Before the Baby B’s had time to recover from their trip, they were faced with their second difficult challenge of the season. Due to an injury to Manny Fernandez, Tuukka Rask got called up to Boston. Unfortunately, Jordan Sigalet went down with a serious injury a few days later, meaning Providence was going to have to use two goaltenders with minimal experience for the next month or so.

For the eighth game on our countdown, we head to December 5th. Rask and Sigalet were both out of the lineup, meaning Andy Franck got the nod in a key divisional game with the Hartford Wolf Pack. Hartford battled Providence for most of the season before the Peebs eventually came away with the divison title, and this game certainly helped their cause.

The opening period began exactly the way the P-Bruins wanted it to. Wacey Rabbit put the puck deep into the offensive zone for teammate Jeff Hoggan. Hoggan collected the puck after it deflected off of the boards, and immediately spotted TJ Trevelyan in front of the net. Trevelyan took the pass from Hoggan and ripped a shot past Al Montoya for a 1-0 lead just over nine minutes into the opening frame.

Before the first period came to a close, the Wolf Pack got on the board. Thomas Pock and Artem Anisimov helped to set up the always annyoing Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau for the equalizer with 1:52 to go. The teams headed into the first intermission knotted at one.

The score remained tied for most of the second period. However, Hartford got some big momentum in the closing minutes. Greg Moore picked up a goal at the 16:30 mark of the second, and Hugh Jessiman followed that up with a goal of his own just 37 seconds later. Providence was unable to recover in the final three minutes, and the Wolf Pack took their 3-1 lead into the third.

One of the biggest strengths for the 2007-08 Providence Bruins was their ability to come back. No lead was ever safe against this bunch, especially in the final minutes of a contest. Hartford learned that on this night. Despite being held scoreless for the first half of the third period, the P-Bruins cut the lead to one at 11:25. Pascal Pelletier threw a shot toward the net, and Matt Hendricks tipped it through Montoya, making the score 3-2 in favor of the visitors.

2:30 later, it was a new hockey game once again. Leading scorer Pascal Pelletier was involved for the second straight time, as he dished the puck back to Matt Lashoff at the point. Lashoff made no mistake in wiring his shot past Montoya and in for the game-tying goal.

Suddenly, the confident Wolf Pack were back on their heals. Hartford goaltender Al Montoya withstood the Providence barrage by making 40 saves to send the contest into overtime, and eventually a shootout.

In the shootout, the Baby B’s led off with the always dependable David Krejci. Krejci burried a shot on his attempt for his fourth consecutive shootout goal. Looking to tie the shootout, Hartford went with Nigel Dawes, but the talented scorer missed on his attempt. The two netminders exchanged saves on the second shots, leading up to Matt Hendricks shooting third for Providence. Hendricks easily faked out Montoya to give the home team a big two-goal edge that became even larger when Andy Franck turned aside Alex Bourret to close out the third round. Jeff Hoggan had a chance to finish it in round four for the Peebs, but just couldn’t sneak a shot past Montoya. That set the scene for Franck to shut the door on Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, and that’s exactly what he did, giving the P-Bruins a 4-3 comeback win.

This was Providence’s third consecutive win over Hartford to start the season. Although the Wolf Pack kept things close in the standings, this would be a common theme throughout the year as the Bruins took six of the eight head-to-head meetings with their rivals from Connecticut.

The opponent for opening night was none other than the Manchester Monarchs at Verizon Wireless Arena. Manchester had defeated Providence in May to knock them out of the second round of the playoffs, so early revenge would certainly be at stake.

Rookie netminder Tuukka Rask led his teammates on the ice for the start of a new year, and just 1:55 into the season, the Baby B’s had a lead. Matt Hendricks gathered in the puck in the right corner, and proceeded to fling a shot toward the net. Dan Cloutier was positioned oddly, so Hendricks’ shot deflected off of the Manchester netminder and in. There is no doubt that fans in Rhode Island were excited about the season thanks to the quick goal.

