Chris Bourque on Waivers

Chris Bourque’s reaction when he found out he was placed on waivers, probably.

The Boston Bruins have assigned Chris Bourque to the Providence Bruins of the AHL, which means they have placed him on waivers. Bourque must clear waivers, which he will be on until noon tomorrow, before he can return to Providence.

Will another team claim Bourque while he is on the waiver wire? Let’s hope not. He is a strong asset to Providence. It’s no secret the Bourque is one of the best players in the AHL the past few years, and it has been unfortunate that the skill does not translate when he plays in the NHL. However, the Providence Bruins are in a strong spot to make a run for the AHL’s championship, the Calder Cup, and Bourque will undoubtedly strengthen the teams chances.

Bourque currently has a 2-way contract that turns into a 1-way contract next season. There is always a chance he will be called up to Boston in the future (if he clears waivers) if necessary. For now, he is replaced in the lineup by Jay Pandolfo on the 3rd line. Don’t expect that to be permanent. Lane MacDermid is also still with the Boston team (because he is awesome). He will hopefully get a chance to play in more NHL games soon.

If the Bruins need to call up others from Providence, my money is currently on Ryan Spooner – although he is only 1 game back from injury and is still a young player who will benefit from further development in the AHL. Jordan Caron, after being re-energized on the Buzz Saw line with Bobby Robins and Christian Hanson, may move to the top of the call-up list if he can continue to improve and move away from the earlier abysmal AHL season he has had.

This weekend, the P-Bruins games will be important for all the players looking to prove they want to and deserve to play with the Big Club.

In other news, Garnet Exelby was suspended for 1 game by the AHL for a boarding call in last Sunday’s game. He will miss tomorrow night’s game against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Providence.

Cunningham Hat-Trick Highlights P-Bruins 7-1 Win

Craig Cunningham may not be on a lot of Boston fan radars, but his hat-trick on Sunday afternoon and team 2nd-best 17 goals show what an exciting young prospect this 22-year-old BC-native (drafted in 2010, 4th round, by the Bruins) is turning out to be.

The Providence Bruins went 2-0-0-1 this weekend, improving their overall record to 33-18-0-5 (71 points) in 56 games this season. They sit atop the Atlantic division and currently sit 3rd in the Eastern conference.

With less than 20 games left in the season, the P-Bruins are poised to make their first playoff appearance since the 2008-2009 season. That season, they finished 43-29-2-6 (94 points), 2nd in the division at the time. In the 1st round, they defeated the Portland Pirates 4 games to 1, then defeated the Worcester Sharks 4 games to 2 in the 2nd round. In the 3rd round – the Conference Finals – they lost 4 games to 1 to the Hershey Bears, who went on to win the Calder Cup in the next round. Were the playoffs to start today, the P-Bruins would face Hershey in the 1st round.

Some notable players on that 2009 P-Bruins team that went to the Eastern Conference finals include current Boston Bruins Brad Marchand, Johnny Boychuk, Adam McQuaid, and Tuukka Rask – all of whom played in all 16 games of the postseason. That should give you a pretty good idea of 1. Why the AHL is important and successful in developing players and 2. How potentially good the P-Bruins team is this year and definitely how good the potential of the prospects on the team are.

After defeating the Worcester Sharks 3-1 in Friday night, the P-Bruins followed up with an unfortunate 2-1 shootout loss to the Springfield Falcons. They rebounded Sunday with a 7-1 win over the Portland Pirates, a team they needed to beat in order to maintain first place in the division.

Jordan Caron scored the lone goal for the P-Bruins in Saturday’s loss, sparked by being placed on the Buzz Saw line in the spot previously filled by Lane MacDermid. His Buzz Saw linemates, Christian Hanson and Bobby Robins, had the assists on Caron’s 9th of the season. Placing Caron on this line was a much needed spark for the struggling winger, who many thought would be a shoe-in for the open 3rd line spot in Boston this season. The positive results continued for Caron – and the P-Bruins whole team – into Sunday’s victory.

Ryan Spooner returned to the lineup on Sunday after missing a handful of games with a lower body injury. He has 2 assists, 1 shot, and a +1 rating. The P-Bruins top scorer was far from their top scorers Sunday, however, as many P-Bruins recorded multi-point games and even multi-goal games. Justin Florek had a 4 point night (2 goals, 2 assists) and Craig Cunningham, a former Vancouver Giant of the WHL (fun fact: he won the Memorial Cup with Milan Lucic), recorded a hat-trick.

