Game Notes

Quick Hits

Bryan Rust (465) is one point shy of tying Jake Guentzel (466) for the 11th most points in franchise history.

The Penguins enter tomorrow’s game ranked third in the NHL in power-play percentage (30.4%).

Erik Karlsson has 43 points (11G-32A) in 53 career games versus the Canadiens. His 11 goals versus them are tied with his teammate Kris Letang (11) for the most among all active blueliners.

Sidney Crosby’s next even-strength goal will surpass Phil Esposito (448) for sole possession of the ninth-most even-strength goals in NHL history.

Anthony Mantha, a Longueuil, Quebec native, has 19 points (11G-8A) in 24 career games against the Canadiens. He has four game-winning goals against Montreal, the most against any one opponent in his career.

CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — As Friday’s stormy weather brings strong rains and damaging winds, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and local agencies are reporting the following alerts.

Note: Not every alert can be attributed to weather.

Current Traffic Alerts:

• NEW HAVEN – Two-vehicle crash on Route 15 southbound between Exits 46 and 42B. The right lane is closed. Reported at 3:28 p.m.
• OLD SAYBROOK – Route 154 (Main Street) closed in both directions between Willard Ave Ext. and Cromwell Ave because of tree down with wires. Reported Friday, December 19 at 2:20 pm.
• PLAINFIELD – Route 12 closed # 105 Norwich Road and Kinney Hill Road for tree in wires. Reported at 12:31 p.m.
• PLAINFIELD – Route 12 closed in both directions at Arbor Lane due to a pole down in wires. Reported at 12:25 p.m.
• N. STONINGTON – Route 184 (Providence New London Turnpike) closed in both directions at Rt 49 (Pendelton Hill Road) because of tree down. Reported at 12:11 p.m.
• COLCHESTER – Colchester Route 85 New London Road closed between Lake Hayward Road and West Road because of Wires Down. Reported at 12:04 p.m.
• UNION – Route 171 closed at Route 197 and Rindge Road for a tree down in wires. Reported at 12:02 p.m.
• DEEP RIVER – Route 80 (Winthrop Road) closed in both directions between Cedar Swamp Road and Bahr Road because of a tree down. Reported at 11:58 a.m.
• OXFORD – Route 67 is closed at Route 42 for wires and a transformer down. Reported at 11:49 a.m.
• LEBANON – Lebanon RT-207 Exeter Road is closed at Clubhouse Road because of a tree down with wires involved. Reported at 11:46 a.m.
• NORTH BRANFORD – Route 17 northbound and southbound at the intersection of Rt 22 is closed. Utility work in area. Reported at 11:47 a.m.
• BRANFORD – Localized flooding is currently occurring in multiple areas of town.
• SEYMOUR – Fire officials are asking people to avoid Highland Avenue and Gilyard Street because a large tree has snapped a telephone pole. Please use alternate routes.
• MIDDLETOWN – Multiple businesses without power.
• EAST LYME – Route 161 (Flanders Road) closed in both directions at Society Road because of pole down with wires. Reported at 11:50 a.m.
• EAST LYME – Tree down on powerlines on West Main Street, Niantic (Rte. 156) in the area of #278. Roadway is currently closed at Douglas Avenue and Four Mile intersection. Eversource has been notified. Reported at 10:45 a.m.
• MANSFIELD – Route 195 is closed at Ledgewood Drive for a tree down across the road. Reported at 10:45 a.m.
• GUILFORD – Route 146 Leetes Island Road closed in both directions between Wingate Road and Moose Hill Road because of a tree down with wires. Reported at 11:44 a.m.
• THOMPSON – Thompson Route 193/Thompson Road is closed between Route 12/Riverside Drive and Robbins Road because of a Tree Down. Reported Friday, December 19 at 11:36 am.
• COLCHESTER – Colchester Route16/Middletown Road is closed between Bigelow Road and Victoria Drive because of a tree down with wires involved. Reported at 10:45 a.m.
• HARWINTON – Harwinton Route 4/Burlington Road closed between Harmony Hill Road and Route 72 Terryville Road because of a tree down with wires on the road. A fire was also reported. Reported at 9:14 a.m.

Portland’s skyline is changing.

First, the iconic B&M Baked Beans brick smokestack came down. Then the 190-foot Casco building went up. And soon, the city will add a sweeping new Roux Institute campus and an “architecturally significant” expansion of the Portland Museum of Art.

