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AHL Providence Bruins

P-Bruins Week in Review

December 17, 2018 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Providence Bruins News Release


With the Christmas break fast approaching for the Providence Bruins, the race in the Atlantic Division remains jam-packed. After taking three of a possible six points this week, the P-Bruins sit in sixth place at 12-11-5-0 with 29 points. However, the current three-through-six seeds in the division are all separated by four points in the standings, so the chase for the postseason remains wide open.

Weekend Recap

Providence kicked off the week Wednesday in Utica, taking on the Comets in the final game of a four-game road trip. Despite a goal from Zach Senyshyn to extend his goal-streak to four games, the Bruins fell to the Comets 5-2. The team returned home Friday night against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and were behind by one in the final seconds. Providence pulled their goalie, and with eight seconds remaining Ryan Fitzgerald scored to send the game to overtime. However, Michael Dal Colle scored his third goal of the night 2:05 into the extra frame to give Bridgeport the 4-3 win. The P-Bruins bounced back on Saturday night at the Dunk, scoring five unanswered goals to beat the Hershey Bears 6-2. Jordan Szwarz netted his first multi-goal game of year and 13 of 18 Providence skaters posted points in the contest.

Zane is Insane

Zane McIntyre earned his seventh win of the young season Saturday night, but the victory was much more significant for the goaltender. McIntyre earned his 68th career win, setting a new franchise record for regular season victories by a goalie. The previous mark of 67 wins belonged to John Grahame and had stood since 2001. McIntyre is in his fourth season with the P-Bruins and has established himself as one of the top goalies to ever wear to spoked "P." In 125 games with Providence he is 68-35-16 with a 2.51 GAA and a save percentage of 91.1%

Bjork is booming

Since being assigned to the AHL at the end of November, Anders Bjork has shined with Providence as the top line right wing. Skating with Fitzgerald and Szwarz in each of his games this season, Bjork has been over a point-per-game producer with a goal and seven assists for eight points. He has points in all but one AHL game this year including points in five straight games. He led the team with four assists last week with two of them coming on the power play. His speed and playmaking ability has made his line mates more productive, and although he has just lit the lamp once so far, he is averaging three shots on goal per game.

Notable Performers

Szwarz led the team with three goals this week and now has nine on the season. He is one away from the team lead despite missing time earlier in the season due to injury. If he has a 20-goal season, he'll be the fifth player with three 20+ goal seasons in a P-Bruins uniform (Cameron Mann, Sergejs Zoltoks, Andy Hilbert and Craig Cunningham). Peter Cehlarik was one of three Bruins to score in each of the team's three games this week, posting a goal and three assists. Half of his points came on the power play, including a game-tying goal Friday while on the man-advantage. Fitzgerald posted three points to add to his team-leading total of 24 on the season, and each of them came in crucial situations. All three of his points either helped his club tie the score or give them the lead.

Roster Notes

The roster stayed virtually the same this week with no players being sent up or down from the NHL or ECHL. The P-Bruins did, however, reward one of their try-out players with a guaranteed contract. Providence released Kyle Cumiskey from his PTO and signed him to an AHL deal for the remainder of the season after he quickly established himself along the team's blue line. Cumiskey has been terrific in his 13 games so far with the P-Bruins, posting two goals and five assists for seven points while taking over as their top puck moving defender on the power play. He scored points in all three games this week, including the go-ahead goal Saturday. Providence's roster will be without Austin Fyten on Wednesday as he was suspended due to a slashing incident against Bridgeport.

Week ahead

The P-Bruins kick off a six-game road trip, their longest of the season, on Wednesday when they travel to Hartford for a 7pm face-off with the Wolf Pack. After a travel day Thursday, Providence takes on the Devils Friday at 7:05pm in their only trip of the season to Binghamton. The team concludes their pre-holiday schedule Saturday night in Springfield when they face the Thunderbirds at 7:05pm.

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