Hanson scored a shorthanded goal, as well as the primary assist on Caron’s goal. In total, 11 different P-Bruins recorded at least one point: Florek, Cunningham, Hanson, Spooner, Caron, Kevan Miller, Matt Bartkowski, Tommy Cross, Bobby Robins, Alden Hirschfeld, and Kyle MacKinnon. In net, Niklas Svedberg made 29 saves on 30 shots, recording his 27th victory of the season.

Justin Florek opened the scoring at 7:23 of the 1st period when he beat Portland goaltender Mike Lee. Florek’s 6th goal of the season was assisted by Miller and Bartkowski. At 18:27 of the 1st, Providence struck again on the shorthand with Bartkowski in the penalty box. Christian Hanson converted on the shorthanded opportunity for his 8th goal of the season.

2:20 into the 2nd period, Cunningham scored his 1st of the night and 15th of the season on the power play, assisted by Spooner and Cross. Providence went 1-for-5 on the PP.

Portland struck next bringing the score 3-1 at 3:15 of the 2nd on Jordan Martinook‘s 5th of the season from Phil Lane and Chris Summers. Portland outshot Providence 15-7 in the 2nd period, but the score remained 3-1 going into the 3rd period.

Florek regained Providence’s 2-goal cushion at 4:31 of the 3rd period on his 2nd of the night and 7th of the season, assisted by Spooner (his 2nd of the night) and Robins. Cunningham made it a 5-1 lead at 7:53 with his 2nd of the night and 16th of the season, with an assist to Alden Hirschfeld.

Jordan Caron hit the 10-goal plateau at 13:17 of the 3rd period, getting assists from Hanson and Florek. With just over a minute left in the game, Cunningham completed the hat trick with his 3rd of the night and 17th of the season with helpers from MacKinnon and Florek – capping off Florek’s 4 point night as well.

Providence next plays on Friday, March 8th, at the Dunk against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Make sure to keep an eye out, because this team is potentially getting really awesome.

Baby Bruins Begin March with Exciting Win over Worcester

Alden Hirschfeld and Kyle MacKinnon stepped up big tonight, which is especially important in the absence of many key injured players. What great depth the Bruins have even in their farm system.

With the game knotted at 1-1 with less than three minutes left in regulation in Friday night’s match up between divisional rival Worcester Sharks and Providence Bruins at the Dunkin Donuts center in Providence, P-Bruins forward Alden Hirschfeld was in on the forecheck in the offensive zone against two Worcester Sharks defenders. His aggressive pursuit of the puck caused a turnover, and he made no mistake when he rushed in on Worcester goaltender Alex Stalock, netting his 3rd goal of the season and the eventual game-winner at 17:33 of the 3rd period to give the P-Bruins their first lead of the game. Trent Whitfield added an empty-net goal 90 seconds later to secure the 3-1 victory, halting the P-Bruins 2-game losing streak and giving them a proper start to the month of March.

The victory also carried on the impressive streak of rookie goaltender Niklas Svedberg, who had a 10-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday against Portland: Svedberg has not lost 2 games in a row in regulation this season, at all. Svedberg made 18 saves on 19 shots and picked up his 26th win of the season as Providence improved to 32-18-0-4 in 54 games this season – and 17-8-0-3 at home. Although they now sit in first place in the Atlantic division with 68 points, they have played one more game than the Portland Pirates, who sit in 2nd place with 66 points in 53 games.

The game remained scoreless until the final minute of the 2nd period, when Worcester’s Marek Viedensky beat Svedberg on a shorthanded opportunity with his 2nd goal of the season (unassisted, at 19:15 of the 2nd).

Providence’s power play seemed to be suffering heavily, and even failed at a 5-on-3 earlier in the game, but were given yet another 5-on-3 in the 3rd period when Nick Petrecki joined Brodie Reid in the penalty box about halfway through the final period. Reid’s cross-checking minor expired, but Providence kept pressure on with the remaining time in the man-advantage. Craig Cunningham sent a pass to Jamie Tardif, who in turn gave a beautiful set up to Kyle MacKinnon. MacKinnon’s 10th goal of the season, a power play goal, came at 12:53 of the 3rd period and tied the game at 1-1.

