Providence Bruins Dazzle At Home, Beat Adirondack Phantoms 9-3

The Providence Bruins have been working hard to make up for the deficiency of giving their best players to Boston. Twelve different Bruins players came together to score points (six players had a multiple point game) in a fusillade of shots and a flurry of action that showed the P-Bruins playing their best sixty minutes of offensive minded hockey to date this season.

The Providence Bruins came within a stone’s throw from losing Alexander Khokhlachev and Ryan Spooner to a trade deal. Khokhlachev was instrumental in the vicious drubbing handed to Adirondack. His five point performance was outstanding throughout the game, and worthy of Third Star of the Game honors (That’s right folks, a five point game was only worthy of the third star. He finished with one goal, four assists, and a +3 for the night. with four shots on goal.)

If the first paragraph doesn’t explain just how rough of a night it was for the Phantoms, here’s another ugly fact of the game. Tyler Randell had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick by 7:03 in the second period. He had a spirited and lengthy bout with the Phantoms’ Zack FitzGerald. The fight lasted a solid sixty seconds, and in several cases each player had been knocked down and got back up at least twice. Randell scored later in the first period, and garnered an assist in the second. Randell ended up with a four point game (two goals, two assists), with +1 and three shots on goal.  That performance earned him Second Star of the Game Honors.

The shining star of the night was Seth Griffith. While Griffith also had a five point night last night, four of those points were goals. He started the scoring in the first period. His second goal was the first of the Bruins’ power play goals, and it was enough to chase Carsen Chubak out of the net at 9:42 of the second period (At that point, it was only 4-1. The night was no kinder to Yann Danis who replaced Chubak in net.) He scored seven minutes later to earn his hat trick, and his fourth goal on the night (and his second power play goal) just :37 seconds into the third. He finished with a +2 with six shots on goal. (Four goals on six shots folks. He was a demon on the ice tonight.) He earned that standing ovation from the eight thousand plus fans in attendance for his First Star of the Game.

Special teams also played their part in tonight’s rout. The Bruins ended up going four for five on the power play, and four for five on the penalty kill. They had control in all three zones, and they only let up in the last few minutes of the game once the Bruins had established an eight goal lead.

Malcolm Subban played an important part in the Bruins win. Subban made thirty saves on thirty three shots (.909 save percentage). He was exceptionally solid in the first forty minutes of the game, and the frustration of the Phantoms over Subban’s strong work led them to making sloppy plays which led to penalties. That the Bruins capitalized on those penalties four times just made their afternoon that much longer.

It was an outstanding night and a fantastic team effort. The Bruins will need to continue this level of play if they wish to keep their standing for the post season.