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Not a Stanley Cup nor a Calder Cup will be lifted by a Black and Gold sweater this spring. The Providence Bruins, Boston’s American Hockey League little brother, were eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs by way of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack at Hartford’s XL Center on Friday night.
In true Bruins fashion, the loss didn’t come without a sting, either.
Providence opened up the game’s scoring against Wolf Pack netminder Yann Danis (and if that’s not a name from way back when...) with alternate captain Colin Stuart’s marker with an assist from Seth Griffith 7:55 into the middle frame. Hartford matched the P-Bruins’ goal less than 10 minutes later by way of Chris Mueller’s power-play mark. Forwards Oscar Lindberg and Carl Klingberg added assists on the game-tying tally, tying the PB’s and Pack at 1-1.
The P-Bruins jumped out to a 2-1 edge 7:36 into the third period behind Tommy Cross’s power-play strike (Ryan Spooner and Griffith picked up the helpers), and were left with the task of holding the Wolf Pack at the bay for 12 minutes and change. They could not.
With Providence’s Paul Carey in the box for a hook and their own net empty, Hartford found the game-tying marker with a 6-on-4 advantage as Mueller struck once again, beating Jeremy Smith for the second time and forcing overtime in the series’ decisive Game 5.
And 4:35 into the first overtime, the Wolf Pack scored off the stick of defenseman Tommy Hughes, eliminating Smith and the P-Bruins from postseason play.
For Providence, the search for the franchise’s first Calder Cup since 1999 continues, and their elimination makes it three straight years where they’ve exited in the second round or earlier.
The big question following the P-Bruins’ elimination relates to the future of Bruce Cassidy behind the Providence bench. Cassidy, a member of Providence’s coaching staff since 2008 and their head coach since 2011, has allegedly been under the gun for the team’s shortcomings and some of the organization’s struggles when it comes to developing players from juniors/college to the NHL level.
The Bruins have developed some gems during Cassidy’s tenure behind the bench (Torey Krug, Kevan Miller, and Zach Trotman are some noticeable standouts), but there’s been far more misses than hits when it comes to what the P-Bruins have churned out. Cassidy’s handling of former second-round choice (32nd overall in 2010) Jared Knight, jettison to the Minnesota organization this past deadline, has always been the subject of harsh criticism from some. And the leap from top-tier prospects like forward Alex Khokhlachev, puck-moving defenseman Joe Morrow, and Spooner (though he’s finally tasting NHL success) has taken far longer than most have anticipated.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not as in touch with the P-Bruins as the big B’s, but when I’ve asked around, I’ve frequently been told that Cassidy is a coach that often plays his favorites -- right or wrong -- over what the situation could call for. That’s not always the best for a development purposes. And that’s tough for the Bruins -- in a cap hell of sorts and in need of affordable entry-level contracts and talents to make their way to Causeway St. -- to swallow in the now and moving forward.
But moving forward, it appears that the Bruins do have some pieces they could use.
Spooner and David Pastrnak are the obvious ones. Trotman is in that group, too.
Another bright spot of the P-Bruins’ one-round run? Seth Griffith. In five playoff games, the 5-foot-9 winger recorded two goals (including a game-winner) and five points. Griffith is familiar to fans in the Hub, too, and his progression through his first two professional seasons is undoubtedly encouraging. Since making the leap to the pro ranks from the London Knights (Ontario Hockey League), Griffith has scored six goals and 10 points in 30 NHL contests, and 32 goals and 81 points in 108 games in the AHL.
He’s also added six goals and 16 points in 17 playoff contests with Providence over that stretch, too.
At this point, you’re just waiting for Griffith to take that next step. And with Gregory Campbell and Danny Paille already confirmed to be on the outs, there’s an opening on the Boston roster for No. 53 if he continues to play and produce at this pace. But the biggest thing, at least in my opinion, will come back down to whether or not Griffith can produce at the NHL level with bottom-six minutes.
Another Providence player that could interest the B’s next year is the goaltender, Jeremy Smith.
In three postseason starts (Smith started all of the road games in this series), the 26-year-old Smith recorded one win and allowed just six goals on 87 shots against (a .931 save percentage), including a 39-of-42 performance in Game 5. Smith’s regular season was solid, too, finishing his first season in the Bruins organization with 22 wins, a 2.05 goals against average, and .933 save percentage in 39 games.
Smith, the 54th overall pick back in 2007, has been an AHL journeyman throughout his professional career, but was called up at times by the Black and Gold (albeit on an emergency basis), and could be looked upon as a short-term option for the B’s potentially open backup job in 2015-16. That was a job held by Niklas Svedberg last year, and although Svedberg posted respectable figures, it didn’t sound as if Svedberg was chomping at the bit to return to Boston given his lack of playing time.
Svedberg, as a Group 6 free agent, is an unrestricted free agent, as well.
And with prospect Malcolm Subban requiring another year or so of seasoning as a pro goaltender, Smith could line up as an affordable backup option in the event of a Svedberg departure.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com