95 South: Slip-sliding away
by Kristy Gleason
Seeming to take a page from the parent club in Boston, the Providence Bruins turned in yet another showing of Jeckyll and Hyde behavior in their grueling four games in five night stretch. The unstoppable locomotive of a team that held first place in the AHL's New England Division just two weeks ago is barely hanging on to second place now. More times than not in recent weeks, when leading scorer Eric Manlow is in the line-up, the squad seems to fire on all cylinders, playing with determination and fiestiness. When he's not in the line-up, the team struggles mightily, appearing to have lost their focus. Where just weeks ago, there were numerous comments from P-Bruins nation that things were feeling much like the 1998-99 season, when Providence had an unbelievable season capped off by winning the Calder Cup, more recent comparisons have started to surface along with many rumors of discontented players as well as coaches, similar to the 1997-98 team that won only 19 games all season. The injuries are piling up, with three more players having been forced out of the line-up in the past week, and the stress of trying to fill the holes left by the walking wounded and numerous call-ups is taking its toll on everyone.
Manlow was returned from Boston in time to make the trip north of the border with the P-Bruins last Tuesday. He was whisked back to Boston on Friday morning, however, leaving a gaping hole at center once more for Providence for the next two games, but did return in time to participate in Sunday's contest. The P-Bruins did get a stop-gap replacement in Andre Savage, who saw his first game action this past weekend after a lengthy recovery from shoulder surgery at the beginning of the season. Goaltender John Grahame was also assigned to Providence for a conditioning assignment, along with Savage, and wasn't expected to see any ice time other than practices for at least a week. Things didn't quite turn out that way, however, as he played four periods of hockey for the P-Bruins, much sooner than anyone had anticipated. Stefan Rivard was returned to his ECHL club on Thursday, and Mike Hall was released from his PTO on Tuesday. Brandon Smith and Pavel Kolarik were recalled to Boston on Tuesday as well, to fill the voids left by Darren Van Impe (shoulder), Jarno Kultanen (ankle) and Peter Popovic (birth of first child).
Providence's state of affairs in the league as of 01/09/01: Ranked 2nd in division standings and conference standings, and 3rd in overall league standings with 49 points and a .598 winning percentage; ranked 3rd in league in goals for (137); 12th in the league for goals allowed (120); ranked 2nd in league in power-play percentage (23.6% success rate); ranked 4th in league for penalty-kill percentage (84.1% success rate); ranked 4th in the league in short-handed goals scored (9); ranked 1st in league in average shots per game (35.29).
With Eric Manlow back in the line-up for Wednesday's game against the Quebec Citadelles, the Providence Bruins staked a decisive victory over their Canadian foes. Jon Coleman started things off just under eleven minutes into the game, with a power-play goal, on assists from Pete Vandermeer and Cameron Mann. Eric Bertrand evened the score with a minute and a half remaining in the opening frame, also a power-play goal, with assists credited to Mathieu Descoteaux and Mike Ribeiro. It soon turned into the Manlow and his linemates show. He scored his first of two goals on the night four and a quarter minutes into the second period, on a setup by Brandon Smith and Peter Ferraro. Manlow dumped the puck into the empty net with 26 seconds remaining in the match on a feed from Mann. Quebec's power-play hit its mark on 1 of its 5 attempts, while Providence was 1-for-3 on the man-advantage. Whitmore stopped all but one Quebec shot, and Eric Fichaud allowed only 2 goals on 32 shots faced.
Three stars of the game:
1) Eric Manlow, Providence (2 goals, game-winner)
2) Cameron Mann, Providence (2 assists)
3) Kay Whitmore, Providence (stopped 24 of 25 shots)
Whatever had the Hartford Wolf Pack snakebitten when it came to defeating the P-Bruins ended with the 8-1 thrashing that the Pack dished out two weeks ago. Apparently, the momentum carried over into the most recent contest between the two clubs, with Hartford drubbing the P-Bruins, 6-3, on Providence's home turf. Mike Harder scored his 10th goal of the season just a minute and a half into the contest, on assists from Dale Purinton and Ken Gernander. Zdenek Kutlak tied things up a minute later, with Andre Savage garnering the lone assist. Richard Scott, better known for his pugilistic talents rather than scoring ability, notched his first goal of the season ten and a quarter minutes into the first period, with Jason Doig assisting. Doig increased Hartford's lead to 3-1 with just under three minutes remaining in the opening stanza. Derek Armstrong was credited with the solitary assist. Jay Henderson brought the P-Bruins to within a goal with 6:25 gone in the second period, and Savage grabbing his second assist of the night. Mike Mottau gave the Pack a two-goal cushion once more with a hair under a minute and a half left in the second period, while on the power play. Doig and Brad Smyth assisted on the tally. Brandon Smith made it 4-3, narrowing Hartford's lead to one goal once again, with a power-play marker of his own at 3:20 of the third period. Jon Coleman and Savage assisted. The rest, as they say, is history, with former P-Bruin, Terry Virtue, scoring his first of the season a bit less than four minutes later, on assists from Chris Kenady and Harder. With four seconds remaining in the game, Armstrong potted his 13th of the season, another power play goal, with assists being credited to Tony Tuzzolino and Gernander. Andrew Raycroft had a rough night, getting little help from the skaters in front of him, and stopping 24 of 30 shots he faced. Johan Holmqvist stoned the P-Bruins several times, denying them on 27 of their 30 shots on net.