But perhaps no change will have as much visual impact as the 30-story, nearly 400-foot tower the planning board approved earlier this month. 

The proposal has ruffled feathers, with many bemoaning what they say sticks out like a sore thumb (or middle finger) on the city’s idyllic skyline. They fear if more high-rises pop up across the city, Portland might slowly morph into a northern version of Boston.

So will this project usher in an era of skyscrapers for Maine’s largest city?

Experts say that’s unlikely.

“We’re not expecting a windfall of 30-story buildings,” said Kevin Kraft, the city’s director of planning and urban development. 

Under new zoning laws, only a small section of downtown along Temple, Federal and Union streets allow buildings as tall as the tower. That means even if there was an appetite for more high-rises, there simply isn’t much undeveloped space.

Furthermore, much of Portland ‘s peninsula is covered in historic districts, and “contributing buildings” can’t be torn down, Kraft noted. 

Chapter 14 Land Use Code – Revised 12-3-2025 (PDF)-Pages by julia

GROWING UP

Vertical development, experts say, is a sustainable way to squeeze more housing into a smaller footprint, something cities have been doing for decades. And Portland needs housing in spades. 

Last year, city leaders updated its zoning laws with the goal of allowing growth while preserving character. The overhaul included an increased maximum height for buildings in some of the city’s major corridors, permitting buildings up to 380 feet in a section of downtown.

That part of the city has always allowed the tallest buildings, but until last year’s recode, the maximum height was 250 feet. And that height cap was in place for nearly 30 years before it was even remotely tested when Redfern Properties built the 190-foot Casco in 2023, currently the tallest building in Maine. 

The new proposal from Portland developer East Brown Cow Management LLC, tentatively called Old Port Square tower, would be twice that tall. It would include more than 70 residential units, commercial space, an 88-room hotel and a restaurant at the top, and is just one piece of a development project that could fill an entire city block.

Whether any other developers follow suit with similar proposals could depend more on market conditions than Portland’s updating zoning. 

“People aren’t going to build speculative high-rises,” Kraft said. 

If the building ends up being successful, though, it could be an important “proof of concept” for other developers in the area, said Tim Love, assistant director of the Master in Real Estate Program at Harvard University.

Love is generally supportive of the project, which he said is in a great location.

“A lot of these proposals don’t happen because at the end of the day, the financing doesn’t work or the numbers that were plugged in for rents aren’t supported by the underwriting,” he said. “So I think it would be good for Portland if this project is a success,” because it could lead to additional residential development downtown.”

And more people living downtown is exactly what the city needs, he said. 

“I hope this is a model for more residential mixed-use development at densities that can extend the kind of not 24/7 but 18/7 life of the city all the way to the museum,” he said. 

If Portland is going to get an influx of high-rises, it won’t be for some time, said Jeff Levine, a former planner for the city of Portland who now divides his time consulting and teaching urban studies and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“I don’t think you get instant results in anything,” he said.

Real estate is complicated. Beyond just zoning changes, there are building regulations, financial restrictions and even simply individual personalities that impact whether a building will go up, Levine said.

FEAR OF CHANGE

Nancy Smith, CEO of GrowSmart Maine, a nonprofit that helps communities grow in sustainable ways, says the Old Port Square tower will certainly be symbolic for the city, but it’s not a “game-changer.”

Game-changers, she said, were the Franklin Arterial and the demolition of Union Station — projects that transformed the city (though arguably not for the better) and made a statement about what Portland wanted to be in the future. 

But some feel like the tower could do that, too. It just might take time.

“We’re not (just) trying to capture the current moment, we want to anticipate the growth we could see in the next 15, 20, 30 years,” Kraft said. “We want to accommodate that growth (and) be more proactive than reactionary.”

Cities are constantly changing and evolving, he said. At one point, the Time and Temperature building on Congress Street seemed to dwarf those around it, including the Fidelity Trust building, which was once known as Maine’s “first skyscraper.” Now, they blend in.

Additionally, Smith said, the uses intended for the proposed tower area already commonplace downtown: a hotel, restaurant, apartments and shops.

Still, a big element of early opposition to the tall tower is fear of change, and that’s natural, she said.

“The challenge is moving beyond that deeply personal response to actually consider what you’re looking at,” she said. “This building has a lot of symbolic value. Portland is changing, but stopping the building isn’t going to stop that change.”