Roster Call-ups Hamper Goal Scoring
by T. Chace Jr.
November 4, 2009
On October 18th after a 7-2 victory over Portland the Providence Bruins had a 4-2 record and had scored 26 goals in just those six games. Things were looking good as the new season was progressing. However, the parent club, the Boston Bruins were about to place forward Milan Lucic on injured reserve. Lucic would join center Marc Savard on the Bruins injury list and with the trade of Chuck Kobasew, there were roster spots that needed to be filled.
After the Portland game, Vladimir Sobotka, Guillaume Lefebvre, and Brad Marchand were called up to the big club. This left a huge offensive problem for the P-Bruins. Marchand at the time had scored 6 goals in six games and Sobotka had recorded 10 points in six games, including 4 goals. Lefebvre was brought up to replace Lucic’s toughness and fierce corner work. Lefebvre was sent back down and replaced by veteran center Trent Whitfield who also had managed 8 points in six games for Providence.
Needless to say the P-Bruins struggled in their next four games, scoring just 3 goals in those four games. On Sunday, November 1st the Bruins beat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-3 in what proved to be a very satisfying win according to Coach Rob Murray. “Very satisfying, we’ve got a depleted line-up, not only with the call ups, but a couple of injuries and a few guys are sick. We’ve had hard time generating any offense the last few games.”
The Bruins are looking for some of their younger players to step up and improve their play. Against Bridgeport, Murray felt several had. “Zach Hamill really picked up his game; Mikko Lehtonen looked good out there, our defense got into the scoring, so it was a good game for us to bounce back.” Regarding the young players and the need for them to respond while the team struggles, Murray says “I can’t be too hard on these guys; they stepped up today but they weren’t able to step up the last couple of games. They’re trying, Zach Hamill had a fantastic game, and he was awesome. We need a few guys to help us find a way to win.”
Jeff Penner was named the number one star; the defenseman notched his first goal of the season and also picked up two assists. Hamill had three assists and Jeff LoVecchio, just getting over being sick grabbed his 4th goal and added an assist as well. Bridgeport outshot Providence 40-28, Dany Sabourin made 37 saves for the victory in front of 4230 fans at The Dunkin Donuts Center.
