For most updated lineup information and in-game updates, scroll to the bottom of this post.
Tonight the Providence Bruins (24-18-1-6) face the Manchester Monarchs (30-13-2-5) for the ninth time out of 12 meetings this season. In the previous eight games, the Monarchs have pretty much dominated with a 6-2-0-0 record.
It has the potential to be a bloodbath: the Monarchs are stacked with Martin Jones and Tyler Toffoli back, on top of prolific scorers and awesome humans already there like Jordan Weal, Linden Vey, and Tanner Pearson. Meanwhile, the Providence Bruins are falling apart at the seams because almost every single player is injured, recalled, or just got traded (although Carter Camper – traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets/Springfield Falcons yesterday – was already injured anyway).
The injury report for Providence, which as already incldued Jared Knigh and Alexander Fallstrom, now includes two top defensemen in Zach Trotman (upper body) and Joe Morrow (horrific knee injury). Yet another top defenseman, David Warsofsky, is on recall with Boston. Newly acquired Blake Parlett will make his Providence debut tonight. Even more devastating is the injury to top scorer and leader Nick Johnson, who was injured in the first period of the game against the St. John’s Ice Caps on Wednesday.
Martin Jones has a great track record against Providence this season (5-0-0) and Niklas Svedberg has bee questionable against them (except for one win in Manchester that he stole).
Game Notes
| Providence | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| GP | 49 | 50 |
| Record | 27-17-1-2 | 30-13-2-5 |
| Points | 67 | 55 |
| Division Rank | 3rd in Atlantic | 1st in Atlantic |
| Conference Rank | 8th in Eastern | 1st in Eastern |
| Home/Away | Away: 14-9-0-4 | Home: 15-5-1-1 |
| Last 10 | 4-5-0-1 | 6-3-0-1 |
| Goals For | 157 | 153 |
| Goals Against | 144 | 129 |
| PIM/G | 15.9 | 13.2 |
| Shootout Record | 6-6 | 4-5 |
| Leading After 1 | 12-2-0-2 | 16-1-0-1 |
| Trailing After 1 | 4-12-0-0 | 6-7-0-0 |
| Tied After 1 | 8-4-1-4 | 8-5-2-4 |
| Leading After 2 | 16-1-1-3 | 23-0-0-3 |
| Trailing After 2 | 1-13-0-2 | 4-9-1-1 |
| Tied After 2 | 7-4-0-1 | 3-4-1-1 |
Special Teams
| Providence | Manchester | |
|---|---|---|
| PP% | 21.1% (38/180) | 13.3% (26/196) |
| PP Rank | 5th | 29th |
| PP Home/Away | Away: 24.7% (21/85) | Home: 12.2% (9/74) |
| SHGA | 1 | 5 |
| PK% | 77.8% | 81.3% |
| PK Rank | 29th | 17th |
| PK Home/Away | Away: 77.3% | Home: 81.0% |
| SHGF | 4 | 4 |
How the Monarchs power play is still such garbage is a mystery to us all.
Leading Scorers
The Monarchs leading scorers this season are Jordan Weal (43 points), Nick Deslauriers (30 points), Tanner Pearson (29 points), Linden Vey (27 points), and Nick Shore (24 points).
Nick Johnson was the leader for the P-Bruins in scoring (38 points). With his injury, Craig Cunningham takes over the team lead with 32 points (18 goals, 14 assists). Other top scorers for Providence are Alexander Khokhlachev (29 points), Justin Florek (27 points), and Seth Griffith (26 points).
Season Series Leaders
In the season series, Jordan Weal and Seth Griffith are tied for most points with seven each. (1 G, 7 A for Weal; 4 G, 3 A for Griffith).
For Manchester, Tanner Pearson has six points and Andrew Bodnarchuk and Scott Sabourin each have five points versus Providence this season.
For Providence, five players have five points against Manchester this season, but only two are playing tonight: Matt Fraser has five goals and Koko has two goals and three assists.
League Leaders
Jordan Weal is tied for seventh in AHL scoring with 43 points (10 goals, 33 assists in 50 games). Weal’s 33 assists also rank him third in the AHL among assist leaders.
Providence’s Alexander Khokhlachev is tied for 14th in the AHL for rookie scoring with 29 points in 39 games (11 goals, 18 assists). Anthony Camara’s five game-winning goals are tied for first place among AHL rookies.
Nick Delsuariers is second in the AHL in shots on net (175). In meaningless stats that are one of the few actually measured by the AHL, the Monarchs have two of the top three plus/minus players. Defensemen Vincent LoVerde is a +32, which is first in the league, and Andrew Bodnarchuk is tied for second with +29. Nick Shore ranks among the top in rookie plus/minus with +15.
In penalty leaders, Manchester’s Andy Andreoff is third on the AHL with 29 minor penalties. Bobby Robins ranks third in penalty minutes with 162 and second in major penalties with 18.
