An interesting start to the road trip for the Penguins, who fall 2-0 to the Providence Bruins at Dunkin Donuts Center tonight.
After a rather uneventful first period, which seemed to me like two teams who were unfamiliar with one another, the second period heated up. Not with goals, but a flurry of fisticuffs.
Zach Sill and Tyler Randell dropped the mitts off the opening face-off of period two. Then in a span of 1:43 Paul Thompson, Bobby Farnham and Christian Minella took their turn with the gloves off.
Just as things were starting to simmer down, Providence's Bobby Robins goes postal, boarding Philip Samuelsson hard behind the WBS net. While Penguins' trainer Kyle Moore was tending to Samuelsson, Robins took a swing at Joe Morrow and eventually took off his full-face shield and gloves to fight Samuelsson. The result? A five minute power play for the Penguins.
The turning point of the hockey game turned out to be that power play, as the Penguins managed just one shot and were unable to make the Bruins pay for the questionable hit.
Craig Cunningham broke the scoreless tie in the third period, while Alex Grant was in the box for interference. Graham Mink added an insurance goal on a weird bounce that deflected off a Penguin on its way past Jeff Zatkoff to complete the 2-0 final score.
The Penguins opponents the rest of the weekend matched up tonight in Portland. The Pirates jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Manchester, but the Monarchs rallied for a 4-3 overtime win. The Penguins travel to Portland for tomorrow night's game against the Pirates and then head to New Hampshire for a Sunday evening game against the Monarchs.
I'll be live from press row for both contests so be sure to stay tuned here for all the latest. Also follow along on Twitter (@H_P_Hockey) for up to the minute updates of Penguins hockey this weekend!
ROSTER NOTES
Jeff Zatkoff got the start in net tonight. Cody Wild was a healthy scratch on defense. Forward scratches were Tom Kuhnhackl, Jayson Megna, Phil Dupuis and Steve MacIntyre.
Tonight was Cody Wild's return to Providence as well as Paul Thompson's return to the lineup. Tomorrow it's a homecoming of sorts for defenseman Brian Dumoulin, a Biddeford, Maine native.
Lines
Holzapfel - Smith - Kolarik
Collins - Peters - Thompson
Payerl - Gibbons - Uher
Farnham - Sill - Minella
Reese - Dumoulin
Mormina - Grant
Samuelsson - Morrow
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