After Hirschfeld’s brilliant goal that gave Providence the go-ahead goal late in the game was assisted by Garnet Exelby, who picked up another assist on Whitfield’s empty net goal. Whitfield’s goal may involved a great individual spin-around effort to hit the open net and earn his 5th of the season at 19:02 of the 3rd period, with the secondary assist to Exelby and the primary assist to Christian Hanson.

Notes:

• The games three stars were: (3) Alex Stalock; (2) Craig Cunningham; (1) Alden Hirschfeld.
• Providence out-shot Worcester 23-19.
• Providence was successful in killing off all 4 of Worcester’s power play opportunities, and although they were 1-for-6 on the power play, they also gave up a shorthanded goal.
• Bobby Robins picked up his AHL-leading 31st major penalty of the season.
• Jordan Caron had 2 clear breakaway opportunities, and was stopped by Stalock on both. He was a -1 on the night.
• This was the 10th of 12 meetings this season between Worcester and Providence. Providence now leads the season series 5-3-0-2, including the last 4 wins in a row.
• Tardif returned tonight for the first time since February 17th, when he suffered a back injury.
• The P-Bruins are plagued by injury. They are currently without forwards Ryan Spooner (lower body), Carter Camper (upper body), Max Sauve (knee), and Jared Knight (still; hamstring, again/still); and defensemen Zach Trotman (recurrent concussion symptoms), David Warsofsky (knee), and Ryan Button, (lower body). Camper and Trotman are hopeful to return next week.
• Torey Krug was named CCM/AHLRookie of the Month for February!!
• Providence faces off against the Springfield Falcons tomorrow night at 7pm in Springfield.

Providence Loses to Norfolk in Shootout

Christian Hanson has 5 shots on net in last night’s loss, scored his 7th goal of the season, contributed to Miller’s 3rd period goal, and had another potential goal waived off. He has stepped up in recent games in the absence of other scorers and been a solid presence in the center position for the Providence Bruins all season.

The Providence Bruins collected 3 out of a possible 4 points in Virginia this weekend in their two games against the Norfolk Admirals after they lost the 2nd game of the back-to-back weekend match-up 3-2 in the 6th round of a shootout. Michael Hutchinson made 34 saves in net for Providence while Christian Hanson and defenseman Kevan Miller scored the P-Bruins regulation goals. To see highlights of the game, click here (courtesy of the Norfolk Admirals youtube page!)

Providence’s Tyler Randell and Norfolk’s Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond wasted no time in dropping the gloves, squaring off just 7 seconds into the game. Another fight broke out only 38 seconds later between Bobby Robins and Troy Bodie. Robins leads the AHL in total penalty minutes (242) and major penalties (51).

5:32 into the 1st period, Craig Cunningham was whistled for a holding minor, putting the Admirals on the power play. Norfolk then went on the 2-man advantage 17 seconds later when Trent Whitfield was sent to join Cunningham in the penalty box for a tripping infraction. Although the month of February has seen the Providence Bruins superb penalty kill successfully kill off 31 of 33 penalties prior to last night’s game, they were unable to overcome the 2-man deficit. Norfolk’s Dan Sexton scored on a feed across the crease from Luca Caputi, with a secondary assist to Sami Vatanen. Sexton’s power play goal was the 4th of the season and came at 6:49 of the 1st period.

Providence would get their own 5-on-3 power play opportunity later in the 1st period after Norfolk’s Brandon McMillan and Nate Guenin each took slashing minors at 7:40 and 8:40 of the 1st period. Another part of Providence’s recent success had been their power play (their February power play had been 13-for-50, or 26%, before last night), but it failed them last night. They went 0-for-6 overall on the power play last night, including a full minute on the 2-man advantage.

Providence finally beat Norfolk’s Frederik Andersen in the 2nd period on Christian Hanson’s 7th of the year. The goal, which game at 7:11 of the middle frame, was assisted by Justin Florek and Bobby Robins. Providence then took the lead at 9:24 of the 3rd period when Kevan Miller scored his 1st goal of the season. Matt Bartkowski assisted on the goal, earning his 4th assist in 2 games this weekend. Ryan Spooner also had an assist on the goal, adding to his team-leading 38 points. It was Spooner’s 28th assist of the season, which puts him 2nd overall in AHL rookie assist leaders (1st among active AHL players).

