P-Bruins Moving Up in the East; Fallstrom Debuts Today

Fresh out of 4 years of college hockey at Harvard, Alex Fallstrom will make his professional debut today with Providence. He was signed to an entry level contract by the Boston Bruins yesterday. (Photo Credit: Bridget Samuels/Flickr: bridgetds)

Recap: Providence 5, Springfield 2

The Providence Bruins completed a home-and-home sweep of the Springfield Falcons on Saturday night in Springfield when they beat the Falcons for the 2nd time in 2 nights to move into 2nd place overall in the Eastern Conference. Niklas Svedberg got his 2nd start and 2nd win in 2 nights, giving the rookie goalie 30 wins on the season in his 27-save performance. Kyle MacKinnon scored twice, earning 1st star honors, while Ryan Spooner had a goal and an assist and Torey Krug and Carter Camper each had 2 assists.

Providence put 35 shots on Springfield’s Curtis McElhinney, beating him 4 times and adding an empty-netter at the end. They first had to overcome an early deficit after Springfield’s Nathan Moon put the Falcons up 1-0 10:04 into the 1st period on his 2nd goal of the season from Dalton Smith.

Justin Florek tied it up at 17:45 of the 1st when he netted his 7th point in 6 games, and 2nd goal in 2 games. Florek’s 9th goal of the season was assisted by Colby Cohen and David Warsofsky.

The 2 teams remained deadlocked through the 2nd period, when Springfield out-shot Providence 12-7 but came up empty-handed. In the 3rd period, Providence jumped to the lead on their only power play opportunity of the night. Springfield’s Spencer Machachek was sent to the penalty box for interference 1:04 into the 3rd period, and 58 seconds later, Spooner had his 11th goal of the season from Krug and Camper.

Nick Drazenovic tied the game at 2 9:04 into the 3rd period. His 17th of the season came from Ryan Russel and Bryan Helmer. Kyle MacKinnon put Providenec back on top a few minutes later, 13:02 into the 3rd period, on his 11th of the season, assisted by Spooner and Graham Mink.

Max Sauve gave Providence it’s first 2-goal lead of the night at 16:36 of the 3rd. Craig Cunningham and Camper set Sauve up for his 9th of the season to give Providence a 4-2 edge. MacKinnon scored his 2nd of the night and added the insurance goal for a 5-2 victory at 18:35 after Springfield had pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker. Krug picked up a helper on MacKinnon’s 12th of the season.

With the win, Providence leapfrogged Springfield in the conference standings to secure 2nd place, which they look to defend today against divisional rival Manchester Monarchs.

Preview: Manchester @ Providence

Providence sits atop the Atlantic Division and 2nd in the Eastern Conference with their 37-19-0-5 record, which gives them 79 points in 61 games this season. Manchester is 29-25-3-4 for 65 points in 61 games this season. They are 3rd in the Atlantic and 10th in the Eastern Conference, only 1 point out of 8th place and fighting for their playoff lives.

• Season Series: Providence has the edge so far at 6-4-0-0
• Last 10: Providence is 6-2-0-2; Manchester is 7-1-1-1
• At home, Providence is 20-9-0-3
• On the road, Manchester is 14-14-1-1
• Goal differential: Providence is +19; Manchester is +9
• Power play: Providence ranks 9th (18.4%); Manchestser ranks 22nd (15.0%)
• Penalty kill: Providence ranks 8th (84.9%); Manchester ranks 14th (83.6%)

Manchester’s top scorer, and top rookie scorer in the AHL, Tyler Toffoli, made his NHL debut with the Kings last night, and will not be with the Monarchs. They still have a top scorer in Linden Vey, who ranks 5th overall in the AHL in scoring with 55 points (15 G, 40 A), and 1st in the AHL in assists with 40.

Alex Fallstrom, who was signed to an entry-level contract yesterday by the Boston Bruins, will play today for Providence. Fallstrom is a native Swede who has played with the Harvard hockey team for 4 years. Before that, he attended prestigious Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a private high school that boasts alum such as Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews.

Although he did not dress the last 2 nights, Michael Hutchinson will start for Providence today.

Goaltending the Story On and Off the Ice in P-Bruins 3-0 Loss

Michael Hutchinson got the start in net tonight with a surprise backup. (Photo credit: Steph Vail/Flickr)

Have you ever wondered what happens when your backup goaltender is sick, and your backup’s backup can’t be there to fill in for him on the bench either? Sometimes professional teams resort to pulling guys off the street and dressing them for one game as the backup goaltender, because you always need a backup goaltender – just in case.

