Providence’s series with the Crunch started off...rocky.
Losing 6-3 in their first game you’d be forgiven for thinking the P-Bruins were just too banged up and broken by this point in the playoffs to really put up much of a fight. Without Cehlarik, Acciari, and a host of others, you’d think Game 2 would be more of the same right?
You’d be wrong...mostly.
First Period:
Syracuse scored within the first minute thirty to bring a whole lot of anxiety to the Dunkin Donuts center with Ben Thomas’ shot getting past Zane McIntyre. 1-0 Crunch.
The rest of the period was mostly the Crunch absolutely taking Providence to town, thundering the Baby B’s with all hosts of shots and finished the period with a 11-6 advantage.
It should be noted that this was very much how the first game began.
Providence wasn’t interested in repeating themselves.
Second Period:
Providence mostly spent the period regaining the shot lead and taking it to the Crunch as much as they could, trying to get even and past Mike McKenna. And then late in the period, the Crunch took a penalty. Bournival for Tripping.
One player absolutely got past McKenna by sneaking through the PK and getting right in front of him. That player was Jordan Szwarz.
Game 2 still tied at 1-1 with under 8:00 to play - see how we got here w/ highlights from the first 2 periods #letsgobruins #PROvsSYR pic.twitter.com/Ca2fKvHH7C
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) May 22, 2017
Period 2 was largely Boston taking advantage of the fact that the Crunch were an offense first team and making them pay for any perceived miscue, then finally finding the perfect moment to tie the game
1-1 after 40.
Third Period:
Having seen that Providence wasn’t going to roll over, you’d think the Crunch would try to press the advantage. And while they got plenty of opportunities to do so, the P-Bruins attack kept Syracuse on their toes, once again leading in shots.
One thing that did help a lot for keeping this tied going into Overtime was the individual efforts of Zane McIntyre, who was much improved over Game 1:
Check out these highlights from a scoreless 3rd that got us to OT #letsgobruins #PROvsSYR pic.twitter.com/EuTkYx4ETP
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) May 22, 2017
Quite an eventful period for having no score. Both McKenna, McIntyre and the defensive structure of both teams deserve credit.
But since there was no scoring done, we moved on to Overtime!
Oh Tee:
Jordan Szwarz! After some sick cycling and keeping the Crunch stuck in their own end for a bit, Szwarz found enough space in the high slot to put a bullet of a shot home to tie the series at one!
ICYMI - a quick look at tonight's OT game winner from @ahlbruins forward Jordan Szwarz #letsgobruins #pbruinspride pic.twitter.com/GqmF7Eo0G3
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) May 22, 2017
Lots to be happy about, but now the P-Bruins need to take a series lead, which they’ll get a chance at in Syracuse on Wednesday!
Big big BIG ups to Jordan Szwarz’s individual effort in this game and to Danton Heinen who appeared twice on the score sheet as an assister.
Go P-Bruins! Take the lead on Wednesday!