The Providence Bruins are below .500 after a weekend with only one win. They had another shake up in the lineup with the return of defenseman Ryan Button and veteran Chris Clark signing a professional tryout contract with the team. Forward Max Sauvé also returned to the lineup after missing 6 games with injury.

Friday night the team was edged by the Manchester Monarchs 2-1. Much of the action came in the opening stanza when Manchester broke out to a 2-0 lead after about 13 minutes of play. Kirk MacDonald dropped the gloves with Justin Johnson in a heated exchange that earned both players majors for fighting and a 10 minute misconduct for Johnson. Johnson returned in the second period and again dropped the gloves but that time with Lane MacDermid. Sauve got the lone goal at 10:37 of the second period. Anton Khudobin turned aside 32 shots and suffered the loss.

Both teams were back at it Saturday night and the Bruins fought hard to win 3-2 in the sixth round of the shootout. The Monarchs again took a lead after the first when Brandon Kozoun got a puck past Khudobin (27 saves) with just two seconds remaining. The second period belonged to Providence as Josh Hennessy and Zach McKelvie lit the lamp to gain the lead. Matt Bartkowski assisted on both goals. The Monarchs tied up the game early in the third and the game went to a scoreless overtime followed by a shootout. No one scored through five rounds but in the sixth round, Hennessy found the back of the net to win the game.

Sunday afternoon the Bruins were blanked 3-0 by the Norfolk Admirals. Michael Hutchinson got the start and made 27 saves. Providence went 0-for-3 on the power play but did kill off three penalties that they took against them.

Providence returns to action Friday night against the Monarchs and take on the Portland Pirates the next night on the road.

Boston Bruins 2011 first round draft pick Dougie Hamilton has been named OHL Defenseman of the Month for October.

The Niagra IceDogs blueliner led all OHL defenseman in scoring for the month with 20 points. Those 20 points came over the course of 12 games where Hamilton had seven goals and 13 assists. 

Hamilton also had a career high point streak in nine games in the month of October. The point streek that lasted from October 6th to October 26th included seven multi-point games as well.

Last season Hamilton finished third in voting for the OHL Defenseman of the Year Award. 

The Bruins got back on the right foot last night by knocking off the division rival Ottawa Senators.  While the game didnt take the initial turn they hoped for, the B's were persistent tonight and left with the 5 - 3 victory after Patrice Bergeron and Chris Kelly tied and took the lead for them respectively.  The third period found the Bruins pushing away with Johnny Boychuk scoring the game winner and then Daniel Paille netting the insurance goal just get a minute apart. 

The game from the Ottawa side was a rather Hockey East showcase with UNH alum Bobby Butler notching an assist on the first goal of the night and Merrimack alum Matt Da Costa netting the second goal of the game. The third period would also give former first round pick Jared Cowen his first goal of the season as his point shot had eyes for the back of the net and snuck by a screened Tim Thomas. Cowen showed an overall strong game for the Sens and is most likely the future core of this young club.  

Last night's win appeared to be the product of continual pressure and mounting chances. While Craig Anderson played well, the 40 shots by the Bruins along with their grinding play and net front presence eventually created the cracks needed to win. Ottawa ended the night worn out and the earl lead they acquired they were never able to recapture. In the future though don't expect Boston or other teams to be as lucky. As this Ottawa team develops and matures they will get better in late game scenarios and have the stamina to leave with the win. 

Even with the win tonight the Bruins still have a number of questions to answer.  The effort to win last night came with a roller coaster of emotions driven by fights from Shawn Thornton and Greg Campbell.  40 shots were needed to get enough points on the board to overcome an Ottawa team that seemed to fall into chances at times.  Are the Bruins out of the woods? Not exactly.  There's a chance but there's still a lot of work to be done.  With that, here are our 5 questions for this Wednesday morning: 

1. David Krejci played a faster game last night and seemed more comfortable on his skates as well as while playing a north-south game once more.  Even so, is he capable of being a #1 center on this team?  Can he remain healthy enough and consistent enough to make his line a threat night in, night out? 

2. One of our biggest concerns with the team at this point is the lack of internal competition that has been extracted due to the team deciding not to carrying prospects through the first 9 games and by guaranteeing roster spots to certain guys early on.  Are the changes that Julien has made so that Lucic-Krejci-Horton are back together and fighting to be the top line with Marchand-Bergeron-Lucic and the third line of Caron-Kelly-Peverley fighting for ice time enough to make guys hungry and motivated? 

