PROVIDENCE — The Providence Bruins will be without two top-six forwards when they face the Springfield Thunderbirds tonight in the second game of the season for both teams.

Jordan Szwarz is out with a lower-body injury and Danton Heinen is on recall with Boston, where he recorded his first NHL assist in Wednesday night’s loss at Colorado.

“We’ve talked about how deep we are and now it’s our opportunity to show that and give some other guys opportunities. You are not going to replace Szwarzy or Heinz, but hopefully we can maybe have more of a committee-like attitude,” coach Jay Leach said this morning.

The P-Bruins beat the T-Birds, 5-2, on Saturday.

“I hope we’re tighter defensively in the D zone. I hope our puck management is a little better and our discipline is a little better with our penalties,” said Leach, who expects more from Springfield tonight.

“I think they’ll have urgency. I know their coaching staff and the way they’ve historically played. They’re a hard team, a proud team and I’m sure they’re coming in here with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder,” he said.

Here is tonight’s lineup:

Agostino-JFK-Cehlarik

Fitzgerald-Hennessey-Senyshyn

Blidh-Cave-Hickman

Gabrielle-Payerl-Porter

Lauzon-Cross

Breen-Grzelcyk

O’Gara-Zboril

McIntyre in goal with Binnington as the backup.

Scratches: Szwarz (lower body), Clifton, Johansson, Acolatse, Hargrove

PROVIDENCE — I had a chance to talk to Digit Murphy this week. It’s always a treat and inevitably I end up feeling invigorated. I don’t think I know anyone who is as passionate about the game as she is. She is around this week with her Kunlun Red Star team before heading back to China and spreading the gospel of pucks there.  My column on her will be in Friday’s Projo or you can read it here: http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/20171012/mark-divver-from-one-side-of-globe-to-other-digit-murphy-helping-grow-womens-hockey

PROVIDENCE – Providence College paid a price for its sweep at Miami over the weekend.

Junior winger Erik Foley and freshman winger Bailey Conger were injured in Saturday night’s 3-2 win.

Foley did not practice on Wednesday. It’s not known if he will be available for PC’s home opener on Sunday against Boston College.

Conger is expected to miss 6 to 8 weeks with a hand injury.

Foley, who scored a power play goal on Saturday after assisting on Josh Wilkins’ tally on Friday, was second in scoring for the Friars last season with 15-19-34 in 36 games

Good start for freshmen

Coach Nate Leaman was happy with the play of his three freshmen defensemen and three first-year forwards.

“The freshmen were good. I liked the freshmen. They all played well,” he said.

The newcomers got on the scoreboard, too. Greg Printz scored a breakaway goal on Friday night. Jason O’Neil recorded an assist and was plus-3.

“The key is consistency,’’ Leaman said.

PK gets job done

Special teams were strong for the Friars as they went 2-for-8 on the power play and killed 14 of 15 shorthanded situations.

“The penalty kill was great, led by (goalie Hayden Hawkey). It better be on the road. On the road there’s going to be a couple of calls (against the visiting team),” he said.

Hawkey gets off on right foot

Hawkey’s save percentage is .943 after stopping 49 of 52 shots. “Hawk had a real good weekend,’’ Leaman said.

BOSTON – Nothing went right for the Boston Bruins in Monday afternoon’s desultory 4-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. It was their own fault, coach included, as Bruce Cassidy was quick to point out afterward.  It was bad enough that breakdowns allowed Colorado to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but then Tuukka Rask made a colossal misjudgment on the Avs’ third goal in the third period and that was that.

Here are three thoughts from the game:

THE COACH

Attempting to deflect blame away from the players is right out of the coaches’ handbook. “We’ve got to coach better,’’ is one of Bill Belichick’s go-to lines after a loss. It may be a relatively minor point but all the same I like the way Cassidy included himself among those who fell short on Monday. “The core group that we rely on – it just wasn’t a good effort from young, old, in between. And clearly put myself in that category,’’ he said. I like a coach who will take a share of the heat when his team doesn’t measure up. And it’s probably something that won’t go unnoticed in the Bruins’ room.

THE ROOKIES

Yeah, I know plus-minus is just one stat among many and it’s been discredited a bit, but there’s no sugarcoating the fact that both Anders Bjork and Jake DeBrusk finished with a minus-3 and Charlie McAvoy with minus-2. Not good. What is at least a little encouraging is that the players owned up and said the right things. “It’s a game I want to forget – but use as a learning experience,’’ said DeBrusk, who played 13:00, down from 14:05 in Game 1. “They’re giving us chances. We definitely have to take advantage of them and learn from our mistakes,’’ added Bjork, who played 14:38 after logging 16:14 on opening night. McAvoy went from 22:00 in Game 1 to 19:28. Remember, there are going to be days, and nights, like this for the rookies. Now we see how they respond. “I think they are good bounce-back guys. They are high character, and they’ll keep coming. But tonight it just didn’t work out,’’ said Cassidy.

