This seems like a good idea, let’s break Providence out into their own thread.P-Bruins getting dominated tonight, down 3-0, Vladar in for Zane who stopped 7 of 10. With Providence being more important to the Bruins than usual this season, imo, do we want to start a (game) thread for them?
Providence lost their first two games last weekend, and they’ve got the old back-to-back-to-back this weekend. Divver has tonight’s lineup:
Fitzgerald - Szwarz - Cehlarik
Hughes - JFK - McNeill
Kuhlman - Frederic - Senyshyn
Blidh - Cave - Fyten
Vaakanainen - Goloubef
Zboril - Clifton
Lauzon - Breen
McIntyre
Vladar
Healthy scratches: Sherman, Koppanen, Gabrielle, Pond
The players to keep note of are fairly obvious. JFK and Frederic’s progress will be key. The Bruins have to find out if they’ll be able to help the big club, C is definitely a short and long term issue for the NHL Bruins.
On the wing, can Cehlarik stay healthy? He has always flashed and produced when he is on the ice, but injuries have limited him to 60 and 41 games 2 seasons (includes time with Boston. Fitzgerald had a nice season a year ago but got dinged up in camp this year. He could be a bottom 6 guy. Cam Hughes had 2 decent scoring years at Wisconsin before dropping off last year in his senior year. Does he settle in as a grinder, or re-discover some playmaking? Jesse Gabrielle is also back in the mix after a disappointing 17/18 which saw him struggle in Providence (1g, 3a in 21 games), get sent back to junior, then told coming into this year to skip Boston training camp and report straight to Providence, then get hurt in Providence camp. This is probably a make-or-break season for Senyshyn. They seem to be trying to turn him into a Paille so we’ll see where that goes.
On defense, Vaakanainen is the Bruins top prospect. He should play big minutes. Zboril is in year 2. He got injured in China and then jumped on the depth chart by Vaak. He seemed to get better as the year wore on last season, so hopefully he continues improving. Lauzon and Johansson are also in year 2. Lauzon has already matched his goal output from a season ago so there is that.
Vladar is probably more of a prospect than McIntyre at this point. Or at least Vladar has the higher ceiling. Vladar is off to a good start, .929 in 2 games (1 start). McIntyre had a Rask-esque season opener, but is still 3rd on the organizational goalie depth chart and would be a call-up if Rask or Halak go down.