3.  If a trade is deemed necessary to make this team successful, is there someone more likely on the block than David Krejci? Would trading Paille, picks or making a free agent signing be enough of a shake up to make this team move forward? 

4.  At what point do the defensive holes in Corvo's game lead to heat being placed on the off season blue line addition?  For even money would you still prefer Kaberle here or Corvo?

5. While many thought that Chris Kelly's skill set would be redundant in this roster with similar players offering the same capabilities for a lower hit, his play to this point has been one of the few high points of this Bruin's season.  With Peverley already resigned and a number of kids hoping to make the jump next season, would you be willing to offer a new contract to Kelly at this point based on his performance or is it going to be time soon enough to make room and move on?

Per his own Twitter, Ryan Button is headed back to Providence.

Coach Cassidy spoke Friday that Button could have been back for Providence's tilt Sunday afternoon but if not then, very soon after.

The defenseman was assigned last Thursday to the Reading Royals of the ECHL after he had been scratched due to illness. The Royals went 1-for-3 in their games this weekend including one that had to be rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday due to snow. Button registered no points or PIMS but had 3 SOG and was a -2 in the 3 games.

In Providence this season, he has registered 0-0=0 totals and 2 PIMs, and was a -1 through two games.

There was no doubt in the minds of anyone that covers the Ontario Hockey League that the Kingston Frontenacs would be near the cellar in the standings this season. With that distinction in Canadian Major Junior Hockey typically comes the task of selling off your assets in order to bring in prospects and draft picks to help in the rebuilding. It’s a process most CHL teams go through every few years.

Boston Bruins’ prospect Ryan Spooner is Kingston’s prized asset. Almost everyone believed prior to the season that it wasn’t a question of if Spooner got traded but when.  The London Knights are the team most rumoured to be interested in Spooner’s services. That’s a deal that many would love - Spooner would join his friend and fellow Bruins’ prospect Jared Knight on a team that sits atop the OHL standings and is the top ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League.

But Spooner's hometown Ottawa 67’s are said to also have interest. Rumours are rampant that the 67’s have a solid offer on the table or are about to make one for Spooner’s services.  It’s believed that the 67’s have offered a prospect plus an assortment of draft picks. The Knights however, can’t match the picks that the 67’s have since they’ve already sent their 2 second round picks in 2012 to Kingston in the Max Domi trade.

A team that could be an underdog is the Kitchener Rangers. They have a lot of young talent and GM/Coach Steve Spott isn’t one to sit pat. But Spott would have to believe he has a chance of going deep into the playoffs with Spooner before he pulls the trigger, but it’s not likely to happen.

For Bruins fans that are salivating at the thought of their two prized assets playing together, what will it take? Again, just rumours, but it’s said that the Frontenacs would want Knights prospect Bo Horvat and picks in return. But it’s hard to imagine that the Knights would part with Horvat for less than a season of Spooner. It’s possible that one of the Rupert twins could be part of the deal. But the lack of high end draft picks for the Knights would mean that they would have to include a player that is already OHL established and the Frontenacs could get two more seasons from. And that could be Seth Griffith who is lighting it up this year for the Knights.

As for Spooner, he’s biding his time in Kingston. While his statistics have taken a dive, his work ethic and defensive play has been better than ever. So much so that the brass putting together the OHL squad for the 2012 Subway Super Series versus the Russians, have named Spooner to the squad, one of only 13 players to play in both games against the Russians.

Fans shouldn’t be disappointed in his production to date. He is playing on an inexperienced squad while at the same time learning other aspects of the game and becoming a leader and a teacher for the younger kids. For Spooner, the points will come once he plays with more experienced players. There is just too much talent there for it not to happen.

With a win on Sunday, the Providence Bruins have slid in into second place in the Atlantic Division. Despite losses to the Norfolk Admirals and Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the overtime victory over St. John’s solidified their place.

The line up is still missing part of their top end group in Maxime Sauve, Trent Whitfield and Jamie Tardif so line combinations have had to be switched up.

“We’re just trying to find some pieces that complement one another,” Cassidy said of the line of Lane MacDermid, Carter Camper and Zach Hamill. “We kind of want big bodies with them. We don’t have a lot of big bodies so we’re kind of limited.”

