Opening draw
Not unlike their parents in Boston, the Providence Bruins have a chance to surmount the .500 fence Saturday night when they visit the Portland Pirates at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
At 7-7-1, the P-Bruins will try to improve their season series to 3-0-0 with the Pirates, who are presently mired in the Atlantic Division cellar, on a two-game pointless skid and 2-6-0 in their last eight outings after an initial 2-1-1 start.
Entering Saturday’s action, the P-Bruins are one of a whopping 12 Eastern Conference inhabitants with a winning percentage of .500 or better. The Pirates are in the slim minority, joined by the defending Calder Cup champion Binghamton Senators and the Manchester Monarchs, whom the Bruins victimized with a dramatic 1-0 decision Friday at the Dunkin Donuts Center.
Notable names
Andy Miele, who returned to the Pirates last Friday after a two-week recall to the parent Phoenix Coyotes, is second only to Rochester’s Marcus Foligno with a 33.3 shooting percentage. Over seven AHL appearances, Miele, Carter Camper’s former teammate at Miami University, has inserted four goals on 12 SOG.
Brett Hextall and Ryan Hollweg are the only active Portland regulars in the plus/minus black with ratings of plus-3 and plus-1, respectively.
Veteran defenseman Nathan Oystrick is on the three-game point-getting streak with a goal and four assists in that span.
Miscellany
The P-Bruins slapped Manchester stopper Martin Jones with his league-leading seventh loss of the season Friday night while sparing their own Anton Khudobin the same fate. However, Khudobin is still tied with Portland’s Curtis McElhinney for third on that dubious leaderboard with six setbacks apiece.
The P-Bruins have a substantially better power-play conversion rate on the road (21.4 percent as opposed to 4.9 percent at The Dunk) while Portland has reaped more 5-on-4 rewards at home (20.7) than away (17.6 percent). The Pirates have also killed 92.3 percent of their road penalties, but only fended off 77.3 percent of opposing power play onslaughts at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
This Date In Providence Bruins History: November 12
1992: Grigori Panteleev’s hat trick spells the difference in a 5-2 home win over Hershey.
1995: Tim Sweeney’s second straight two-goal game highlights an 8-2 throttling of the Prince Edward Island Senators at the Providence Civic Center. In addition, top gun Ryan Hughes inserts the 1,000th goal in franchise history.
1999: Eric Nickulas bags two goals while Peter Ferraro and Andre Savage each log a 1-2-3 scoring line for the night as part of a 7-2 home win over the Hershey Bears.
2004: A fight-filled 3-2 home win over Hershey includes goaltenders Hannu Toivonen and Peter Budaj tussling at center ice late in the second period.
2006: Trailing the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-1, at the second intermission, the P-Bruins rally for a 4-3 overtime win at The Dunk. Martins Karsums inserts the equalizer with 8:16 to spare in regulation, then ends the same bonus round he had forced at the 1:57 mark.
1995: Tim Sweeney’s second straight two-goal game highlights an 8-2 throttling of the Prince Edward Island Senators at the Providence Civic Center. In addition, top gun Ryan Hughes inserts the 1,000th goal in franchise history.
1999: Eric Nickulas bags two goals while Peter Ferraro and Andre Savage each log a 1-2-3 scoring line for the night as part of a 7-2 home win over the Hershey Bears.
2004: A fight-filled 3-2 home win over Hershey includes goaltenders Hannu Toivonen and Peter Budaj tussling at center ice late in the second period.
2006: Trailing the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-1, at the second intermission, the P-Bruins rally for a 4-3 overtime win at The Dunk. Martins Karsums inserts the equalizer with 8:16 to spare in regulation, then ends the same bonus round he had forced at the 1:57 mark.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Post-game Puckbag: P-Bruins 1, Monarchs 0
Swift summation
Entering Friday night’s face-off, the Providence Bruins were already without their top two goal-getters with Zach Hamill (five) on recall to Boston and Stefan Chaput (four) sidelined by an injury.
Through the first 40-plus minutes, they were virtually without the equally leaned-on Max Sauve, who at that point was one of eight Providence skaters still with no registered shots against Manchester Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones.
But with 4:56 to spare in the closing frame, Sauve, whose line with Josh Hennessy and Jamie Tardif have had a hand in each of the last four P-Bruins goals, broke a nightlong 0-0 tie.
Upon burying Hennessy’s rebound on Jones’ porch, Sauve snapped his team’s scoreless drought of 137 minutes and 43 seconds. And he ultimately cemented his team’s first regulation win at the Dunkin Donuts Center this season as the Bruins subsisted on the 1-0 decision before 10,212 uplifted rooters.
For the longest time leading up to Sauve’s strike, it appeared as though things would be all downhill for the P-Bruins’ arid offense, which managed to claim an 11-10 upper hand in the first-period shooting gallery. This coming after they had failed to crack double digits under the SOG heading in the first period of each of their previous four games.
After each team landed seven shots apiece in the second, the Monarchs took three unanswered bids in the first seven minutes of the third period. By the halfway mark, only Jamie Arniel and Kyle MacKinnon, who rode on a stimulating end-to-end breakaway, had pelted Jones.
But after the Monarchs couldn’t penetrate P-Bruins’ backstop Anton Khudobin on eight third-period shots, Sauve made his team’s third try the charm. Another five saves by Khudobin gave him his second goose-egg with the Spoked-Ps.
P-Bruins pluses
After being abandoned on several laborious nights and having to work overtime to accomplish the bulk of his recent wins, Khudobin pitched a refreshing 30-save shutout. The No. 1 stopper was fittingly the center of attention in the climactic phases of Friday’s game as he repelled three extra-man shots within the final minute-and-a-half.
