P-Bruins Fall Out of First Place after Home Loss to Hartford

Captain Josiah Didier’s two goals on his 30th birthday were not enough as the Providence Bruins fell to the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-3 on Saturday night at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Luke Toporowski potted the other goal for the P-Bruins.

How It Happened

On a 2-on-1, Zac Jones fed the puck across the ice to Turner Elson for a one-timer at the right post, giving Hartford a 1-0 lead 2:42 into the game.
Didier’s one-timer from the point zipped through traffic and past the blocker of the goaltender, tying the game at 1-1 with 13:30 remaining in the first period. Eduards Tralmaks and Mason Lohrei received assists on the goal.
Toporowski caught a pass heading into the offensive zone, skated it down to the left circle, and fired a wrist shot inside the far post, giving the P-Bruins a 2-1 lead with 9:06 left in the first period. Justin Brazeau and Anton Stralman were credited with assists on the tally.
Elson found a rebound above the blue paint off Karl Henriksson’s shot from the right circle and flipped it into the back of the net, tying the game at 2-2 with 3:13 to play in the first period.
Tim Gettinger warped the puck around the right side of the net, sending a shot off the goaltender’s pads that rebounded to Ryan Carpenter above the crease, where he flipped it across the goal line to give Hartford a 3-2 lead with 13:58 left in the second period.
After goaltender Kyle Keyser made multiple incredible sprawling saves, Libor Hajek put home a rebound along the ice from the bottom of the left circle to extend the Hartford lead to 4-2 just 2:21 into the third period.
Dan Renouf slid the puck across the blue line to the right point for Didier, who zipped a wrist shot along the ice and under the pads of the goaltender, cutting the Wolf Pack lead to 4-3 with 11:27 left in the third period. Chris Wagner was credited with an assist as well.
Tanner Fritz scored the empty net goal with 25.8 seconds remaining.

Stats

Didier posted the first multi-goal game of his professional career.
Lohrei’s assist on Didier’s first goal was good for his first professional point.
Keyser stopped 10 of 14 shots faced. The P-Bruins totaled 38 shots.
The Providence power play went 0-for-3, and the penalty kill was 1-for-1.

Next Game

The P-Bruins travel to Springfield to take on the Thunderbirds on Friday, April 14 at the MassMutual Center. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. ET.