Providence, RI, January 8, 2017 – Anton Khudobin made 21 saves for the Providence Bruins Sunday at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center Providence, to hand the Hartford Wolf Pack their second shutout-against of the season in a 3-0 Providence win.
Ben Marshall’s first career AHL goal was the game-winner, and Alex Grant and Sean Kuraly scored in the third period for the Bruins. Danton Heinen had two assists. Magnus Hellberg made 24 saves for the Wolf Pack, who were playing their third game in three days and fourth in six days.
“We had our bright spots in the game, we had our chances,” Wolf Pack defenseman Ryan Graves said. “The shots were fairly even. Hellberg gave us a chance to win, it’s just kind of one of those nights. Three in three is tough, but that’s not really an excuse. We could have had a better game, and we kind of left the points out there.”
The Wolf Pack outshot the Bruins 7-5 in the first period, but the home side got the only goal, Marshall’s tally at 8:16.
Noel Acciari controlled the puck in the Wolf Pack end and had two tries blocked, but Marshall come down from the left point and jumped on a loose puck, before firing a shot into the top corner over Hellberg’s catching glove.
The Wolf Pack narrowly avoided going down 2-0 on the Bruins’ first power play of the game, after Tanner Glass was sent off for elbowing at 11:43. Colton Hargrove was left wide open in front of Hellberg, but after the goal light went on behind Hellberg following a Hargrove shot, referees Geoff Miller and Pierre Lambert ruled that the play had been blown dead before the lamp was lit.
After a scoreless second period, Providence capitalized on a Mike Paliotta interference penalty at 4:07 of the third frame. The Bruins’ Colby Cave won a draw from Philip McRae to Hellberg’s right, and Heinen fed the puck to the right point to Grant, who gunned a slap shot into the net for a 2-0 Providence lead.
Kuraly put the game out of reach with 2:57 left, scoring his fourth goal of the season. After a Wolf Pack turnover in neutral ice, Kuraly got a step on the Wolf Pack defense and snapped a shot that Hellberg appeared to stop, but it slid underneath his pads and just over the goal line.