In Friday’s game, the Admirals opened the scoring at the 4:30 mark when Carter Ashton got a puck past Anton Khudobin. Khudobin turned to look for the puck but all he saw was it going into the net. Trevor Smith extended the lead with only 33 seconds to go in the period when he scored on a 2-on-1 putting Providence down 2-0 heading into the first intermission.

Dana Tyrell made 3-0 at just 2:49 of the middle frame. The Bruins continued to struggle as the period went on, only recording two shots through 10 minutes of play. It was not until 17:21 that the Bruins would break the shut out when Craig Cunningham scored the first goal of his pro career. Kirk MacDonald and Matt Bartkowski got the helpers.

Zach McKelvie and Carter Ashton exchanged punches early in the final period. Both were assessed with fighting majors and McKelvie got an extra two minutes for roughing that left Providence down a man. After creating offense during the previous penalty kills, this proved to be the best one when Stefan Chaput deflected a shot from Kevan Miller at 4:05 to make it a one-goal game.

It was the second period that turned things around for the Bruins as the ice was almost tilted in favor of the Admirals in the first period but they were the better team on the ice all night, winning most of the small battles.

“You can draw up all the Xs and Os you want,” Cassidy said, “If you win the share of the battles, that team will generally get better chances.”

That would be as far as the Bruins could come back however as just three minutes later Norfolk found the back of the net to make it 4-2. Khudobin made 37 saves in the loss to end a five game point streak for the team.

All the help from the young players is something that is important but as this point, Coach Cassidy is now looking for some of the more experience played to start producing.

“We sit here and talk about our inexperience but we’ve also got a lot of guys in the lineup that have been in the league that haven’t found their offensive game yet, he said Friday, “Seems like every night someone’s got their first professional goal.”

Back in action Saturday night, Providence fell 3-2 to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Michael Hutchinson made 25 saves in the start, his first since returning from injury. Chaput scored his second goal in as many games at 17:21 when he redirected a shot from Zach Hamill at the right point. Lane MacDermid had the secondary assist.

The game was tied after two periods after a goal form Justin DiBenedetto of the Sound Tigers. His teammate Casey Cizikas extended the lead for Bridgeport at 8:09 of the third period but Providence answered with a goal from Hamill at 12:02. Cizikas would score again to make 3-2 which would be the final score.

Only 3 penalties were called in the entire game; the Bruins went 0-for-2 on the power play but were 1-for-1 on the kill.

Sunday’s opening night rematch against the St. John’s IceCaps put Providence back in the win column when they came out on top 4-3 in overtime.

The first period was scoreless but both teams netted a pair in the second period to make it 2-2 heading into the final frame. Carter Camper notched the first goal then Chaput continued on his scoring streak with the second.

Kyle MacKinnon regained the lead for the Bruins just over 4 minutes into the final period but St. John’s answered at 11:44 where the score would stay tied until overtime. Overtime did not last long as Andrew Bodnarchuk got a puck past David Aebischer (30 saves) just 18 seconds in to give Providence the win.

The Providence Bruins take on their division rivals the Manchester Monarchs back-to-back this weekend on Friday and Saturday before they play Norfolk again on Sunday.

A day after the snowfall and power outages in Pennsylvania delayed their game, the Reading Royals were unable to continue where they left off Friday night as they were blanked, 2-0, by the Gwinnett Gladiators Sunday. The loss put a damper on the pre-game ceremony which featured head coach Larry Courville's jersey number being retired.

It was a duel between both goaltenders. Joe Palmer put on his best performance of the season, but Gwinnett's Jeff Jakaitis was better as he stopped all 33 shots.

"I thought [Palmer] played very well, especially in the third period," Courville said. "He made some quality saves for us to kind of keep us in."

The Royals themselves put forth a strong effort in the loss. Courville said he thought it was the best game to date for the team.

The Royals came out of the gate with a good first period, but Gwinnett was able to get on the board with two minutes left in the period. Reading was unable to clear the zone and a harmless shot wide somehow found its way to Nikita Kashirsky's stick and was tipped-in past Palmer for a late 1-0 lead.

