Captain Trent Whitfield: hero, All-Star and all around awesome human being
In his 2nd game back after missing 24 games with a concussion, Providence captain Trent Whitfield scored his 1st goal of the season with only minutes left in the 3rd period to lead the Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Atlantic division-leading Portland Pirates. In a chippy game with 3 fights, lopsided penalties that often saw Providence players sitting in the penalty box and 2 early power play goals for the Pirates, Whitfield’s composure and leadership proved to be exactly what the Bruins needed and may have been severely lacking in his long absence this season.
Warning: this recap is not objective at all.
The Bruins scored just 36 seconds into the game on a 2-on-1 break when Chris Bourque scored his 8th goal of the season – and his 6th goal in the last 6 games – on a pass from Ryan Spooner (with the secondary assist to Jamie Tardif). The lead was short-lived when the lone referee of the game began a night of questionable, if not outright awful, penalty calls. With Christian Hanson in the box for tripping at 1:02 of the 1st period, the Pirates power play quickly went to work. Portland captain Alexandre Bolduc netted his 15th goal of the season from Chris Brown and Chris Conner at 1:33. The Pirates again beat Niklas Svedberg and the Bruins, this time with Garnet Exelby in the penalty box, at 7:03 of the 1st period, as Rob Klinkhammer netted his 9th of the season from Michael Stone and David Rundblad to take a 2-1 lead.
Bartkowski’s 1st period goal (Steph Vail/Flickr)
Things got chippy from there as the teams threw hard, perhaps questionable hits. One hit resulted in Jordan Caron leaving the game in agony as he clutched either his face or his arm – and he did not return. Not long after that, Bobby Robins took matters into his own hands by dropping the gloves with the player that hit Caron, Mark Louis. Robins got an extra 2 minute minor, but at 15:39 of the 1st, Stone was called for high- sticking, and the teams were playing 4-on-4 hockey. Matt Bartkowski crashed the net and was able to put a rebound in the net behind goaltender Chad Johnson at 16:43 of the 1st. Bartkowski’s 2nd goal of the season game from Spooner and Bourque and tied the game at 2. The game remained tied through the 2nd period as Portland outshot Providence 8-4. Torey Krug decided to drop the gloves with Portland’s Brendan Shinnimin (the first of Shinnimin’s career).
Krug and Shinnimin’s ‘fight’ (Steph Vail/Flickr)
Headed into the 3rd period, the game remained physical. Providence’s few opportunities on the man advantage were pathetic, but they provided huge penalty kills at important times of the game. This is when Whitfield’s importance to the team was starting to become clear. Bourque was whistled twice for borderline calls at best, and he screamed relentlessly at the ref. I was surprised he didn’t get an extra 2 for unsportsmanlike conduct. Whitfield spoke calmly with the ref, but what was most impressive to me was one thing I always notice at Providence games – shot blocking. Not one player on the Bruins roster goes down to block shots, even on the penalty kill. On the first penalty kill of the game, Whitfield went down to block a shot, and even though the penalty kill was unsuccessful that time around, it exemplified why he is so important to the team. Lead by example. And his penalty killing did not fail late in the game when it mattered most; all the Bruins penalty killers were stellar in the 3rd period. Perhaps they were inspired by their captain. Whatever it was, it kept them in the game when it was still 2-2.
The critical moments in the final 5 minutes of the 3rd period saw Whitfield’s line cycling the puck in the offensive zone. Although Portland had been rallying for penalties all game long, including the entire bench crying for a second too-many-men call against Providence, they themselves were guilty of some blatant penalties as Whitfield and his linemates, Craig Cunningham and Justin Florek, worked the puck along the boards and around the net. Rather than take a dive or stop to complain, they dug in deeper, and Whitfield was right where he needed to be in front of the net, digging away at a rebound in front of Johnson until he was able to put it in the net at 15:41 of the 3rd period.
The look on his face was priceless. He had worked so hard, and been through so much. And the goal was so important, and it was so great. I wish I could have captured it on camera, because it was right in front of me, but I was too busy going insane celebrating euphorically because it was awesome.
The game wasn’t quite over yet, of course. The Pirates pressed for the tying goal in the remaining minutes. Of course they were granted another power play on a questionable call. But Providence succeeded in another huge penalty kill at 19:33 of the 3rd period when Bartkowski was called for tripping after the Pirates had pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker. In the final30 seconds, the hard work of the team and some great saves by Svedberg paid off as the horn sounded and the sweet reward of victory dispelled the bitter losses that plagued the team over the recent weeks. As the long-time season ticket holder next to me said, “this makes up for losing to Worcester in the last 10 seconds.”
This comes as a huge win at a critical time in the season against a divisional rival who currently sit atop the Atlantic division. The Pirates (19-12-1-1=40pts) are still in 1st, but the Bruins, who are in 3rd, have 2 games in hand and now have a record of 17-12-0-2 for 36 points. They are 1 point behind the 2nd place Worcester Sharks. Hopefully they can continue to be inspired by the play of their captain, stay healthy, and get another win Sunday at the Dunk against the Springfield Falcons.
Game Notes:
- Caron left the game in the 1st period and did not return. According to Mark Divver of The Providence Journal, he will be “out at least 3 weeks with what Butch Cassidy describes as upper-body injury.” 😦
- Portland outshot Providence 33-30 – a rare instance in which the Bruins did not ridiculously outshoot their opponent.
- Svedberg improves to 13-6-0-1, with a 2.45 GAA and 0.921 save%.
- This was the 4th meeting between the 2 teams thus far this season; Providence is 3-1 so far. They meet again January 18 in Providence.
- Providence is 11-5-0-1 when scoring 1st.
- Providence is 9-8-0-2 against Atlantic division rivals.
- The games 3 stars were: (3) Ryan Spooner, (2) Chris Bourque, (1) Trent Whitfield.
Statistics:
- Bobby Robins continues to lead the AHL in penalty minutes (163) and major penalties (19).
- Zach Trotman leads the Providence Bruins with a plus/minus rating of +6. He is also their highest-scoring defenseman.
- Providence’s PP ranks 21st in the league at 15.0%; their PK is even worse, ranking 25th (80.3%). At home, the Bruins have the 2nd worst PK in the league at 78.2%.
- The team ranks 22nd in the league in average goals scored per game (2.52), while ranking 12th in fewest goals allowed per game (2.71).
- They remain 1st in the league with most shots per game (33.81), and 14th in fewest shots allowed per game (29.94). However, they are 6-9-0-2 when they outshoot their opponents.
Check out the rest of my photos from the game here!
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