Game Story: Providence - 4 at W-B/Scranton - 3 (SO) 3/29/23

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Providence Bruins finished a long road trip with a gritty come-from-behind win, prevailing in a shootout over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after trailing 2-0 in the first period and never holding a lead in Wednesday night's game.

After a quiet and fast-played opening 13 minutes, the flood gates opened to the tune of three goals in 74 seconds.

Valtteri Puustinen started the scoring with a spinning shot from the right-wing face-off circle that went bar-down at 13:20.

Just 49 seconds later, Tyler Sikura redirected a Taylor Fedun shot past Bussi to extend the Pens' lead to 2-0.

Then, on the next shift, the Bruins got one back - getting Samuel Asselin's seventh of the season to stop the bleeding and halt the Penguins' sudden outburst of offense, though they headed to the first intermission trailing the Pens 2-1.

The theme of the middle frame? Penalties. Penguins' penalties, to be exact.

The period began with the Penguins shorthanded for the opening 18 seconds, and they went back to PK at the 3:28 mark after Jamie Devane decided he wanted JD Greenway to fight him. Devane was assessed the instigator minor penalty and 10-minute misconduct to go along with his fighting major, putting the Pens shorthanded moments after they killed off Jon Lizotte's carryover penalty time.

To their credit, the Penguins were able to kill off the penalties but they continued to be a half-step behind the play and as a result continued to take penalties such as when Filip Hallander took a holding minor in the neutral zone 8:50 into the period.

The Pens also concluded the period shorthanded as Jack St. Ivany was whistled for hooking with 1:40 left before the second intermission.

Providence outshot the Pens 13-4 in the period, but were unable to find a game-tying goal before heading to the third period trailing by the same 2-1 score they were behind heading to the locker room during the first intermission.

The Bruins were unable to convert on the carryover power play time, but Luke Toporowski tied the game up at 2-2 just under five minutes into hte final frame - which seemingly re-opened the flood gates.

Puustinen tallied his second of the night less than a minute later to restore the Pens' one-goal lead at 3-2, but that too was short-lived as Fabian Lysell got one to go past Tokarski with 10:55 left in regulation to once again even the score.

Providence was buzzing late in the third period, attempting to steal the game in regulation, but Tokarski made some key saves to get the game to overtime and through to the shootout where the Bruins picked up the extra point after getting an opening round five-hole goal from Lysell and three saves from goaltender Brandon Bussi on Ty Glover, Ty Smith and Sam Houde.

For the Penguins, Puustinen finished with two goals and Smith recorded two assists in his first game back from a broken facial bone. Smith was wearing a full shield similar to the one Hallander has been sporting in recent games. Tokarski once again played valiantly, albeit in a loss after stopping 28 of the 31 shots he faced in regulation and overtime.

The Bruins got timely scoring from Asselin, Toporowski and Lysell and another solid effort from Brandon Bussi (21 saves - 24 shots) as he improved his personal record on the season to 20-4-4.

Post-Game EXTRA!

Providence Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel

Thoughts on his team's performance

I thought we responded well after we got scored on. I thought the second half of the game, we got a little bit better. [The Penguins] do a real good job in the neutral zone there. They've got a ton of structure. We'll take the two points. I don't think it was our best game , to be honest, but I'm not [disappointed]. "I'm happy with how we played for sure."

Bruins Forward Luke Toporowski

On coming back to win despite it not being the team's best game, or start to the game.

"Good teams find ways to win. Like you said, I don't think we were playing our best in the first - maybe a little sloppy, and maybe a little tired from the road trip. But we found our legs and we found a way."

Providence Bruins Lineup Notes

Brandon Bussi got the start in net for Providence Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre. Kyle Keyser served as the Bruins backup goaltender.

Bruins scratches: Kai Wissman, Nick Wolff, Mike Reilly, Curtis Hall, Joey Abate and Vinni Lettieri

Lines/Pairings:

Luke Toporowski - Georgii Merkulov - Justin Brazeau Shane Bowers - Marc McLauglin - Fabian Lysell John Beecher - Joona Koppanen - Chris Wagner JD Greenway - Samuel Asselin - Eduards Tralmaks

Jack Ahcan - Connor Carrick Dan Renouf - Anton Stralman Michael Callahan - Josiah Didier

Brandon Bussi - Kyle Keyser

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for the Penguins Wednesday night. Taylor Gauthier served as the team's backup.

Penguins Scratches: Filip Lindberg, Chris Ortiz, Mitch Reinke, Jagger Joshua, Raivis Ansons, Lukas Svejkovsky, Sam Poulin, Justin Addamo, Justin Lee, Peter DiLiberatore, Andrew Nielsen and Xavier Ouellet

Lines/Pairings:

Drake Caggiula - Jonathan Gruden - Valtteri Puustinen Filip Hallander - Sam Houde - Corey Andonovski Kyle Olson - Tyler Sikura - Nathan Legare Ty Glover - Jordan Frasca - Jamie Devane

Ty Smith - Taylor Fedun Jon Lizotte - Jack St. Ivany Josh Maniscalco - Colin Swoyer

Dustin Tokarski - Taylor Gauthier

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

9:57: PRO - (PP) Greenway, minor (elbowing) 13:20: WBS - Puustinen (22) - Gruden, Caggiula 14:09: WBS - Sikura (9) - Fedun, Smith 14:34: PRO - Asselin (7) - Greenway, Ahcan 18:18: WBS - (PP) Lizotte, minor (cross-checking)

2nd Period

3:28: PRO - Greenway, major (fighting) 3:28: WBS - (PP) Devane, minor (instigating) 3:28: WBS - Devane, major (fighting) 3:28: WBS - Devane, ten-minute misconduct 8:50: WBS - (PP) Hallander, minor (holding) 10:04: PRO - (PP) Carrick, minor (high-sticking) 18:20: WBS - (PP) St. Ivany, minor (hooking)

3rd Period

4:51: PRO - Toporowski (13) - Merkulov, Brazeau 5:43: WBS - Puustinen (23) - Smith, Caggiula 9:05: PRO - Lysell (13) - Bowers

Overtime

No Scoring/Penalties

Shootout

PRO

Lysell - GOAL Merkulov - no goal

WBS

Glover - no goal Smith - no goal Houde - no goal

BOXSCORE

Providence  1 - 0 - 2 - 0 - 1 = 4 W-B/Scranton  2 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 = 3

Shots

Providence  10 - 13 - 7 - 1 = 32 W-B/Scranton  9 - 4 - 7 - 4 = 24

Goalies

PRO: Brandon Bussi (21 saves - 24 shots) WBS: Dustin Tokarski (28 saves - 31 shots)

Power Play

PRO: 0-for-4 WBS: 0-for-2

Penalty Kill

PRO: 2-for-2 WBS: 4-for-4