Goaltending
Niklas Svedberg gets the start in net for Providence. Svedberg has appeared in 31 games this season. He has a record of 16-11-3, two shutouts, a 0.908 save percentage, and a goals against average of 2.81.
Martin Jones has appeared in 15 games and has a record of 11-2-2. He has one shutout, a 0.933 save percentage, ad 2.08 GAA.
Jones’ last AHL game was against Providence on January 15th, where the Monarchs beat the P-Bruins in Providence by a score of 2-1. Jones made 32 saves to Svedberg’s 19 saves that night.
This season against the P-Bruins, Jones is 5-0-0, has a 0.938 save % and 1.94 GAA.
Up against Manchester this season, Svedberg is 2-2-2, has a 0915 save %, and 2.68 GAA.
Lineups
Starting goaltenders, line combinations, and defensive pairings will be updated here as soon as they’re made available closer to game time.
Providence
Lineup changes will include Blake Parlett’s debut in the place of Zach Trotman. Andrew Cherniwchan, who was scratched on Wednesday, returns to the lineup to replace Nick Johnson.
Here are my guesses for the line combinations:
Craig Cunningham – Ryan Spooner – Matt Fraser
Justin Florek – Matt Lindblad – Seth Griffith
Anthony Camara – Alexander Khokhlachev – Bobby Robins
Tyler Randell – Andrew Cherniwchan – Rob Flick
I’m not sure about the defensive pairings, but the six defensemen will be: Mike Moore, Ben Youds, Tommy Cross, Chris Casto, Steve Spinell, Blake Parlett.
Niklas Svedberg will be in net against Martin Jones.
Manchester
I don’t know yet, but I bet LA Kings Inside has this information already. Update: took my own advice and got the projecte Monarchs lines here.
Tanner Pearson – Linden Vey – Tyler Toffoli
Brian O’Neill – Jordan Weal – Sean Backman
Nick Deslauriers – Nick Shore – Zach O’Brien
Hunter Bishop – Andy Andreoff – Scott Sabourin
Derek Forbort – Andrew Campbell
Jeff Schultz – Colin Miller
Andrew Bodnarchuk – Vincent LoVerde
This will continue to be updated throughout the game.
In-Game Updates
I missed most of the Monarchs line rushes, but from what I can gather. Starters are in bold:
Pearson – Vey – Toffoli
Backman – Weal – O’Neill
Deslauriers – Shore – O’Brien
Andreoff – Gale – Sabourin
Bodnarchuk – LoVerde
Schultz – Miller
Forbort – Campbell
Jones
Niederberger
Scratches: Bishop, Crescenzi, O’Connor, Quailer
Providence:
Fraser – Spooner – Lidnblad
Camara – Koko – Robins
Griffith – Cunningham – Florek
Flick – Cherniwchan – Randell
Moore – Casto
Cross – Spinell
Parlett – Youds
Svedberg
Subban
Scratches: Morrow, Fallstrom, Knight, Johnson, Trotman, Morrison
First Period: Providence 1, Manchester 0
Shots
Manchester 9
Providence 8
Power Plays
Manchester 0/0
Providence 1/1
Scoring
15:55: Matt Fraser (17) PPG, Spooner, Youds
Faceoffs
Manchester: 10/17
– Weal: 4/6
– Shore: 4/6
– Vey 0/2
– Andreoff 2/3
Providence: 7/17
– Cunningham 2/5
– Koko 4/6
– Spooner 1/2
– Cherniwchan 0/3
– Lindblad 0/1
Faceoff locations:
– 9/17 Manchester defensive zone
– 3/17 Neutral zone
– 5/17 Providence defensive zone
Second Period: Providence 2, Manchester 1
Shots
Manchester 8 (17 total)
Providence 6 (14 total)
Power Plays
Manchester 0/1 (0/1 total)
Providence 0/3 (1/4 total)
Scoring
7:45: Desluariers (15), unassisted
14:25: Andrew Cherniwchan (4), Rob Flick
Faceoffs
Manchester: 5/13 (15/30 total)
– Weal: 1/1 (5/7 total)
– Shore: 2/5 (6/11 total)
– Vey 1/3 (1/5 total)
– Andreoff 1/4 (3/7 total)
Providence: 8/13 (15/30 total)
– Cunningham 0/1 (2/6 total)
– Koko 2/2 (6/8 total)
– Spooner 3/5 (4/7 total)
– Cherniwchan 1/1 (1/4 total)
– Lindblad 2/3 (2/4 total)
– Griffith 0/1 (0/1 total)
Faceoff locations:
– 6/13 (15/30 total) Manchester defensive zone
– 4/13 (7/130 total) Neutral zone
– 3/13 (8/30 total) Providence defensive zone