P-Bruins Silence Sound Tigers

Good job being awesome, Cunningham. Keep up the good work.

The Providence Bruins have extended their winning streak to 4 games with a 3-1 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Friday night. Craig Cunningham has 2 goals and Justin Florek had the empty netter to insure the victory. Michael Hutchinson made 26 saves in net in helping the Bruins improve to 39-19-0-5 this season.

Penalties were aplenty in this game and although both teams had a power play goal, the scoring didn’t begin until halfway through the game. About midway into the 2nd period, Cunningham scored his 21st goal of the season with assists to Graham Mink and David Warsofsky. Mink now has 4 points in his last 4 games.

Bridgeport tied the game up at 8:44 of the 3rd period. With Colby Cohen – a last minute addition in lieu of Matt Bartkowski‘s Boston recall – in the penalty box for slashing, Sean Wiles got his 1st goal of the season. The power play goal was assisted by Jon Landry and Matt Donovan.

2 minutes later, at 10:49 of the 3rd, Cunningham would strike again. With Bridgeport’s Ty Wishart in the box for a delay of game call, Cunningham put Providence ahead for the 2nd time that night with his 22nd goal of the season and 2nd goal of the game. Zach Trotman got the primary assist, and Warsofsky also picked up an assist for his 2nd of the game.

In the final minute of the game, the Sound Tigers – already on a power play thanks to a cross-checking penalty to Trotman – pulled goaltender Kenny Reiter for a 6-on-4 advantage to push for the tying goal. Florek picked up the shorthanded empty netter to ensure the 3-1 victory for the P-Bruins, notching his 10th goal of the season at 19:51 of the 3rd period with assists from Garnet Exelby and Colby Cohen.

Alex Khokhlachev made his debut tonight, but his name only showed up on the score sheet under the penalty column. He was whistled for tripping 30 seconds into the 2nd period. He recorded 1 shot on net. His wingers had a handful of shots – 2 for Kyle MacKinnon and 3 for Jamie Tardif – but Providence spent the majority of the night killing penalties or (with the exception of Cunningham’s goal) trying to convert on their own power plays with futility.

The goaltenders were both strong – Hutchinson earned the 2nd star and Reiter, who made 27 saves, was 3rd star. Cunningham was the 1st star. Cunningham has scored 7 of his 22 goals this season against Bridgeport.

Florek has been making a big impact in the month of March. His goal tonight was his 5th this month, meaning he has scored 50% of his goals this season since his 2-goal game on March 3rd.

Providence travels to Worcester tomorrow to face the Sharks in their final game of the weekend.

Pregaming: Providence @ Bridgeport

Carter Camper, pictured here against the Sound Tigers earlier this season, had 3 points against Bridgeport when Providence beat them 5-4 on January 11.

Providence Bruins, 22-16-0-3=47 points in 41 games, 2nd in Atlantic division, 5th in Eastern Conference

@ Bridgeport Sound Tigers (Baby NY Islanders), 19-19-2-2=42 points in 42 games, 4th in Northeast division, 12th in Eastern Conference

Tonight, Bridgeport and Providence meet for the 4th time this season. Bridgeport has won 2 of the previous 3 meetings this season. Providence was victorious in the most recent match-up, which took place on January 11, when they skated away with a 5-4 win.

Providence has all the momentum coming into tonight. They are 5-4 in the last 10; Bridgeport is 2-7-1-0. Providence is riding a 2-game winning streak prior to the All-Star break; Bridgeport is coming off of a 5-0 shutout at the hands of the Norfolk Admirals. Bridgeport’s leading scorer, Nino Niederreiter (19 goals, 17 assists) recently asked for a trade because he is unhappy playing in the AHL.

Bridgeport does have one advantage: their power play is ranked 6th (20.3%) while Providence’s is 24th at 15.3%. Providence’s penalty kill is mediocre at 16th overall in the league, an 82.5% success rate. Bridgeport’s is ranked lower, at 22nd, for 81.1% success rate.

