On a night where the Worcester Sharks dressed 10 forwards and eight defensemen, the Sharks were shutout 3-0 by their Atlantic Division rival the Providence Bruins (AHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins) Friday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Rookie goaltender Troy Grosenick made 27 saves for the Sharks, who were shutout by the Bruins for the second time in eight days and third time in their last six games.
“It looked like they were feeling sorry for themselves,” said Sharks head coach Roy Sommer in a post game interview with Bill Ballou of Telegram.com. “In this league, nobody feels sorry for you. They’re just happy to take the two points you give ’em.”
Just one minute after the Sharks had killed off forward Matt Pelech’s interference penalty, the Bruins took a 1-0 lead at 16:42 when off a turnover by the Sharks at their own blue line, forward Nick Johnson finished off an odd man rush by firing a wrist shot from the top of the slot past Grosenick for his 12th goal of the season.
In the second period, the Bruins scored twice to take a 3-0 lead. Forward Alex Khokhlachev buried home a one timer deep in the slot off a centering pass from the right corner by Johnson at 1:11 for his seventh goal of the season. At 13:12, forward Justin Florek corralled a cross ice pass from linemate Carter Camper and fired a one timer from the right slot (just inside the face-off circle) past Grosenick for his ninth goal of the season.
The Sharks outshot the Bruins 8-6 in the third period but Bruins rookie goaltender Malcolm Subban turned aside every shot he faced as he made 25 saves for his first professional shutout.
NOTES… Final shots were 30-25 in favor of the Bruins… The Sharks went 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill… Grosenick is now 6-5-0 with a 2.33 goals-against-average and .914 save percentage… Regular Sharks defenseman Sena Acolatse skated as a forward… Pelech fought Bruins enforcer Bobby Robins at 13:42 of the first period… With the one fight, the Sharks now have 39 through 30 games… Prior to the start of the game, Sharks rookie forward Eriah Hayes was called up to San Jose… The 18 Sharks skaters on the ice had scored a combined 29 goals… The Sharks have been outscored 15-5 by the Bruins this season… The Bruins shutout streak of the Sharks is at 138:33 (via Ballou)… This was the fourth of 12 meetings between the Sharks and Bruins this season… The Sharks are 0-3-0-1 against the Bruins, 7-7-2-0 on the road and 13-14-2-1 with 29 points overall… The Sharks are back in action Saturday evening (Jan. 4) as they travel to play the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7pm/et.
THREE STARS
1. Malcolm Subban – Bruins (25 saves, Win)
2. Nick Johnson – Bruins (1-1-2)
3. Alex Khokhlachev – Bruins (1-1-2)
LINES
Schwartz / Viedensky / DaSilva (A)
Stalberg / Brace / Reid
Acolatse (A) / Oleksuk / Livingston
Pelech / Gogol / Comrie
(Note: Pelech, Gogol, Comrie were used to mix up other lines)
DEFENSE
Doherty / Abeltshauser
Davison (C) / Tennyson
Petrecki / DeMelo
GOALIES
Grosenick
Sateri
SCRATCHES
Bonneau
Scheidl (inj)
Tarasov (inj)
Hamilton (sjs)
Hayes (sjs)
Kearns (sjs)
As many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our