Tonight, Providence found itself in quite a predicament when starting goaltender and AHL All-Star Niklas Svedberg could not play due to the flu. Backup goaltender Michael Hutchinson got the start for the P-Bruins as they prepared to take on the Manchester Monarchs in Manchester, but his backup, Dany Sabourin, suddenly became unavailable when his wife went into labor 2 hours before game-time.

Needing a backup for Hutchinson, the P-Bruins staff turned to Adam Geragosian. Geragosian played college hockey at Northeastern and briefly in the ECHL but more recently, spent many days practicing with members of the Boston Bruins who weren’t overseas during the lockout. Even after the lockout ended, he “continued to help out the team while they wait[ed] for Anton Khudobin to return…” But how did he have an immediate connection to the P-Bruins?

When Dany Sabourin’s wife went into labor 2 hours before game, Rob Murray grabbed tender fr. his summer beer league squad to dress as backup (@MarkDivver)

Providence did not need Geragosian to play in the game at all as Hutchinson was fine. Unfortunately, Manchester’s goaltending was also a story of tonight’s game as Martin Jones shutout the Bruins, making 42 saves in the Monarchs 3-0 victory.

The game got off to a quick start when Bobby Robins and newly acquired LA Kings prospect recently sent down to Manchester, Anthony Stewart, dropped the gloves 11 seconds into the game. Robins accumulated his 195th penalty minutes of the season.

Unfortunately he did not provide a spark for his team as Providence continues to struggle with scoring. Although they regularly put an obscene number of shots on net (the most in the league on average), they clearly are low quality shots. If the AHL made the data available, I would try to show this with advanced stats. But advanced stats aren’t really necessary when you look at the numbers: putting 40+ shots on goal every night and barely scoring 1 goal per game = low quality shots. On the upside, this should mean that Providence has a great advantage in terms of puck possession time, but once again, the AHL doesn’t make info like that readily available to lowly fans like me.

Manchester scored twice in the second period and never looked back. Linden Vey notched his 10th goal of the season from Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson at 6:46. Captain Marc-Andre Cliche then made it 2-0 at 7:49 with his 8th of the season from Brian O’Neill and Bryan Rodney. Anthony Stewart added an empty-net goal with :59 left in the game to put it away.

The Monarchs only tallied 24 total shots on net. Providence went 0-for-5 on the power play, but was 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. Torey Krug played excellent and had 7 shots on net. Kyle MacKinnon and Kevan Miller each had 4 shots, the next highest on the P-Bruins. On the flip-side, Justin Florek was a team-worst -3.

Providence now falls to 20-16-0-3, remaining in 3rd place in the Atlantic division. Manchester improves to 21-17-2-2, good for 2nd in the Atlantic. The Bruins and Monarchs are now even with 4 wins apiece in the season series and will meet 4 more times, with the next meeting being Saturday February 9 in Manchester.

The P-Bruins have 2 more games before the All-Star festivities begin. They will host division-leading Portland on Friday, and travel to Worcester to face another division rival on Saturday. On Sunday and Monday, you can catch Svedberg, Trent Whitfield, and newly added to the All-Star roster Jamie Tardif in the AHL All-Star Classic.

Providence vs Manchester, Round 8

Jamie Tardif leads Providence in goals and is tied with Ryan Spooner for the lead in points. He also turns 28 on Wednesday when the P-Bruins face the Monarchs! (Photo Credit: Steph Vail/Flickr)

On Wednesday evening, the Providence Bruins will face the Manchester Monarchs in New Hampshire for the 8th meeting between the Atlantic division rivals this season. Thus far, the P-Bruins have a 4-3-0-0 edge against the Monarchs, but lost 3-1 to the Monarchs in Manchester this past Saturday. They will meet a total of 12 times before the regular season ends. If they don’t hate each other yet, they will soon.

Providence (20-15-0-3) is 1 point behind 2nd-place Manchester (20-17-2-2) in the Atlantic division standings, although Manchester has played 3 more games than the P-Bruins. Providence is 6th in the East; Manchester is 5th.

