In what was supposed to be a seemingly easy win against the last place team in their division, the Providence Bruins were unable to withstand a 3rd period surge by the Worcester Sharks. The Sharks entered the game having lost seven straight games and did not have their regulars out on the ice due to injuries. Add the fact that the P-Bruins welcomed back Captain Trent Whitfield and Right Wing Brad Marchand from Boston earlier in the day, and one would expect an easy win to be in order. However, the Bruins just did not seem to be completely on their game Saturday night.

Bruins could not pull out win on Boychuk poster night (#3 above)

Providence did manage to take the lead in the 1st period on a beautiful Powerplay that was finished off by Jamie Arniel. The Bruins got a semi-break in their attempt to place the puck in the zone. Great passing led to Arniel being wide open down the wing; he got the puck, faked glove-side, cut across the goal, and put it in. Their second goal of the night was also pretty good play, as Zach Hamill faked a shot, which drew a defender and the goalie, and then he dropped it back to Kirk McDonald in the slot, who one-timed it into the back of the net.

But that was where their good play ended. For most of the night, the Bruins just could not put any string of passes together to be able to attack the way Coach Murray wants them to. There was a powerplay in the 1st period where Providence could not get the puck into Worcester’s zone to set up their powerplay. In fact in an attempt to get the puck into the zone, Mikko Lehtonen and Brad Marchand ran into each other and turned the puck over!

Even with all the miscues, the Bruins entered the 3rd period with a 2-1 lead. But like Friday night, they could not maintain their one goal lead, and in the end could not play through their mistakes on a seemingly off night. The Sharks tied the game on a goal that seemed to go off a player’s skate, Sharks’ Dwight Helminen, and into the goal. They took the lead off a powerplay goal by Joe Callahan with 1:56 left in the game.

So whether it was complacency because of receiving Marchand and Whitfield, or just expecting to blow Worcester out because Worcester did not put out players who had seen a lot of ice time, who knows. The Bruins still had a chance to win, and many would think they should have won, but they just did not bring enough on the ice to pull out a victory.

Game Notes:

• Brad Marchand’s streak of having points in six straight AHL games came to an end last night
• Jamie Arniel now has points in four consecutive games dating back to November 14
• Bruins goalie Dany Sabourin’s lost his first game in his last five starts. He had not lost a game since November 13