The league's third best power play unit lost its luster as they went 0-for-4 in the game. After a failed attempt on the third opportunity in the third period, Corey Fienhage exited the penalty box and sprung Andy Brandt on a breakaway. He fired a shot that beat Palmer low and gave the Gladiators a 2-0 lead with 3:58 left in the game.

With the Royals on their fourth power play and Palmer pulled for an extra attacker, Marvin Degon seemed to have scored a goal, but the referee waived it off, claiming Matt Schepke ran into Jakaitis.

Bad bounces and Jakaitis not allowing second chances kept the Royals off the scoreboard.

"We're still getting the opportunities, just not scoring," Casey Haines said. "Ryan [Cruthers] hit the crossbar there, I hit the post there, [Chad] Painchaud hit the crossbar there at the end, a goal that should have been allowed got disallowed...We just need to work hard and that's how you get the bounces in hockey."

The Royals look towards changing the season around on their upcoming five-game road trip.

"You have 23 guys for five days – it can be a bit much – but that's how you get to know each other and gel as a team and hopefully something good will come out of it, like two points each game." Haines said.

COURVILLE'S NUMBER RETIRED
A special pre-game ceremony was held in honor of Courville. He was recognized by the Royals by having his No. 22 retired.

He spent parts of five seasons playing with the Royals starting in 2001-02. He became an assistant coach with the team in 2008-09 and became head coach part way through the same season.

"It was definitely an honor," Courville said. "I was very happy and it was nice to be recognized by this organization for all the years that I've been here."

INJURY UPDATE
Matt Caruana was injured in Friday night's game against the Trenton Titans. He has been placed on three-day injured reserve.

According to Courville, Karel St. Laurent has a "slight injury." He has been checked out by doctors and will have pictures taken tomorrow.

It was safe to say the Reading Royals got off to a far better start than their last game, but the outcome was still the same. They lost Thursday night, 4-1, to the South Carolina Stingrays in Karel St. Laurent's first appearance in net for the Royals.

"All-in-all, I didn't think we played all that bad of a game," coach Larry Courville said. "We kept them under 25 shots...I thought we competed, but the mistakes that we made cost us."



After a scoreless first, the Royals needed only took 37 seconds into the second period to strike. Rob Kwiet's shot from the blue line off a faceoff win by Casey Haines was deflected before sneaking between South Carolina's Philipp Grubauer. Haines was credited with the goal.

South Carolina was able to rebound from the goal as Danick Paquette was able to tie the game on a second effort with St. Laurent down on the ice. Paquette attempted to stuff the puck past St. Laurent, but the rebound came right back to him.

The Stingrays took the lead late in the second period, which would end up being the game winner, as Trent Campbell passed the puck to David de Kastrozza who shot it into an empty net with just 56.8 seconds remaining. They took a 2-1 lead into the intermission and never looked back.

Despite having the second best power play in the ECHL, the Royals were unable to score on their three chances in the game. The Stingrays, however, were able to convert on one of their four chances.

With Matt Caruana in the box for the third time in the game, the Stingrays made the Royals pay. Zach Tarkir fed the puck from behind the net to a waiting Jerry Pollastrone all alone at the top of the crease. He buried it above St. Laurent's shoulder for a 3-1 Stingrays lead 6:02 into the third period.

Paquette added another insurance goal for South Carolina on a similar play. He scored his second of the night top shelf on St. Laurent off a feed from Anthony Maiani with 5:55 left in the game. The Royals lost their second straight game and are now 2-2-1-0.

"Before we were cheating, but I don't think we cheated at all tonight," Courville said. "We made some mistakes that cost us, so I think we're hopefully going in the right direction. We just got to get more pucks to the net, more traffic to the net."

* * *

Ryan Button, the Boston Bruins' third-round draft pick from 2009, suited up for the Royals. He was sent to the team from the Providence Bruins Wednesday. Courville had him in the starting line-up and he even saw time on the penalty kill.

"I thought for his first game, he played pretty well since he didn't know much of our systems," Courville said. "I thought he was one of our better defensemen out there tonight. He competes, he plays physical [and] he can move the puck well."

Button said the illness he had kept him off the ice for two and a half weeks and Thursday night was his first game in three weeks.

"[It] was a little difficult to get into it, but I thought as the game went along I got a little more accustomed to it," Button said. "For only being down here for a day, I feel comfortable, which is a credit to this team and this organization."

Reading fans shouldn't get too attached though, as Button said he is only here for the weekend.