Providence was unable to hold onto the lead, however. At 15:34 of the 3rd period, McMillan notched his 4th goal of the season to tie the game at 2, with assists Emerson Etem and Sexton.

The game went to a shootout in which each goaltender allowed only 1 goal through the first 5 rounds (Graham Mink scored for Providence, Luca Caputi for Norfolk). In the 6th round, the newest P-Bruin, Nicolas Tremblay, failed to score and on the next shot, Norfolk’s Jordan Hendry beat Hutchinson to win the game for the Admirals.

Norfolk goaltender earned 1st star honors, making 37 savves on 39 shots and stopping 5 out of 6 shooters in the shootout. McMillan and Sexton were named 2nd and 3rd stars.

The P-Bruins are now 37-17-0-4 on the season, good for 66 points in 52 games. They remain in 1st place in the Atlantic division, 4 points ahead of 2nd place Portland but with 1 more game played than the Pirates. Providence has still earned a point in 6 straight games (5-0-0-1 in that stretch) and are 8-1-0-1 in the last 10.

Providence faces off against the Pirates on Tuesday, February 26th in Portland, Maine. Will they be able to finish off their dominant February on an equally dominant note? They will need their power play and penalty kill to come through for them again, and they will certainly need players like Torey Krug, who was on a tear at the end of January and for the majority of February, to start putting up points again. Hopefully other leading scorers Carter Camper and Jamie Tardif, among others injured, will be returning soon as well. Stay tuned!

Providence Wins 4th in a Row

Craig Cunningham’s 14th goal of the season was the game winner tonight and earned him the 2nd star in Providence’s 3-1 win over Worcester to wrap up a 3-0 weekend.

The Providence Bruins went undefeated this weekend and extended their winning streak to 4 games with a 3-1 win over divisional rival the Worcester Sharks this afternoon. With the win today, Providence remains in 1st place in the Atlantic division, clinging to a 1-point lead over the 2nd place Portland Pirates. The P-Bruins are now 30-17-0-3 this season.

Niklas Svedberg played in Friday and Saturday’s wins over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, extending his personal winning streak to 9 games. Today, Michael Hutchinson got the start in net for the P-Bruins and earned number one star honors with 32 saves on 33 shots.

Jordan Caron, who was named number one star in Friday night’s victory, was 3rd star in today’s win; Craig Cunningham was the 2nd star. Caron had a goal and an assist, while Cunningham had the game-winning goal.

Providence played today without one of their top scorers, Carter Camper, who was injured in the 2nd period of Saturday’s game.

Caron opened the scoring after Worcester’s Matt Tennyson went to the penalty box for goaltender interference at 7:41 of the 1st period. 9:31 into the period, Caron converted on the power play to record his 8th goal of the season with assists from Christian Hanson and Matt Bartkowski.

In the 2nd period, Providence again capitalized on the power play when Worcester’s Nick Petrecki was called for slashing at 15:48. Cunningham netted his 14th of the season on the man advantage at 16:45 of the 2nd from Tommy Cross and Graham Mink. Mink notably recorded his 500th career AHL point on Saturday night after playing in his 700th career AHL game on Friday night.

The Sharks cut the Bruins lead in half at 17:11 of the 3rd period on a goal by Yanni Gourde. Gourde’s 7th goal of the season was assisted by Jon Matsumoto and Danny Groulx.

The Bruins regained a 2-goal lead when captain Trent Whitfield buried an empty net goal in the final seconds of the game, solidifying a 3-1 victory. Whitfield’s 3rd goal of the season was assisted by Caron and Kevan Miller.

Providence was 2-for-5 on the power play today, and a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill. They were out-shot 33 to 30 in the game.

Although Torey Krug‘s recent point streak ended this weekend, he recorded a team-high 3 shots on net, along with Colby Cohen.

The P-Bruins next play next Friday, February 22nd at the Norfolk Admirals.

