| 26 October 2011
The Providence Bruins grabbed five out of a possible six points this weekend and hope to carry that momentum into next weekend’s gaggle of games.
Friday nights bout against divisional rivals the Worcester Sharks was the Bruins’ second straight shootout win. The Sharks have never been behind in a game prior and that night was no exception as the Bruins had to battle from behind the entire game. The Sharks got two goals past Anton Khudobin in the opening period to give them a comfortable lead. Providence’s players were pretty rattled by going down so quick with two back-to-back heated fights with Tyler Randell and Curt Gogol dropping the gloves before Brandon Mashinter and Lane MacDermid exchanged punches following the next face off.
Providence got on the board 6:14 into the middle frame when MacDermid buried a rebound from Kirk MacDonald. That was the only goal that period but the pace of the game changed from there. Worcester scored merely 28 seconds into the third period but Providence bounced back when Calle Ridderwall got his first professional goal at 1:46. The home team was within a goal once again and kept going hard up until the final 30 seconds of play when Jamie Tardif hit the back of the net to tie the game. Neither team could finish it off in overtime and it went to a shootout where rookie Carter Camper got the winning goal in the 5th round of the shootout. Khudobin made 40 saves in the victory.
“It was a huge win,” Camper said, “We came back and battled. It was a big character win for us.”
Being in the win column certainly upped the morale in the locker room and the players were proud of their play.
“Nobody wants to start off with three losses, everybody wanted to turn it around as soon as possible and the fact that we’ve done this now shows a lot about our team,” Ridderwall said Friday.
Following Friday’s win, head coach Bruce Cassidy said the team will take a win anyway they can get them and the weekend prior was very important.
“We needed something good to happen,” he said, “I’m kind of glad we got away from the Dunk because we were not playing up to expectations for the fans or for ourselves. Getting away for a bit and not having to impress anybody was good for us.”
Rookie goaltender Karel St. Laurent got his first professional start and stopped 37 shots in Saturday night’s 4-3 win over the Portland Pirates up in Maine.
The first period was scoreless but the second period went back and forth in goals. Providence struck first when Stefan Chaput got his first of the season at 2:14 but Portland answered shortly after at 6:16. Jamie Arniel put the Bruins ahead just 40 seconds after the Pirates tied it up and held on until the final two minutes of play when the game got tied up again.
Ridderwall got his second goal in as many games to put the Bruins in the lead again at 6:21. The hero from Friday night Camper got his first official goal of the season in the form of the game winner for a second night in a row on the power play to solidify the win for the Bruins.
Sunday the Bruins continued on their point streak when they were defeated 3-2 in overtime by the Albany Devils. Zach Hamill notched both goals for Providence and Khudobin made 35 saves in the loss.
Friday coach Cassidy made sure to note the team he stands behind on the bench is very young and inexpereienced. Both Ridderwall and Camper recognized it too following the game.
“When you’re a rookie and you’re new like this, you’ve got to be an energy guy,” Ridderwall said, “Basically, you try not to get too fancy.”
Rookie Camper is already providing heroics early in the season and he too recognizes the youth of the team. “We are a young team this year and we have to rely on the younger guys a bit,” he said Friday, “Hopefully soon the young guys can contribute on a nightly basis.”
Providence had two important players return to the line up this weekend that impacted the play on the ice. Matt Bartkowski returned in time for Friday night’s bout and he contributed more than just the assist on the game tying goal in the third period.
Cassidy was glad to have Bartkowski back for his experience in the league and to alleviate some stress and minutes off the younger players. “That’s where it becomes important,” Cassidy said, “Not only having him in the lineup but then allowing him to move some other guys around to play around in situations where they can have success in instead of having to play up where maybe they’re overmatched.”
Jordan Caron returned to the lineup for only Sunday’s game and has since been recalled back to play in Boston.
The lineup was shaken up again on Thursday when St. Laurent was assigned to the Bruins’ ECHL affiliate the Reading Royals and Yannick Riendeau was recalled from the Royals.
Riendeau was assigned to Reading on October 11th after playing in one game for Providence. He has since appeared in four games with the Royals notching a goal and an assist.
St. Laurent had one career start with Providence where he earned the win and played as relief for Khudobin in a game against the Manchester Monarchs.
Though nothing is official, Ryan Button has been sent to Providence as well according to his Twitter account. He has been a scratch as of recently due to illness but played in 9 games this season where he registered no points.
The Bruins return to the ice Friday night at the Dunk against the Norfolk Admirals before traveling to Bridgeport to take on the Sound Tigers Saturday night. Sunday afternoon Providence will match up against the St. John’s IceCaps for the second time this season; they lost in their first game against the new team 4-1 on opening night.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