"The team is playing well up in Providence, and that's a credit to them," Button said. "They're not going to change the line-up so they decided to send me down to get some games and I'll hopefully be right back up."

The first match up of the season with Northeast rival Montreal left the Bruins with another sour taste in their mouths and again lacking 2 points in the standings.  While they were able to out play the Habs physically for most of the contest and dictate play, they were unable to convert more chances in this one and come away with the W.  Give credit to Tim Thomas for his play tonight as he performed excellently.  Give more credit though to his counterpart from Montreal who was the difference maker in this one with 34 saves.

It's hard to say what the Bruins didn't do other than convert in this one- the physical play was there, the pressure down low, the speed up the middle and the work on the boards.  If there was one aspect to point to it would be the dismal power play efforts.  Outside of the fluke goal by Bergeron to start their 2nd power play, the B's extra man effort was disappointing.  Montreal was able to force the dump in at the blue line in most instances and then win races and battles for the puck.  A 3 man puck pressure attack with the extra hanging out on top of the crease defending warded off the Bruins hope of pushing themselves ahead in this contest.  

If this team is going to succeed then they need to show the same effort and ability on the man advantage as they were in earlier games.  More puck movement, more skating, more creativity.  They seemed too focused on maintaining a net front presence against Price which isn't a bad strategy except when it hinders your ability to keep a flow going.  If you can credit the B's with anything specifically wrong in planning for this one it may be that they overplanned for this one.


Highlights of the night:
-Brad Marchand showed that he's not going to back down to anyone and will do what it takes to lead this team.  From being a question mark on a Bruins roster ever  at the start of last season to the first line 2 way wing he's become, the progression of Marchand's game has been impressive and enjoyed by Bruins fans.

-Shawn Thornton and Benoit Pouliot both deserve recognition in this one.  When the team was at it's lowest both stepped on the ice with the aim of bringing them back and raising the energy.  Thornton's skating possessed and hitting of Subban gave life to the crowd and the team and helped turn the flow of the game after Montreal goals.  This could have been a much uglier affair without their effort on the ice.

Lowlights: 
-David Krejci was rough to watch tonight.  It seems as though he's not comfortable on the ice yet after coming back from injury.  His play at this point is hesitant, it's a bit lost and is hurting his line.  A number of shifts by his line lead to extended stays in the Bruins own end as moving the puck forward appeared to be impossible.  What he needs in order to get back to his puck possession, offensive, matrix like self is uncertain.  It is certain though that this team is hurting without him being a factor on every shift.

Friday 5 Questions:
-What does Julien need to do in order to make sure this team plays a complete game and gets the most out of all his players?

-How important is the Bergeron line really to this team? How else can the team build around that unit to succeed?

-Would anyone dare to split up Lucic and Seguin at this point in order to make Seguin a center again?

-How will this Bruins team respond Saturday night as the home and home heads to Montreal?

-Finally, would you be willing to make a call up from Providence to shake things up and try to make a difference or build chemistry?

Take all the questions that came pregame and throw them out the window.  The rivalry is alive and thriving and this 2nd period showed it.  

The highlight of the fiasco: PK Subban throwing down in his first fight in Boston against none other than Brad Marchand.  The fight took 3 attempts to actually happen as refs interrupted it with "holding" calls and "delay of games".  When it did happen though both proved it was worth the waiting.  Coming directly out of the box to square off both took the helmets off, loosened up and went for it.  Subbans first swing put him almost on the ice and then the two engaged.  While Subban may have gotten more shots in, his inability to handle the much smaller Marchand made the Garden explode.  

So while the energy of the second did favor the Bruins, the scoreboard did shift slightly back into tie game as a a point shot, a tip and a screen lead to the puck finding it's way behind Thomas on Erik Cole's 2nd of the year.  Even though the score ended at 1-1, the chances of the period were plentiful.  A breakaway by Cole almost gave him 2 in the period but a pad stacking Tim Thomas was there with the save of the year.  At the other end, the Bruins continued with the shoot and pressure down low with Milan Lucic setting up for what could be called #OccupyCarey.  
The 3rd will be a battle.  Both teams will pressure down low and go for the hardworking goals that are needed to beat either of these goalies.  Look for both to be willing to spread the ice when the chance apears though.  It's going to come down to who wants it more.