Providence Pregaming: P-Bruins Host A-Devils; Hirschfeld Recalled

Ryan Spooner finished off the month of January on a hot streak and hopefully won’t miss a beat, beginning the month of February as Providence’s leading scorer in the absence of Jamie Tardif.

The Providence Bruins look to extend a 3-game winning streak and continue to close in on the Portland Pirates for 1st place in the Atlantic division tonight at the Dunkin Donut Center as they host the Albany Devils in what may come down to yet another shootout showdown.

Providence is 23-16-0-3 (49 points) in 42 games this season, placing them 2nd in the Atlantic division and 5th in the Eastern conference.

Albany is 17-14-1-8 (43 points) in 40 games, putting them 3rd in their Northeast division and out of the current playoff picture at 11th in the Eastern conference.

Providence is coming off of a shootout victory last night in Bridgeport, which may be fitting because the previous 2 games between Providence and Albany this season have both been decided in the shootout. Providence has won both of those games by a score of 2-1 – once in Providence on November 9th and again in Albany on December 15th.

Last time around, David Warsofsky got the game-winning goal in the 9th round of the shootout in a game that saw Zach Trotman score the only regulation goal for Providence and Michael Hutchinson notch the number 1 star on the night. Niklas Svedberg had won the previous shootout win against the Devils.

Providence has a 12-7-0-3 record on their home turf, while the Albany Devils are 9-6-1-3 on the road. Providence also has a great record against the Northeast division: 11-6-0-0; against the Atlantic, Albany is merely 3-3-0-3 this season. Still, in their last 10, both teams are similar: Providence is 6-3-0-1, and Albany 5-3-0-2. What separates them is shootout victories.

In fact, Albany is 0-8 in shootouts this season, the only team in the East without a shootout win yet and only 1 of 2 teams in the league. Providence is 6-3 in shootouts.

Taking a look at special teams, Providence has a rare advantage in numbers on the power play. Albany is 27th in the league in power play percentage with 12.2%, while Providence is 21st at 15.6%. On the penalty kill, however, Albany has the advantage at 83.9% (14th) to Providence’s 82.4% (18th). Each team has 1 power play goal in the season series.

Providence will have to make do without their leading goal scorer and 2nd leading goal scorer in the entire AHL, Jamie Tardif (21 goals), who was called up to Boston on an emergency basis last night. (Since then, Alden Hirschfeld has been recalled from South Carolina of the ECHL.) That leaves Ryan Spooner as the P-Bruins top scorer at 8 goals, 19 assists and 27 points on the season. Spooner is also an impressive +9 on a team that has an overall goal differential of -5.

The next leading scorers for Providence are Carter Camper (5-20=25), Craig Cunningham (9-9=18), Max Sauve (5-11=16, +4), and Christian Hanson (5-10=15). Torey Krug is next on the list and the top scoring defensemen with 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points.

The Albany Devils leading scorer, Bobby Butler, has 16 goals and 10 assists for 26 points. Butler has a +11 rating, 5 power play goals, and 1 shorthanded goal. The Massachusetts native has 1 of Albany’s 2 regulation goals against Providence this season (the other was scored by Adam Henrique, who is now with the New Jersey Devils).

Albany’s next leading scorers are Joe Whitney (11-13=24, +14), Steve Zalewski (7-16=23), Harri Pesonen (9-10=19), and Mattias Tedenby (9-8=17). Their leading scorer on the blue line is Eric Gelinas (4-8=12).

Providence continues to be lead in penalty minutes by Bobby Robins, with 211 total PIM. That number also leads the entire AHL. Robins also tops the AHL in majors, with 25. The Albany Devil with the most penalty minutes is Tim Sestito, with 55. In the one fight that took place in the previous 2 games this season, Robins dropped the gloves with Alexander Urbom.

Both goaltenders for each team have played against this opponent this season.

For Providence, starting rookie goaltender Niklas Svedberg, with a record of 19-6-2 in 28 games – including 4 shootout wins – ranks 2nd in the entire AHL in goaltender wins. He has a 2.32 GAA (9th best) and a 0.922 save % (7th). He has recorded 1 shutout. Backup Hutchinson has played in 16 games and has a record for 4-10-1 with a 2.73 GAA and 0.897 GAA.

