(Photo Courtesy of Providence Bruins)

By: Jen Stasio Coombe | Follow Me On Twitter @hockeygirl2976

It’s going to be a long week for the Providence Bruins as they headed out on a four-game tour of the North Division yesterday. The trip began with their first stop in Toronto, followed by tomorrow in Rochester, Saturday in Belleville and finally next Wednesday they will be in Utica. The only team of these four they had already met this season were the Rochester Americans, and that game ended up with a Providence win thanks to a goal from Ryan Donato in overtime. With Ryan back in Boston the team will have to find another lethal weapon to slay their northern foes. If they continue to use the skill, speed, coordination, and teamwork we have seen from them the past two weeks, they need look no further.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018, Providence Bruins vs. Toronto Marlies (AWAY)

(Photo Courtesy of Providence Bruins)

The first stop in the great white north was to face the Toronto Marlies.  Ranked two places below Providence at eleventh in the Eastern Conference with a total of twenty-two points they were separated from Providence by only two points.  This game could have made the difference for the Marlies if it had gone their way.  The current Calder Cup champions are no doubt unhappy with where they are currently positioned in the rankings and were eager to claw their way closer to the top. So last night’s result was far from certain.

Toronto had scored eighty-six goals this season out of the 710 shots they had taken that put them at about a 12% success rate. Providence, on the other hand, was a little lower only being successful about 11% of the time. However, neither of these stats appeared to be a factor last night.  It came down to Providences strength on the Penalty Kill, the ability to take advantage of the power play opportunities in the second period, and the stellar goaltending of Dan Vladar.  This was the second shutout of the season for Vladar and a 5-0 victory for the Bruins over the Marlies.  A good start to a road trip and no matter how the rest of the week goes, they will have the support of all the fans back home who will anxiously be awaiting their arrival back at the Dunk on the 14th of December.

Friday, December 7, 2018, Providence Bruins vs. Rochester Americans (AWAY)

(Photo Courtesy of Providence Bruins)

The Providence Bruins travel back stateside for Friday’s game to meet up in New York with the Rochester Americans for the second time this season. With the first game being so close and finally falling Providences way, the pressure is surely going to be strong for the Americans to take this game and get a record win against the Bruins. Meeting twice a year for at least the past three years the Bruins seemed to have been charmed taking home the W in every match-up. So a win for Rochester this Friday would break a very long losing streak and dare we say it, a curse?

Rochester may have the man with the plan this year. Currently, they have a top 10 scorer, who also happens to be the overall defensive leader in goals, power-play goals, and shots on goal. That’s right Zach Redmond, the Rochester d-man, boast numbers of 13-9-22 in just 21 games. That is someone who deserves a little extra attention this Friday night if we want to be sure his numbers don’t climb higher that evening.

That is a strong player true, but one player does not make a team, and with the coordination and teamwork our boys are currently displaying they can definitely put an end to any run the Americans would like to start against the Bruins.

Saturday, December 8, 2018, Providence Bruins vs. Belleville Senators (AWAY)

(Photo Courtesy of Providence Bruins)

Having only one year in the league the Belleville Senators and the Providence Bruins have a rather short history. They have played two games against each other one in Providence and the other in Belleville. The game in Providence was won by the Bruins in regular time while the game in Belleville took into overtime for the Senators to score the game-winning goal, but win they did. With two games in the history books, these two teams have a .500 lifetime record, and this one game will make that number swing one way or the other by .250. Funny how quickly things change when the sample size is so small.

One other set of numbers to watch is the conference position and total points. As of today, the Senators are at fourteenth with twenty-one points, and the Bruins sit at eighth with twenty-six points. With six points up for grabs this weekend and two of them being a direct battle between the two teams, they could switch positions on the table very easily.

The significant items that would point toward Providence coming out on top of this battle are where the team names show up on the AHL Daily Report. Providence has players, not many mind you, scattered throughout many positive tables. Dan Vladar is a top fifteen goalie, Joel Messner leads with shorthanded assists and two players Fitzgerald and Hughes with successful penalty shots. Belleville shows up very little but does show up with the third most losing goalie, having lost eight, and a defenseman with the fifth most penalty minutes in the league with  51 PIMs in 22 games. These items do not spell victory for Providence, but they do give me a good feeling about it.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018, Providence Bruins vs. Utica Comets (AWAY)

(Photo Courtesy of Providence Bruins)

The Utica Comets welcome the Providence Bruins for their first meeting of the year.  Providence won all four matches between these two teams last season, and the Comets are looking to change that going forward.  They come into this match with speed and the ability to aim for the net, already having taken seven hundred shots on goal this season as compared to Providences six hundred fifty number.  The number of times you shoot at the net doesn’t really matter if they never become goals. So, the question here is who actually has more goals.  The answer is, even with a much lower shot count, the Bruins have five more goals in total.

So we now know offensively who has the numbers advantage, let’s take a quick look at the defense.  We can see that Providence has allowed sixty-seven goals to slide by their goaltender in the twenty-three games so far this year.  Utica has allowed ninety-four to reach the back of the net, but they have played two additional games thus far. That’s a 2.91 and 3.76 goals against average for the two teams respectively.  Dan Vladar and Zane McIntyre have both had an amazing couple of weeks, and the defensive team has really picked up their game as well. Even if we take into account our rocky start, this looks good for the Bruins.  I don’t know about you, but I am under the impression that if the boys keep their wits about them and continue playing as they have, barring a catastrophic disaster, the Bruins should take those two points home to end their tour of the North Division.

My picks to watch this weekend:

Up Front:

Everyone – I know it seems like a cop-out, but honestly last week I could not pick a single outstanding front-runner. Everyone was working hard and pick-pocketing like they had been ripped from the pages of David Copperfield. Let’s take another week to enjoy the beauty that is/are, the Providence Bruins front lines at the moment.

On The Blue Line:

Olivier Galipeau – Overall I don’t know too much about him. He has one assist and two minor penalties in the four games he has played with Providence so far.   He was captain of his team in the QMJHL and had a +89 over a total of 308 games in 5 years. I recommend we all take a look this weekend and see what we think.

In Net:

Dan Vladar – Last week both our goalies performed stellar feats of tending. This week I thought we would focus on checking out the different style that Vlad brings to the net. His size naturally leads him to cover more of the net, but that does not end the conversation. How does he cover the correct parts of the net and how does he move that tall, lanky frame so quickly and effortlessly into position to prevent the goals that to an outsider appear unstoppable?

Cheers to week ten and best of luck to our Baby-B’s. Welcome to the first full week of December.  I will catch up with you next week and until then, feel free to message me on twitter with any questions or comments and as always, take some time to check out the other great articles by the incredible team here at Blackngoldhockey.com. Now Go Get Hockey With It!

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