They may be in Providence, but they are #BostonStrong. The P-Bruins honored the heroes of the BPD and other law enforcement tonight by emulating them - being completely awesome.
Up against the 2nd best team in the East in the Springfield Falcons, the P-Bruins came out with a 5-3 victory, which was significant because:
- Svedberg ties Grahame's record.
- Providence tops 100 points on the season.
- Providence clinches the East.
- Chris Bourque does great things.
Now I shall elaborate:
- Niklas Svedberg!!! Remember him? He just won the AHL's equivalent of the Vezina Trophy on Thursday? His win tonight gives him 37 on the season - tying the franchise record set by John Grahame in 1998-99 (in the exact same number of games, too). Note: Providence won the Calder Cup Championship that season. Also note: Providence has 2 games left in the regular season, so Svedberg has a chance to potentially break the record if he starts either tomorrow night or Sunday afternoon.
- The win was Providence's 48th on the season and more importantly gave them their 101st points of the season. They are the first and currently only team in the league to reach 100 points this season. They are still winning the AHL.
- The win clinched 1st place in the Eastern Conference and, pending the outcome of the Texas Stars game tonight, could clinch 1st place in the AHL for the season (UPDATE: TEXAS LOST. PROVIDENCE WINS THE REGULAR SEASON!) Did you know this team is SERIOUSLY FUCKING GOOD?
- Chris Bourque! Please resist the instant urge to cringe. This isn't a Boston Bruins game. This is Providence, and Bourque is one of the best - if not the best - players in the AHL. Bourque was sidelined with a concussion from a dirty hit by Springfield's Cody Goloubef a few months ago. Goloubef was suspended for 2 games, but Bourque has missed 12. This was his 1st game back. He scored 2 goals, including the game winning goal, on the power play, late in the 3rd, breaking a 3-3 tie. By the way, Bourque was number one star of the game.
Here are some other tidbits:
- The game was chippy and included some fights. Mainly, Goloubef needed to pay for what he did to Bourque. He ran away all night, until finally dropping the gloves with Colby Cohen in the 3rd period. Good work, Cohen. Goloubef was serving his major penalty for fighting when Bourque scored the game winning goal.
- Christian Hanson also fought, which is refreshing because he never does (which many people don't realize because they assume he is essentially the embodiment of his dad's character in Slap Shot.) Between this and Justin Florek's fight last week, Bobby Robins is actually doing the least amount of fighting on that line right now.
- Jordan Caron trotted down to Providence after being reassigned to the AHL (sadface) from Boston. He was astonishingly useless for the majority of the season prior to the end of the NHL lockout. But he actually scored a goal! His 11th of the season. He also assisted on Bourque's GWG.
- 5 different players scored for Providence. Along with Bourque (10th of the season) and Caron, Craig Cunningham (24th of the season, 2nd on the team), Carter Camper (10th, PP goal), and Captain Trent Whitfield (6th) all scored. Cunningham also had 2 assists.
- Torey Krug had 2 assists (46 points on the season); Jared Knight, still looking for his first goal, had an assist.
- I actually could talk a lot more but I'll stop here because this is quite long.
Summary: If you haven't tuned into the Providence Bruins yet this season, you really ought to give them a watch. This team could probably beat the Boston Bruins (again...haha, remember the Black and Gold scrimmage? Good times.)
They take on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in Connecticut tomorrow night, and close out the regular season at home at The Dunk on Sunday afternoon against the Norfolk Admirals.