With the Providence Bruins holding a three games to zero edge on the Rochester Americans in the Calder Cup finals, the teams met in Game Four on Friday, June 11, in Rochester. Here is the game story by Bob Dick, who at the time was the Journal's P-Bruins beat writer:
By BOB DICK
Journal Sports Writer
ROCHESTER - Finally, the Rochester Americans found a way to beat the Providence Bruins.
Rochester kept its slim Calder Cup championship hopes alive with a 4-2 victory last night before an enthusiastic crowd of 8,802 at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
The win was Rochester's first against Providence in six games this season, and reduced the Amerks' deficit in the title series to 3 games to 1.
The loss means P-Bruins fans will get a chance to see their team try to wrap up its first-ever Calder Cup in Game 5 tomorrow night at the Providence Civic Center (7:05).
The teams entered the final period last night tied at 2-2, before the Amerks' Craig Fisher scored a power-play goal at 10:02.
Fisher's goal came seconds after Providence's Antti Laaksonen had missed from in front of Rochester goalie Martin Biron, who made a save and then started Rochester the other way with a pass to Randy Cunneyworth.
Cunneyworth then found Fisher, who got past defenseman Jason McBain and moved in on P-Bruins goalie John Grahame. Fisher flicked the puck to his backhand and beat Grahame to the near side for his second goal of the game.
"Too many times, we went to the penalty box in this game. We shot ourselves in the foot. Defensively, we made mistakes that are uncharacteristic of us," said Providence coach Peter Laviolette. "We had a lot of chances to score but couldn't capitalize on them. They played a good game and deserved to win. Sunday is another day."
Providence did have some solid chances to tie the game after Fisher's goal, but couldn't beat Biron. They failed during a 5-on-3 advantage when a drive by Steve King went just wide of Biron, and defenseman Brandon Smith fanned on an attempt down low. Then, with just under two minutes remaining, McBain unleashed a drive that went wide to the far side. But the best chance to tie the game came from in close, when Landon Wilson's shot was stopped by Biron at the near post with 20 seconds remaining.
After that Providence barrage, Rochester's Matt Davidson scored an empty-netter with two seconds left.
"We weren't thinking sweep at the start of this series," said Smith. "We put the effort in tonight. It came down to the final 20 minutes and who wanted it more. Obviously, they wanted it just a little more."
For the first time in the series, Providence outshot the Amerks in regulation, 35-24. Grahame finished with 21 saves; Biron stopped 33 shots.
"We got off to a sluggish start in the first period," said Fisher. "It was Biron who kept us in it at that point. We have a lot of pride and tradition. Going to Providence isn't the best place in the world to play. We dug ourselves this hole. It's our first win over these guys. We definitely feel we can go into Providence and come away with a win."
Rochester owned a 1-0 lead after one period, on a goal by Cunneyworth just before the session ended. Providence scored twice in the middle period. Jeremy Brown tied it at 1-1, and Peter Ferraro evened the count again, at 2-2. In between, Fisher had given Rochester a 2-1 lead.
Providence committed a big turnover late in the first period that led to a a shorthanded goal by Rochester. With his team on the power play, McBain, after taking a poor angle pass from Randy Robitaille, lost the puck at the Rochester blue line to the Amerks' Domenic Pittis.
Rochester's speedy center raced down the right side with McBain in hot pursuit. McBain actually took Pittis out of scoring range, but Pittis found Cunneyworth cruising down the middle with no Providence defender close to him. Cunneyworth grabbed the pass and pushed the puck past Grahame for a 1-0 lead at 19:23. The P-Bruins had better scoring chances in the opening period but couldn't beat Biron.
Providence had a great chance to even the game in the opening seconds of the second period during a 5-on-3 advantage, but failed to get a shot on Biron. However, with the teams at even strength, Providence broke through with the tying goal by Brown at 3:20.
Laaksonen (0-for-6 in shots) began the scoring play with a pass to Marquis Mathieu, who carried into the Rochester zone and drilled a shot at the Rochester goalie from high in the left circle. The puck went off Biron's glove, and Brown batted in the rebound at the far post for his sixth playoff goal.
Rochester regained the lead at 8:24 after a 2-on-1 rush deep into the Providence end by Pittis and Fisher. Pittis, skating down low to the right of Grahame, worked the puck around Smith and then delivered a goal-mouth pass to Fisher, who flicked a shot at the near side. The puck appeared to be going wide, but it caromed off McBain's skate, eluded Grahame's glove and slid into the cage for a 2-1 lead.
Providence continued to press its attack, and at 12:33 Ferraro found the range when he stepped around Rochester's Dean Melanson inside the Amerks' blue line, moved toward the middle and whistled a drive that broke through Biron's pads, making it 2-2. McBain and Cameron Mann got the assists. A breakaway by Laaksonen with 4:04 remaining nearly gave Providence the lead, but his backhand attempt from below the right circle sailed wide of the cage.
