| Hockey Heaven: Articles Lock Monsters fall to P-Bruins, 5-4 |
| By Dan Hickling Special to the Journal LOWELL, Mass. -- Saving the best for last, the P-Bruins exploded for three third-period goals, capped by Peter Ferraro's game-winner with 3:38 remaining, in a 5-4 win over the Lowell Lock Monsters last night. The P-Bruins, who had at times through the first two periods shown a willingness to satisfy the Tsongas Arena crowd of 6,238, did what a good team probably should do -- especially when its top game is missing. They found a way to win. Providence did that in the final period on the strength of goals from Antti Laaksonen, Shane Belter and Ferraro, whose marker extended the B's current winning streak to four. At 5:02 of the final period, after Providence had pulled back from a 3-2 deficit, Lowell's Dave Hymovitz tied the game at 4-4 with a snap shot from a tough angle that eluded goalie Kay Whitmore (27 saves). But Ferraro salvaged the win with a similar shot, and in the process silenced the second largest crowd in Lowell franchise history. The P-Bruins spotted their hosts a power-play goal by Jason Podollan before taking the lead on first-period tallies by Tim Lovell (his ninth) and Jeremy Brown (his fifth). Lovell got his at 8:30 as he rebounded a shot from Jeff Wells which Lowell netminder Roberto Luongo had kicked out. Then, at the 12:59, Brown found himself standing in the right spot when Sean Pronger's shot from the left side went wide, and banked off the back boards. The puck caromed straight to Brown, who lifted it over the fallen Luongo. Pronger nearly gave Providence a two-goal lead when he was set up by Shane Belter at point-blank range. However, Luongo, a first-round choice of the Islanders in 1998, came up with a sparkling save to maintain the status quo. Two second-period mishaps cost Providence the lead for a time. Belter was the first to be victimized, when he lost the puck while trying to keep it in at the right point. It was picked off by Podollan, who led a 2-on-1 counter-attack. Podollan dished off to Vladimir Orszagh just past the reach of lunging defenseman Jassen Cullimore, and Orszagh whistled a high wrister past Whitmore. Then at 14:17, Lowell grabbed a 3-2 lead when Ray Giroux's try from a severe angle found its way past Whitmore. The P-Bruins regained the lead early in the third period with two power-play goal, which came :39 apart, beginning with Laaksonen's third of the year at 3:13. Laaksonen polished off Cullimore's rebound, followed by Belter, who made up for his earlier miscue by blasting in a shot from the point, one that Luongo should probably have stopped. The P-Bruins' lead lasted little more than a minute, however, as Hymovitz tied the game again at 5:02. With Providence killing off a penalty to Cullimomre midway through the period, Hymovitz had two glittering chances from the right post to score the lead goal, but Whitmore came up with both stops in a show of acrobatics. © Providence Journal Company |