AHL Providence Bruins

Hickman's Two Goals Not Enough as P-Bruins Fall 6-4 to the Pack

Published on January 8, 2018 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Providence Bruins News Release


Hartford, CT - The Providence Bruins fell to the Hartford Wolf Pack Friday night 6-4 in the fourth game of their season long eight-game road trip. The P-Bruins got two goals from Justin Hickman along with goals apiece from Matt Beleskey and Kenny Agostino while Zane McIntyre made his 17th start of the year in net.

Hartford needed only 47 seconds to take a 1-0 lead as Peter Holland flew up the boards on the right side and beat McIntyre for his 11th goal of the year. Providence had an answer for their early tally with two goals in 2:02. The first came off a turnover when Hartford could not control a face-off win. The puck bounced to Hickman who ripped his second goal of the season by Marek Mazanec to tie the game 1-1 at 12:50. Minutes later, Beleskey scored his first goal as a Providence Bruin when he took the puck from the boards to the center point and fired a perfect wrist-shot by everyone. Ben Marshall and Josh Hennessy picked up assists on the play the gave the P-Bruins a 2-1 lead. However, with just 1:59 left in the period Ryan Graves scored his third goal of the season on a shot from the right dot and the teams were knotted 2-2 into the first intermission.

It was Providence's turn to score early in a period, as the team needed just 19 seconds to regain a 3-2 edge in the second period. Colton Hargrove settled a bouncing puck and fed Austin Czarnik who came flying in towards net. Czarnik got the puck Agostino who came in from behind the net, and he fired his eighth goal of the season in from the left hashmark. That would be the only tally for either side in the second period and the P-Bruins led 3-2 after two.

The third was all Hartford as they exploded for four unanswered goals. The first came at 7:06 at the tail end of a power play, as a charging Scott Kosmachuk put home a rebound off Steven Fogarty's shot to tie the score 3-3. Eric Selleck scored his first goal of the year unassisted less than two minutes later to help the Wolf Pack regain the lead 4-3. A shorthanded goal gave them some breathing room, as at 14:06 a turnover led to a 2-on-1 break for Dawson Leedahl and Gabriel Fontaine. Fontaine netted his sixth goal of the season to make things 5-3, and Vinni Lettieri added an empty net goal at 18:49. Hickman scored his second of the game in the final minute but it was too little too late as the P-Bruins fell 6-4.

McIntyre stopped 34 of 39 shots while Mazanec stopped 32 of 36. Providence was 0-3 on the power play and 3-4 on the penalty kill.

The Providence Bruins are the American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's Boston Bruins, playing their home games at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, RI. Spanning more than 25 years, the Boston/Providence affiliation is one of the longest and most successful player development partnerships in professional hockey history.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 8, 2018


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