Khokhlachev Joins P-Bruins, Prospect and Injury Updates

Alex Khokhlachev’s OHL season ended when his team didn’t qualify for the playoffs and he joined the Providence Bruins for his first practice yesterday morning. The exciting prospect is expected to make his AHL debut tomorrow night. (Photo: Flickr/slidingsideways)

Alex Khokhlachev has joined the Providence Bruins and is expected to finish the season with the team. After his OHL team, the Windsor Spitfires, saw their season end with the OHL regular season as they didn’t qualify for the playoffs, Khokhlachev became eligible to play in the AHL.

Koko spent half the season in the KHL and joined his OHL team in January. He also played for Team Russia in the World Junior Championships this year in Ufa, Russia, helping his team earn a bronze medal.

In the KHL, he played for his father’s team, Moscow Spartak. In 26 games he only had 2 goals and 5 assists. When he re-joined his OHL team, where he played the previous 2 seasons, he was more successful with 22 goals and 26 assists in 29 games.

Khokhlachev was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2011 draft by the Bruins at #45 overall. The 19 year old from Moscow joined Providence for his first practice on Wednesday. In his first practice, he reportedly centered a line with Jamie Tardif and Kyle MacKinnon on his wings. He will make his Providence Bruins debut on Friday when they host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

In other Providence Bruins news, Jared Knight reportedly also joined Providence at practice yesterday. The 2010 2nd-round draft pick has missed the majority of his first professional hockey season due to a recurring hamstring injury. He wore a red jersey to indicate no contact, but skating with the team is hopefully a positive sign in his ongoing recovery.

Despite the progress, Mark Divver reports that P-Bruins Coach Butch Cassidy has ruled out Knight’s return to the line-up until at least April. Learning from mistakes already made this season, the team is being very cautious with Knight so as to not re-aggravate his injured hamstring:

 Even when he’s 100%, he might not play right away

Hopefully that will mean a healthy Knight for the playoffs. The P-Bruins are poised to make for the first time since the 2008-09 season. That year, the P-Bruins lost in the 3rd round to the Hershey Bears. They were able to have such a good playoff run that year because they had Tuukka Rask in net. Niklas Svedberg, who has already earned 30 wins in his rookie season, could take the team as far as Rask did. It should be an exciting playoff season, especially if Anthony Camara‘s OHL team’s season ends and he, too, can join Providence. Camara’s team, the Barrie Colts, face the Kingston Frontenacs in the 1st round of the OHL playoffs, which start tonight.

Prospect Updates

Camara finished the regular season with the 13th most goals in the OHL (36), and 6th in power play goals with 15. Like Khokhlachev, Camara was drafted by the Bruins in 2011. He went in the 3rd round at #81 overall. The Bruins 1st choice in that draft, of course, was Dougie Hamilton, who went at #9 overall  (Thanks Kessel!)

Prospects from the 2012 entry draft that currently play in the OHL are doing well – specifically Boston’s #1 pick that year (at 24th overall), Malcom Subban. PK’s younger brother is the goaltender for the OHL’s Belleville Bulls. Subban has led the Bulls to the #1 seed in the playoffs, as they face off against the Mississauga Steelheads in the 1st round starting tonight.

In the 68-game regular season, Subban appeared in 46 games for the Bulls and had a 29-11-4 record. He had the best GAA (2.14) and save percentage (.934) in the OHL this season. He had the 5th most wins in the OHL among goaltenders, despite missing time to join Team Canada as the starting goaltender at the WJC, and had the 2nd most shutouts (5), with 2 goaltenders tied for 1st at 7. Despite Canada’s disappointing appearance at the WJC, Subban was not entirely to blame.

Picked by the Bruins in the 5th round at 131st overall, Seth Griffith is also a league leader in the OHL with his team, the London Knights (despite missing a number of games with a hand injury).  In 54 games this season, he has 33 goals, 48 assists (11th best in OHL), and 81 points (also 11th best). His 22 power play assists are tied for 10th best.

Cody Payne was drafted in 2012 at #145 overall in the 5th round.

In 66 games played, the 19 year old RW scored 24 G & 21 A for the Whalers this season, while also chipping in 75 PIM in a display of his more physical side… – From The Hockey Writers, a nice post about the prospects as the OHL regular season ended.

Subban, Griffith, and Payne are not eligible to join Providence, however, since they do not have contracts with the Bruins yet. Camara recently signed a contract and therefore will be eligible.

Transactions

In transaction news from Providence, goaltender Adam Morrison has been reassigned to Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL. He joined the P-Bruins last week while Michael Hutchinson nursed a hip injury, but Hutchinson is back to 100%. He did not appear in any games over the weekend although he dressed as Svedberg’s backup on Friday and Saturday. Defenseman Ryan Button has also been reassigned to the ECHL, to the South Carolina Stingrays.

Other Injuries

In delayed injury news, Chris Bourque is out indefinitely after Cody Goloubef of the Springfield Falcons delivered a cheap shot last weekend. Goloubef was suspended for 2 games by the AHL for the hit.

Christian Hanson, who is out with an injured hand, is “50-50” for this weekend, as is Tyler Randell. Hanson’s injury has had a noticeable impact on the Bruins, especially in the faceoff circle. Hanson, a very underrated role player, is Coach Cassidy’s go-to guy in the faceoff circle – even more reliable to win draws than Captain Trent Whitfield and Ryan Spooner. Hopefully he will be back soon.

Providence currently sits at 2nd overall in the Eastern Conference with 81 points. If the playoffs started today, they would face the Hershey Bears. I recommend checking out the AHL’s daily playoff primer for more information as we prepare to enter the final stretch of the AHL regular season and start the playoffs.