As the first period wore on, things began to get chippy between the division rivals. First, Hendricks crashed into Cloutier, leading the Monarchs’ goalie to throw down his blocker and fire a punch. Later in the period, Chris Collins hit Matt Ryan in open ice, causing Ryan and teammate Petr Kanko to go after Collins and Nate Thompson. Collins and Ryan were separated, but Thompson handed it to Kanko in their bout.

Thanks to a power play, the Monarchs were able to even the score midway through the first period. Teddy Purcell found Peter Harrold at the point. With Gabe Gauthier and company screening Tuukka Rask, Harrold let a slap shot go. Gauthier got a piece of it, sending it through Rask for the equalizer. The score remained tied into the first intermission.

Providence got their lead back during the second. Matt Lashoff fed Matt Hendricks with a pass along the right side of the goal line. Hendricks skated to the middle of the ice and tried to jam a shot through Cloutier. The jam attempt didn’t work, but there was enough force on the shot so that it popped into the air and floated into the net.

Although the first period saw most of the rough stuff, Peebs’ fans got a taste of one of their newest tough guys during the middle frame. Heavyweights Steve MacIntyre and Kevin Westgarth duked it out at center ice. The fight lasted for quite a while, with both players able to land shots. MacIntyre appeared to have gotten the upper hand, but the crowd certainly got what they were looking for in an opening night fight.

The rest of the game went by without any goals being scored. Most of this was thanks to the goaltending of Tuukka Rask. Expectations were high for this former first round draft pick, and he performed exceptionally well on opening night. The Finnish rookie turned aside 27 of 28 shots, including a breakaway save on Kevin Westgarth in the third, as well as a flurry in front of the cage in the dying seconds.

With Rask shining brightly in goal, and the team earning their first win in their first game, things looked good for the 2007-08 Providence Bruins. Fans had hoped for a lot from this team, but little did they know that they would still see seven more wins on the road trip and a total of 55 in 80 regular season contests. Opening night was certainly a sign of things to come for the Baby B’s.

However, with just a few weeks before training camp begins, Boston felt it was necessary to bring another veteran on board. On Wednesday, the Bruins announced the signing of center Stephane Yelle. The organization did not release details on the contract per team policy, but according to the Boston Globe, Yelle signed for one year and $750,000.

Stephane Yelle was originally drafted in the eighth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the New Jersey Devils. Following three seasons of junior hockey in Oshawa, the forward was set to join the New Jersey organization, but was instead shipped over to the Quebec Nordiques. Yelle’s first season with Quebec was spent with their AHL team in Cornwall. In 40 games with the Cornwall Aces, he tallied 18 goals and 15 assists for 33 points - a total certainly worthy of starting the next year with the Colorado Avalanche. Stephane spent the next seven years of his career playing for the Avalanche. With centers such as Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg ahead of him, Yelle was never looked at as a big scorer in Colorado. He did manage a 13-goal season in 1995-96, and finished with a total of 143 points over the seven seasons. From there, it was up to Calgary thanks to a deal involving teammate Chris Drury prior to the start of the 2002-03 campaign. Stephane has spent the last five years of his career with the Flames, scoring 31 goals and 65 assists for 96 points in that span.

With just 85 goals in 844 career games, it is highly unlikely that the Bruins will be looking for much offensive production from the Ottawa, Ontario native. Instead, he will be a role player. Stephane Yelle has spent the majority of his career as an energy guy, playing on teams’ third and fourth lines. Perhaps the two biggest attributes that Yelle brings to the table for Boston are his experiences in the game, and his knowledge of what it takes to win. In 12 NHL seasons, Stephane has hoisted the Stanley Cup twice, and came one win shy of taking it home a third time. Bruins fans wouldn’t mind it a bit if Yelle completed the Stanley Cup hat trick at the TD Banknorth Garden with the spoked “B” on his chest.