Three stars of the game:
1) Jason Doig, Hartford (1 goal, 2 assists)
2) Andre Savage, Providence (3 assists)
3) Johan Holmqvist, Hartford (stopped 27 of 30 shots)
The P-Bruins have been unable to solve the Springfield Falcons so far this season, and it was more of the same in the home-and-home series that took place on Saturday (in Providence) and Sunday (in Springfield). In the first of the two games, it was Jean-Guy Trudel's night of nights, scoring a natural hat trick. His first goal came at the 2:00 mark of the first period, a power-play marker, with assists going to Daniel Briere and David Cullen. The 1-0 lead held until Trudel stuffed home his second goal of the night just thirty-three seconds into the second period, with Juraj Kolnik assisting. Trudel capped off his 3-goal outburst eight and a quarter minutes later, on assists from Kolnik and Scott Swanson. Jay Henderson broke the stranglehold just under three minutes later, a power-play tally, on a bang-bang play from Ben Schust and Andre Savage. Kolnik padded the lead, making it 4-1 in favor of Springfield with thirteen seconds remaining in the middle frame. Cullen and Chris Winnes assisted on the play. John Grahame saw his first game action between the pipes when he replaced beleagured Kay Whitmore at the start of the final period. David Bell finished off the scoring at the 12:56 mark of the third, another power-play goal for Springfield, on assists from Briere and Kolnik. Patrick DesRochers stopped 23 of 24 shots faced, while Whitmore faced 25, allowing 4, and Grahame turned aside 6 of the 7 he faced.
Three stars of the game:
1) Jean-Guy Trudel, Springfield (3 goals, natural hat trick)
2) Juraj Kolnik, Springfield (1 goal, 3 assists)
3) Daniel Briere, Springfield (2 assists)
The P-Bruins fared slightly better against the Falcons on Sunday afternoon, but the result was still the same - another loss to the last-placed team in the New England division. Cameron Mann had the P-Bruins started off on the right foot just four minutes into the game. Peter Ferraro shot the puck deep into the Falcons' zone, and when goaltender Patrick DesRochers wandered behind the net to intercept it, the puck caromed off the endboards right out to Mann who had nothing but a wide-open net at which to shoot. With just under a minute and a half left in the opening stanza, similar circumstances occurred, but it was Springfield who had the puck gift-wrapped for them. James Desmarais knocked in the puck with John Grahame well out of the play behind the net waiting for a puck that never reached him. Ryan Lauzon and Jean-Guy Trudel assisted on Springfield's "gimme" goal. Philippe Audet made it 2-1 in favor of Springfield eight seconds later, after Desmarais won the face-off, dished it off to Brad Ralph, who in turn got the puck to Audet. Fourteen minutes into the second period, Ralph made it 3-1, Springfield, with helpers from Desmarais and Trudel. A little over six minutes into the third period, Juraj Kolnik broke in short-handed on Grahame, and netted his 6th goal of the season, with Scott Swanson garnering the only assist. Jay Henderson halved the score, 4-2, a minute and a half later, with assists credited to Terry Hollinger and Eric Nickulas. Unfortunately, that was as close as the P-Bruins would get and the game ended on that note. Grahame made many outstanding saves throughout the game, facing 33 of the 38 shots in the first forty minutes of play. Patrick DesRochers turned away 26 of 28 Providence shots that he saw.
Three stars of the game:
1) James Desmarais, Springfield (1 goal, 2 assists)
2) Jean-Guy Trudel, Springfield (2 assists)
3) John Grahame, Providence (stopped 34 of 38 shots)
Upcoming games: Fri., Jan. 12 vs Worcester, 7:05pm; AHL All-Star weekend - Sun., Jan. 14 & Mon., Jan. 15, Wilkes-Barre, PA - Skills Competition will be shown on ESPN Sunday at 7:00pm; AHL All-Star Classic will be shown on ESPN2 Monday at 4:00pm.
© 2001 Kristy Gleason
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