The Boston Bruins traded prospect Brady Lyle to the St Louis Blues for the dreaded “future considerations” last week. Lyle will report to the Blues AHL affiliate Springfield Thunderbirds. Lyle had a good season with Providence a year ago, but for what ever reason, took a step back this season. I wish him all the best going forward.
In some Providence Bruins player updates: It is now official, Callum Booth and Cameron Hughes will become Group 6 unrestricted free agents on July 1, 2022. The Bruins could sign them to extensions or the pair could seek out opportunities elsewhere.
Let’s begin with you taking the time to read this article.
The Boston Bruins dipped into the NCAA free agent well again last week and signed highly coveted Western Michigan Goaltender Brandon Bussi. The article above will tell you about the person he is. While there were several teams interested, the Bruins were his choice and all they had to do is work out a deal.
If you have a subscription to the New England Hockey Journal, you can get an introduction to Bussi here by Nick Perri.
The Bruins didn’t stop there with NCAA free agents. On Friday, they announced they have signed Nebraska-Omaha forward Joey Abate to an AHL deal beginning with the 2022-2023 season. As I wrote here last week, the Bruins are revamping their Providence roster for next season.
Fifth seed Avangard Omsk was in a do-or-die situation on Monday as they faced Metallurg MG in their best-of-seven series trailing 3-2. Up until then, Metallurg had won all three games in which Peter Cehlarik has held pointless and Avangard had won both games in which he found the scoresheet. And you guessed it, Cehlarik registered 2 helpers as Avangard evened the series with a 5-1 victory and set up a seventh and deciding game on Wednesday. It all came to an end though as Metallurg blanked Avangard 4-0 to take the series in 7 games and ending Cehlarik’s season. Cehlarik’s contract expires at the end of the month and is free to sign with any league around the world except the NHL where he is still an RFA with the Bruins.
On Monday, Matias Mantykivi and his Ilves squad took on Karpat in game two of their first round series. While Mantykivi didn’t get on the scoresheet, he had a very good game that Ilves won 2-1 in overtime to take a 2-0 series lead. On Wednesday, Mantykivi scored the game tying goal that would eventually force overtime. Karpat won in the extra session. On Friday, Karpat won in overtime to even the series at two. Mantykivi was held off the scoresheet in that one. On Saturday, Ilves won a tight match 1-0 with a goal midway through the third to take a 3-2 series lead. Mantykivi did not figure on that goal. Ilves can close out the series today (Monday).
On Wednesday, Oskar Jellvik was held off the scoresheet for the first time in these playoffs, But Djurgardens was still able to win in a shootout to take a 1-0 series lead. On Friday, Jellvik had a helper in Djurgardens 4-0 blanking of Mora IK to take the second round series 2-0. Djurgardens moves onto the semifinals in a one game elimination match on Saturday against Rogle BK and the winner goes onto the finals on Sunday for the Anton Cup.
It didn’t help Brett Harrison and his Oshawa Generals that 5 of their last 7 games were against either the Hamilton Bulldogs or the Kingston Frontenacs. The coaching change in Oshawa has brought much better defence but it has come at the expense of offence and it shows as the Gens won back-to-back games for the first time on the weekend since mid February.
Providence Bruins Player Stats
Providence Bruins Goalie Stats
Maine Mariners Stats
Coming up this week:
| PLAYER | MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
| MANTYKIVI | Vs KAR | Vs KAR* | |||||
| JELLVIK | Vs ROG | TBD | |||||
| BEECHER | Vs DEN | ||||||
| GASSEAU | At WAT | At D M | |||||
| LANGENBRUNNER | At WAT | At D M | |||||
| HARRISON | Vs HAM | ||||||
| MAST | At Soo | At ERIE | At KIT | At FLT | |||
| LYSELL | Vs POR | At KEL | At KEL | ||||
| SVEDEBACK | Vs MUS | Vs YNG |
AROUND THE GLOBE
WHO’S HOT:
Philip Svedeback has returned back to his early season form after injuries had set him back. He has now allowed 2 or fewer goals in 8 of his last 9 games and stopped 250 of 268 shots for a .932 save percentage in those 9 games.
Oskar Jellvik has 3 goals and 3 assists in his 4 playoff games for Djurgardens IF. His 6 points in 4 games has him 7th in playoff scoring (6 players tied with 7 points) but since Djurgardens has swept their way through the playoffs, he has played fewer games.
Ryan Mast and his Sarnia Sting had their game postponed on Sunday (travelling issues) and will be played today (Monday). Mast has a goal and 8 assists in his last 10 games Sarnia has lost 6 of their last 7 and are on the verge of dropping out of the playoff picture. Hard to imagine the Sting needing more from Mast, but if they are going to right the ship then they do.
WHO’S WARM:
Fabian Lysell has only scored 3 goals in his last 13 games and ended a 6-game goalless streak with a shorty on Sunday. He does have 9 helpers in those 13 games and a whopping 51 shots on net.
After scoring 2 goals with no assists in 6 games (27 shots on net), things have picked up for Brett Harrison. He has 2 goals and 4 helpers in his last 7 games (14 shots on net).
Andre Gasseau had a whopping 9 shots on net Friday in a 1-0 loss to the Omaha Lancers. Less was more on Saturday as he had a goal and an assist in a 7-1 thrashing against the same Lancers with just 3 shots on net. Gasseau has 2 goals and an assist in his last 5 as he works his way back up to his season average .64 points-per-game after a cold spell.
After going pointless in 8 games, Mason Langenbrunner has 3 assists in his last 3 games, non-consecutively and has found the confidence and touch he was lacking during the cold streak. A strong finish to the end of the season could have Langenbrunner reach the .42 points-per-game he was at prior to his pointless streak.
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Dom - Hockey 