mac-bruins

Above Photo Credit:  NHL.com

By: Mark Allred   ( @BlackAndGold277 )

The AHL’s Providence Bruins beat the Hartford Wolf Pack in the shootout tonight by the score of 2-1. The Baby B’s regulation goal by returning Anton Blidh (6) and the eventual shootout winner from the red hot Peter Cehlarik earns the Bruins the “hat-trick” of weekend games.With three straight wins in the last three days, the B’s have earned points in the last 12 games which are now a league best this season according to the AHL Communications official Twitter account below.

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Like the beginning of last season, this Providence team struggled early on to stay out of the Atlantic Conference cellar and way out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture to use the month of December as a catalyst to turn things around. Last season the Baby B’s went a dismal 12-24 to end 2016 and start the 2017 calendar year posting a 23-13 record punching their ticket to the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs with a regular season record of 41-22-9-4 earning 95 points.

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This season the Baby B’s are starting their climb up the standings earlier this December with a 12-6-4-3 record so far at the quarter mark of the season and look to repeat the ways of last year’s regular season campaign with playoff hopes for players and fans alike. This also might be the perfect time for a hot Bruins goaltending prospect who’s battling for time in the crease to shine.

This hockey season has been an interesting one for Bruins prospect netminder Zane McIntyre as he’s seen action in all three North American professional leagues spending time with the NHL Bruins (3 Games) AHL Bruins (7 Games) and ECHL Atlanta Gladiators (2 Games). Now that the upper-body injury to Bruins goaltender Anton Khudobin is healed, the goaltending depth has settled in as players returned to their respect minor-pro teams and the former 2010 sixth-round draft selection for the B’s out of the NCAA University of North Dakota is starting to settle in nicely with the top affiliate of the Bruins organization.

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In seven games with the Providence team, the 6′-2″ 206-pound McIntyre has compiled a 5-0-0 record with a 1.26 Goals-Against-Average and .955 Save-Percentage.  And looks ready to lead the Baby B’s to second consecutive playoff appearance but with better results than last years post season sweep to the hands of the powerful Wilkes/Barre Scranton Penguins. The 24-year-old Minnesota native struggled in his first year of minor-pro hockey coming out of the NCAA posting a 14-8-7 record with a 2.68 GAA and .898%. This is Zanes last year under his current entry-level deal and he looks poised to play at a higher level to impress the Bruins brass for a potential backup role depending on the future of Anton Khudobin who’s signed for another full season.

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News On Malcolm Subban

Bruins netminder Malcolm Subban is also on his last year of his ELC so even tho they’ll both be restricted free agents in July, the Bruins organization has time to think about which one to continue with. Subban’s not had the best of starts getting his second win of the season last night in a 27 save win over the Albany Devils and is 2-6-4 with a 2.92 GAA and .903% in 12 games played so far this season. It seems like the throat injury that ended his season last year is one he’s desperately trying to forget. Not to say I’m an insider at all but I’m a person who was with the Bruins team through last summer camps and training sessions to understand when a goaltender is not seeing the puck very well.