Providence, RI, March 27, 2011 – Kirk MacDonald scored two goals, and Trent Whitfield had a goal and two assists, to lead the Providence Bruins to a 4-2 victory over the Connecticut Whale Sunday at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center Providence.
The loss was the Whale’s second straight after a five-game winning streak, and reduced Connecticut’s lead over the Worcester Sharks to four points in the race for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Sharks defeated Adirondack 3-1 in Worcester Sunday.
Both Whale goals in the loss were scored by Derek Couture, his third and fourth in the last four games, and newcomer Tommy Grant assisted on both, in his first pro game out of the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
The first period ended scoreless, after an apparent goal by Providence defenseman David Warsofsky at 18:14 was waved off. It was ruled that the whistle had blown for a penalty against the Whale prior to Warsofsky backhanding the puck into the net.
The Whale, playing their fourth game in five days and seventh in ten days, were outshot 14-10 in the first.
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The Bruins opened the scoring 3:49 into the second period, on a deflection by 16th-year pro David Ling. A clearing attempt by Stu Bickel was broken up by Lane MacDermid, and Ling deflected Whitfield’s low shot from the left-wing boards past Connecticut goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris (40 saves).
Then, 3:37 later, at 7:26, Providence made it 2-0 on a Whitfield power-play goal.
With Bickel in the penalty box for holding, Jamie Arniel got a hard shot on goal from high in the slot and Grumet-Morris made the save but could not control the rebound, which Whitfield buried from the bottom of the left circle for his 12th goal in his last 12 games.
The Bruins would widen the lead to 3-0 with a shorthanded goal at 8:11 of the third period. Andrew Bodnarchuk sent MacDonald and MacDermid away on a two-on-one, and Grumet-Morris stopped MacDonald’s shot, but with MacDermid crashing the net, the puck found its way into the net, despite the best efforts of Grumet-Morris and the one defender back, Jeremy Williams.
Couture cut the lead to 3-1, and ruined the shutout bid of Anton Khudobin (31 saves), with 4:50 left, banking a shot into the net from below the goal line off of the back of Khudobin’s leg. MacDonald scored an empty-net goal, though, at 19:17 to assure the Bruins of victory.
Couture struck again as time expired to make the final margin a two-goal game, taking a feed from Grant and snapping a shot past Khudobin from in front of the goal.
The Whale were outshot 44-33 in the game, and the loss ended an AHL career-high streak of seven straight wins for Grumet-Morris, whose record fell to 11-4-1.
Connecticut is now 38-28-2-6 on the year for 84 points and is off until Friday night, when the Whale are right back in Providence for another date with the Bruins, a 7:00 faceoff.
Connecticut Whale 2 at Providence Bruins 4
Sunday, March 27, 2011 – Dunkin’ Donuts Center
Connecticut 0 0 2 – 2
Providence 0 2 2 – 4
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Couture Ct (hooking), 18:14; Nightingale Ct (fighting), 18:14; Miller Pro (fighting), 18:14.
2nd Period-1, Providence, Ling 8 (Whitfield, MacDermid), 3:49. 2, Providence, Whitfield 17 (Arniel, Laliberte), 7:26 (PP). Penalties-Bickel Ct (tripping), 6:59; Hamill Pro (hooking), 11:03; Bartkowski Pro (holding), 14:26; Newbury Ct (slashing), 18:10.
3rd Period-3, Providence, MacDonald 14 (Bodnarchuk), 8:11 (SH). 4, Connecticut, Couture 4 (Grant), 15:10. 5, Providence, MacDonald 15 (Cohen, Whitfield), 19:17 (EN). 6, Connecticut, Couture 5 (Grant), 19:59. Penalties-Hamill Pro (roughing), 1:46; Weise Ct (cross-checking), 1:53; Hamill Pro (slashing), 7:12; Warsofsky Pro (cross-checking), 8:50; Soryal Ct (fighting), 11:44; MacDermid Pro (fighting), 11:44; Bickel Ct (elbowing, roughing), 12:34; LaVallee-Smotherman Pro (roughing), 12:34.
Shots on Goal-Connecticut 10-9-14-33. Providence 14-13-17-44.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 5; Providence 1 / 5.
Goalies-Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 11-4-1 (43 shots-40 saves). Providence, Khudobin 26-14-2 (33 shots-31 saves).
A-8,405
Referees-Terry Koharski (10), Jamie Koharski (84).
Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Todd Whittemore (70).
