Saturday, March 3, 2007

 

Bruins Rally to Top Devils, 3-2

Lowell hosts Albany River Rats Wednesday

LOWELL, Mass. – The Providence Bruins (35-23-1-3) came back from two goals down to beat the Lowell Devils (29-24-5-3) 3-2 in the shootout at Tsongas Arena Saturday night.

The first period featured plenty of action but no scoring.  Lowell outshot the Bruins 13-10 in the frame, which featured big hits, good scoring chances and timely saves by Devils G Frank Doyle and Bruins G Hannu Toivonen.  David Clarkson brought the Devils crowd to their feet with a first period bout against Bruins D Jay Leach.

Lowell took the lead in the second.  Rod Pelley continued his hot hand with his 13th of the season, coming on the power play at 4:47.  Pelley has a point in each of the last three games (2g-1a), and now has three power play goals on the season.  Shots were 8-8, with the Bruins committing the only three penalties of the stanza.

Early in the third period the Devils extended the lead.  Dan LaCouture notched his third of the season at 2:35 to make it 2-0.  The rest of regulation belonged to the Bruins, however.  They outshot the Devils 13-6 and scored twice to tie the game.  Ryan Lang scored his first goal of the season at 6:43 to cut the lead in half.  Jeff Hoggan scored his fourth of the season with just 2:50 left in regulation to knot the score and send it to overtime.

The Devils had their share of opportunities in the extra session.  They outshot the Bruins 5-2 during the five minutes, and even had a brief power play for the final 25 seconds.  But Toivonen held strong and forced the shootout.  Two of the first three Providence shooters scored on Doyle to take a commanding lead.  But Pelley and Grant Marshall scored, as the fourth and fifth shooters for the Devils, to tie the shootout up.  The sixth shooter for the Bruins, David Krejci, ended the game, giving the Bruins the narrow win.

The Devils remain at home to host the Albany River Rats for the final time on the season, on Wednesday, March 7th.  Game time is 7:05 p.m.  All Devils games, home and away, can be heard on WCAP 980AM with the Voice of the Devils, Ryan Johnston, or online through B2 Networks on www.lowelldevilshockey.com .  For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Devils office at (978) 458-PUCK.

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