Calle Ridderwall didn’t do much on the offensive front, but was heroic on two unanswered penalty kills prior to Sauve’s decider in the third period. In the dying seconds of Lane MacDermid’s sentence in the fifth minute and Hennessy’s sin bin term in the 14th minute, Ridderwall cleared the zone after a blocked shot and upon picking up a threatening rebound.
Matt Bartkowski made his presence felt in multiple ways for the better part of the night, particularly in the opening frame. He threw two attempted shots and getting the first on net on his first shift. Throughout the rest of the opening frame, he could be spotted blocking shots, winning footraces and setting up breakouts on Providence property while thwarting Manchester clearing attempts at the other end.
And, as it happened, he shared a plus-1 rating with partner David Warsofsky and Sauve’s line.
Hennessy has now had a hand in all five the Bruins’ regulation goals in four meetings with the Monarchs, along with the shootout winner last Saturday up at Verizon Wireless Arena.
Bruins blights
For the fourth consecutive game, MacDermid was held pointless while committing a minor penalty.
Chris Clark and Craig Cunningham each had two shots on goal in the opening frame, but did not add to that bushel in the 40 minutes thereafter.
Providence had the lone two power plays of a scoreless second period, but mustered only two cumulative shots on those chances. With that, the 5-on-4 brigade is now scoreless on each of its last 13 shifts.
Monarchs notes
Defenseman Jake Muzzin led all participants with seven shots on goal. Winger Dwight King was a close second with five registered stabs.
Jones, who halted 22 out of 23 shots faced, claimed the game’s No. 3 star accolade.
Miscellany
Colby Cohen, the weightiest of all P-Bruins at 215 pounds, engaged in his first fight of the season and the third of his professional career. He tangled with Ray Kaunisto at the 14:29 mark of the third period, just 35 seconds and one whistle before Sauve’s strike.
Entering Friday night’s face-off, the Providence Bruins were already without their top two goal-getters with Zach Hamill (five) on recall to Boston and Stefan Chaput (four) sidelined by an injury.
Through the first 40-plus minutes, they were virtually without the equally leaned-on Max Sauve, who at that point was one of eight Providence skaters still with no registered shots against Manchester Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones.
But with 4:56 to spare in the closing frame, Sauve, whose line with Josh Hennessy and Jamie Tardif have had a hand in each of the last four P-Bruins goals, broke a nightlong 0-0 tie.
Upon burying Hennessy’s rebound on Jones’ porch, Sauve snapped his team’s scoreless drought of 137 minutes and 43 seconds. And he ultimately cemented his team’s first regulation win at the Dunkin Donuts Center this season as the Bruins subsisted on the 1-0 decision before 10,212 uplifted rooters.
For the longest time leading up to Sauve’s strike, it appeared as though things would be all downhill for the P-Bruins’ arid offense, which managed to claim an 11-10 upper hand in the first-period shooting gallery. This coming after they had failed to crack double digits under the SOG heading in the first period of each of their previous four games.
After each team landed seven shots apiece in the second, the Monarchs took three unanswered bids in the first seven minutes of the third period. By the halfway mark, only Jamie Arniel and Kyle MacKinnon, who rode on a stimulating end-to-end breakaway, had pelted Jones.
But after the Monarchs couldn’t penetrate P-Bruins’ backstop Anton Khudobin on eight third-period shots, Sauve made his team’s third try the charm. Another five saves by Khudobin gave him his second goose-egg with the Spoked-Ps.
P-Bruins pluses
After being abandoned on several laborious nights and having to work overtime to accomplish the bulk of his recent wins, Khudobin pitched a refreshing 30-save shutout. The No. 1 stopper was fittingly the center of attention in the climactic phases of Friday’s game as he repelled three extra-man shots within the final minute-and-a-half.
Calle Ridderwall didn’t do much on the offensive front, but was heroic on two unanswered penalty kills prior to Sauve’s decider in the third period. In the dying seconds of Lane MacDermid’s sentence in the fifth minute and Hennessy’s sin bin term in the 14th minute, Ridderwall cleared the zone after a blocked shot and upon picking up a threatening rebound.
Matt Bartkowski made his presence felt in multiple ways for the better part of the night, particularly in the opening frame. He threw two attempted shots and getting the first on net on his first shift. Throughout the rest of the opening frame, he could be spotted blocking shots, winning footraces and setting up breakouts on Providence property while thwarting Manchester clearing attempts at the other end.
And, as it happened, he shared a plus-1 rating with partner David Warsofsky and Sauve’s line.
Hennessy has now had a hand in all five the Bruins’ regulation goals in four meetings with the Monarchs, along with the shootout winner last Saturday up at Verizon Wireless Arena.
Bruins blights
For the fourth consecutive game, MacDermid was held pointless while committing a minor penalty.
Chris Clark and Craig Cunningham each had two shots on goal in the opening frame, but did not add to that bushel in the 40 minutes thereafter.
Providence had the lone two power plays of a scoreless second period, but mustered only two cumulative shots on those chances. With that, the 5-on-4 brigade is now scoreless on each of its last 13 shifts.
Monarchs notes
Defenseman Jake Muzzin led all participants with seven shots on goal. Winger Dwight King was a close second with five registered stabs.
Jones, who halted 22 out of 23 shots faced, claimed the game’s No. 3 star accolade.
Miscellany
Colby Cohen, the weightiest of all P-Bruins at 215 pounds, engaged in his first fight of the season and the third of his professional career. He tangled with Ray Kaunisto at the 14:29 mark of the third period, just 35 seconds and one whistle before Sauve’s strike.
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