BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Timely goal scoring and 34 saves from Jeremy Swayman helped the Providence Bruins upend the Hartford Wolf Pack 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the XL Center.
The Bruins (4-1), leading the Atlantic Division, wasted little time getting on the board. In the first 45-seconds of the second period, the Bruins tallied twice over 25 seconds to take control of the game away from the Wolf Pack.
Brady Lyle outlet pass went up the right-wing side to Anton Blidh. Darren Raddysh was closing in on him, but he sent the puck back to Oskar Steen, who came roaring in off the right-wing and wired a shot to the far side on Pack goaltender Tyler Wall. The goal was his first of the season at the 20-second mark.
On the goal, the Pack defenseman, Patrick Khodorenko, had his back to Steen and never saw how open he was.
BRUINS STRIKE AGAIN
The Bruins struck again 25 seconds later.
Cameron Hughes was ten-feet in front, and Paul Carey won his one-on-one battle with Tim Gettinger and came around the right side of the net. He sent a pass to an open Hughes, who jammed it home for a 2-0 lead on the first two shots of the period.
“We made a couple of mistakes not covering the middle of the ice for two goals-not good enough,” remarked Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch.
The errors were glaring to the players too.
“We had a few too many mental errors, and we’re going to be playing Providence a lot. We’ve got to re-think those mistakes. Overall, we did some good things; now we have a long week to work before the next game. We’ll have time in practice to work on those mistakes.”
The Bruins were getting pucks deep and winning the races and the one-on-one battles and dictating the game’s pace.
PACK SCORE
Patrick Newell sent a stretch pass to Jonny Brodzinski on the left-wing. After entering the Bruins zone, he sent a cross-ice pass deep on the left-wing boards to Morgan Barron on the right. Barron buried his second of the season to Swayman’s short side at 15:53.
“Jonny made a nice little bump out to me. I saw him coming, so I knew we had a two-on-one there. He made a nice shot there and got us back in the game there.” Barron said.
For Knoblauch, it was one of the brighter spots of the game.
“That whole line played really well. Morgan has been playing well every day, and he’s starting to look like a first-line player. Newell, last year, I thought he was playing below what he could do, and this year he has more confidence.”
It didn’t take the Bruins long to restore their two-goal lead.
The Bruins kept Patrick Sieloff’s clearing attempt in the Wolf Pack end. Jack Achan got the puck deep, and after winning a puck battle, Matt Filipe kicked it back to Samuel Asselin, who came in from the left-wing side along the boards and gave the puck back to Lyle just inside the blue line. He ripped a long-distance rocket. Four players screened Wall, and the shot sailed into the net at 14:23, giving Providence a 3-1 lead.
WALL PULLED
At the next and game break, at 14:57, Wall was pulled after seeing just 16 shots and surrendering three goals.
Knoblauch tried to shake things up for the team, but he wasn’t entirely happy with Wall’s work. “The first two goals were tough, no fault on him for those, but after the third goal, I think it was something to spark the team. We had played strong in the first, but when they made it 3-1, you hope in changing goalies; it’s something the team can rally around.”
In a Wolf Pack first, Knoblauch pulled a starting goalie in just the fourth game of the season. He replaced him with an 18-year-old rookie, Dylan Garand.
“It’s a lot of pressure on a goalie to go in when you haven’t had your routine to get ready for a game and to throw him into the fire with that breakaway, and he comes up with that huge save. I think he did really well.”
Knoblauch refers to Steen’s breakaway with 4:17 to play in the second. Steen blocked Khordorenko’s shot attempt, and on his first career shot on goal, Garand made the stop. He made nine saves in total in his relief appearance.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, the Bruins went up 4-1 after Joel Messner put a flip shot into the Wolf Pack zone. Raddysh knocked the puck down, but Carey was there to claim it and moved in from the right-wing boards, and his hard wrist shot on Garand went off the right pad with the rebound going right to Joona Koppanen who tallied his second of the season at 5:11.
The Wolf Pack struck at 7:14 to narrow the gap to two goals. Senyshyn lost the puck in the Wolf Pack zone, and Will Cuylle picked up the loose biscuit started the Pack transition. He advanced the puck on the right-wing to Ty Ronning, who ripped a 30-foot wrister beating Swayman to the short-side. It was Ronnings’ first goal and came in his first game of the season.
Ronning earned high praise from Knoblauch.
“Here’s a guy who is hungry to play, and he understands there’s a lot of competition for those last couple of roster spots. He has done everything we have asked of him since training camp, practice, and spending time on our taxi squad. We had some openings because of injuries in our lineup with (Justin) Richards and (Gabriel) Fontaine out, and he made the most of it. It’s going to be hard to take him out of our lineup based on what he provided for us today.”
Knoblauch assessed Swayman and the goaltending for the Bruins.
“He played well, and they have two good goalies, but we have to find ways to get a little more traffic (in front) to get some goals; rebounds are where a lot of goals are scored now.”
A scoreless first period, but the Wolf Pack had much of the better chances outshooting the Bruins 15-9 and controlled the flow of play.
NOTES:
Ronning and Barron each had four shots to pace the Wolf Pack.
Anthony Greco had another tough outing going minus-4 in Bridgeport and was a minus-3 against the Bruins.
Bruins were down two men for the second half of the game after being injured by getting hit by pucks.
Goalscorer Cam Hughes was knocked out midway of the second period taking a high shot from teammate Robert Lantosi. He did not return. Defenseman Nick Wolff went off for medical attention at 12:14 of the third after catching Newell’s shot in the face area.
Mason Geersten and Wolff fought halfway through the first period.
Pack scratched players had their own practice after the game with Knoblauch on the XL Center ice.
The post-game practice comes as a Covid by-product with the Maine Mariners, the Pack’s ECHL affiliates, not playing this year. Players need to get their work in.
Ex-Pack, Vinni Lettieri, had two goals in the San Diego Gulls 7-3 win over the Colorado Eagles on Saturday night. He now had five goals and seven points in five games.
Trevor Zegras (Avon Old Farms) picked up two goals and is tied for the AHL scoring lead (9 points) with Seth Jarvis of the Chicago Wolves.
Sam Anas (Quinnipiac University) now has seven assists in five games with the Utica Comets.
The Ontario Reign are struggling defensively, with 18 of their 26 players being a minus. Four players are minus-7 in seven games. They are Dan Brickley, Sean Durzi, Akil Thomas, and Mikey Eyssemont.
LINES:
Brodzinski-Barron-Newell
Khordorenko-Gettinger-Greco
O’Leary-Whelan-Thompson
Ronning-Cuylle-Rueschhoff
LoVerde-Geersten
Reunanen-Raddysh
Sieloff-Crawley
Wall
Garand
SCRATCHES:
Gabriel Fontaine (upper-body injury)
Justin Richards (lower-body injury expected to skate on Tuesday)
Ryan Dmowski (Old Lyme)
Jake Elmer
Zach Guattari (Salisbury School)
Adam Huska (Has played three games this year – all in Slovakia)
Jeff Taylor