Albany’s starting goaltender is Keith Kinkaid, who has played in 26 games and posted 2 shutouts. He has a record of 14-8-4. His 14 wins put him in a tie for 11th most in the AHL. His 2.36 GAA is 12th best in the AHL, while his 0.917 save % is 15th. Jeff Frazee, who has played in 14 games, is 3-7-4 with 2.47 GAA (18th in the AHL) and .909 save %. Both goaltenders share an AHL record for most shootouts without a win, as they both have 0 wins in the shootout this year.

The puck drops at 7pm tonight. Make sure to check it out, it should be a good game!

Providence Beats Bridgeport in Shootout

Fresh off his 1st All-Star game, rookie Niklas Svedberg earned 1st star in Providence’s 3-2 shootout win over Bridgeport on Thursday night. He is one of the AHL leaders in many goaltending categories, including wins.

Bummed about the Boston Bruins loss? Me too. But here is some great news: the baby Bruins won in a shootout tonight in a come-from-behind shootout victory against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Craig Cunningham and Jamie Tardif scored in regulation, Torey Krug had 2 assists, and Carter Camper had the deciding shootout goal to give the P-Bruins a 23-16-0-3 record on the season. They are now at 49 points – only 3 points behind the Atlantic division-leading Portland Pirates!

Niklas Svedberg made 34 saves and stopped all 5 Bridgeport shooters in the shootout, earning his the 1st star of the game. The Bruins out-shot the Sound Tigers 41-36 on the night.

Ty Wishart scored both goals for Bridgeport, including the opening goal of the game at 18:05 of the 1st period. It was his 3rd of the season, assisted by Matt Watkins.

Cunningham scored a huge goal before the end of the 1st period to tie the game at 1. The P-Bruins were on the power play, and Cunningham notched his 9th of the season 25 seconds remaining in the period, with assists from Camper and Krug.

Wishart scored his 4th of the season and 2nd of the game at 13:08 of the 2nd period on the power play from John Persson and Watkins. Bridgeport held a 2-1 lead until 14:47 of the 3rd period, when Tardif scored his team-leading 21st goal of the season from Ryan Spooner and Krug.

Garnet Exelby took a tripping penalty with 1 minute left in the 3rd period, and Providence successfully killed off the power play for the remainder of regulation and into overtime. The two teams remained tied and went into a shootout, where Spooner, Tardif, Max Sauve, and Cunningham all were shut down by Bridgeport goaltender Kevin Poulin before Camper scored on the last shot. Svedberg shut out all 5 shooters for Bridgeport to secure the win – his 20th of the season.

Bobby Robins, sporting one of the alternate captain ‘A’s on his sweater tonight, dropped the gloves with fighting opponent of the past, Brett Gallant, about halfway through the 1st period. Tyler Randell, playing for the sick Christian Hanson, fought with Bridgeport’s Jordan Hill a few minutes later. Providence went 1-for-2 on the power play and Bridgeport was 1-for-4.

Krug also led all Bruins skaters with 6 shots on net, followed by 5 shots from Justin Florek. Jordan Caron, in his 2nd game back from injury, recorded 2 shots and no points.

Ryan Spooner, as Mark Divver of the Providence Journal points out, has had an excellent month of January:

Spooner dished to Tardif for late tying goal. Puts wraps on very good Jan. for rookie — better than pt. per game since returning…from injury. 2-9-11 in 10 games. Maybe most impressive stat is his team-high plus-9.

Lots of Bruins seem to be getting hot heading into crucial months down the stretch. Camper had 11 points in January after totaling only 14 in the previous 3 months. In the last 3 games, Camper had 5 points. Cunningham also has a 3-game point streak, notching a point per game. Torey Krug has been particularly hot with 6 points in the last 3 games and 8 of his 14 points on the season coming in the month of January.

Things could get very exciting for this team if things keep going this way! They host the Albany Devils at the Dunkin Donuts Center tomorrow night to kick off the month of February.

Update: Apparently Caron took a slapshot to the face tonight, according to this facebook. He uploaded this picture:

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 Finishes Weekend With a Win

David Warsofsky was sent back down to Providence, but undoubtedly will get another shot with Boston in the future. (Photo Credit: Steph Vail/Flickr)

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the Boston Bruins AHL affiliate – when the NHL lockout ended, they lost their top scorers and defensemen to NHL training camp. When training camp ended, Boston kept Providence’s leading scorer, Chris Bourque, along with another vital team leader and forward Lane MacDermid. Boston also kept defensemen David Warsofsky, at least up until Sunday, when they sent him back down to Providence after recalling defensemen Aaron Johnson, who had been sent down to Providence on a conditioning stint for a few days.

