Providence Smokes Portland 5-1

Bruins Take Series Lead
April 19, 2009
by T. Chace Jr.

The Providence Bruins outscored their rival Portland Pirates on Sunday afternoon 5-1 in Portland at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The Bruins came out in the first period as they have all series with an offensive flurry that resulted in a Martin St. Pierre goal at 13:58, assisted by linemate Brad Marchand. It was St. Pierre's first playoff goal. Providence outshot the Pirates 18-8 in the period and led 1-0.

In the second period, the roles were reversed. Just 59 seconds into the period, the Bruin's St. Pierre set up Marchand for a one timer that beat netminder Jhonas Enroth, for his first goal of the series. Providence then dug a hole for themselves with penalties to Adam McQuaid, for roughing, and Ryan Stokes for delay of game, giving Portland a five on three advantage for nearly two full minutes. A penalty on Portland's Tim Kennedy still left them down one man. The Bruins however, not only killed the penalties but scored a shorthanded goal. At the 3:16 mark, Vladimir Sobotka scored his second post season goal on a pass from Johnny Boychuk, who had stolen the puck along the boards and found Sobotka in the slot. The Bruins were not done. At 7:33, Boychuk scored on a blast from the top of the face-off circle beating Enroth on the glove side while on a power play with assists to Sobotka and St. Pierre. Enroth was replaced with Kellen Briggs after the Bruins opened up a 4-0 lead. A wild melee at the 13:51 mark resulted in 46 penalty minutes being called. Portland's Kenny MacAulay was given a 10 minute misconduct for abuse of officials while Kyle Rank received the 17 minute instigating package.

The third period began with a Pirate penalty leading to another power play goal by Johnny Boychuk, as he scored his second goal of the game on another blast from the point to beat Briggs for a 5-0 lead. Once again, Sobotka was involved in the scoring with another assist along with Jeff Penner. A shutout by Bruin's Tuukka Rask was ruined by a goal by Derek Whitmore on a wrist shot off of his shoulder with 8:03 left in the game. Assists were picked up by MacAuley and Felix Schutz. After the game, Sobotka was named the number one star, Boychuk number two and Rask was the third star. Providence outshot Portland 44-26, that is the most shots Portland has allowed in the 2008-09 season. Providence was 2 for 6 on the power play while Portland went 0 for 6. Game 4 is at Portland on Thursday April 23rd and then back to Providence for Friday April 24th.