The atmosphere hours before up until puck drop at 7PM was unbelievably electric. Fans were pouring into to the stadium wearing old Ron Francis and Gordie Howe Whaler jerseys to go along with Whaler hats, gloves, and blankets just to keep themselves warm from the howling wind. The stadium was playing Brass Bonanza every 20 minutes to compliment all the 80’s and 90’s rock music being played. The feeling inside the stadium was like the old time Hartford Whalers were back as the newly named Connecticut Whale get ready to take on the Providence Bruins in the AHL’s 2nd ever outdoor hockey game. This is the 75th Anniversary of the AHL being in existence and what not a better way to honor the AHL than to have two old rivals face off against one another in an outdoor hockey game. Coming into tonight’s game, the Whale hold the all time advantage over the Bruins 68-49-11, including 4-2-0 this season.
The 1st period started slow for both teams as neither offenses get find their rhythm for the first few minutes. The Whale could not capitalize on a couple of PowerPlays in this period and you can credit that to the penalty kill defense of the Providence Bruins. The first goal of the game came at 11:13 and was scored by #13 Tim Kennedy his 12th of the season. The period was drawing to a quiet close when the Whale went on an attack in the last minute of the period and a nice centering pass by #24 DiDomete in front of the crease led to a goal by #8 Jyri Niemi, his 2nd of the season at 19:38. Whale went into the 1st intermission leading 2-0.
The Bruins came out of the gates in the 2nd period and answered quickly with their first goal of the game by #7 Maxime Sauve, his 14th of the season. Sauve shot a wrister from about 10 feet out of the crease that snuck right under the arm of Grumet-Morris to make the score 2-1. The goal came at 1:21 into the 2nd period. Minutes later, the Bruins relentless attack led to another goal by #16 Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman as the Bruins continued to throw the puck on net and kept poking at the rebounds until Smotherman put one in. His goal came at 6:25 in the 2nd period.
Things began to pick up a little more with another Bruin’s goal coming at 9:42 by #17 Jeremy Reich, but then the Whale finally answered with back to back goals (one being on the PowerPlay) to take the lead again 4-3 with less than 6 minutes remaining in the period.
Things began to pick up a little more with another Bruin’s goal coming at 9:42 by #17 Jeremy Reich, but then the Whale finally answered with back to back goals (one being on the PowerPlay) to take the lead again 4-3 with less than 6 minutes remaining in the period.
The end of the 2nd period and the start of the 3rd was a defensive bout as both teams worked well in open ice, caused takeaways and created breakaways, but neither team could capitalize for any goals. Finally at 13:52, the Bruins put one in on the net and it came off the slap shot from #12 Jamie Arniel, his 16th of the season. This goal tied the game at 4-4. That score would remain through the end of the period and that provided overtime hockey.
Overtime provided some excitement as both teams committed penalties to force 3-3 and then another penalty committed by a Bruin’s player forced 4-3 advantage Whale as there cannot be a 3-2 advantage. The Whale could not find the back of the net during the PowerPlay and a shootout commenced.
The goalies stood tall through the first three rounds of the shootout until #7 Maxime Sauve for the Bruins stepped up and put one passed Morris which ended up being the game winner. Both teams played well offensively and defensively, but the reason the Bruins came out on top tonight is because they cashed in on their limited opportunities. The Whale played the better game, but had many more chances to put this game out of reach with the amount of times they were on the PowerPlay. The Bruins improve to 25-28-4 as the Whale fall to 27-22-8 on the season.
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