The third game of the 1999 Calder Cup finals started on Wednesday, June 9, but didn't end until early on Thursday, June 10. Here is the game story by Bob Dick, who at the time was the Journal's P-Bruins beat writer:
By BOB DICK
Journal Sports Writer
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - An old nemesis came back to haunt the Rochester Americans last night.
Providence's Steve King snapped a 2-2 tie 55 seconds into the third overtime and gave the P-Bruins a 3-2 victory and a commanding 3-0 lead in this Calder Cup championship series.
The goal was King's fourth in three games against Rochester.
Providence will try to clinch its first Calder Cup title tomorrow night here at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. About half of the crowd of 6,736 was still on hand when King scored his game-winner.
Providence thought it had won the game on an Antii Laaskonen goal at 17:44 of the second overtime when he went around Amerks defenseman Jason Holland and beat Martin Biron with a wrist shot over his right shoulder.
Referee Brad Watson, however, immediately disallowed the goal, claiming he had blown his whistle for matching penalties to Providence's Marquis Mathieu for high sticking and Rochester Randy Cunneyworth for slashing. Providence protested, but to no avail.
Both goaltenders, Biron for Rochester, and John Grahame for Providence were outstanding. Each ended with 50 saves.
In the first overtime, Providence failed to cash in on a power play, and then had Joel Prpic stopped by Biron on a breakaway down the slot. The P-Bruins outshot the Amerks in that extra period, 14-7.
Making matters even more difficult for Providence were injuries to forward Eric Nickulas and defenseman Terry Virtue late in the second period. Both suffered leg injuries and were unable to play in the third period or the overtime sessions. Their status for Game 4 is uncertain.
Providence got first-period goals from Mathieu and Peter Ferraro. Rochester got a first-period score from Domenic Pittis.
After a scoreless second period, Rochester defenseman Cory Sarich tied the game at 2-2, at 1:33 of the third period. That goal came when Grahame was accidentally knocked down by Andre Savage. Grahame could not scramble back to an uncovered net in time to stop a drive from the right circle by Sarich.
From that point on, goaltenders Grahame and Biron of Rochester closed the door on any further scoring in regulation. Grahame finished with 33 saves in regulation; Biron had 25.
For the third consecutive game, Rochester outshot Providence in regulation, this time by a 35-27 margin.
Mathieu got Providence on the board at 4:00 of the first period when he wristed a high drive past Biron from the slot. Just over two minutes later, Pittis recorded his first point of the series when he beat Grahame with a high drive from the right circle. Pittis skated around the side of the net into the circle, grabbed a pass from Craig Fisher and beat the Providence goalie with his high wrister.
Providence went ahead, 2-1, at 13:16 of the opening period when Ferraro flipped in a power-play goal with Sarich in the box for hooking.
Virtue started the play with a slap shot at Biron from the right point. The rebound came to Ferraro to Biron's left. With the Amerks' netminder on his back, Ferraro, from his knees, lifted the puck into the far side.
Before the period ended Grahame was forced to make a couple of sharp pad saves on Pittis and defenseman Mike Hurlbut during a Rochester power play.
The second period was scoreless but it was Grahame who was the star of the session, coming up with a number of sparkling stops when Providence put Rochester on the power play three times. Each time the Amerks came up empty.
Rochester's best scoring chance in that period came after Aaron Downey went off for charging at 7:16. During that power play, Fisher unleashed a drive at Grahame from out front that broke through Grahame's pads but dropped to the ice in the crease. Mathieu, backchecking hard, was able to swipe the puck out of trouble.
However, the final two minutes of the period proved costly to the P-Bruins when Nickulas and Virtue had to be helped off the ice. First, with 1:57 left, Nickulas was ridden into the back boards by Rochester defenseman Alexandre Boikov. His left leg crashed into the boards at an awkward angle. Ironically, it was Boikov who had to miss Game 2 of this series after being checked hard from behind by Nickulas in the series opener.
Then, in the final minute of the period, Virtue skated to the side boards, tried to stop, but caught an edge in the ice and went down. He, too, had to have help getting off the ice. That left Providence with only four defensemen to finish the game.
Two rumors regarding the Bruins are floating around the blogosphere.
*** Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun says that Phil Kessel is looking for $5 million a year.
"The Bruins and F Phil Kessel appear to be far apart on a contract. Coming off an entry-level salary of $850,000, Kessel wants a huge raise to $5 million per season. It appears GM Peter Chiarelli wants Kessel to accept a similiar deal C David Krejci inked earlier this week -- $11.25 million over three years. If Kessel won't budge, he could be moved.''
Click here to read Garrioch's column.
*** Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com says that the Bruins may trade to the rights to Manny Fernandez at the draft:
"Goalie Manny Fernandez is an unrestricted free agent July 1, but he won't be staying in Boston. The Bruins believe it's time for Tuukka Rask to come up and back up Tim Thomas. Look for the Bruins to shop the rights to Fernandez and maybe move him at the NHL draft, giving a team exclusive negotiating rights before July 1. Fernandez was decent in Boston this past season and could be a cheaper option in goal for a team looking for veteran depth.''
Click here to read LeBrun's column.
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