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After dropping two games to the Manchester Monarchs last weekend with Ryan Spooner called up to Boston, the Providence Bruins have rebounded this weekend with 13 goals - seven of which Spooner assisted on.
Niklas Svedberg gave up five goals last night but still earned his fifth win of the season. Tonight, Malcolm Subban made 25 saves and earned his first career professional victory in the P-Bruins 5-2 win over the Worcester Sharks.
Congrats @SubbZero30 on your first professional victory @NHLBruins #ItAllStartsHere pic.twitter.com/cKvg7v5nc7
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) November 10, 2013
P-Bruins 5, Sharks 2
It was a night of career firsts beyond Subban's win; Matt Lindblad got his first goal of the season in the third period to give Providence a 4-1 lead at an important juncture in the game. The story of the night, however, was Ryan Spooner's continued excellence in the presence of mere AHLers. Spooner had seven assists in the two games, while Craig Cunningham had one goal tonight to add to his three goals on Friday night.
Carter Camper finally scored his first goal of the season on a two-man advantage in the first period. He scored a second goal on the two-man advantage again in the second period.
Bobby Robins had the fifth goal for Providence with two seconds left in the game and Worcester's goaltender pulled. He didn't drop the gloves at all in the two fights during tonight's game.
The first fight was between Anthony Camara and Sharks captain Rob Davison. Former Sharks captain and current Bruins captain Mike Moore was assessed a game misconduct for third man in, for trying to jump into the Camara/Davison fight after it had already begun.
Later in the game, a borderline hit by Matt Pelech on Chris Casto behind the Providence net left Casto down, prompting Tommy Cross to come to his defense and dropping the gloves with Pelech. Casto returned to the game.
Sharks goaltender Troy Grosenick was very good early, but didn't have much of a chance on 5-on-3 goals. Subban had his best game thus far this season. Although the first goal Subban let in - which was scored by Eriah Hayes early in the third period - could be considered a weak goal that was deflected and trickled through his five-hole, Subban made saves when he needed to and for the first time, had the goal support to get the win.
Going into the third period up 3-0, Providence was able to hold onto the lead for their best effort in several games. It also helps that Ryan Spooner is absolutely awesome.
The Good
- They won. Again. That's two in a row! Woohoo!
- Subban got his first win! Finally!
- Lindblad got his first goal! Yay for him! He had a great game, including four shots on goal and strong penalty killing presence.
- Robins also got a goal, which is hilarious considering the Sharks announcer spent much of the game talking about what a dirty player he is.
- Carter Camper FINALLY got his first goal of the season. In fact, he got TWO! Both were on two-man advantages, but hey, sometimes you need those breaks to get going.
- The power play, which is ranked first in the league, did not let those two 5-on-3's go to waste. They were 2-for-9 on the PP tonight.
- Five players had multi-point games: Spooner (3 A), Camper (2 G), Cunningham (1 G, 1 A), Lindblad (1 G, 1 A), Justin Florek (2 A).
- Nine different players registered points: Spooner, Camper, Cunningham, Lindblad, Florek, Bobby Robins (1 G), David Warsofsky (1 A), Alexander Khokhlachev (1 A), Joe Morrow (1 A).
- Justin Florek can really skate well. The line of Florek - Lindblad - Robins finally seems to be clicking.
- I liked Cross coming to the defense of Casto after he was hit high.
The Bad
- 30th ranked penalty kill let in another power play goal tonight. They killed three of four penalties on the night. The last time the Bruins went a game without allowing a power play goal was six games ago versus the Manchester Monarchs on October 16, which they lost 5-4 in a shootout. In 12 games this season, Providence has only gone two games without allowing a power play goal.
- Aside from the Spooner line scoring explosion, even strength goals are rarely coming from any other players.
- Another problem has been offensive contribution from the defense. Although the lack of defense goal scoring is overshadowed by the plethora of goals from the rest of the team, it still stands that only two d-men have scored goals this season (Joe Morrow with 2, Kevan Miller with 1). Chris Casto and Tommy Cross have yet to record points this season.
- P-Bruins let their feet off the gas pedals after having a strong first period. They outshot Worcester 13-7 in the first, but were outshot 10-5 in the second and 10-9 in the third.
- Note: Much of this is a stretch because there wasn't much "bad" in this game. There was a lot of "awesome" in the form of Ryan Spooner and company.
The Questionable
- Camara has been trying to break the lineup full-time as he has been a healthy scratch a handful of games. Since he hasn't been able to score, it appears he tried to aggravate. Whatever he did or said to Davison leading to the fight really pissed Davison off. Later in the game, Camara had a good semi-breakaway chance that drew a penalty. The opportunity showcased that he does indeed have good speed that should be used more often.
- I also don't think Mike Moore needed to come in for the third man in for that fight, but I suppose I understand why as captain, he felt he may need to defend his younger players.
- Matt Fraser had four goals last night, but had no goals or assists tonight. He had five shots on net but was a -1.
- Coming into the weekend, Nick Johnson was leading the team in scoring. In two games this weekend, he has zero points.
Scoring Summary
First Period: P-Bruins 1, Sharks 0
- 16:15: Camper (1) (Morrow, Spooner) [PPG]
Second Period: P-Bruins 3, Sharks 0
- 6:30: Cunningham (6) (Khokhlachev, Spooner)
- 13:27: Camper (2, 2nd of game) (Spooner, Warsofsky) [PPG]
Third Period: P-Bruins 5, Sharks 2
- 4:16: Hayes (2) (Doherty, Freddie Hamilton)
- 7:59: Lindblad (1) (Florek, Cunningham)
- 15:09: Kearns (3) (Reid, Acolatse) [PPG]
- 19:58: Robins (1) (Lindblad, Florek)
Three Stars
- 3) Craig Cunningham (1 goal, 1 assist)
- 2) Carter Camper (2 goal, including GWG, both on PP)
- 1) Ryan Spooner (3 assists, infinite awesomeness)
Next Game: Sunday, November 10 at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence vs. Hartford Wolf Pack, 3pm EST
This is a rematch of Friday night's 8-5 Providence win, so the Wolf Pack will definitely be looking for revenge. The game ended on a feisty note, so expect an exciting game as Providence looks to complete their first three-game weekend with three wins.
Expect Svedberg to get the start again. As for other lineup changes, stay tuned tomorrow.
Get tickets here (buy one, get one free).