Bruins blitz Penguins early, take Game 2


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Game 2

A night after scoring eight times against the AHL’s stingiest defense, the Providence Bruins were at it again on Saturday.

The line of Jamie Tardif, Chris Bourque and Ryan Spooner produced four first-period goals and the Bruins took a 2-0 series lead with a 4-2 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Warren Peters gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal 4:40 into the first period, but Tardif began the Bruins’ attack with a 5-on-3 power-play goal just 68 seconds later, tying the game at 1-1.

Spooner’s goal at 11:24 gave Providence the lead for good, and Tardif and Bourque scored late in the period to give the B’s a 4-1 lead at the first intermission.

Brian Gibbons scored for Wilkes-Barre on a second-period power play, but Niklas Svedberg (5-2) made 19 of his 38 saves in the third period to preserve Providence’s fifth straight win.

Tardif finished the night with two goals and two assists and Bourque had a goal and two assists to lead the Bruins’ offense.

Jeff Zatkoff, who led the AHL with a 1.93 goals-against average in the regular season, allowed four goals on 13 shots in the first period before being replaced by Brad Thiessen (16 saves). Zatkoff has allowed 12 goals in four periods of work during the series.

Game 3 of the series is set for Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre.