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March 31, 2007

Devils 4, P-Bruins 3

LOWELL, Mass. -- The Providence Bruins are dropping points at precisely the wrong time, to the very teams that can exploit them the most.

Last night, before a rare, near capacity Tsongas Arena crowd of 5,512, the P-Bruins fell in disappointing fashion, 4-3, to the Lowell Devils, who, like themselves are scratching to get into the Calder Cup playoffs.

Providence, one of four teams fighting for the last two Atlantic Division post-season berths, have now lost four of the last five, by a combined total of five goals.

This one was decided by David Clarkson’s goal at 5:26, which gave Lowell its first and only lead.

“We are playing well,” said veteran defenseman Dwayne Zinger. “But everyone on down needs to play a little better. We’re making some mistakes. Right now it’s pretty tight, with every team being so close.”

The P-Bruins did bombard Lowell goalie Jordan Parise with 45 shots, and held the lead twice. But it all amounted to another costly loss.

“We’ve been playing well in all the games,” said winger Dennis Packard. “But we’ve come out on the short end. But we have to put this game behind us, and come ready to play.”

The teams will meet again this afternoon, this time at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
T.J. Trevelyan had staked the P-Bruins to a 2-0 advantage, with the second (his 25th of the year) coming at 9:46.

But by the end of the frame, Lowell had put two shots past P-Bruin goalie Hannu Toivonen (31 saves).

David Krejci restored the Providence lead at 9:48 of the second, after putting a series of jaw dropping moves on both Lowell defender Rod Pelley and Parise.

But with 2:48 left in the frame, Grant Marshall made it 3-3 with a one-timer from the edge of the right circle.

That set the stage for Clarkson’s third period game winner, which came on a power play, as he picked the top left corner from 25-feet away.

“We’re doing a lot of things right,” said Providence coach Scott Gordon. “That’s all you can control. You can’t control the final outcome because there’s a goalie in the way trying to stop the puck.”

--DAN HICKLING

Posted by Chris Venditto  at 10:27 PM to P-Bruins , P-Bruins | Permalink

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