Affiliate Report: Providence routs Hartford in lone game of the week

Two new goaltenders. Several top scorers and defenseman up with the NHL club.

No problem for Providence.

The Providence Bruins relished the chance to relax with just a single game in the span of ten days, paying a visit to the XL Center in Hartford for a seven-goal affair.

However, ‘Brass Bonanza’ blared only once, at Providence walked away from a Saturday matinee victors over Hartford, 6-1.

Several of Providence’s top players — Zach Senyshyn, Oskar Steen, Jeremy Swayman, Dan Vladar, Jack Ahcan, Urho Vaakanainen, to name a few — have impressed enough recently to warrant NHL call-ups due to an extraordinary amount of injuries and now COVID cases in Boston.

While that crew of players has definitely impressed, so has the remaining bevy of prospects down in Providence.

Against Hartford on Saturday, several players stepped up, looking to also vie for a chance at a call-up themselves.

Cameron Hughes, who has caught fire as of late, extended his point streak to a team-best five games with a pair of assists while linemate Jakub Lauko added a goal and an assist on Saturday and now has points in four straight.

It was veteran Paul Carey, the team leader in assists, who put Providence in front with his first goal of the season late in the opening period — an unassisted tally.

From there, it was the youngsters who took over.

Rookie Alex-Olivier Voyer scored two goals, including the eventual winner early in the second period. Former Atlanta Gladiators standouts Joel Messner and Samuel Asselin each added a goal before Lauko sealed the victory on the power play late in the third.

In net, Kyle Keyser made his season debut, making 27 saves in a winning effort. He got some help from his blue line as Messner and Cooper Zech led the way at plus-4 and plus-3, respectively.

Player of the Week: Jakub Lauko & Cameron Hughes — Extending point streaks gets you on the honor roll, and that’s exactly what Lauko and Hughes did against Hartford, both recording multi-point games.

Stick taps this week go to Alex-Olivier Voyer for getting off the schneid and to Kyle Keyser for scoring a win in his season debut in goal.

Up next: It’s another one-game week for Providence and this time they’ll host Hartford. The P-Bruins head to their temporary home at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Mass. for a Thursday afternoon matchup with the Wolfpack. Puck drop is set for 1 PM.