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Providence Bruins

P-Bruins Score Eight Consecutive Goals, Defeat Springfield Thunderbirds, 8-1, in Preseason Finale

September 28, 2019 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Providence Bruins News Release


PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Providence Bruins scored eight consecutive goals and closed out preseason play on Saturday with an 8-1 victory over the Springfield Thunderbirds at Dunkin' Donuts Center. Joona Koppanen and Cooper Zech each scored twice, while Kyle Keyser made nine saves on 10 shots.

"They played really hard in the first 10 minutes and put us back on our heels a little bit," said Jay Leach, head coach of the Bruins. "We were able to gain our composure and start to make a couple plays in the second half of the first period. I thought we built into our game with speed after that. We were smart with the puck, got to the net and defended the rush very well."

Springfield opened the scoring at the 3:36 mark of the first period when Patrick Bajkov scored on the power play for the Thunderbirds. The Bruins responded 8:36 after Bajkov's goal when Koppanen knotted the score at one. After positioning himself in the slot, Koppanen redirected a pass from Tommy Marchin through the five hole of Chris Driedger to tie the game.

Providence continued to apply pressure in the offensive zone and took a 2-1 lead just 4:36 after Koppanen's first goal of the game. After collecting a pass from Ryan Fitzgerald, Zech fired a wrist shot into the top right corner to give the Bruins the lead. Pavel Shen picked up the secondary assist on the goal.

The Bruins struck again at the 2:42 mark of the second period with Koppanen picking up his second goal of the night. Zach Senyshyn skated up the right side of the zone and fed a cross-crease back door pass to Koppanen, who redirected the puck to give Providence a 3-1 lead.

A new addition to the Providence blue line this season, Alex Petrovic extended the Bruins lead to 4-1 when he collected the puck near the bottom of the left circle and fired a shot off the post and into the back of the net at the 5:55 mark.

Providence's offensive success continued throughout the duration of the second period as Paul Carey and Samuel Asselin each scored to give the Bruins a 6-1 lead at the end of two.

The offense continued to shine for the Bruins in the third period, with Fitzgerald scoring his first goal of the game at the 6:44 mark and Zech collecting his second tally of the evening and third of the preseason at 10:00 to extend the lead to seven.

With the victory, Providence closed out the preseason with an undefeated 2-0-0 record. The Bruins return to action on Saturday, October 5, at Place Bell when it faces the Laval Rocket in the first contest of the regular season. Puck drop is set for 7:05 pm.

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