HARTFORD, Conn. – The Providence Bruins may have been beaten and bruised on a Sunday afternoon, but they would not be defeated.
The team paid a visit to the Hartford Wolf Pack Sunday afternoon and came out of the contest with a 5-2 victory. Providence was without leading point scorer Jakub Lauko, who was inactive with a lower-body injury. In the contest itself, the P-Bruins lost forward Cameron Hughes and defenseman Nick Wolff to separate puck-to-face incidents.
The first period was overall uneventful, as the highlights included a fight between Wolf Pack defenseman Mason Geertson and Wolff and a 15-9 shot advantage for Hartford.
The second period was immediately a different story, 20 seconds in Providence centerman Oskar Steen received a pass from winger Anton Blidh that Steen was able to square up for a blistering slap shot that whizzed by Wolf Pack goaltender Tyler Wall for the first score of the game. With a 1-0 advantage and momentum on their side, Providence ensured some security just 25 seconds later. Hughes snuck a pass from captain Paul Carey between Wall’s legs to make the score 2-0 within the first minute of the second period.
A two-goal deficit was not appealing for the Wolf Pack, and their top line had something to say shortly after. Just over four minutes into the period, centerman Morgan Barron received a pass in his feet from winger Patrick Newell. Barron kicked the puck up to his stick and rifled it past P-Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman to make the score 2-1.
After trading opportunities for the next 10 minutes of action, the P-Bruins finally broke through when winger Robert Lantosi fed a pass to defenseman Brady Lyle who gathered it and took a wrist shot to the top shelf to extend the lead to 3-1. This goal signaled the end of the night for Wall, and backup goaltender Dylan Garand came in to finish the game. That score carried throughout the remainder of the second period.
Entering the third period, Hartford needed to squelch some of Providence’s momentum, but unfortunately for them, the P-Bruins struck first. Carey stole the puck at his own blue line and fired a shot on Garand, who turned away the opportunity but let up a rebound to winger Joona Koppanen who buried it in the net Providence a 4-2 advantage.
Hartford had no intention of going down easy, as two minutes later, winger Ty Ronning fired a puck from the top of the circle past Swayman to put the Wolf Pack back in the game with a deficit of 4-2. The rest of the period was highly contested, but Swayman consistently was up to the task. Winger Zach Senyshyn provided the final dagger in the form of an empty-net goal from outside the blue line to give the game its final 5-2 score.
Swayman saved 34 of 36 shots in the contest, while Wall was 13 for 16 and Garand was 8 for 9. The P-Bruins (4-1-0) are off until Thursday afternoon when they host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Wolf Pack are off until Saturday afternoon when they host a rematch against the Providence Bruins. Puck drop for both games is at 1 p.m. ET.