Providence still struggles to score goals, with 95 goals scored to 104 goals scored against (-9), while Manchester has 118 goals fore and 109 against (+9). Providence also still struggles on the power play, ranking 22nd in the league at 14.9% to Manchester’s 16.6%, which is 14th in the league. On the penalty kill, the Bruins is 21st at 81.5% and Manchester is 16th at 82.4%. Providence also averages more penalty minutes per game at 18.1 to Manchester’s 14.1.

Manchester’s leading scorer, Linden Vey, has 9 goals and 26 assists for 35 points this season and against Providence this year, 1 goal, 1 assist, and a +3 rating. Second leading scorer Tyler Toffoli will not be in the line-up as he has joined the LA Kings. The next 3 leading scorers for Manchester are Brandon Kozun: 11 goals, 19 assists = 29 pts; 2 goals, 3 assists = 5 pts vs Providence; Tanner Perason: 10 goals, 17 assists = 27 pts; 1 goal, 1 assist = 2 pts vs Providence; and Andrei Loktionov: 7 goals, 15 assists = 22 pts; 2 goals, 2 assists = 4 pts, +3 vs Providence.

In comparison, Providence’s leading scorer (after Chris Bourque) is Jamie Tardif with 18 goals, 7 assists and 23 points and Ryan Spooner with 8 goals, 15 assists and 23 points. Tardif had the lone goal against Manchester last Saturday and has 3 goals against the Monarchs this season, plus 2 assists for 5 points, 13 penalty minutes, and a -3 rating. Spooner has 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points against Manchester this year with a +1 rating.

Carter Camper is next on the list of leading scorers in Providence (4 goals, 16 assists = 20 points), and he has 1 goal and 3 assists against Manchester this year, but a frightening -5 rating. Craig Cunningham has 7 goals and 8 assists for 15 points on the season for Providence but only 1 goal and 1 assist against Manchester and a -3 rating. Kyle MacKinnon has 2 goals against Manchester this year, which accounts for 50% of his total goals scored this year.

In net, Manchester’s goaltenders have each suffered 2 losses to Providence, but Martin Jones has 2 wins to Peter Mannino‘s 1. In 3 games against Providence this year, Mannino is 1-2-0 with a GAA of 2.02 and save % of 0.949. Jones is 2-2-0 against Providence with 8 GA but a matching 2.02 GAA and a 0.917 save %.

Michael Hutchinson has gone 0-2-0 against Manchester this year with 5 GA, a GAA of 2.54 and 0.894 save %. Hutchinson’s overall numbers on the year are 4-9-1 with 39 GA, 2.79 GAA, and 0.896 save %. Niklas Svedberg is 4-1-0 with 10 GA, a 2.00 GAA and 0.932 save % versus the Monarchs this year. Svedberg is 16-6-2 this season with 58 GA, 1 shutout, 2.37 GAA, and 0.920 save %.

Providence is 9-8-0-0 on the road this season and Manchester is 11-10-2-1 at home. Providence is coming off of a win on Sunday against the Connecticut Whale, but are 4-5-0-0 in the last 10 games. Manchester is 6-4-0-0 in the last 10 and riding a 3-game winning streak despite losing a great majority of their roster to LA Kings training camp, and two long-time Monarchs to waivers (Thomas Hickey and Richard Clune).

Providence remains without Chris Bourque, who will likely stay with Boston for the season. Lane MacDermid will also remain with Boston as the 13th forward into the unforeseen future, but David Warsofsky returned to Providence on Sunday and had what The Providence Journal’s Mark Divver called one of his best games of the season. Two other players that returned from Boston Bruins training camp prior to last weekend – Ryan Spooner and Jamie Tardif – also had strong weekends, which showed on the scoring sheet as well. (Speaking of Jamie Tardif – he turns 28 tomorrow, January 23rd. Happy Birthday!)

Now that the NHL is back and guys actually have the hope to be called up to Boston driving them to play their best hockey, expect many Providence players to show a lot more heart. Guys like Lane MacDermid show that heart all the time, of course, which is why he is awesome and already made the Boston team. The Boston Bruins blueline is already falling victim to injury as Dennis Seidenberg sat out Monday’s win against Winnipeg; Aaron Johnson stepped in for him, but if another defensemen goes down, there are several options to call up from Providence. Although Torey Krug was not invited to camp, the Bruins have their eye on him. Then of course there is Matt Bartkowski, who was at camp, and Warsofsky could get called up again as well. This will all be dependent on how well they play in the immediate future in Providence.