THE LINES

Cassidy, missing injured centers Patrice Bergeron and Noel Acciari, didn’t hesitate to mix things up when his team struggled. Bjork and DeBrusk started the day on a line with David Krejci. By the end,  Bjork was with Sean Kuraly and Ryan Spooner, while DeBrusk was with Riley Nash and Tim Schaller. Too soon? Nope. It was worth a try on a day when the Bruins spun their wheels. “I never found the right combination. So I think it goes on the players – it’s their job to play, whatever position – and it’s up to the coach to find the chemistry. I couldn’t find it, so shame on me,’’ said Cassidy.

PROVIDENCE – The days when nearly every AHL team carried a heavyweight or three on the roster are pretty much over.

In Providence, the departure of Tyler Randell, a top five pugilist in the league for several seasons, leaves the team without a go-to hard guy.

Coach Jay Leach, who logged 64 bouts during his playing career, believes his team won’t lack for toughness.

“I don’t think we have an issue with that. We’ve got guys that are gamers. Tommy (Cross), Breener (Chris Breen), they all can handle themselves if something gets out of hand. And we’ve got Sena (Acolatse) as an option, Hick (Justin Hickman), Adam (Payerl), Taylor Doherty. We’re fine,’’ said Leach.

“Identifying one guy, I always found that to be a little unfair. It’s a lot to put on a guy. And I don’t know how much it does for your team. If everyone just lets Tyler Randell take care of things and they can go do what they want …  to me that wasn’t a fair play for a guy like that.

“I would prefer us to be responsible for our teammates on the ice every shift, no matter if Adam Payerl or Hick or Sena’s out there or if it’s a skill line, they can all still get in there and take care of each other,’’ he said.

No wallowing

The disappointment of being cut by the NHL club in training camp is one of the hurdles that P-Bruins players have to get over, whether they are high draft picks or free agents.

“That’s part of being a pro. Managing  adversity.  Getting through some challenges. It’s part of the learning process. How they react to adversity and overcome it is part of the learning curve, part of professional development,’’ said John Ferguson Jr. , Providence general manager and Boston’s executive director of player personnel.

Leach, who played 12 seasons as a pro, feels their pain.

“You have to validate that. A lot of them had nice camps and they pushed. That’s what we asked; that’s what they did. We would never want to discount that, first and foremost. And then I think  you’re going to try to get them to a place where they accept where they are and build from there,’’ said Leach.

“Some it takes a little longer than others. Ultimately, they all figure out that it doesn’t do them any good to wallow. And I don’t think a lot of them, if any of them, do. On a personal level, I can share some experiences where I had a little bit of bitterness in me and it did affect me throughout the year. I will definitely share that experience.

“Training camp is a grueling time for a young kid. He shows up for the rookie tournament. Organizations are watching him play every single day for a month. They’ve got to perform under that microscope. If they’ve done well, we should – and we do – make sure they understand that we’re proud of them.  They probably need a day or two to just breathe,” Leach said.

Danton Heinen, for one, went right back to work after being sent down last week.

“He was firing pucks in practice, he was working on his sticks. He was ready to go,’’ said Leach.

Senyshyn on the board

Zach Senyshsyn got his first pro goal out of the way in the first game of the season on Saturday, burying a feed from linemate Chris Porter 45 seconds into the third period.

“I thought that overall he was good. I lost him in the second (period) when we had a lot of penalty kills,’’ said Leach.

“We got him right out there at the end of the second and in the third with (linemates Porter and Josh Hennessy) and they did an excellent job on the forecheck and (Senyshyn) was consistent the rest of the way through. He showed signs of his skating ability and disrupted some forechecks and in the neutral zone, so he was good.”

Playing with veterans such as Porter and Hennessey should be good for Senyshyn.

“Porter can really skate and obviously finishes (his hits) and it’s tough on defensemen. Zach and Ports, with that speed, it’s pretty nice.”

 

 

PROVIDENCE –Just like in Boston on Thursday night, the kids came through in impressive fashion in Providence’s 5-2 win in Saturday’s opener. Four of the goals were by rookies Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Ryan Fitzgerald and Zach Senyshyn and second-year pro Peter Cehlarik. Here are three takeaways:

CEHLARIK

Jay Leach put it best: “Peter Cehlarik looked like a man on a mission.’’ Did he ever. Cehlarik made Springfield defenseman Josh Brown look foolish and scored a pretty goal in the first period. Then he froze goalie Harri Sateri and fed Forsbacka Karlsson for an easy score. Impressive for a guy who did not play any preseason games after undergoing shoulder surgery in May. After the game, rink rat Cehlarik was at the stick rack working on a stick, even though the P-Bruins have Sunday off.  With Don Sweeney (who was at the game) mulling a callup after the injury to Noel Acciari in Boston, Cehlarik picked a perfect time to have a great game.

McINTYRE

Zane McIntyre delivered some very timely saves on Saturday. Springfield had chances to take the lead early, but he shut the door. Guarding the lead in the second period, he made a pair of terrific stops and the P-Bruins finished the period up by three. “Early on in the season you’re going to have breakdowns. Zano was huge on those breakdowns for us,’’ said Leach. McIntyre had a great season a year ago. If he can come to close to matching that this season, Providence will be in great shape.

ROOKIE DEFENSEMEN

The American Hockey League can eat up rookie defensemen, but Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon and Connor Clifton acquitted themselves well on Saturday. They’ll have their struggles at times, but Saturday was a positive, confidence-building start. “We’ll have our (video) clips for them. We have some stuff to work with, but I thought that throughout the game they started to find their feet a little bit, and see the structure,’’ said Leach. “First pro game (for all three) with a good crowd, playing with some pretty good players, there’s probably some expectation there – our forwards want the puck, so get it to them. I thought throughout the night (the three rookies) got better as every shift went by.’’

PROVIDENCE — It’s a clean sheet for the Providence Bruins until just after 7 tonight when the puck drops for the first game of the season vs. Springfield.

“As long as we play hard, that’s all I really care about. We’re going to make mistakes. It’s really just a baseline to get going, so we can figure out where we’re at with everything,” said coach Jay Leach. “Everybody’s excited. I’m ready to go. It’s been a long training camp.”

This will be the 26th season for the P-Bruins. Their first home game was on Oct. 16, 1992, when they crushed Hershey, 9-3, before a roaring sellout throng of 11,909.

Tim Sweeney and Jozef Stumpel had 2-2-4 and Jim Vesey had 2-1-3 for the P-Bruins, who went 4-for-8 on the power play.

Chris Winnes went forehand-backhand on a penalty shot to beat the Bears’ Scott LeGrand, who left Boston College early to sign with Philadelphia.

There was a fight between Chris Jensen of Hershey and Denis Chervyakov.

Mike Bales made 45 saves for the P-Bruins.

Earlier that week, team captain Peter Laviolette had predicted a 9-2 victory. So he only missed by a goal.

We can only hope for that much entertainment tonight.

I’ll have pregame, in-game and postgame tweets from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

The lines:

Heinen-Szwarz-Fitzgerald

Agostino-JFK-Cehlarik

Defense:

Lauzon-Cross

O’Gara-Zboril

Breen-Clifton

Goal

McIntyre starts, with Vladar as the backup

Scratches: Johansson, Hickman, Hargrove, Payerl, Acolatse, Doherty (injured)

PROVIDENCE — I’m looking forward to the season opener between the Providence Bruins and Springfield Thunderbirds on Saturday night. My P-Bruins preview will be in tomorrow’s paper-and-ink Providence Journal. Or you can read it here:

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/20171006/mark-divver-plenty-of-reasons-to-be-excited-about-p-bruins-season

BOSTON – How about those kids?

Jake DeBrusk (1-1-2), Charlie McAvoy (1-1-2) and Anders Bjork (0-1-1) had some exciting and encouraging moments in Thursday’s 4-3 win by Boston over Nashville in the season opener on Thursday night.

They weren’t the only youngsters who played well. Matt Grzelcyk was good. And let’s not overlook steady Brandon Carlo, who is no longer a rookie but is most definitely  a kid, and dynamic David Pastrnak – starting his fourth season at age 21 – who scored the first goal of the night.

Boston has said it is committed to its young players. That will mean riding the rollercoaster as they figure some things out.

As good as Game 1 was, there are valleys ahead, without question. It’s part of the learning curve that kids have to experience.

The Bruins should be rewarded down the road.  Thursday was a tantalizing look into the future.  It could be a fun ride.

Thoughts on three of the young guys:

DeBRUSK

He can finish, as he demonstrated with a nifty goal early in the second period. He nearly had a second goal a couple of minutes after the first one. And he made a play or two, including an assist on McAvoy’s goal.

DeBrusk played with pace and had four shots on goal, tying Pastrnak for the most on the Bruins. I liked the play he made with about four minutes left, where he ate the puck along the boards rather than make a risky pass.

All in all, it was an impressive debut.

McAVOY

Nineteen-year-old defensemen are going to make mistakes. McAvoy took three minor penalties – two for holding and one for hooking. But his goal and assist made up for the time in the box.

He joined the rush to score his first NHL goal off a beautiful set up from David Krejci and Bjork.

I liked the subtle play he made in the defensive zone midway through the third period where he put a hip into Nashville’s Scott Hartnell, muscled him off the puck in the corner and calmly cleared the zone.

BJORK

After the first period, an NHL scout told me he thought Bjork had been Boston’s best forward, and I agreed.

The speedy winger from Notre Dame didn’t have a shot on goal in the game, although he was ready to one-time the Krejci pass that McAvoy scored his goal on.

Despite the lack of shots, Bjork had the puck a lot and made some smart plays that showed off his offensive IQ. Leading up to DeBrusk’s goal, Bjork made a perfect touch pass to Krejci.

For sure, Bjork is going to be fun to watch.

Providence College opens the season on the road this weekend at Miami University. Here is my Providence Journal column previewing the season: http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/20171005/mark-divver-good-times-should-continue-to-roll-for-friar-skaters