By: James Swindells | Follow me on Twitter @jimswindells68
The Providence Bruins entered the AHL’s third weekend sporting a 3-1-1 record and headed into their second consecutive weekend of 3-in-3’s. The P-Bruins would welcome the AHL’s only remaining undefeated team, the Charlotte Checkers, to The AMP on Friday night. On Saturday evening, Providence traveled to western Massachusetts for a matchup with the Springfield Thunderbirds at the Mass Mutual Center. The P-Bruins and T-Birds wrapped up the weekend’s festivities with a Sunday matinee at The AMP.
FRIDAY VS. CHARLOTTE CHECKERS
After a scoreless first period in which the P-Bruins dominated play and had numerous quality scoring chances, Providence would fall behind on an early second-period goal by Charlotte’s Aleksi Heponiemi. The remainder of the period found Providence struggling to regain control after the Heponiemi goal and spending the latter half of the period killing three successive penalties. Providence would deadlock the game in the early stages of the third period on Fabian Lysell’s second goal. Oskar Steen would give the P-Bruins the lead with just over four minutes remaining on an excellent 2-on-1 feed from Luke Toporowski. Providence secured the night’s two points with a spectacular penalty kill to finish the game. Kyle Keyser turned aside four stellar scoring chances by the Checkers on the PK to run his record to 3-0-0. Providence’s third-period comeback victory would be Charlotte’s first defeat of the season.
SATURDAY AT SPRINGFIELD THUNDERBIRDS
Providence took a quick trip west on the Mass Turnpike to Springfield on Saturday for a matchup with the Thunderbirds at the Mass Mutual Center. Keith Kinkaid got the start for Providence, while Vadim Zherenko got the call for Springfield. Springfield’s Will Bitten opened the scoring at 4:16. Kinkaid spent the majority of the first period under siege but managed to send the P-Bruins to intermission with a one-goal deficit. The T-Birds doubled the lead just 14 seconds into the second period as Matthew Highmore danced through the P-Bruins defenders and slipped a backhander past Kinkaid.
Providence eventually evened things up with two goals from John Beecher and Luke Toporowski. Toporowski’s game-tying goal would be followed less than two minutes later by Nathan Todd’s league-leading seventh goal as Providence would go into the final 20 minutes facing another one-goal deficit.
Providence continued its early season power play woes in the third period as they failed on two PP attempts while carrying play throughout the period. The P-Bruins unleashed a 17-shot barrage on Zherenko in the third before breaking through on their third power play opportunity when Jack Ahcan sent a rink-wide pass to Vinni Lettieri, who buried a one-timer sending the game to overtime.
The OT session would not yield a game-winner, while Providence outshot the T-Birds 5-1 in the five-minute extra session. Keith Kinkaid would turn away all three of Springfield’s shootout attempts, and Lettieri would emerge as the game’s hero by potting the game-winning goal in the shootout. Providence had banked all four possible points as they headed into Sunday’s matinee in a rematch with Springfield.
SUNDAY VS. SPRINGFIELD THUNDERBIRDS
Sunday’s matinee saw the same dance partners as Saturday night but in a different venue. Following Sunday’s game, Providence will head out on the road for three road games before returning to The AMP on November 11th. Kyle Keyser got the start from head coach Ryan Mougenel while Joel Hofer took to the crease for the T-Birds.
Providence continued its power play woes in the first period going 0-for-2. The P-Bruins had a good opening 20 minutes with a decided edge in territorial play and a couple of quality scoring chances by Vinni Lettieri and Jack Ahcan on their third power play attempt as the period ended. The P-Bruins carryover powerplay would fail to produce the game’s first goal, and the teams would continue cutting a path to the respective penalty boxes throughout the second period. Springfield’s Hugh McGing would head off for an interference call at 11:32, and the P-Bruins power play would get its sixth try to get Providence on the scoreboard. The T-Birds Will Bitten would intercept an entry pass at the Springfield blue line, break in on Kyle Keyser, and bury his shorthanded attempt to put the T-Birds on the board. The struggling P-Bruins power play had yielded the worst possible result, and their PP struggles would continue.
Springfield’s Tyler Tucker scored the game’s second goal at 3:00 of the third period, increasing the T-Birds lead and putting the P-Bruins in a two-goal hole. Springfield held on to their lead until the 15:21 mark when Bitten took an interference call to put the P-Bruins back on the power play. Springfield’s Hugh McGing took another minor penalty at 16:48, giving Providence a 33-second 5-on-3 man advantage. Just three seconds after the McGing penalty, Steven Santini would take an interference call on the ensuing faceoff. Providence took immediate advantage of their 5-on-3 as Vinni Lettieri scored just nine seconds before Bitten’s call expired. Providence continued with an extended 5-on-3, and Lettieri scored again, evening the score at two.
Fabian Lysell would draw another Springfield with 2:16 remaining in the overtime that followed the chaotic regulation ending. The P-Bruins failed to score on the PP, and Luke Toporowski missed a wide-open, net-front attempt with 42 seconds remaining, and both teams would decide the game with a shootout. Lettieri would notch Providence’s only shootout goal, but Springfield’s Matthew Highmore and Mathias Laferriere’s goals would secure the two points for Springfield.
Over the 3-in-3 weekend, Providence managed to secure five of the possible six points and remained just one point behind first-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the AHL’s Atlantic Division. In the upcoming week, Providence will play three successive road games. The P-Bruins will travel to upstate New York and face the Utica Comets on Wednesday night. Providence returns to New England for two games next weekend with another matchup with Springfield on Saturday night, followed by a Sunday matinee in Connecticut with the Bridgeport Islanders.
Providence Bruins Home Game Ticket Information
If you want to get ready for the 2022-23 Providence Bruins regular season home games at the Amica Mutual Pavilion, tickets are available exclusively through purchasing a 22-23 Providence Bruins Season Membership.
Fans can choose from Black Level (20 games), White Level (10 games), or FlexTix Season Memberships. To become a member and reserve seats, please visit providencebruins.com/memberships or contact CJ Tsoumakas at 401.680.4738 or tsoumakas@pseagency.com.
Single-game tickets can be purchased at the Providence Bruins’ official website at providencebruins.com.
Watch the Providence Bruins Home and Road Games Via Live Stream on AHLTV
Also, if any Boston or Providence Hockey fans want to watch the NHL Bruins’ top minor-pro affiliate in action, please go to theahl.com and get an affordable AHLTV package that suits your viewing needs. You can access every team in the AHL in the regular season and playoffs for $104.99, Full AHL regular season access with no playoffs for $84.99, or you can pay monthly for only $22.99, and there’s single-day access for only $7.99.
AHLTV also offers individual team packages of $64.99 for single-team Home and Away games in the regular season, $44.99 for the single-team away games, and finally, $44.99 to watch your team play at home for the upcoming regular season.
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