That team is the 2007-08 Providence Bruins. The P-Bruins had one of their best regular seasons in franchise history with 55 wins and 117 points. Although the Calder Cup landed in Chicago, nothing can take away what the Baby B’s were able to accomplish. With a new time machine ready to go, it’s time to head back in time to look at the top ten games from this year’s Providence Bruins.

As always, we start at the bottom of the list and work our way up, meaning today is game number ten. For the beginning of the countdown, the time machine travels all the way back to the beginning of the season. The Providence Bruins had one of the toughest challenges staring them in the face right away. Due to construction at the Dunkin Donuts Center, the Baby B’s were forced to play their first ten games away from home. During that stretch, the team compiled an 8-1-1 record, and had a fairly comfortable lead in the Atlantic Division. However, with that being said, the Peebs were more than excited to finally play a game in front of the home crowd.

The 2007-08 home opener came on November 14th against the Portland Pirates. Providence’s final two games of the road trip were in Portland, with the two teams splitting the two contests. Looking to make an early statement, the home team scored the first Dunkin Donuts Center goal of the season. Thanks to Andy Schneider’s interference minor, the P-Bruins were given a power play. While on the power play, Pascal Pelletier snapped a cross-crease feed to Vladimir Sobotka. Sobotka wasted no time at all slamming the puck into the back of the net past eventual NHL netminder Jonas Hiller for the game’s first tally.

Midway through the second period, the Baby B’s struck again. David Krejci found TJ Trevelyan in the high slot with an opening toward the net. Trevelyan took advantage of this opportunity, wiring a shot past Hiller to extend the lead.

Unfortunately, Providence was unable to hold onto any momentum from Trevelyan’s goal as Stephen Dixon cut the lead to one a few minutes later.

The score remained 2-1 in favor of the good guys as the game went on, and it appeared as though the Bruins would be on their way to victory in their first home game of the season. However, there was a case of bad luck as Sean Curry found himself in the penalty box serving a penalty. Portland made him pay as Dixon picked up his second goal of the game, sending the clubs to overtime for the second straight time.

Nothing would be settled in overtime, so it was off to a shootout. The Peebs elected to go first in the shootout, and with that, the always dependable David Krejci led off. Krejci wasn’t looking to do anything fancy as he snuck a shot through Hiller’s legs to put Providence ahead by a goal right away. Portland responded with the red-hot Dixon, but his backhand got turned away. Oddly enough, Krejci was the only bright spot in the shootout. Matt Hendricks, Vladimir Sobotka, Martins Karsums, and Nate Thompson all missed for the P-Bruins, while Bobby Ryan, Andrew Ebbett, Jason King, and Brandon Segal all failed for the Pirates.

For the most part, the game and the shootout ended up being a battle between two exciting young goaltenders. The Providence Bruins got 25 saves from rookie Tuukka Rask, while Jonas Hiller countered with 25 on his end of the ice for Portland.

After an 8-1-1 road trip, the Baby B’s got off to just the start they were looking for in their return to Rhode Island. The home opener would be the first of 27 wins on home ice for Providence in what was certainly a season filled with memories at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

25 year old Ryan Stokes is the older of the two blueliners. Following three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with Barrie and Mississauga, Stokes went undrafted, and joined the Pensacola Ice Pilots for the start of the 2004-05 campaign. Later that season, the rookie defenseman spent seven games in the AHL with the Houston Aeros, but did not record a point. 2005-06 was Ryan’s first full season in the AHL, playing in 75 games for Houston, while picking up two goals and three assists. The goal output stayed the same the following year, but Stokes added five more assists to his totals. The big numbers for this 6′4″ defenseman is his penalty minutes. During those two seasons with the Aeros, Ryan spent a combined 322 minutes in the sin bin. This past season, Stokes went to the Rockford Ice Hogs. In 55 games, the Corruna, Ontario native had four goals and six assists for ten points to go along with 93 penalty minutes. Stokes looks to be a defensive defenseman that uses physical play to his advantage.