Providence Seeks Season Series Split with Springfield

Kyle MacKinnon had a power play goal last night, and has 3 points in the last 2 games. After starting the season with limited ice time, he has emerged as an important role player while the P-Bruins struggle with injuries. The 25-year-old Providence College alum has 18 points (10 goals, 8 assists) for the Baby Bruins this season.

Tonight, the Springfield Falcons will host the Providence Bruins tonight at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA in the Falcons’ “Pink in the Rink” night. The Falcons are 32-14-4-3 (71 points) in 53 games this season, which puts them atop the Northeast division and 2nd in the Eastern conference. The Providence Bruins are 32-18-0-4 (68 points) in 54 games this season, 1st in the Atlantic division and 3rd in the Eastern conference.

The P-Bruins are coming off an impressive come-from behind 3-1 victory over the Worcester Sharks last night, in which they scored 3 unanswered 3rd period goals, including a power play goal by Kyle MacKinnon, the game winner by Alden Hirschfeld, and the empty netter by Trent Whitfield.

Springfield is coming off a semi-double header yesterday against the Adirondack Phantoms in which they completed a game that had previously been suspended two weeks ago when Wade MacLeod suffered a seizure after being boarded during the 2nd period of the game. The 2 teams finished that game last night, then played another full game. Springfield won the resumption of the previously suspended game in a shootout by a score of 3-2, then destroyed the Phantoms in the 2nd game in a 7-2 victory. So although the Falcons may be tired coming off a game and a half played last night, they are riding high off winning 2 games in one night.

On the road, the P-Bruins are 15-10-0-1 this season. At home, the Falcons are 17-7-1-3. In the last 10 games, the P-Bruins are 7-2-0-1, and the Falcons are 6-3-1-0.

The P-Bruins have a +9 goal differential this season but Springfield is an impressive +45. The Falcons 129 total goals against this season is the 2nd fewest in the entire league, with the Wilkes-Barres/Scranton Penguins giving up 1 fewer (128). The Falcons PP is 7th in the AHL and the P-Bruins is 14th. On the PK, Springfield is 5th and Providence is 15th.

This will the 6th of 10 meetings between Providence and Springfield this season. The Falcons are leading the season series 3-2-0-0, with all games being decided in regulation. The Falcons have outscored the P-Bruins 15-12, including one shutout.

 

Image courtesy of Springfield Falcons.

The last time the teams met was on January 12th, when Springfield won 4-2 behind 2 goals from their leading scorer Jonathan Audy-Marchessault (17 goals, 34 assists = 51 points) and 23 saves from goaltender Allen York. Michael Hutchinson was in net for Providence, losing his 2nd game to Springfield in 2 starts against them this season.

Audy-Marchsessault of Springfield and MacKinnon of Providence both have a goal and 2 assists each in the last 2 games for their teams. 2/3 of Providence’s leading scorers will miss tonight’s game with injury: Ryan Spooner (10 goals, 28 assists = 38 points, 1st on team) and Carter Camper (6 goals, 29 assists = 35 points, 3rd on team) continue to be out of the lineup. Jamie Tardif, 2nd on the team in scoring (26 goals, 11 assists = 37 points), returned to the lineup last night and had an assist. Craig Cunningham is 4th in scoring for Providence (14 goals, 12 assists = 26 points) along with  defenseman and CCM/AHL Rookie of the Month Torey Krug (9 goals, 17 assists = 26 points).

League Leaders:

• Audy-Marchessault leads the AHL in assists with 34, and is tied for 3rd in points with 51.
  
• Tardif is 2nd in the AHL in power play goals with 12.
• Bobby Robins is tied for 2nd in minor penalties (36), major penalties (31), and penalty minutes (251).
• Dalton Smith of Springfield is 3rd in AHL rookies in penalty minutes (90) and tied for 2nd (10).
• Ryan Craig of Springfield is 4th in power play points in the AHL with 22, and 1st among active AHLers.
• Niklas Svedberg is tied for 1st in goaltender wins in the AHL with 26, and is 1st in AHL goaltender rookies in wins. Curtis McElhinney is 2nd with 22.
• McElhinney is 1st in shutouts with 7.
• Svedberg is tied for in shootout wins with 5.
• Svedberg’s 2.30 GAA is tied for 9th best in the AHL, while McElhinney is 14th 2.37.

Don’t Forget:

• Check out this Bobby Robins blog post from February 28.
• Today is Michael Hutchinson’s 22nd birthday. Happy Birthday to him!

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 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 Profiles: Ryan Button

Ryan Button (Credit:Flickr/Slidingsideways)

This weeks Providence Profile is all about defenseman Ryan Button. 21 year-old Button was selected in the 2009 entry draft by the Boston Bruins in the 3rd round (86th) overall. So Button has been in the Boston system for a few years and will be for at least two more years. His name might not sound familiar but don’t forget as Button has been referenced by Hockey’s Future as the best Bruins defensive prospect not named Dougie Hamilton.

Button made his AHL debut in the 2010-2011 season playing in seven games with the Providence Bruins. In limited ice-time he managed 1 assist and 2 PMS. This past season, Button split time between Providence and the Bruins ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals. Between the two teams, he was in 58 games tallying 1 goal, 7 assists, and 30 PMS. What those stats say to me is that Button is willing to get physical when necessary.

Here’s a highlight reel of Button from the 2011 Boston Bruins development camp:
http://youtu.be/TD6aiClgABg
(He’s number 78!)

When Button was just starting out he played for the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL so take a look at one of his fights during that time (He’s in the white jersey):
http://youtu.be/R2vH73dXg38

This has been another Providence Profile. Check back next week for a profile on Carter Camper!