day game at 11 o’clock in the morning or an afternoon game at 1 randomly. It’s just something that you’ve got to learn how to adjust to.”
pdougherty@timesunion.com • 518-454-5416 • @Pete_Dougherty
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