In his 2 games with the P-Bruins on Friday and Saturday, Johnson was a -1 with 1 assist on a Spooner power play goal Friday. Providence lost both games, a 3-2 shootout loss to the Portland Pirates on Friday and a 3-1 loss to the Manchester Monarchs on Saturday. Today, however, Warsofsky was back in the lineup with Johnson back in Boston, and the Providence Bruins came away with a 4-1 victory over the Connecticut Whale.

Warsofsky was the #1 star. He had the game-winning goal, an assist, a +2 rating, and 4 shots on net. Warsofsky’s goal was his 3rd of the season in the AHL, and assisted by Ryan Spooner and Matt Bartkowski. The goal came at 17:57 of the 1st period.

The Connecticut Whale opened up the scoring in the 1st period at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence on Sunday with a goal by JT Miller at 4:26 of the 1st period. It was Miller’s 7th of the season, assisted by Brandon Mashinter. Jamie Tardif tied the game at 1 at 16:23 of the 1st on his team-leading 18th goal of the year from Spooner and Justin Florek. Tardif and Spooner were sent back down to Providence from Boston training camp on Friday, and on Sunday Tardif earned the #3 star while Spooner earned the #2 star.

In the 2nd period against Connecitcut, Carter Camper got his 4th of the season, a PP goal, from Warsofsky and Florek at 7:34. In the 3rd, Kyle MacKinnon secured a 4-1 lead with a goal at 14:49. It was also his 4th of the season, assisted by Graham Mink and Christian Hanson. Providence outshot the Whale 38-15 in the end.

A big part of this game was the physical play as each team racked up dozens of roughing minors and fighting majors. The 4 players for Providence that received fighting majors were Bobby Robins, Tyler Randell, Ryan Button, and Tommy Cross; for Connecticut, it was Chris Bourque’s little brother Ryan Bourque, Sam Klassen, Jason Wilson, and Dylan McIlrath.

Sunday’s 4-1 win was an important positive note to end an otherwise tough weekend on. The 3-2 shootout loss on Friday came despite out-shooting Portland 39-21. Spooner and Robins (his 2nd of the season) scored for Providence, and Darian Dziurzynski had both regulation goals for Portland. In the shootout, only Spooner and Camper converted for Providence, while Chris Conner, Ethan Werek, and Jordan Szwarz converted for Portland for the win.

On Saturday night, things did not get any easier for Providence as they were handed a tough loss at the hands of the Manchester Monarchs. They out-shot Manchester 46-47 and went 0-for-8 on the power play. Tardif scored late in the 3rd period (assisted from Camper and Florek) to make it 2-1, but soon after that, Stefan Legein sealed the Monarchs win with an empty net goal.

Niklas Svedberg got the win today and the shoot-out loss on Saturday, and Michael Hutchinson got the loss on Saturday. Svedberg was particularly big in net to preserve the lead against Connecticut today. Providence faces Manchester again this Wednesday in Manchester for a rare weekday game. Providence is now 20-15-0-3 with today’s win, giving them 43 points, lead-frogging Worcester for 3rd place in the Atlantic division. However, Manchester (20-17-2-2) won again today, giving them 44 points and the 2nd place spot in the division. The Pirates remain in first with 50 points.

Providence found it’s scoring touch with a 4-1 win today and hopefully that will carry into Wednesday, because it isn’t likely they will get their leading scorer in Bourque back anytime soon. Their top scorers found ways to score this weekend – Spooner, Tardif, and more importantly, guys who needed to score who hadn’t been, such as Camper. Craig Cunningham has also stepped up the scoring recently, and look for him to continue to do so. Wednesday’s game against Manchester will be a big one as the two rivals continue to battle for playoff positioning in the division and conference.

The win on Sunday marks the 20th win of the season for Providence. “To get 20 wins in the 1st half of the year…is pretty good The guys should be proud of themselves,” said Coach Butch Cassidy after the game.

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.