PROVIDENCE, RI – Micheal DiPietro stopped all 24 shots he faced to lead the Providence Bruins to a 3-0 shutout of the Hartford Wolf Pack at the Amica Mutual Pavillion before 9,698.
“It was a difficult night,” admits Pack Interim Head Coach Steve Smith. “The guys looked gassed an awful lot tonight.” Their loss against Providence came at the end of a three-in-three weekend for the New York Rangers AHL affiliate, and fatigue clearly was a key factor in the outcome.
The first period was largely uneventful. The Wolf Pack had a power play opportunity at 5:44 after Bruins winger Luke Toporowski took a holding call. But the Pack were unable to generate any offense on the man advantage and the period ended with neither team lighting the lamp.
Providence scored what would prove to be the only goal they would need on the night after another failed Pack power play at 7:43.
The Pack’s Turner Elson was called for tripping Bruins defenseman Ian Mitchell.
Fabian Lysell propelled a hard shot that deflected off centerman Patrick Brown, who was screening Pack starting netminder Louis Domingue. It was Brown’s fifth tally of the season, a power play goal, with Lysell and Ian Mitchell getting the helpers, and the Bruins led 1-0.
The Wolf Pack continued to struggle to capitalize on the power play opportunities. They’d already been blanked three times when the next guests to the Sin Bin were the Pack’s Brett Berard and Trevor Kuntar on matching roughing minors at 13:26 of the second period.
The Bruins’ fourth-line center, Kuntar, sat while the Wolf Pack lost their top scorer, Brett Berard. When their penalties expired, Kuntar tallied just eight seconds after being sprung from the box, putting the Bruins ahead 2-0 through two periods.
The final nail in the Pack power play night came when Hartford D-man Mac Hollowell and Bruins center John Fairnacci were called for a roughing minor and a double-minor, respectively, but once again, tired legs and tightly gripped sticks led to the net remaining puck-less and the score remaining unchanged.
The Bruins, however, were able to find the back of the net as Lysell, the game’s second star, scored at 3:59 for the third and final score off helpers from Mitchell and Mason Lohrei.
The Pack’s difficulty on the power play was there all weekend. They failed to score on all 15 power plays this weekend. “We’re a little snakebitten lately, and it’s starting to affect our confidence,” Smith acknowledged. “Our powerplay does have to capitalize more often.”
The Wolf Pack were also missing a defenseman for much of the game. Connor Mackey sustained an injury in the first period and did not return to play, increasing the ice time for already leg-weary remaining D-men. With a laundry list of other injuries and players currently on recall with the Rangersthe Pack are relying on their younger core. “It’s not an excuse,” Smith insists. “We had a few opportunities tonight but we just didn’t capitalize.”
Despite their grueling weekend schedule, they have three more games in a row later this week. Smith has a hopeful outlook. “We have two days off, so we’ll try to catch our breath and get some rest and then try to gather the guys for three in a row again.” Their next game is against the Bridgeport Islanders at 7 pm on Wednesday, February 21st.
Lines:
Berard – Henriksson – Pitlick
Sykora – Leschyshyn – Othmann
Elson – Korczak – Blidh
Bertuzzi – Anisimov – Jenkins
Robertson – Hollowell
Mackey – Hillman
Brouillard – Scanlin