Unlike Stokes, 23 year old Mike Egener was drafted. In fact, he was taken in the second round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning. After four years with the Calgary Hitmen in the Western Hockey League, Egener began his professional career with the Springfield Falcons in 2004-05. Similar to his new teammate, the number that jumps out first is the penalty minutes. In 45 games with Springfield that season, he tallied three goals and two assists with 183 minutes in penalties. The following season, Mike got his first taste of the ECHL, playing in 18 games with the Johnstown Chiefs. He picked up four points in that span, but also snagged another three in 38 games with the Falcons. This time, he cracked 200 penalty minutes with a total of 208 in the two stops. 2006-07 was Egener’s final year in Springfield, and it was a struggle offensively. He only managed to record three assists in 75 games. This past year, the German native saw just 26 games of action between the Norfolk Admirals and Mississippi Sea Wolves. He did find the net again with two goals, while adding two assists for four points. Offense has never been a big part of Egener’s game. but expect him to be another tough customer on Providence’s blueline.

Signing Stokes and Egener may not draw the attention of many fans at first due to the lack of scoring, but it provides a good sense of balance for the Providence Bruins. Depending on where Matt Lashoff and Matt Hunwick land at the end of training camp, the P-Bruins could be looking at a situation with eight defensemen (this is if those two end up in Providence). Offense was already covered for the most part on the blueline with Lashoff and Hunwick, newcomer Johnny Boychuk, as well as rookies Andrew Bodnarchuk and Jeff Penner. On the defensive side, Adam McQuaid was the one player that stuck out, so with Stokes and Egener, that aspect of the game just got better and tougher.

One of the biggest points of emphasis when Claude Julien took over as the head coach in Boston was to be more physical. These two signings should accomplish that with relative ease.

The second game on our countdown was the third game in the best-of-seven series. Prior to that game, the Bruins had yet to beat the Canadiens in 2007-08, falling in 13 straight contests dating back to the season before. To finish off the countdown of the top ten Boston Bruins games of 2007-08, we go to the final home game of the year. To set the scene, the Bruins had just done the unthinkable by winning a game in Montreal to force game six at the TD Banknorth Garden. If the Black and Gold were able to dig deep again and come out on top, they would extend the best team in the Eastern Conference to a decisive seventh game. Emotions ran high and low all night long, but eventually, the home team walked away with the victory.

Oddly enough, the game started off rather slowly. The Bruins didn’t want to take any early risks that could cost them their season, while the Canadiens were content to take it shift by shift. Midway through the opening period, Montreal found daylight and broke the deadlock. Saku Koivu won an offensive zone face-off forward to Chris Higgins busting to the net. Higgins slipped to the ice, but was able swipe the puck through Tim Thomas in the process for the first goal of the night. The Habs held an 8-7 lead in shots during the first, with Higgins’ tally being the difference.

Not wanting to fall behind by two, the Bruins struck for the equalizer in the opening minutes of period two. Phil Kessel snapped a long lead pass up the ice for Marc Savard, but just as he received the pass, Savard crumbled to the ice. Thinking on his feet, Kessel swooped in to snag the loose puck, and broke into the offensive zone. The path to the goal was blocked by a Montreal defender, but that didn’t phase the second year player. Kessel danced around the defense and beat Carey Price for one of the prettiest goals this season. The goal came at the 1:54 mark of the stanza.

There was one more goal in the second period, and unfortunately, it belonged to the visitors. Boston had a chance to take a lead of their own with a power play, but that went by the boards. Tomas Plekanec was the player serving the minor penalty, and as luck would have it, the puck found its’ way to his stick just as he left the sin bin. This gave Plekanec a breakaway on Tim Thomas, and the frequent pest during the season series slid a forehand shot over the goal line for a 2-1 game. This was the score through 40 minutes of play, meaning that the Bruins would have to dig one more comeback out of their bag of tricks to keep their season alive.

