May 4 Providence/Portland Gm 5
PORTLAND, Maine -- Somewhere between the first and second hop, an exhausted Simon Ferguson turned his head and turned tail for the Portland Pirate bench.
When the puck that Ferguson had so purposefully dumped in to the Providence zone took it’s final bounce and slithered through the pads of Bruin goalie Tuukka Rask, the hard-nosed Pirate winger knew something good must have happened.
In fact without even looking, Ferguson had delivered the Pirates a 3-2 overtime win, to square their best of seven Atlantic Division final series at two games apiece.
Portland which suffered severe thrashings in the first two games, now have a chance to take a 3-2 lead, when the teams meet in Game 5, here, tomorrow night. Thanks in large part to Ferguson’s gambit, the hockey equivalent of the Hail Mary.
“I didn’t see it,” said Ferguson, who is long on grit and short on glitz. “I saw it leave the stick and go towards the net, so I knew it was safe to change. The horn went and guys were screaming.”
Conjure up an image of a hard rubber stone skipping on a frozen pond, and you get the idea.
“It took a great bounce, but we’ll take the bounce.” said winger Ryan Dingle, whose chip up the boards to Ferguson set up the winning goal. “The ice was getting a little iffy. Then Simon got his ‘wonderful shot’ off.”
The Pirates took just six shots in the first period, but connected on two of them in a 52 second span to take a 2-0 lead.
Bobby Ryan scored his fourth of the playoffs at 10:50 on a power play, followed soon after by Darryl Bootland’s first.
Ryan was stationed in the left circle, where he took Andrew Ebbett’s cross ice feed and swept it in under the crossbar, beating Providence goalie Tuukka Rask (21 saves).
Moments later, Bootland barged down the slot, and after Drew Miller threaded him a pass, popped it past Rask.
But that was not to be the signal for a cakewalk by the Pirates.
Instead, the Bruins rebounded to tie with goals by Zach Hamill and T.J. Trevelyan.
Hamill’s came with 48 seconds left in the first, after Michal Birner’s errant clearing attempt rattled off the leg of unsuspecting Pirate defenseman Andy Schneider and caromed straight to Hamill.
It was the first professional goal for Hamill, Boston’s top draft choice in 2007, who joined Providence in the final weeks of the regular season.
Trevelyan, made it 2-2 at 14:17 of the second stanza, when he poked his own rebound past Portland net minder J.S. Aubin (33 saves).
It was one of the many one on one battles fought by Aubin, who, though already hobbling and hurting, withstood a pounding by the Bruins.
“It’s playoff time,” said Aubin, whose absence in the first two games due to “bumps and bruises” seems even more glaring, now. “You can’t cry about it. You have to go in there, and do what you have to do.”
The Pirates traded chance for chance with Providence in the third period, but in the overtime, it was Ferguson’s “fat chance” that proved to be the difference.
“You could see a little bit of desperation on our guys,” said Pirate coach Kevin Dineen. “When you have that kind of hunger, good things happen.”
And for Ferguson and his mates, good things did.”
EMPTY NETTERS: The Pirates lineup sported a significantly different look from Friday’s Game 3, largely due to injuries suffered by defenseman Bruno St. Jacques, team captain Tyler Bouck, gritty forward Geoff Peters, and sniper Jason King. Stepping into the vacant spots were defenseman Andy Schneider and forwards Michal Birner and Dingle. Also in was defenseman Adrian Veideman, who swung up to the front line to play with Ryan and Andrew Ebbett…Not only are Ryan and Providence defenseman Matt Lashoff two of the top big league prospects currently playing in the AHL, they also enjoy a close friendship that dates back to their junior days in the Ontario Hockey League. However the fuzzy feeling of camaraderie have been tossed out the window, at least for the duration of the series. “We talked before the series,” said Ryan, “and he said, ‘no friends out there’ and I said ‘absolutely not.’ We’ll talk after the series.” The two have engaged in couple snarling matches during the set, and nearly came to blows in Game 3. “I’m sure we’ll laugh about it later. But there’s still more hockey until we get to do that.”…As a reward for his heroics, Ferguson will throw out the first pitch prior to tonight’s Portland Sea Dogs’ contest with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He didn’t say whether or not he’d try to skip that to home plate…Game 6 will be played in Providence on Friday night (7 p.m.), while Game 7 (if necessary) will follow there on Saturday.
Dan Hickling
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