Look for Niklas Svedberg to get the start in net for the P-Bruins tonight. The rookie goaltender is 18-6-2-1 this season, posting a 2.34 GAA and 0.921 save %. Jordan Caron will also suit up for the 2nd straight game after returning from injury. Colbey Cohen will play in his first P-Bruins game since he sustained an injury in early December, while Christian Hanson will miss the game with the flu. He will be replaced with Tyler Randell.

Leading scorer Jamie Tardif (20 goals, 9 assists) is 1 point away from 30 points on the season. Carter Camper, with 19 assists, surpassed Ryan Spooner (18 assists) as the team leader in that category, finally showing offensive spark after a tough early portion of the season. Spooner has one of the highest +/- ratings on the team with +8. And while the Boston Bruisn and Buffalo Sabres NHL game promises to be a boxing match, Bridgeport and Providence have had some brutal clashes in the past – notably between two of the leading fighters in the AHL in Bobby Robins and Nathan McIver (to name a few). Just take a look at the score sheet from the November 18 game in Providence.

The game starts at 7:00 pm tonight!

Providence Nearly Blows 5-Goal Lead, Beats Bridgeport 5-4

Craig Cunningham was the 1st star with 2 goals tonight. He and linemates Carter Camper and Max Sauve stepped up to fill in scoring that was badly needed with the absence of the teams leaders. (Photo Credit: Steph Vail/Flickr)

The Providence Bruins hosted the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Friday night and jumped out to an unexpected 5-0 lead only to come close to blowing it before coming away with a 5-4 win. Craig Cunningham had 2 goals and Tommy Cross  had what would be the game winner. Christian Hanson and Torey Krug also had goals for the P-Bruins, who came away with their 1st win over Bridgeport in 3 games this season, and will face the Sound Tigers 5 more times before the seasons end.

Preview: P-Bruins vs. Bridgeport

Jared Knight returns to the AHL tonight for Providence (Photo credit: slidingsideways/Flickr)

Tonight the Providence Bruins face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in Providence. The Bruins (17-13-0-2) are tied for 3rd place in the Atlantic division with the Manchester Monarchs (16-15-2-2), and trail 2nd place Worcester (18-13-1-2) by 3 points. Bridgeport is 2nd in the Northeast division, behind Springfield. This will be the 3rd meeting between the 2 teams this season and Providence is still looking for their 1st win against the Sound Tigers. The previous meetings saw Bridgeport win 4-2 at home in October and 6-2 in Providence in November.

The Providence Bruins will be without 6 top players – Chris Bourque, Ryan Spooner, Jamie Tardif, Lane MacDermid, David Warsofsky, and Matt Bartkowski – who will all be healthy scratches as they await Boston Bruins training camp to open this weekend. The Providence Journal reports that tonight’s lineup will be as follows:

Forwards:

Max Sauve – Carter Camper – Craig Cunningham

Justin Courtnall – Christian Hanson – Bobby Robins

Tyler McNeely – Kyle MacKinnon – Jared Knight

Justin Florek – Trent Whitfield – Alden Hirschfeld

Defense:

Tommy Cross – Zach Trotman

Torey Krug – Kevan Miller

Ryan Button – Eric Baier

Goal:

Niklas Svedberg

It will be Jared Knight‘s 1st game back in the AHL since sustaining a lower-body injury earlier in the season. The P-Bruins might be starved for offense nonetheless, especially with their entire top line and top 3 scorers sitting out. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers have some top AHL scorers, such as Nino Niederreiter (8th overall in points), but it is unclear if he and other NHL prospects will play in tonight’s game as they likely will be awaiting training camp to open for their NHL affiliate, the New York Islanders.

Bridgeport has the 9th best power play in the league with a 19.9% success rate, while Providence is 21st at 15.1%. Providence’s abysmal penalty kill is ranked 26th at 80.0%, although Bridgeport is 17th overall (83.4%) and even worse on the road at 27th (78.3%). In terms of average goals scored per game, Bridgeport ranks 9th in the league (3.11) and Providence 24th (2.47). On the bright side, Providence is 13th in goals against (2.75) and Bridgeport is 28th (3.14).

Providence is 8-7-0-2 at home this season and Bridgeport is 8-10-1-1 on the road. In the last 10 games, Providence is an even 5-5, and Bridgeport is 5-3-1-1. The puck drops at 7:05pm.