The third period began similar to the second. Boston trailed by a goal, needing a goal to tie the game, and to put momentum on their side. One common theme during the playoffs tends to be unlikely heroes. Even though his goal made it 2-2 in what was eventually a much higher scoring game, Vladimir Sobotka made a name for himself by lighting the lamp. The Canadiens were changing lines at the time, giving Dennis Wideman time to find Peter Schaefer skating over the blueline. Once into the offensive zone, Schaefer slipped a pass to Sobotka cutting toward the net. Sobotka caught the pass, and kept the play moving, putting a backhander off of Price and in. The game was tied, but there was still lots to be decided.

As the halfway mark of the third period approached, the Bruins were still looking for their first lead of the evening. However, if they were going to get that lead, they would have to come from behind again, as the Canadiens found the back of the net for the third time. Josh Gorges dished a pass over to defensive partner Francis Bouillon at the left point. The philosophy during the playoffs is that it doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to go in. That was the thought here as Bouillon let a relatively harmless shot go from the point. The shot found a hole, and Montreal found the lead.

This was where the fun began. Montreal’s lead lasted for a little more than two minutes before the Bruins responded with a fan favorite to bring the game back to a tie. Marc Savard won an offensive zone face-off back to Aaron Ward at the right point. Ward took the same idea as Bouillon on Montreal’s goal by just throwing the puck at the net. Although Ward’s shot probably wouldn’t have gone in, Milan Lucic was in the slot at the time. Lucic got his stick on the puck to change its’ direction and send it past Price for a 3-3 score with 7:47 still to go.

Three minutes later, Boston finally took the lead. David Krejci dumped the puck deep into the left corner of the offensive zone. Marco Sturm turned on the jets and chased down the loose puck, giving the Bruins an opportunity to catch the Canadiens off guard. Phil Kessel skated hard to the net as Sturm went to the corner. Once he spotted his open linemate, Sturm swung a pass in his direction. Kessel put his stick down on the ice, and chipped a shot up over Price for the go-ahead goal with 4:15 left in regulation.

The Canadiens clearly did not enjoy trailing in this game, as they came right back to score the tying goal in a matter of 11 seconds. Saku Koivu put a hit on Shane Hnidy behind the net, freeing up the puck for Montreal tammate, Sergei Kostitsyn. Kostitsyn wasted no time in finding Chris Higgins in the slot. Just as Kessel’s name was being announced to the crowd for Boston’s fourth goal, Higgins tapped the puck into the open side of the cage for Montreal’s fourth of the game. With 4:04 remaining, it was a whole new game yet again.

With 2:37 to go, the home team found some more magic, and this time it looked like the lead might last a bit longer. Zdeno Chara rifled a shot high and wide of the net, with the puck flying into the right corner. Roman Hamrlik got there first for the Canadiens, but Marco Sturm made him pay with a big hit to take the puck away. Sturm curled around the circle and took a shot. His first shot got blocked, but the puck went right back to the German-born forward. Thanks to a second opportunity, Sturm slowly moved to his left, eventually getting Price out of postion so that he could put a shot into the upper part of the net. As was the case a few minutes earlier, the TD Banknorth Garden erupted with excitement, as their team was less than three minutes from taking the series back to Canada.

Montreal had some chances in the closing seconds, but Tim Thomas and the Boston defense held on for dear life, and earned the victory. Thomas nearly fell over when the final buzzer sounded, and even though game seven went the other way, the Bruins definitely gave their fans something to be proud of. At the beginning of the season, many people predicted that Boston would finish at or near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They proved that wrong by not only making the playoffs, but coming one win away from upsetting the number one seed in the opening round.

Now that the trip through Boston’s top ten is complete, it’s time to focus our attention to the Baby B’s. Providence put together one of their best seasons in franchise history, so we’ll take a look at their top ten games from 2007-08 in the coming weeks leading up to training camp.

