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| With wins in back-to-back starts this weekend, Hartzell improved to 7-2-1 on the season for the Penguins. |
Eric Hartzell stopped 33 of 34 for back-to-back wins for him in the WBS net. Hartzell improves to 7-2-1 on the season, and after relieving Jeff Deslauriers on Friday night and starting both Saturday night and today, might the AHL Penguins have a new number one goaltender?
Simon Despres was re-assigned to the AHL Penguins before this weekend's games and has been impressive in his first three games back: three goals, one assist and a plus six rating. More on Despres tomorrow.
Recap of this afternoon's action after the jump.
The Penguins again got off to a fast start this afternoon, tallying three first period goals and out shooting the Bruins 19-9.
First, it was Anton Zlobin firing one past Bruins rookie goaltender Jeff Jakaitis from the slot to give the Pens a 1-0 lead on a nice play by Dominik Uher and Zack Torquato. That goal came 2:47 into the contest.
The Pens' second line struck again about ten minutes later, after a puck from behind Jakaitis' net bounced in. Dominik Uher was the lone WBS player in front of the net on the door step, but Zack Torquato was given credit for the goal 12:57 into the first frame that extended the Pens lead to 2-0.
The turning point of the hockey game ended up coming at the end of the first period. Mike Carman was tagged for goaltender interference and assessed an extra minor for unsportsmanlike, putting the Pens shorthanded for four minutes with 4:17 left in the period.
The Pens killed off the first two minutes and the tail end of the second half was washed out by a David Warsofsky minor penalty. During the ensuing four-on-four, Simon Despres' attempted pass for Denver Manderson hits a body in front of the net and bounces past Jakaitis with 28 seconds left in the period, extending the WBS lead to 3-0. Had Providence instead cashed in on the power play before the end of the period, a 2-1 deficit after 20 minutes is a little more promising than the three-goal hole the Bruins had dug themselves into.
After a scoreless second period, ex-WBS defenseman and former Pittsburgh first round draft Joe Morrow brought the Bruins within two at 3-1 early in the third period but that's as close as the home team would get.
Tom Kostopoulos stole a puck of Jakaitis behind the Providence net and fed an open Nick Drazenovic for the easy tap in goal to make it 4-1. Then a little more than three minutes later, captain Kostopoulos added a breakaway goal on a pass from Harry Zolnierczyk to finishing the scoring at 5-1.
ROSTER NOTES
Eric Hartzell got the start in net this afternoon after playing last night against Portland. Jeff Deslauriers was pulled on Friday night after allowing four goals against Providence. Could Hartzell be slowly taking over the #1 goaltender position for WBS?
Tom Kuhnhackl was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. With all the forwards starting to get healthy in Pittsburgh, it'll be interesting to see what happens to Kuhnhackl when the NHL Penguins start re-assigning players to the AHL.
No lineup changes for WBS today, with Harrison Ruopp the 7th defenseman in warmups and Nick D'Agostino also joining Kuhnhackl and Ruopp as the healthy scratches. Adam Payerl is still out long term with an upper body injury he sustained at the end of November.
Lines
Zolnierczyk - Drazenovic - Kostopoulos
Uher - Torquato - Zlobin
Carman - Manderson - Thompson
Farnham - Rowney - Leblond
Samuelsson - Despres
Harrington - Mikkelson
Dumoulin - McNeill
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