Chirps from Center Ice

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We don’t like Chris Bourque.

He’ll tell you that all he does is play hockey and try to stop him.

Buoyed by a huge first period led by Bourque, the Providence Bruins take a 2-0 series lead in the series and win 4-2.

The first period was all the Bruins needed, as they chased starting goaltender Jeff Zatkoff. Brad Thiessen came in and settled things down the rest of the way, and you could say (if you completely discount the first period) that the Penguins were the better team tonight.

Cody Wild in was in for Dylan Reese. Christiaan Minella was in for Bobby Farnham. Regarding Reese, radio said that he is “day to day” and that he would “hopefully” be back in the lineup once the series shifts back to Wilkes-Barre.

There were new lines for the Pens. It looked like this:

Nesbitt-Smith-Megna
Collins-Gibbons-Kolarik
Holzapfel-Peters-Thompson
Minella-Sill-Payerl

Dumoulin-Samuelsson
Mormina-Grant
Wild-McNeill

It was Jeff Zatkoff vs. Niklas Svedberg, both these top goaltenders in the AHL entered this game with a goals against average above 3.75 and a sub .900 save percentage.

Providence’s way, they scratched Kevan Miller, who the P-Bruins were undefeated in playoffs in. Ryan Button took his place. Ex-Bear Graham Mink was in for Jared Knight.

First Period: Whatever could go wrong in this period, did go wrong in this period. Warren Peters opens the scoring shorthanded. But then the Pens would find themselves down 5×3, Zach Sill tries to get the puck out by cheating up, Jamie Tardif scores. Later, Ryan Spooner was left unmarked on the far side and scored on pretty much a wide open net and then it was 2-1. Penguins get a kill, but then Brian Gibbons, who took the penalty that the Pens killed beforehand, went right to the box again. Jamie Tardif muscles a puck past Zatkoff for his second of the game, the Bruins third. For good measure, Chris Bourque scores on a deflection from the point. 4-1.

MVP period for Bourque who was 1-2-3 in the period.

Zatkoff: 12 goals in four periods. Prior, 12 goals in last 22 periods.
Providence: 12 goals in the series to this point.

Second Period: Brad Thiessen came into the game for Jeff Zatkoff and it seemed like the calming influence for the Penguins. First ten minutes looked back and forth. Then Jordan Caron took a goalie interference call. Pens power play looked atrocious. Gain the blue line, dump it in, get swarmed by the P-Bruins, lose it, puck back out the other way and down the ice. Rinse and repeat. Then, finally, a Pens D takes the puck in, wheels around the net and puts it into a crowd in Svedberg’s crease and Brian Gibbons slams it home. That was it for action to be described in the period.

Third Period: All Wilkes-Barre / Scranton to start the period. They nearly score on two or three opportunities. Then Warren Peters trucks Zach Trotman behind Svedberg’s net in a hit eerily similar to the one last night with Dylan Reese. No penalty called on the play by referees Darcy Burchell or Jean Hebert. Pens would find themselves down 5 on 3 for a brief time but would kill it all off, rather easily, considering the Red Light District that was the net guarded by the Penguins in the first period. Pens would get a late power play, but not score. With Thiessen pulled they didn’t score either.

Three Stars: 3) Craig Cunningham (assist, -1) 2) Chris Bourque (goal, two assists, +1) and 1) Jamie Tardif (two goals, two assists, +1)

Penguins played much better from the second period onward and scored a goal in the process, keeping Providence off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Did the P-Bruins let off or did the Pens make adjustments?

Game three is Wednesday. My guess is that Thiessen gets the start, the P-Bruins adjust, we throw it all at a wall and see what happens. Buy the ticket. Take the ride.

Let’s Go Pens!