It’s off to the playoffs we go! For game number two, the time machine heads back to April 13th. One night earlier, the Montreal Canadiens capitalized on a very questionable penalty call in overtime to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Prior to game three, Montreal had won all eight regular season games, both playoff games, both exhibition games, and was holding a 13 game winning streak against the Bruins. To make matters worse, Boston never even had a lead against the Habs in 2007-08.

Early in the first period, one streak came to an end, as the Black and Gold got on the board first. Mark Stuart rifled a puck the length of the ice from his own zone, but Marc Savard was able to hustle in and gain possession. After fending off a Montreal defender, Savard snapped a pass to a wide open Milan Lucic in the slot. Lucic took his time gathering in the pass, before beating Carey Price with a snap shot blocker side. The lead was Boston’s first of the season series, and they carried it into the first intermission.

As was made clear by the previous ten games, if the Bruins were going to beat Montreal, it was not going to come easy, and they were going to earn it. With that, the Canadiens knotted up the score in the early stages of the middle frame. Tom Kostopoulos grabbed the loose puck behind the net following a jarring hit by Steve Begin, and curled out front. The Montreal winger threw a backhander on goal that Tim Thomas kept out, but the rebound sat in the crease just long enough for Kostopoulos to tap it over the line. Shots were 19-18 Boston after two, but the game was now tied at one.

The two teams tried to settle things in the third, but surprisingly, neither goaltender got put to work all that much. Carey Price turned aside all seven shots he faced, while Tim Thomas was even less busy with four saves in the stanza. As luck would have it, overtime would decide a winner for the second night in a row.

In overtime of game two, the Canadiens got the benefit of a power play in overtime to seal the deal. In game three, it appeared that the Bruins were going to a power play of their own for the winner. However, that man advantage wasn’t needed. With a delayed penalty on Montreal, Peter Schaefer rushed down the left side of the ice before hesitating and finding Dennis Wideman in the slot. Wideman started going toward the net, but stopped and dished a backhand over to Marc Savard. Since Carey Price was leaning toward a potential shot from Wideman, Savard had quite a bit of net to shoot at. Sure enough, he buried a low wrist shot into the back of the cage, and Boston was right back in the series with the TD Banknorth Garden erupting.

Although the series eventually went Montreal’s way, the monkey was finally off of Boston’s back. 13 straight losses was put to an end thanks to the man playing in his first ever playoff series.

For the third game on our countdown, the time machine travels back to the middle of March. The Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers had already met twice since the infamous Bergeron game, but both of those games took place at the Wachovia Center. This game was in Boston - meaning the return of Jones and company to the TD Banknorth Garden.

As anticipated, the Flyers weren’t welcomed very kindly by the Boston crowd, but those fans were brought to their feet by some early fireworks as Shawn Thornton and Riley Cote went at it at center ice. Thornton was firing rights, while Cote was coming back with lefts. Both players connected on a good amount of punches, causing NESN’s Jack Edwards to say, “It’s rock’em, sock’em robots,” during the duel.

Energy was put into the building almost instantly from the fight, and later in the period, the home team broke the scoreless deadlock. Marco Sturm took a lengthy shot from a tough angle that Martin Biron steered away with relative ease. The rebound took a big kick back to Sturm, who was just able to smack it over to Chuck Kobasew skating down into the slot. Kobasew skated onto the pass, and ripped a low wrist shot past Biron. Boston out shot Philadelphia 9-6 in the opening period, and took the one-goal lead into the intermission.

Despite being doubled in the shots department, the second period belonged to the visitors. Philadelphia was finally able to crack Tim Thomas midway through the frame thanks to a bit of a lucky bounce, as well as some good hand-eye coordination. Joffrey Lupul took a pass from Mike Richards and skated into the offensive zone. Once he reached the right circle, Lupul took a shot on goal, but got denied by Thomas. The shot must have taken Thomas by surprise, as the rebound popped straight into the air. Richards happened to be skating by at the time, and he batted the puck in out of the air for the tying goal.

