BRUINS DETHRONE MONARCHS 5-4

Krug records two points and shootout winner

Manchester, NH -- The Providence Bruins defeated the Manchester Monarchs 5-4 in a shootout this evening at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Matt Bartkowski, Ryan Spooner, Jamie Tardif and Graham Mink scored in regulation and Torey Krug scored the game-winner in the shootout. Niklas Svedberg posted 27 saves in regulation and four in the shootout win as the Bruins improve to 27-17-0-3 on the season.

After having their six-game win streak snapped last night by the Portland Pirates, the Bruins came out of the locker room in Manchester hungry to get back on the winning track. Their pressure in the Monarchs' zone caused a Manchester defender to fumble allowing Bartkowski to go in alone on Jones and beat the netminder top-shelf glove side at 6:18. Despite the early pressure, the Monarchs got their chances and outshot the Bruins in the early minutes of the first. Solid play from Svedberg kept the Monarchs off the board.

Just 4:06 into the second period, Spooner tallied his 10^th goal of the season, a power play goal. Tardif and Krug assisted on the play, extending their own point streaks to five games and eight games respectively. Four minutes later, Tardif scored his 24^th goal of the season, the Bruins second power play goal, to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead. Spooner and Camper assisted on the play. Camper's assist, his 27^th of the season, extended his  point streak to eight games as well. The Monarchs got on the board at 12:20 of the second to make it 3-1, but the Bruins quickly ripped away any momentum the Monarchs may have gotten with a goal from Mink, who collected the rebound on Christian Hanson's shot. Krug added his second assist of the night, extending his point streak to 14 points on four goals and 10 assists. The Bruins went into the second intermission leading 4-1.

Manchester forged an unlikely comeback in the third period. The Monarchs scored three unanswered goals in the third period, including the tying goal with less than five minutes to play, sending the game into overtime. After a scoreless extra frame, the game headed to a shootout. It looked like the Monarchs were destined for the come-from-behind victory as they jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the shootout. However, solid goaltending from Svedberg and well placed shots from the Bruins, kept Providence in the game. After goals from Craig Cunningham, Camper and Trent Whitfield, who was skating in his 1,000^th regular season professional game, rookie Krug sealed the win with a snipe past Jones to propel the Bruins to the 5-4 shootout win.