BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Alex-Olivier Voyer scored two goals, and Jakub Lauko had a goal and an assist to help the Providence Bruins rout the Hartford Wolf Pack 6-1 in their first home game in two weeks at the XL Center.
The Wolf Pack record falls to 3-6-1-0 (7 points), and the team is approaching the midway point of their short season and sinking fast, having lost their ninth-in-a-row.
Once again, the second period was not kind to the Wolf Pack, who exited the period down 3-0.
Rookie Will Cuylle lost the puck sending the Bruins (11-2-1-0 for 23 points) off on a two-on-one rush. Rookie, Matt Filipe, carried the puck from his zone and went unchecked, and Tarmo Reunanen was chasing him.
Filipe shoveled a pass across the crease to Voyer, who buried his second of the season into an open net at 10:45.
BOLLER COMMENTS
Assistant GM and Acting Head Coach Pat Boller did his best at putting a spin on their misfortunes in a tough spot.
“We had a really good first period,” He said. “They got a lucky bounce on the first goal, and we even had a good start to the second period, and then the same thing. They got another bad luck bounce. We were chasing it from there.”
Defensive coverage was an issue all game long as open lanes were abundant.
“Our work ethic wasn’t there at times. We lost battles sometimes, and they were jumping on pucks. We were shooting ourselves in the foot. They were putting pucks in the back of the net, and some of it was our fault. It was a disappointing game,” remarked winger Ty Ronning.
Boller felt that Ronning and his linemates, Austin Rueschhoff and Justin Richards, had a solid performance. “Ty played a very good game for us, and that whole line was effective.”
FOUR-ON-FOUR HURTS THE PACK
While playing in a four-on-four situation, Bruins rookie, Jakub Lauko, took a pass from Joel Messner. Lauko then stickhandled around and away from the Pack’s Patrick Newell just inside the blue line.
Lauko was able to evade Morgan Barron’s checking attempt and raced in towards the Pack net. While drawing players to him, he hit a wide-open Messner at the right side of the net, allowing an easy deposit of the puck into an open net at 15:06.
Messner finished with a plus-4 on the afternoon.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, the P-Bruins added three more tallies despite the shots on goal reading 30-28 in the Bruins’ favor as they controlled the ice over the last 40 minutes.
“We did a good job on some forechecks,” Ronning said. “We did get some turnovers, but we didn’t capitalize. We didn’t play Wolf Pack hockey, and that made for a tough loss.”
At 3:58, the Bruins went up 4-0 as a Paul Thompson wraparound deep in his zone went up the left-wing side. Anton Blidh, just back from Boston, intercepted it and sent a pass on the net to Samuel Asselin. He gathered the puck and flipped a backhander with Reunanen nearby that Tyler Wall got a piece of but still went into the net. It was Asselin’s fourth goal of the season, and they have all come against Hartford.
“It’s the little things they capitalize on, and with our opportunities, we didn’t capitalize, and if we get one of those goals, it’s a totally different game,” Boller said.
The Wolf Pack were able to deny Bruin’s goalie Kyle Keyser (27 saves) the shutout. Keyser played his first AHL game of the season after playing 19 with the Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL). Defenseman Patrick Sieloff pinched along the left-wing boards and sent a shot toward the net. With a screen from Patrick Khordorenko, the puck found its way past Keyser for his first goal as a Wolf Pack at 5:01.
The Bruins were undeterred and increased their lead to 5-1. Ian MacKinnon won a puck battle below the goal line and came around the Wolf Pack net on the right-wing side. He sent a pass in front where Voyer jammed home his second of the night at 12:53.
The Bruins capped off the scoring at 15:34 when Lauko picked up his fifth of the season and second point on the afternoon on a net-front crash by his line. He got the rebound and put it in.
FIRST PERIOD
For the first 15 minutes of the first period, the Wolf Pack had a good pace to their game and controlled play; however, Providence controlled the last five minutes and scored the game’s first goal.
Paul Carey picked off a Darren Raddysh pass at the blue line meant for Patrick Sieloff, and he was off on a breakaway.
Raddysh made an effort to get back and force the lefty shooting Carey (Salisbury Prep) to have to shoot a forehand wrister from 15 feet out. Carey’s shot went over Wall’s glove off the post and into the net for his first goal of the season.
“That was a pretty good shot,” Boller said. “We did some good things. It wasn’t all negative.”
The staff and captain Vincent LoVerde have lots of work to do before the team plays its next game on Thursday against the Bruins in Marlborough, MA, at the New England Sports Center.
LINES
Khordorenko-Newell-Barron
Richards-Gettinger-Ronning
Cullye-James Sanchez-Rueschhoff
Thompson-O’Leary-Greco
Raddysh-Sieloff
LoVerde-Reunanen
Giutarri-Bitetto
Wall
Brassard
SCRATCHES
Mason Geersten (second of his two-game AHL suspension)
Gabriel Fontaine (upper-body)
Jonny Brodzinski (Recall)
Jeff Taylor
Alex Whalen
Ryan Dmowski
Michael Lackey
ACTING COACHES
Pat Boller
Jeff Malcolm
Brook Ballard
NOTES
For Boller, it was the first time since 2016-17 when he was an assistant to Ken Gernander he had been behind the bench in an AHL game.
“I got a call early afternoon, and they said I was going to be coaching. They didn’t say why the guys (Kris Knoblauch and Gord Murphy) were going to New York, and I said, ‘No problem.’”
When informed it has been five years since he’d been on a Wolf Pack bench, Boller seemed taken back.
“I didn’t realize it has been that long. (It) didn’t feel like it. Guess it’s like riding a bike. When you get back there, you figure out things pretty quick.”
Malcolm, the team’s goalie consultant, and Yale grad, was handling the defensemen and Ballard, is one of the Rangers skills coaches.
It will likely be at least another week for Knoblauch and Murphy staying in New York as the acting coaches. They will be there until the COVID-19 protocols come to an end. The coaching staff of David Quinn, Jacques Martin, David Oliver, and Greg Brown will need to have had three negative tests as per NHL COVID re-entry policy, making the situation day-to-day.
LoVerde and Reunanen had rough days. Each had a minus-3.
THREE STARS
1.Alex-Olivier Voyer Providence
- Jakub Lauto Providence
-
Paul Carey Providence