Momentum was beginning to sway the other way as the period went on, and just over three minutes later, the Flyers had their first lead of the afternoon. RJ Umberger tapped a lead pass ahead for Vaclav Prospal as he skated in on the left side of the offensive zone. Prospal had Daniel Briere skating to the net, with a Boston defender in between the two. Prospal slipped a perfect pass through the defense to his linemate, and Briere tapped the biscuit into an open cage for a 2-1 Philadelphia lead after two periods of play.

As time wore on in the third period, fans began to worry that this might not be Boston’s day. However, there was something about Saturday afternoon comebacks in March, and for the third Saturday in a row, the home team did not disappoint. The Bruins worked the puck back to Dennis Wideman at the center point. Wideman wound up and let a slap shot go, but a clutter of players in front of the crease got in the way. Luckily, the puck bounced over to the left circle for an oncoming Andrew Ference. Ference skated up and took as hard of a shot as he could. Sure enough, it ripped into the back of the net for his only goal of the season, and a well-timed equalizer with 27 seconds to play in regulation.

The late third period goal did put momentum back on the Bruins’ side, but that almost went away if not for the clutch goaltending of Tim Thomas early in the extra session. Jeff Carter split the Boston defense and went in alone on Thomas, but the B’s netminder made the save to keep the game knotted up. As luck would have it, Thomas’ stop turned into instant offense. Andrew Ference snapped a long pass up ice for PJ Axelsson in the neutral zone. Axelsson hesitated before moving forward, but eventually crossed the blueline, backhanding a pass across the ice to Aaron Ward, skating in at the left point. Ward one-timed the puck, and it rifled past Biron for the winning goal, giving Boston a huge two points.

One would have to think that most fans in Philadelphia are not fans of Aaron Ward, as he sunk their ship twice in 2007-08 with overtime goals. The Bruins likely would have traded anything to have Patrice Bergeron’s services for the entire year, but three wins over the Flyers (including two overtime thrillers) after the injury had to be some sort of justice.

The Providence Bruins have had their fair share of coaches over the years, but one constant seems to remain the same: success. Six of the eight head coaches in Providence’s history have gone on to become a head coach in the National Hockey League. Mike O’Connell kicked things off from 1992-94, and was followed by Steve Kaspar in 1994-95. Bob Francis took the reigns from 1995-97, and eventually reached the show behind the bench of the Phoenix Coyotes. Peter Laviolette was one of the most successful coaches for the P-Bruins, as he led them to a Calder Cup in 1999, then went on to take the Carolina Hurricanes to a championship in 2006. Mike Sullivan had a short tenure as a head coach, but did lead Boston and Providence to playoff appearances. Then, we saw Scott Gordon. The current coach of the New York Islanders spent eight seasons in Rhode Island before getting his big opportunity.

Now that Scott Gordon has moved on, it’s time to add a new name to the list. On Thursday, the Providence Bruins announced that Rob Murray will be the new man in charge behind the bench at the Dunkin Donuts Center. This should be very good news for most, as Murray was Gordon’s assistant coach for the past five seasons. He knows the system, the Boston organization, and most importantly, the players.

Prior to becoming an assistant coach, Rob spent 16 years as a player. American Hockey League fans should remember Murray quite well, as 1,018 of his 1,205 career games came in the league. He was originally drafted by the Washington Capitals in the third round of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. Following three seasons with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes, Murray went on to play for the Fort Wayne Komets in 1987-88, before joining Washington’s AHL affiliate in Baltimore the next year. 1989-90 was Rob’s first taste of the NHL, as he played in 41 games for the Capitals that season, picking up nine points. From there, it was off to Winnipeg and Phoenix for the better part of a decade. Most of that time was spent with the Springfield Falcons, where his number proudly sits in the rafters today. Murray finished off his playing career with stops in Hamilton, Philadelphia, and Saint John, before returning for one final season in Springfield.

