AHL Providence Bruins

Three-Point Night from Stempniak Leads P-Bruins over Crunch

Published on March 29, 2019 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Providence Bruins News Release


Syracuse, NY - The Providence Bruins defeated the Syracuse Crunch Friday night 3-2 to sweep their two-game season series with them. The P-Bruins got goals from Lee Stempniak, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and Gemel Smith while Dan Vladar made his 28th start of the season in net.

Providence dominated the opening period despite not scoring a goal. A majority of the zone time belonged to the P-Bruins, who had a 14-3 advantage in shots through 20 minutes. This was aided by two Crunch penalties that led to good looks on the power play, but Eddie Pasquale was on top of his game. The Syracuse goaltender stopped every shot the team threw on him and kept things scoreless into the first intermission.

The second period was more evenly matched, but Providence managed to strike first at 13:44. Chris Breen passed the puck to Jordan Szwarz behind the net, and he found Stempniak all alone in the right slot. With room to shoot, Stempniak picked the top corner for his fifth goal of the season and gave the P-Bruins a 1-0 lead. The Crunch had their chances in the period, including three power plays, but failed to capitalize. They hit the post on a pair of shots while Vladar robbed them in close during the man advantage as Providence brought a one-goal lead into the third period.

Syracuse capitalized on a turnover to tie the game 5:09 into the third. Gabriel Dumont stole the puck in the Providence zone and fed a streaking Boris Katchouk. Katchouk beat Vladar for his tenth goal of the season and knotted things up 1-1. It took just 15 seconds for Providence to respond, as Forsbacka Karlsson tallied his third goal of the season to put his team back on top. Peter Cehlarik led Stempniak into the attacking zone for a 2-on-1 break with Forsbacka Karlsson. Stempniak hit Forsbacka Karlsson, who went five-hole for the goal and put the P-Bruins up 2-1. Smith gave the team some breathing room at 7:42, scoring his 14th goal of the season while on the power play. Stempniak, who picked up his third point on the play, and Carey earned helpers as Providence went up 3-1. Dumont scored with the goaltender pulled at 15:03, but the P-Bruins held on for the 3-2 victory.

Vladar stopped 18 of 20 shots while Pasquale stopped 30 of 33 shots. Providence was 1-6 on the power play and 3-3 on the penalty kill. The P-Bruins are back in action tomorrow when they conclude their three-game road trip in Hershey with a 7:05pm face off against the Bears.

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