Speaking of injury, Jordan Caron spent several days last week with Boston Bruins strength and conditioning coach before Boston practices. He is coming off of an upper-body injury (arm or shoulder) and according to Mark Divver (I know I cite him a lot, but he is seriously the best source for Providence Bruins news, period), Caron returned to practices with Providence today:

Jordan Caron, still wearing red no-contact jersey, on a line with Spooner and Cunningham this morning at 146 rink.

Coach Butch Cassidy says Caron may play this weekend; injured defenseman Garnet Exelby may also play this weekend. Colby Cohen and Zach Trotman, 2 other injured Providence d-men, are still sidelined indefinitely.

The P-Bruins play this weekend on Friday and Saturday before taking a break for All-Star Game festivities that will take place at The Dunkin Donuts center in Providence on Sunday and Monday. The puck drops at 7pm tomorrow night between the Monarchs and P-Bruins in Manchester, and tickets can still be purchased here. Meanwhile, All-Star balloting for the starting roster is also taking place, so make sure you vote for Trent Whitfield!

Can the Bruins Maul the Monarchs?

Lane MacDermid & Jared Knight (Photo Courtesy of AHLBruins/Twitter)

Tomorrow night is opening night for the Providence Bruins who are set to take on the Manchester Monarchs in their home opener at 7:00pm ET at the Dunk.  Last season the two teams met up for a total of ten times with the Bruins falling 6 games to their 4 in the season.  In the ten games played there were 12 registered fights leading one to assume that the physicality in this season opener will be brutal and provide some key entertainment.

Today the roster got trimmed by another four players, three being released to the Sting Rays while one was let go from his tryout agreement.  Tommy Cross, Tyler Randell and goaltender Adam Morrison were sent down to South Carolina while Kelsey Wilson was let go.  With the signings of Lane MacDermid and Chris Bourque to AHL contracts and these cuts the roster remains at twenty-four members, a solid team to begin the 2012-2013 season.

Through the pre-season Providence beat the Falcons 4-1 in their opener then fell to the Sound Tigers and Springfield leaving them with a 1-2 record as a start.  Forwards Jamie Tardif, Carter Camper, Matthew Pistilli and Justin Florek provided scoring for the first game;while Christian Hanson and Trent Whitfield secured the lone goals in the final two games.  Manchester on the other hand came out of the jungle roaring winning all three of their pre-season games, including a 7-1 victory over the Portland Pirates, their Atlantic Division Rivals.

For Monarch Andrew Bodnarchuk it will be his first game suiting up against his former team since being signed by the Kings over the summer.

“I am excited,” said Bodnarchuk.  “It is nice to get it out of the way early.  I think everyone in the first game of the season has a little bit of jitters so it is good that I won’t have jitters midway through the season so to say.  Their team has changed quite a bit from last year so it will be interesting to see what type of group they have but excited to go back to the old barn.  It will be a little eerie being on the other side of the rink and in the other locker room but looking forward to it.”(via Manchester Monarchs)

While these two teams are no stranger to each other, the added chemistry from the fans (including some Boston fans who are sure to attend due to the lockout) should provide a pretty exciting atmosphere for a season opener.  It’s exactly 26 hours and 44 minutes away until the puck drops, but who’s counting…

Seven to the South

Today the Providence Bruins trimmed up their training camp roster a tad by letting forwards Matthew Pistilli, Alden Hirschfeld and Justin Courtnall go after they performed in two pre-season games for the baby B’s. All three will head to the South Carolina Sting Rays of the ECHL, Pistilli on a PTO and Hirschfeld and Courtnall both on AHL contracts that they signed over the summer.

Along with the three forwards three defensemen will join the crew in South Carolina as each of them have reached the end of their tryout agreements.  The three headed to the Rays are;  Art Bidlevskii, Ryan Lowery and Damon Kipp.  Goaltender Shawn Hunwick, has also been released from his tryout agreement and will report to South Carolina.

This leaves twenty-eight men left on the Bruins training camp roster, sixteen forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders.  Their season is set to open on Friday, October 12 at 7:05 with their last pre-season game being tomorrow at 7:00PM.  Their season opener is at the Dunk against the Manchester Monarchs, a team that last season the Bruins fell 4-6 to, three of those games being decided in a shoot-out and averaging two fights per game.  Without a doubt this season opener should prove to be entertaining, especially with the glimpses of physicality we have already witnessed in the pre-season.  Tickets are still available so if you haven’t gotten yours yet, be sure to order them here.