In Murray’s five seasons on the coaching staff, the Providence Bruins have put together an impressive record of 221-141-20-27. The team made the postseason in all five years, and most recently finished a year with the best record in the entire league. Scott Gordon has some tough shoes to fill, but a man with over 1,000 games under his belt should certainly be up to the task in keeping the winning ways going in Providence.

For number four, we head back to early March. February ended very strong for the Boston Bruins, as they put together a 4-0-1 road trip, before coming home for three straight victories. From there, things turned about as sour as they could. Boston went on the road and got humilated 10-2 in Washington. From there, the team returned home only to get blanked 1-0 in overtime by the Florida Panthers and clobbered 8-2 by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

On March 8th, the Bruins took the ice on Causeway Street for a rematch with the Washington Capitals. Fans thought of two things heading into this contest. The first and foremost was to put the recent three game losing streak to bed. The second was to get revenge on the Capitals for the blowout.

One of the more important aspects of winning a game is a strong start. From that afternoon’s opening face-off, it was clear that the Bruins had something that they wanted to accomplish. As soon as the puck dropped, Milan Lucic fired off his gloves and helmet to tangle with Washington’s Matt Bradley. Lucic got the upper hand in this duel, bringing the crowd to its’ feet almost instantly. Nine seconds later, Shawn Thornton and Donald Brashear took their turns exchanging punches. This fight was much closer than the first, but the tone for the game was set early, just as Boston had planned.

Despite the early energy from the home team, Washington got the game’s opening goal. Peter Schaefer was whistled for hooking, putting the Capitals on the power play. Brooks Laich won an offensive zone draw back to Tom Poti at the point. With league MVP Alex Ovechkin on his side, Poti wasted no time in sending a pass his teammate’s way. Ovechkin gathered in the pass and ripped a pair of shots on goal. Alex Auld turned each aside, but wasn’t able to stop the third shot, as Laich potted the rebound into a mostly open cage. Washington ended up out shooting Boston 11-5 in the opening frame, but Auld kept the deficit at one.

The second period saw a bit more jump for the Bruins. Boston held a 10-9 shots advantage in the middle period, but Auld and Cristobal Huet kept the two teams off of the scoreboard, sending the game into the third with Washington clinging to its’ 1-0 lead.

In the third period, the Capitals got frustrated, and Boston benefitted. With 6:41 remaining in regulation and Washington still leading, Donald Brashear caught David Krejci with a high stick. Because the errant stick drew blood, Brashear would be spending four minutes in the penalty box. However, as the play ended, he sucker punched Shane Hnidy to earn another two.

1:13 into the power play, Washington got nabbed for a second penalty, with John Erskine going to the box for hooking, putting the Bruins up by two men for a full two minutes. Needless to say, Boston took full advantage. David Krejci spotted Zdeno Chara at the point, and delivered him a pass. Chara’s bread and butter offensively is his slap shot, and that is exactly what he used in this instance. The captain wound up and drilled a slapper past Huet to knot the game at one.

From there, the breaks continued to go against the Capitals, literally and physically. With 2:56 to go, Tom Poti approached Glen Murray, and attempted to put a solid stick check on the Boston winger. Instead, when Poti followed through, Murray’s stick broke, meaning that the former Boston University Terrier would be spending the next two minutes watching the game with Brashear in the sin bin. The Bruins went to work on their second two-man advantage of the period, and for the second time, they made Washington pay. After receiving a pass from Marc Savard along the goal line, David Krejci snapped a cross-crease pass to Marco Sturm. Sturm slammed the go-ahead goal into the back of the net, then proceeded to dash over and bang into the boards in celebration.

Washington did get a power play of their own with nine seconds remaining when Dennis Wideman was whistled for delay of game, but it was all a formality at that point. The Boston defense held the Capitals to just four shots over the final 20 minutes, and held on for the thrilling 2-1 comeback win. Alex Auld earned the win between the pipes for the Bruins by allowing one goal on 24 shots, while ex-Canadien Cristobal Huet suffered his only loss to Boston in 2007-08 with 26 saves on 28 shots.